This Saturday I went to a business talk. The organizer is presenting women in business who have made impacts in non conventional ways. Her first speaker in her series was Nicole Walters. Honestly I knew nothing of Nicole. I learned she started as a natural hair blogger and expanded her brand to a point where she could leave her job at a fortunate 500 company. Crazy, huh? You ain’t heard nothin’ yet. SHE QUIT HER JOB ON PERISCOPE! After peacing out on the comfort and prestige of corporate life, she grew her online business and morphed into an Income Strategist. Now she teaches courses online utilizing her blogging success and corporate experience. To her dedicated following of online students, she is also considered an expert on the new live streaming platform and affectionately called Scoprah or the Oprah of Periscope.
After hearing all of this, you are probably thinking that she sold us some get rich quick scheme for 10 easy payments of $99.99. No. What happened in that modest theater was something more beautiful. She shared her personal story as the daughter of working class immigrants in DC. I fought back tears as she described a childhood experiences that mirrored my own. Like her I was taught that I was born into this world with 2 strikes against me: I’m female and black ( a third if you count not coming from money). I also didn’t believe that those characteristics justified the differences I saw between my life, and the life of wealthier people. As she talked about the businessmen and politicians her father drove in his cab, I remembered being 4 and wondering why my house was so much smaller than the mansions on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" (#80sbaby). “My mommy is just as beautiful as these ladies on TV.” I would think. “ She’s just as smart. SHE’S BETTER! WE SHOULD HAVE A MANSON!”
I think we all need confirmation. I occasionally reminisce on the little girl that thought those things, but I’ve learned to not always openly share her ambition. Not everyone is comfortable with it. In that intimate dark theater, I got choked up thinking that someone felt the way I felt and they did exactly what they said they wanted to do. It let me know that I wasn’t (and am still not) crazy. Even if Nicole never shared another thing with us I would have been satisfied. Instead she went on to discuss how legal representation, sales, and customer service can help us grow our business. We even talked about taxes. NO ONE EVER WANTS TO TALK ABOUT TAXES! I love learning all of the accounting and taxes things because if your books aren’t right you can lose your business. It happens all the time. I will certainly be going to November’s talk. If you are in Seattle you should come and check it out. Below are some words from Nicole:
No comments:
Post a Comment