Original Feature | March 2016
It's often hard to believe that it's been over a year since I started my journey as an entrepreneur. There have been times where I've felt clueless and exhausted while also feeling excited, fulfilled, complete, and living in my WHOLE and ABSOLUTE purpose. But the best part in my believing in myself as an entrepreneur was figuring out my WHY?, YES, figuring out my why! For some, it's the hardest part, but I think I've always known my why. What I was less clear on was how to accomplish my why.
If you caught the first edition of the Be Abundant Love campaign newsletter then you might remember my story about the time "when God told me to quit," it's that story, which was mostly about me discovering my healing that provided a path for me to figure out that my how didn't match up with my why. You see, from the age of 3 years, I wanted to be an attorney, I KNEW I would become an attorney -- I mean, it was my dream, must have also been my destiny. I used to stay up at night with my mom watching night court and whatever it was about that show, I knew I was destined to become an attorney. Every moment I spent in school was geared towards my plan to attend law school. Well things didn't exactly turn out that way because you see, I'm not talking to you about my experience as a prosecutor in sex crimes, rather I'm talking to you about my experience as a neophyte entrepreneur.
I had done everything I was supposed to, from securing letters of recommendation, talking to other attorneys, working as a litigation paralegal; paying for and attending preparation classes, drowning myself in study hours; researching the schools and paying the fees to apply and send my academic reports to and after all of that, which I absolutely did more than once -- it seemed my dream of becoming a prosecutor in sex crimes was one I still was unable to reach. Now, of course, I had a thousand question to ask God about my not getting in or doing better on the LSAT or not having supernatural brain power; but then I realized that I had mixed up the how to my why. I want you to understand that figuring out your why is a process and it doesn't necessarily come naturally, especially when you're trying your hardest to figure out your path in young adult life.
Reflecting back, I realize it seemed to have a snowball effect, as each idea and moment of clarity hit me, I found the direct path to my why. First, I had to become open to the idea that I may not be able to serve the population of my life ministry in the capacity of a sex crimes prosecutor and I'll admit it was a bit hard to let go of the idea that I was not supposed to put away all of the perpetrators in the world brining about pain, violence, and undue trauma to women and children alike. Once I was able to accept that fact that I might have to get to my destiny on the roads less traveled I became more open to the whispers God had begun to thrust upon me about becoming a motivational speaker. Seriously, the first time I heard that "little voice" say, "you're going to be a motivational speaker," I laughed, shook my head in disagreement, and adamantly told God that He was pretty much trippin'. I mean seriously, how did He think I was going to motivate anyone when telling my story made my body tighten up in frustration while tears fell and caused me to be in need of a whole roll of toilet tissue for all the snot my tears would cause to cascade down my face. I quieted those comments, questions and concerns I had for God, but I progressed in my healing.
It was during my healing journey that I grew in strength and confidence and disposed myself of all of the negative emotions that were clouding the voice of reason, guiding me to become an entrepreneur and birth my non-profit. I had to come to understand that every single path I had to crawl over, jump over, walk past, trek through, run beyond, and stand still on were all to get me to the how of my why. You see, what I had failed to see in all of this initially was that I was on a path for advocacy, but not through the same measures of a prosecutor in sex crimes. Which would have not always proved fruitful nor would I necessarily have been assigned to the sex crimes division as a new attorney in the prosecutor's office. I had always felt a deep compassion for women affected by sexual assault and I've always, inadvertently provided a listening ear or gave sound advice to lead women to heal. And now that I had put the pieces together the vision for the brand came to life!
After figuring out my why, I jumped in with my visual branding knowing that I wanted the image to play on a phoenix rising from ashes and a Sankofa bird, which represents looking back at your past to know the way into your future. Nothing about your brand should be accidental or even coincidental, it should all be intentional and make sense for your why and your how. I chose colors that played on, but not quite mimicked the colors of domestic violence awareness and sexual assault awareness. During the time that I was figuring out my why, I adopted Isaiah 61:3 "...beauty for ashes" as the scripture theme of the organization and that allowed me to make sure the brand represented beauty, women, courage, strength, determination, strong will and abundant love. My business brand reflects women rising into beauty from ashes.
I started this journey in December 2014 and have since made great strides in developing a program that will do all God has intended me to do for this population and things I may not be able to imagine. Every experience and path I've traveled, which all lend different tools and skill sets for me to get to the how of my why and one of the first things I learned was how not to jump the gun. Branding on a personal and business level can be an exciting task, but you want to avoid letting your excitement get the best of you. As soon as I had a business name I was ready to jump into branding, but I had no business acumen for branding my business or ability to recognize and define how my business and my personal brand intertwine for the how to my why.