Who I Am
Last updated: May 4, 2021
I am a marketing strategist and business coach committed to achieving business outcomes with my clients, recognizing they come to me with unique needs, with varying levels of support and barriers to access in their everyday lives. I undertake to do what is needed in each situation so my clients can be successful in recognition of the fact that we all come to the table needing to be nourished in different ways. Equity is a core value of my business.
The work that I do is to help faith-based business owners grow their impact-driven businesses and that vision is inclusive of people of all faiths. On the surface, this is a statement about my business, but really, this is how I want to do life. Who I am as a business owner is someone who wants to be inclusive and that is who I am when I go to church, when I vote, when I participate in day-to-day life.
The Next Right Thing
I approach diversity and inclusion with a growth mindset. I am an imperfect person doing her best to unlearn the programming downloaded by the systems I grew up in. After all, the world has changed and it continues to change. Norms and technology are evolving along with our understanding of what people need. I am integrating this un-knowing and taking steps towards learning.
Shifting Perspectives to Make Room for Progress
I am committed to ongoing learning and have learned hard lessons and truths about myself as I made the decision to show up as an anti-racist business owner. I started off “color-blind” and recognized how seeing people that way didn’t let me see anyone.
I became aware of the unconscious biases I had been filtering the world through and I know I will learn of more in the future. I believe that change is not forged in White grief over our failings but in the commitment to get back up when we find ourselves mired in shame and be an ally. I accept the responsibility that comes with knowing that allyship is an active process and promise to participate.
Being the Change
My goal is to influence culture through the way that I do business. I think business owners help create expectations around inclusion by modelling for clients the way I feel people should be welcomed and supported. I strive to be an industry leader in the quality of the work that I do and I want to model quality in the way I care for people.
The reality is that some of the things we have normalized are ultimately oppressive to marginalized people. When payment plans cost more than paid in full, people with less access to capital pay more to receive the same benefits. That’s why I decided not to charge more for payment plans in my business and why I encourage my clients to consider doing the same. We vote for the world we want with our actions.
I took an anti-racism pledge for small businesses and decided I really needed to do more. This is the vocalization of my personal commitment to diversity and inclusion and is unique to me and my perspectives. It has been created with intention, because I believe we need to be very intentional about including people.
We Are All in the Same Storm, But We Are Not All in the Same Boat
I reshaped my business because I want to participate in levelling the playing field. Women and BiPOC-owned businesses face additional challenges and specifically under pandemic circumstances Black-owned businesses were failing at twice the rate of White-owned businesses. The way my business used to be structured was not aligned with my goal of being able to use my 30 years of experience, my talents, my God-given gifts to collaborate with people who could benefit most from my expertise.
Facilitation - Not a Rescue Mission
My desire to serve is not about saving people, it’s about sharing the resources I have to help them actualize their dreams for themselves. It’s about empowerment and encouragement and being a bridgebuilder towards abundance and stability. The journey of entrepreneurship belongs to the business owner, but I can help lay the path to make the route easier to navigate.
Showing Up By Faith
My vision in the work that I do is to support business owners in showing up in their faith in their businesses. Whether Christian, Muslim, Spiritual or otherwise, I want people to be able to be who they are and share that with the world.
As a Christian woman, that showing up looks like being inclusive by welcoming all of God’s children, leading with love and unity. We have all had experiences where we have felt rejected or judged on the basis of someone else’s faith and I’m here to say that my faith leads me to love and accept and does not position me to sit in judgement of anyone.
I welcome new clients to show up as their best self, guided by their heartfelt beliefs and I will meet you so we can create magic together in your business. We don’t have to believe the same things to be aligned in purpose, love and light.
