My 11-year journey as an entrepreneur, CEO, and personal brand has been a rollercoaster. I’ve taken the good with the bad. I’ve analyzed my gains and losses in hopes of serving my clients better, scaling, and in the end, feeling that I made an impact. My newest project, ‘It's More Than Design®’ is like my prior works in that I share, in detail, my wins and losses from an applied marketing perspective, but it is also unlike any other DIY marketing process, system, or guide on the market. ‘It's More Than Design®’ will bridge the gap between personal development and professional development among the diaspora’s entrepreneurs, CEOs, and personal brands to further our collective standing in the marketplace and redefine the standard.
This time around, I wanted to go a step further and dive deeper into my purpose as a problem solver and disrupter. As an entrepreneur, I wasn’t fully aware of the playing field. I didn’t know who the true opposition was and the obstacles that were placed to hold us back. As a CEO, I recognize opportunities on my journey where my interpersonal skills, confidence, and mental health were not in line with the professional opportunities that I was pursuing and that were presented to me. As a personal brand, I was miseducated on how to tap into my true self in order to build a brand that would grow with me.
I had to look inward to address the disparaging attention that was put on my personal development in comparison to my professional development. We’ve been in survival mode for so long. As a collective, most of us are still creating and building brands from a place of survival. We’re working to create the “winning ticket” for our next generation. What if we recognized our power as a collective and really tapped in? Imagine the diaspora’s entrepreneurs, CEOs, and personal brands reinvested into the consistent practice of personal development.
Benefits of Intentional Personal Development
Gain Mental Clarity
Better Quality of Life
Improved Communication Skills
Reduced Stress & Overthinking
Inspire Others Through Action
Improve Self Awareness
More Fulfilling Relationships
Better Decision-Making Skills
Improved Critical Thinking Skills
Higher Self Esteem
Improved Resilience
Less Fearful
Self Discovery
Inspires Creativity
According to Brookings, “Black people comprise approximately 14.2% of the U.S. population, but Black businesses comprise only 2.2% of the nation’s 5.7 million employer businesses”. That’s a staggering underrepresentation of our black girl magic and our undeniable tastemaker abilities. “The underrepresentation of Black businesses does not come from a lack of will or talent. Gallup psychologists developed an assessment (Builder Profile 10) to measure the enduring characteristics that predict success as an entrepreneur, including appetite for risk, creativity, and determination.”
While doing my research in preparation for this project, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride, relief, and transformation. The opposition is relentless in their methods to keep us behind. Denying us access to capital, and information, and baking racism into every governing body is real and to think, we keep defying the odds. We keep sneaking through and finding our way into the rooms we were never intended to be in. So while there are sisters and brothers fighting to break barriers and rewrite history, I am doing my part too.
I envision a world where the diaspora’s entrepreneurs, CEOs, and personal brands have undeniably redefined what a “professional” is by naturally operating in life and business as our highest selves.
‘It's More Than Design®’ was created to implore the diaspora’s entrepreneurs, CEOs, and personal brands to dive into themselves, their space in the marketplace, and their brands like never before to radically shift the marketplace.
“It’s time for the tastemakers, thought leaders, and innovators to reap the benefits of their gifts. We will thrive when we master self and business…” - Brandy Kennedy
Get on the ‘It's More Than Design®’ waitlist here.