Career success means different things to different women — from salary, to status and promotion, to self-development or being able to “make a difference”.
During week 1 of the Wealth & Power experience at the 2021 ESSENCE Festival of Culture, Deborah Owens (financial expert, author, entrepreneur) facilitated the conversation “Next Level Focused: Stepping Stones to Greatness” presented by Ford in order to help women discover what career success means to them.
During this segment, we asked three entrepreneurs (Monique Idlett-Mosely, Co-Founder, Reign Ventures; Toya Hankins, Entertainment Manager; Marshawn Evans Daniels, Owner, ME Unlimited LLC) to share their secrets to success and how women can also step into their own greatness.
For Idlett-Mosely, the stepping stone that catapulted her success was the desire to help Black women and always being the “first” in early stages of her career. “My whole career has been about adversity, evolution and solving issues that are all things equity and equality,” she says. “Throughout my career every moment that I’ve pivoted was to solve a problem for “us” as Black people, and in particular Black women.”
Daniels defined her moment as less “sexy” because it was devastating. “I thought I had met this fairytale man, and had this fairytale wedding that I was planning,” she explains. “I was managing NFL and NBA players, and I had the fastest growing women owned sports agency in just less than a year, and I closed that business down for love. That morning when my fiance was on the plane coming down for wedding week and I had transitioned all of my clients to new representation, I found out that morning my fiance was cheating on me.”
She continues, “That was the best-worst thing that ever happened to me. The stepping stone for me and I believe for most of us, is that our shift will come through disruption.”
Watch the full interview above. For more of everything you missed during week 1 of the 2021 ESSENCE Festival of Culture Wealth & Power experience, click HERE.