Tag: female entrepreneur

KFair’s New Year’s Resolutions for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

on By

Another New Year, another set of New Year’s resolutions. This January we want you to be the best you that you can be! And it just so happens that January is National Mentoring Month! So, here are Kelly Fair’s New Year’s Resolutions to provide some inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs and change-makers.

2016 banner

6 New Year’s Resolutions for 2016:

1) Declutter and Reorganize. In this New Year, you need to pull it all together! Go through your home and office and remove what you don’t need. Remember, it doesn’t have to go in the garbage. Some of your items can be donated (even office supplies), or have a garage sale! I used to make the mistake of holding on to old clothes that no longer fit me, because I lost weight. What I found out was if I didn’t get rid of the clothes, or get them altered to fit my new size, I eventually found my way to fitting them again.  So, pigeonholed clothes that were too big for me cleared things out, and kept me out of a cycle of weight gain. By decluttering and reorganizing you will feel refreshed and ready for a year of productivity. No more losing important documents, your favorite pen.

2) Understand Your Finances. This is key to having a successful year! This applies not only to any business or non-profit endeavors, but your personal life as well. But, I’ve found my improved financial habits in my business, help me create better habits while managing my personal financial matters as well. Consider creating a money management system to show you how much your spending, what you’re spending it on, and how much you are saving. You won’t believe what kind of waste might be happening right under your nose from mindless money management. If you aren’t sure how to tackle this project, go to your library and check out a book on finance management, and seek referrals from trusted people for a great financial planner, or accountant that can help improve your personal and professional outcomes.

3) Be Social, Be Smart. As years pass, it gets harder to maintain relationships. Make it a goal this year to reconnect with those who are lost and strengthen your ties with the people around you. But that doesn’t mean you have to become best friends with everybody! Be smart about your social life. Surround yourself with the people who support you. You’re gonna be tackling some big plans this year and you need all the encouragement and constructive feedback you can get! And, as a mentor, or one running a mentoring organization, good people will support you even when your youth and community work Jerrod you really busy, and won’t allow you to have as much social time. Good people can recognize and sorry you in your passions. Most importantly, don’t lose touch with your mentors–if they taught you something before, they can teach you something now.

4) Read More. You should never stop reading. Novels, poetry, how-to’s, and history books–they all have something to offer us. And don’t forget to read more news. Stay updated on current events locally, nationally, and globally. How can you expect to change the world if you don’t know what is happening in the world. Stay updated!

5) Act. This year isn’t going to be just another year of dreaming and hoping. This year you are going to take action. Is there a non-profit you wanted to start or an entrepreneurial endeavor you’ve been planning, or have you been planning to support others’-mentoring organizations in greater capacity? 2016 is the year you are going to make it happen. So find that pen and paper and start planning. You need weekly and monthly goals to keep yourself moving forward. And somebody to hold you accountable!

6) Find Time For Yourself. Never lose sight of your own health. You have to be at the best you can be this year to accomplish your goals. Find time everyday for some self-care. Whether its an a work out, meditation, at-home manicure or your favorite TV show, give yourself that time to relax! We want you to be at your most productive, passionate, and confident self!

We believe that when you are at your best, then you are in the optimal position to not only impact the lives of others, but to be the best leader you can be. 

635866999438833598788309955_New-Years-Resolutions-600x406

South Side of Chicago or Duke University: They’re All The Same Girl O_O

on By
duke pic
Last month, in a keynote address to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, President Obama said what many of us who work with girls and young women have been long waiting for!  In his speech, the President vehemently declared that the crisis impacting black youth in urban America isn’t just impacting black boys, but black girls are under fire as well.  He noted that although his “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative has been vital to bringing attention and challenges faced by black boys in this county, there are  dire opportunity gaps also exist for black girls.  Obama highlighted that African-American girls are more likely than their white counterparts to be over suspended from school, incarcerated, physically harassed. He mentioned black women also struggle daily with society’s oppressive standards how they’re supposed to dress and act.
For professionals and advocates such as myself who have been servicing African-American girls, this was like music to our ears. Much of my responsibility in my role as the leader of Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program is not only to provide mentoring services to girls, but make sure the larger community, and public, is aware of the economic, educational, and social disparities they face in their daily lives.  But, in  six years of mentoring predominately black girls I’ve learned that most people are really unaware of the challenges of growing up as a black girl in urban America.  For example most don’t know that in large cities like New York,  black girls are 53 times more likely to be expelled from school than white girls.  But, in the face of tough economic times, where individuals and families are doing their best to survive their own financial hardships, and with global campaigns and efforts more focused on finding solutions for the disparities of girls and women in third world countries, it’s easy to see how black girls living in our own backyards are often ignored.
So, when I received my invitation from the Duke University Women’s Center to serve as a SHEntrepreneur in residence, and talk about my experiences building Polished Pebbles as a social enterprise, I thought my assignment seemed to be pretty simple. I figured that if go, and talk about my Polished Pebbles story, and the challenges black girls face living in inner cities.  Seemed pretty straight to the point and a typical task for me, but, I didn’t realize how wrong I was.
Of my several speaking engagements on campus last week, my first was a guest lecturer for an honors women’s seminar composed of graduating female students. Prior to me beginning my presentation, the young women needed to complete individual presentations that were started in the previous week’s class.  The assignment was to map out their future paths towards achieving various short & long-term personal and professional life goals.  These wonderful presentations varied from poster boards with flow charts, picture collages, Power Points, and one student even presented her life’s path like the timeless board game “Chutes and Ladders.”  They talked about their game changing career goals in solving the health disparities in their home countries, and changing the economic policies that impact the wealth gap in our country.  The creativity, individuality, and diversity represented in the presentations was remarkable.  But, it was nothing but a reflection of the diversity of the young women in this course who came to study at Duke representing different races, cultures, ethnicities, religions, and hailing from different parts of the US & the globe.
But, despite all this diversity in the room, there was one troubling universal theme that I observed.  As I was sitting there listening to these young women rationalize the heights that they want their careers to go, I noticed far too many of them quickly, placed self-imposed roadblocks, and limitations on those same awesome aspirations. Some of the them shot down their own goals before they even completed their statements.  I heard things like “I need to have all this done by the time I turn 30”; “Well, I won’t be able to do this if I have kids”, “I want to focus on this area of study, but I’ve been told that I’d face fewer obstacles and objectives if I go another route.”  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing it almost felt like a flashback to almost 15 years ago when I was sitting in their same seats as a graduating senior at Howard University.  It was then, when I was 21 years old, that I was unnecessarily overcomplicating life by trying to figure out how I could balance a career and a family, I didn’t even have yet! I now can look back at my young perspective and poke fun it. But, listening and observing girls and young women push back on their dreams and aspirations, because of society’s limitations, their culture’s limitations, their “mama’s” limitations is unfortunately all too familiar for me.
So, my talk that day at Duke, with this group of young women, wasn’t just about my experiences as an entrepreneur running my organization Polished Pebbles.  Nope, my talk that day started off about how in my own career, when I was younger, I often defied all the “shoulds” society often sets upon young women. And,  somehow, I still turned out to be pretty darn happy at 36 yrs. old.  Yep, I shared with them that my career didn’t follow the perfect pattern I originally planned.  I’ve changed industries, quit jobs, got terminated from jobs, still not married, still no kids, but I’m happy.  I expressed to them that this chorus of seeming “organized noise” of my 20’s and 30’s has really started to turn out to become of perfect symphony of seeming imperfections that has led me to the success that I experience today. Yep, so pretty much, I thought my visit to Duke University would give me a break from being KellyFairTheMentor, and I would be speaking about my experiences as an “esteemed” entrepreneur.  But, my talk even at Duke University ended being a mentoring session of sorts.
What my visit to Duke University taught me was whether I’m  working with young women living in poverty on the south side of Chicago, or recent graduates of the nation’s top universities, all too frequently young women accept the limitations that society places on girls’ and women’s ability to “have it all!”  What I really learned that day is that no matter where they’re from, or how their experiences may differ, all girls have dreams, goals, potential, and hope… because THEY’RE ALL THE SAME GIRL. But, it’s our responsibility as the mentors to make sure that EVERY girl believes in her capability of achieving each one of those dreams!