I remember starting my first business at about 11 years old. It was a cleaning service that my friend Mia and I set up. We would go to this hair salon around the corner from where we lived to sweep up. It was easy, sweep and collect cash. A few other enterprises developed for me later, like a greeting card making business (hand made cards of course), a throw pillow making business that earned me my first sewing machine and a jewelry making business in high school that was netting me a cool five hundred bucks a week. I was very fortunate that my mom got me involved in entrepreneurship programs so young it truly changed my life. Running a business was all I ever really wanted to do.
I remember around 22 years old saying to myself that I wanted to have a serious business started by 25. You know the "career business"And sure enough in 2003 I was on my way. I spend so much time working now, growing my company, sitting on boards, heading programs, planning events, I sometimes feel that I don't get a chance to breath a fresh breath of air before I have to move on to the next thing. I know that part of my wanting to become an entrepreprenuer was to be independent, have my own ideas, create something bigger than me, have freedom, quality of life and build wealth so that I can take care of my family. The funny thing is I spend so much time working that I'm really don't spend as much time as I would like to with friends or family or anyone for that matter. I know that family is important, first and foremost but how can you build the dream while also managing reality?
Can we really have it all? Who knows but I still engage in the constant juggling act to achieve the balance. And certainly it's not just the entreprenuers that are juggling. I have friends in different fields that work unheard of hours, In fact I am almost certain that their companies are in violation of some article of the declaration of independance. lol. No freedom. So, all I really have right now is my heart in the right place. I hope that's having what matters.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
What's in a Look?
We all spend so much time getting caught up in our looks especially as we get older. We notice the simplest little things even though quite frankly they may have been there all along. My latest dilemma has been my hair. I really like the R & B artist India Arie but I am certainly not at the level of spiritual clarity that I could proclaimed such thoughts as “I am not my hair". Over the past year I have lost a lot of my hair it basically went from shoulder length to just below my ear. I really miss it. It was a combination of the stress of getting my MBA full-time along with managing a graduate assistant position, running my company, dealing with the fact that my mom just had a stroke, managing a long-term relationship on the brink topped with a dash of over-processing.
Being in fashion I feel that it's important for me to have my own look, something that defines me and my style. I finally felt that I had gotten to a point of doing that with my hair but now, it's all gone. Last week Saturday, I met a friend for tea and we were talking about my hair challenges; shedding versus heathly, natural compared to permed, style versus no style and I realized how much the whole thing was affecting me. It has literally pierced my spirit. It's not that I think that long hair is better than short or visa versa. It's that I never made the choice to actually change my look. But I guess that's what happens as time goes on, we change our looks, our personality and even our friendships and often times without making the choice but by reacting to something that has already happened.
This incident has taught me among many things, to be flexible and adapt to change because you never know when it's coming. I'm sure over the next few weeks; I'll figure out a new look that works and that I'll be just as happy with at least until it all grows back. But I know for sure my hair is a part of my fashion, my style, and my personality. And while I am not my hair, my hair is surely a significant part of me. What's in a look? Well, I guess it's whatever the parts are that define you. Ultimately, you can choose. What's in your look?
Being in fashion I feel that it's important for me to have my own look, something that defines me and my style. I finally felt that I had gotten to a point of doing that with my hair but now, it's all gone. Last week Saturday, I met a friend for tea and we were talking about my hair challenges; shedding versus heathly, natural compared to permed, style versus no style and I realized how much the whole thing was affecting me. It has literally pierced my spirit. It's not that I think that long hair is better than short or visa versa. It's that I never made the choice to actually change my look. But I guess that's what happens as time goes on, we change our looks, our personality and even our friendships and often times without making the choice but by reacting to something that has already happened.
This incident has taught me among many things, to be flexible and adapt to change because you never know when it's coming. I'm sure over the next few weeks; I'll figure out a new look that works and that I'll be just as happy with at least until it all grows back. But I know for sure my hair is a part of my fashion, my style, and my personality. And while I am not my hair, my hair is surely a significant part of me. What's in a look? Well, I guess it's whatever the parts are that define you. Ultimately, you can choose. What's in your look?
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