The Shameless Life Podcast

Today's guest has such a beautiful love story and she's here to share the deets! She is a momma, wife, and entrepreneur who is on a similar mission as me to help women feel confident, beautiful, and stunning in the skin they are in! She is the blogger behind Carmen Renee Blog and host of a new blog called Go! Girl! Grow! Today she is here to share her journey and talk about finding balance (if there's such a thing) to motherhood, marriage, and entrepreneurship. Here's what we cover: Who is Carmen Renee in a nutshell?What's your love story? Tell us the journey of how you and your husband met to now.What's something you can share about blogging that most people don't know about?Were your pregnancies planned or unexpected? Can you talk about if you had a timeline for your life and the thought behind marriage and motherhood?After becoming a mommy, did blogging get harder?When you became a mom, what was the biggest surprise for you? Maybe something that you weren't expecting that no one told you about?Do you believe in having balance? And if so, what does that look like for a full-time mom, wife, and entrepreneur?It's important to have support from your partner when you have children and you're doing your own thing, how does your husband support you and your business?Let's talk about the growth of your blog. Blogs aren't immediately profitable or easy to monetize, how long was your blog a passion project before it turned profitable?What advice do you have for the moms who are listening who want to start a blog or passion project? How can they quickly grow and monetize or prepare themselves to be consistent even when no money is flowing in?What's next for Carmen?Connect w/ Carmen:InstagramWebsite:www.carmenrenee.com

Today's guest is a good friend of mine whose love story and personal growth I got to personally witness. When we first met, she was single and mingling and sometimes looking for the wrong things, in the right places (we've all been there)! She has spent time doing personal development which led her to finding her person and now starting a family. Today she is here to talk about What You Want vs NEED In A Man. Let's welcome Cece Liles What we cover: Who is Cece in a nutshell?What was Cece like when she was single?What things did you WANT in a guy that you realized you actually didn't need?When did you realize that you were dating the wrong types of guys or looking for all the wrong things?What advice would you give to the ladies listening who want to make sure that they are looking for the RIGHT things in a guy?What things did you have to work on in order to be your best for your relationship?What are your thoughts on counseling? Do you recommend it to single women and couples?Tramas & Daddy IssuesWhat are some helpful resources outside of counseling to help women in their journey of becoming their best?How do you know when you find the right person?Connect w/ Cece:Instagram

I hope you ladies are ready for this gem-dropping beauty who uses full transparency about her past experiences to encourage others to take control of their lives and relationships. Today's guest is known for her openness and honesty about her life and the choices she has made. Her popular blog hits on her brutally honest and transparent stories exploiting her own experiences and personal life, talking about controversial subjects like dating as well as fitness and fashion. Let's welcome, Chey Starr. What we cover:1. Who is Chey Starr in a nutshell?2. When & why did you decide to be so transparent with your brand?3. Let's talk sex...as you know, Dre & Bre are waiting for marriage. What are your thoughts on this?4. How do you think sex affects a relationship?5. Have you ever been cheated on? If so, how has that affected you?6. What advice do you have for the women who have been cheated on and now have trust issues because of it?7. How do you know when you are in a toxic relationship and what is your advice for someone who knows they need to leave but doesn't know how?8. How has your upbringing shaped the way you think of men and relationships?9. What should women do in order to heal from their past and find a healthy relationship?10. Do you have any helpful resources you recommend (podcasts, books, people on social media?)11. How can our listeners stay connected with you and your brand?Resources: The YouTube DoctorConnect w/ Chey:Instagram

Today's guest is a pro at breaking barriers. As the youngest black woman dispensary owner, this serial entrepreneur has been breaking barriers her entire life. After graduating from Spelman College, she danced professionally for the NFL, excelled in investment banking, featured on a TV Reality Show, and launched a series of businesses, and now is a well-known speaker and entrepreneur. Today, she's here to share her story and give tips and tools for breaking barriers in your everyday life and business! Let's welcome Hope Wiseman.Here's what we cover:Who is Hope in a nutshell?Breaking Barriers takes balls, have you always been confident in yourself and your ability to go after what you wanted or is it something you had to learn and practice?What advice do you have for women who want to build their confidence to believe they can do whatever they want to do?How do you think your upbringing contributes to your success in business?Did you always think you would be a business owner or did you stumble into it?Being as successful as you are, how did it affect your dating life?You are juggling so many different projects, how do you stay organized and on top of it all?You have a physical store in Maryland with employees and hire teams of people to work on your projects, what advice do you have for someone listening who is ready to hire for help?What are 3 resources you can share with our listeners to help them build their confidence or business?What are 3 things you wish you knew then that you know now?What can we expect next from Hope?How can our listeners connect and stay in touch with Hope?Resources:Never split the difference bookEOS bookTraction bookConnect w/ Hope:InstagramWebsite

When I first started this podcast I did an episode titled “Body Confidence” (episode number 22 if you want to take a listen. Since then, I have personally struggled with wanting to be perfect by my wedding day, putting unrealistic expectations on myself and have been working a lot to free myself of that mindset and just choose to love myself and focus on more than what I see in the mirror. I know that as women, we all have this struggle. No matter our age, race, shape or size, we all have flaws and inner insecurities because of them. Today's guest is the definition of confidence. From shaking off gender norms to being a plus size dancer in Los Angeles, Jenzi Russel has built a brand around simply being confident. Today we are going to talk about Body Positivity! Today's guest is the one and only Jenzi Russel!Here's What We Cover:1. Who is Jenzi in a nutshell?2. How did you first get into dancing?3. Being plus-size in the dance industry, what have been your biggest struggles?4. Have you always been comfortable in your skin or have you ever struggled with confidence? Give us details5. What advice would you give to the women who are listening who struggle with loving the skin they're in?6. What advice would you give to someone who is looking to get into the dance industry?Follow Jenzi

I am a huge fan of today's guests! She is a Certified Personal Trainer, Group Fitness Instructor, and Weight-loss and Nutrition coach who helps women create a sustainable solution for long-lasting health, happiness, and confidence! She uses her social media platform to motivate and inspire women to be confident in their fitness journeys by posting super helpful videos and tips and pointing out the myths and lies about weight loss and fitness. Today she is here to help us transform our minds and bodies. Let's welcome, Gina Amin!PROMO ALERT:Beginners Guide to Fitness. This guide is for women who are not sure how to start their fitness journey. There will be videos, a workout plan, recipes, tips on sleep, mindset, and a lot more. It is the ultimate beginner's fitness guide that is not only going to be your standard workout plan. Get it now at www.workout-with-gina.com Here's what we cover:Who is Gina Amin in a nutshell?Tell us about your own personal transformation and how it has encouraged or inspired you to be the coach that you are today.In order to have a mind and body transformation, the mindset comes first. Walk us through your process for helping women achieve the right mindset in order to successfully transform their mind and bodies.Nutrition is a huge part of a successful transformation, how can the women listening make sure they are putting the right things in their body?You mentioned in a recent post that in order to get abs, it's not about the number of crunches but instead, being in a deficit. Can you explain this method to our audience?Once we have the mindset and the nutrition, it's time to focus on our physical bodies. What advice do you have for women just starting out or women who work out regularly but have plateaued?There are a lot of myths about weight loss, can you shed light on the real? As women, how much of our confidence do you think is affected by the way that we look? As a personal trainer, what is the number one thing your clients struggle with and how do you help them overcome it?How can women who have busy schedules commit to a healthier lifestyle?What tips do you have for someone who has a plan but is struggling to commit to it?Connect w/ Gina:InstagramWebsite

Today's guest is an experienced Life Coach, Mentor, & Educator. She specializes in spiritual development, personal growth, and professional enhancement. Her areas of expertise include professionalism, self improvement, healing, and relationships. Today she is here to talk about her 5 steps for reaching your fullest potential. Let's welcome Dr. India Hall!PROMO ALERT:Dr. India Hall is offering powerful virtual courses that are life changing ! The course topics are maintaining healthy relationships, cultivating peace, personal development, spiritual growth, healing from past hurts & more ! These courses can be accessed at www.drindiahallschool.com ! You don't want to miss this amazing opportunity! Here's What We Cover:Who is India Hall in a nutshell?Where did your passion for being a life coach come from?For anyone listening who wants to get into coaching, what is your advice for the first steps to take?We know that you also do mentorship, today, it's hard to find a good mentor. What should our listeners look for in a mentor and how should they go about reaching out to them?Before we get into the 5 steps of reaching your full potential, what are 3 signs that you're not actually tapping into your fullest potential?Step 1: Knowing what God has called you to (Team up with God)Step 2: Nourish/Fuel your passions (Feed the Beast) Step 3: Mentorship (Save yourself time & stress)Step 4: Stay Motivated & Focused (Stay Resilient) Step 5: Trust God in the ProcessConnect w/ India:InstagramWebsite

This world needs happier women! Don't you agree? Today's guest is the founder of the Reminder Remedy, a Positive Psychology-based coaching company that educates women on how to create a life worth living. She is an expert in self-discovery, building relationships, and cultivating happiness. Today she will share with us some methods and tools for being happy and whole and remembering to give ourselves permission to be human! Today's guest is Alena Conley!Here's what we cover: Who is Alena Conley in a nutshell?How did your business come about? You have a program that helps women become happier in life. Tell us about it.Let's talk about self discovery, explain to our listeners what self discovery is and what it looks like.On this podcast, we love working SMART, not hard! You often talk about “doing more with less” can you explain the idea of this?Walk us through your 3 Positive Psychology Tools new State of Your Life Assessment and how we can use it to become happier and more productive. (switching out the freebie this week)Can you walk us through how you help your clients get for Lasting Results in your Lifecrafting Program?Being the expert that you are (and still remembering that you too are human) what do you do when you have days of not feeling your happiest?Being a momma of 4, what are your biggest challenges with running your business?What things do you have going on or coming up that we should be on the lookout for?How can our listeners find you and stay connected with you and your business?Links:State of Your Life Assessment 3 Positive Psychology Tools to become happier and more productiveReminder Remedy Coaching Follow Alena ConleyFollow The Reminder Remedy

There has been an obvious shift with Instagram content. Reels are KING on IG and if you're anything like me, you might be struggling to keep up with the trend. I am so excited because today's guest has been killing the reel game and is here to help us do the same! She more than tripled her following in a couple of short months all by posting reels! She's a Makeup Artist, Photographer & Business Strategist who empowers entrepreneurs and helps them market their brands visually. She is my reel inspiration (no pun intended) and I'm excited to share her with you! Here's what we cover: First, tell us about your journey of entrepreneurship. Where did you start....and how did you get to where you are now.What has your journey been like with Instagram and content creation?When and how did you get confident with creating content?What were your thoughts when Reels were first introduced to IG?How do you find inspiration for your reels?Walk us through your process of batch working your reel content.How can someone create reels but stay authentic to themselves and their brand?What equipment is actually needed in order to create, edit and post reels? (space, equipment, editing tools, etc.)You have mastered doing reels to audio where you have to mouth the words. How? What's your process and tips for those types of videos?For someone who is new to creating reels, what's your advice?What can we expect next from Nazsare?How can our listeners stay connected and learn more about you and your services?InstagramWebsitePresets

Today's guest is dropping all the gems for becoming a paid influencer. As founder of “Got Influence” this full time momma & wife has been able to build a 6-figure brand that happened organically just by being her true authentic self and helping as many people as she can along the way. We talk about the in's and out's of the influencer world and even touch on knowing your “why”, being productive and the not-so-fun parts about being an influencer. PROMO CODE:SHAMELESS for 20% off all of my influencer education productsHere's what we cover: 1. Who is Tina Meeks in a nutshell?2. Everyone wants to be an influencer now of days but most people don't actually know what it takes. Can you break down the "real" behind being an influencer?3. What are the first steps someone should take if they want to start getting influencer opportunities?4. What do brands and PR companies look for in an influencer?5. What is your process for getting and closing influencer opportunities? Do you have a monthly goal or structure that you follow?6.  Since being an influencer is not the normal 9-5 can you explain what your average day or week looks like?7. What tips or tools do you suggest for being productive and having a schedule when you don't have to clock into the office?8. How do you balance running a multi 6-figure brand and being a wife and momma of 3 full-time?9. Tell our listeners about your "Got Influence" coaching program and how they can learn more about it or sign up. 10. What can we expect from Tina next? Anything cool coming up?11. How can our listeners stay connected with you and your brand?Connect With Tina:InstagramWebsiteResources: Got Influence E-BookGot Influence CoachingPROMO CODE:SHAMELESS for 20% off all of my influencer education products

I have been getting a lot of questions about turning passion into profit….so I thought we should have someone who has experienced first hand, what it's like to go from having a thought and turning it into their reality. Today's guest was a full-time nurse who used painting as an outlet but then turned it into her business and is now known for her dope art, viby events and is making profit from her passion.Episode Questions: Who is Calli Rae? - Tell us your story When did you discover your passion for art?Did you have any fears of building your brand as an artist or starting to charge for your work?What was the first step that you took towards committing to turning your passion into profit?What has been your biggest challenge as an artist?You now have a manager, tell us how that came about and what you recommend to others who are looking for help to get their work out there.You now have an art studio, tell us about the timing of that and what you would recommend for someone who is new to pursuing their passion and looking to invest in themselves. How does social media and networking play a role for the profit you make?Has growing your following helped you gain more opportunities?What are 3 things you wish you knew at the beginning of your journey that you can share with our listeners?Connect With Calli: Personal Instagram Art By Calli Instagram Website

Now of days, it's normal to work a 9-5 job while pursuing your passion on the side. In a world filled with entrepreneurs, how do you know where to start or what to do when you have a passion but aren't ready to go full time with it? Well….you start a side hustle! Today's guest is an expert at balancing her career while mastering her side hustle. She is a professional dancer, creative and founder and CEO of Authentic Martian. Let's welcome my good friend Kayo Kolee.  Episode Questions:What inspired you to create a side hustle?What were the first steps you took in launching your side hustle?What was your biggest challenge or fear?How do you balance your hustle while maintaining your full-time career? How do you utilize social media to grow your hustle? What are your tips for those listening who want to commit to starting a side hustle?What's the difference between a “hobby” and a “side hustle”Explain the difference between “having” a side hustle and “mastering” your side hustle.What are 3 tools every side hustler needs in their back pocket?Where can we stay connected and learn more about Kayo & Authentic Martian? Connect With Kayo:Follow KayoFollow Authentic MartianShop Authentic Martian: www.authenticmartian.comResources: AudioBook: "The Go Giver"Hardcover: "The Go Giver"

Get 10% off any F28 Agency Services to the first 28 Shameless Podcast listeners and community who Go to F28Agency.comBook their Free Consult and entering "SHAMELESS" in all caps in the REFERRED BY line so we can apply that SHAMELESS discount code should you proceedToday I have the pleasure of speaking with someone who is known for executing strategies to ensure manifestation and freedom for creatives and entrepreneurs. She is a CPA turned entrepreneur who is passionate about helping others leverage their time and make more money! She is the creator of “Vision to Fruition” and founder of “F28 Agency” which helps founders, small business owners and entrepreneurs create the infrastructures necessary to scale on auto-pilot. Without further ado, let's welcome Fallon Rice Scott.This episode covers:The 6-Pillars of Stress Free Entrepreneurship. Pillar 1: Content   Pilar 2: Capture Pilar 3: ConvertPilar 4: Coins Pilar 5: ContractsPilar 6: Client FulfillmentProject Management Systems: Asana Trello Click Up CRM Systems: DubsadoVcita Connect with Fallon:@thefallonrise: https://www.instagram.com/thefallonrice/?hl=en@f28agency: https://www.instagram.com/f28agency/?hl=enWebsite: https://f28agency.com/

I don't know about you...but I'm ready for some transparent convo! In today's society, it's so important for women to support other women! The best way to do that is to share our stories, the things we know and the lessons we've learned. Today's guest is someone who has her hands in a lot of different things and is here to talk about her doctorate degree, building confidence, having a non-profit and so much more!Amazon Affiliate: https://www.instagram.com/amazoninfluencerprogram/?hl=enPersonal Page: https://www.instagram.com/dr.laurenelise/Business Page: https://www.instagram.com/thesocialmediadr/Non-Profit Page: https://www.instagram.com/adjustyourcrownmentoring/Doggie Page: https://www.instagram.com/cocochanel1109/

Jordynn & Bre tell all! Hear the story of how we met as freshmen in college and now have a 6-figure business together! Jordynn is the person who introduced me to GOD and to DRE! Yes, she is a blessing to say the least haha. Hear all about it now!Questions we cover in this episode: 1. What made us get into branding and social media?2. What is our biggest struggle with being entrepreneurs?3. What is the best advice we can give someone looking to start a business?4. What is the best advice we can give to someone looking to do what we do?Follow Us On IG: @breannaaponte @jodrynn.nicholson

Today's episode is super special because it is my very first time featuring a guest! As you guys know, I dedicated 2020 to connecting with you, being transparent, sharing my story, and giving you all my tips and tricks for living shamelessly, being your best self, and creating a life you love. Well, a huge part of being shameless is being supportive of other women and their success stories. I want this to be a space where you can learn from other like-minded women but also have access to different resources and helpful tools outside of just myself. This world is filled with amazing women and I can't wait to have some of them on this show!Our first guest is a self-made millionaire who turned an idea into a powerhouse! She is a woman of God who is all about making an IMPACT! Instagram:@mayaelious@builttoimpack @rebeliousfitWebsite: https://www.mayaelious.com/

 If you're looking to start launch and grow a podcast. This episode is for you. It's really a great way for you to build up your community and build relationship with the people based on who you serve. So for me, it allows me to build my connection and relationship with the women who follow my brand.So in this episode, I will be covering what you need to think of before you start what you need to do to create an actually get the podcast up and running how you are going to launch, and then what you need to know when it comes to growing. Before Starting:Now, the first thing that when you do is just brainstorm some ideas. You want to come up with a name, a topic, and a mission. Name Your name is the actual name that your podcast would be known by. TopicThe topics should be related also to the title or name of your podcast. MissionThe mission is ultimately what you are helping people do by listening to your episodes. So for example, mine is helping women create a life. They love that is the mission. The next thing you want to do is get the proper equipment. USB mic and stand and you can easily get this on Amazon. An editing software, such as garage band  which is free.A laptop to connect the mic and edit on.A way to create your branding because it is super important since this is going to be what people see when they are coming to your podcast.Making a Buzzsprout account.Create: Create Podcast Intro & Outro. You want to figure out what words do you want people to hear at the very beginning and at the very end of your episodes and then find a song that you feel matches the types of content that you're going to be creating. Which you will need to pay for license-free music: https://elements.envato.com/audiohttps://audiojungle.net/Determine Post Schedule & Launch Date: I would make your launch date the same day that you're going to plan on posting on a weekly basis.Create Topics :Create as many different topics, suggestions that you could possibly think of. And here's the thing you want to talk about things that people actually want to hear about. Create Scripts (use this as blog posts):This is completely optional, but scripts is a way for you to read through your podcast episodes, to ensure that you don't miss anything and that you don't talk in circles.  Film & Edit Episodes : Batch working makes things so much simpler. So all  I do is I'll create, let's say three, four months of episodes and then I'll sit down in one day and I'll film them all at the same time. The same day that I filmed them is the same day that I edit them and up load them to Buzzsprout and add details. Upload Template & Audio into Wavee Next you need to create templates and you can use your templates in a app called wave. It's an audio graphic  where you sync over your audio, and then you have this cool graphic with little waves that are going by where people can listen to a snippet of your episode. Launch:  Post to IG Story each week Adapt your content calendar if need be Get a 1 page website so you can start growing an email list 

What you need to know before you start: Know Your Brand (the type of content to represent your brand) Know Your Audience (the type of content that relates & serves your audience)Know Your Aesthetic (the way your content should look)What you need for your shoot: Inspo:  having your inspo is super important because your inspo will be the thing that kind of guides you to choose your locations, um, to figure out what you're going to wear. And ultimately will be the thing that ties together, all of your content, looking consistent enough for your page to have that aesthetic that you're going for.Locations:Keep it super simple. , I just pick a spot and I take a photo that I think makes sense. So for example, if I'm going to shoot in my kitchen, that type of content would probably be things that align with talking about morning routines or eating healthy, or having a balance. So you want to think what locations make sense for what type of content. Natural Light or Proper Lighting:You really want to stick with the natural lighting, but if you cannot find a space that has big windows, or if you aren't able to create content during the day, then you might need to order some lights. Amazon has some very affordable studio lights. You can use ring lights, you can use softbox lights, there's no specific brand that's going to do the magic trick. But ultimately natural light is King. So if you can just take content during the day in front of some windows, your content is gonna look really good, whether you're taking your pictures with a phone or with a camera.Looks: We have to pull your looks and your looks is everything.  Clothing wise that we can see in the photo. So if you're not shooting full body pictures, you don't have to include shoes. If you are not shooting, you know, like any extracurricular things where you're out and about, or on the go, you maybe don't need to include purses or, you know, yoga bags or water bottles or anything like that. So find your looks based on your locations and the overall messaging of what you want that photo to say.The thing to pay attention to when it comes to looks is color. Color is so important because again, you are looking to have an aesthetic on your page, right? You want people to come to your page and be like, wow, this looks so good. It flows, it's balanced, it's consistentShoot Agenda :All of your content is different. You don't want to take 12 pictures in 12 different looks in 12 different locations on a computer doing the exact same thing in every photo. That's weird. You want a balance. So think of all the different things that you could be doing that would showcase or highlight the things that are most important to you in your brand, and then take photos of that. So now at this point we have our inspo, we have our locations, we have lighting, we have our looks and we have our shoot agenda.What you need to edit: Facetune : I use face tune to whiten up my like white backgrounds and things like that It also allows you to patch out unwanted clutter in your photos. So for example, outlets, I hate seeing outlets and light switches in my photos. So I'll go in and I will patch out those thingsPhone Filters or Presets (optional) :if you don't know what you're doing, just don't use it. But if you have some experience or if you've been watching tutorials or playing around, you can definitely take advantage of using a filter or preset on all of your content.  What you need to organize your content:Preview UNUM Planoly 

As a social media and brand coach, the number one question I get is “how can I grow my following?”. The answer to this question can be broken down into so many different parts but today I am going to break down 4 of them!The 4 things that I'm going to break down to you are realistic things that you can change TODAY to get better results with your social media!1. Profile imageAs simple as it sounds, a profile image can make the difference between a follower and non follower. Especially if you have a private account because the only thing someone can make a judgement from is your profile image.2. Bio Your bio is the best way for someone to quickly learn who you are, what you do, who you do it for, and how they can get involved. There are 2 main problems I see with peoples bios.Too simplistic. Stop trying to be cute with the basic bios, acting like you're too cool to put yourself in a category or box! If you have a brand or business, you should WANT to be put into a category and box. That's the number one way someone who needs what you have can find you and identify you.Too extra. Stop lying! Don't list things in your bio that don't align with your page and content. If you have high profile labels like CEO, Entrepreneur, Model, Business Owner, Creator, etc. people are going to be expecting content that shows you not just talking the talk, but walking the walk! So be real!3. Content People will not follow you just to be nice. People want to be inspired, motivated, encouraged, empowered and impacted in a positive way by what you post. It's not  just about WHAT you post either. It's about the quality of your posts and how your posts look aesthetically from a grid perspective. There is a difference between good content and good social media content. You want your page to have a balanced flow and pretty aesthetic that makes your potential follower feel welcomed and eager to see more of your content. 4. Your Target Audience Doesn't Know You Exist The most simplest yet challenging reason why you're not growing  a following is because the people who need you, don't know you exist. It's simple. If you have 5k followers and think that you will magically get to 10k by posting a lot, you're mistaken. Now, the slim chance that one of your pics or videos go viral is always an option but like I said, the chances are slim. I manually and personally grew my following to where it is now by simply targeting my ideal audience. The people who need what I offer but don't already follow me or know of me. How? you ask? Simple. I find women who have similar brands as mine and then engage with their followers. My engaging, leads to them noticing me, which leads to them coming to my page, which leads to them liking what they see (because the other steps that I just mentioned are on point) and then once they view my content and read a couple of captions, they decide to follow! 

Resolutions don't work for 4 reasons.1. They're all about what you think you should do.Typically a resolution is based on what you think you should be doing, rather than what you really want to be doing.Too often, resolutions are decided upon by looking at other peoples expectations or by reading a magazine that tells you how to ‘get fit by summer'.2. Resolutions are like goals.Some resolutions are like goals in that they're about getting more of something. The problem is that as soon as you set yourself a goal you're saying to yourself that you want more in your life than you have right now. The very nature of goals make you look forwards at what's next, never at what you've got right now.Goals have the tendency to make you feel less-than, because there's something you don't have now that you aspire to have in the future.  Goals introduce a gap between where you are and where you'd like to be, which instantly makes part of where you are right now a place you don't want to be – and this is how the very nature of having goals can hurt your self-confidence and self-esteem.3. There's no motivation or commitment.The problem is that you're taking something that doesn't mean anything to you and trying to make it happen.  What you need is something more fundamental, more central and more important to you. What you need is something that comes from the inside, something that's based on what's important and what matters most to you.That's the only way to get behind it, have confidence in it and keep the motivation and commitment going.4. The timing's all wrong.Not only are you coming off the back of the holidays and getting back to the harsh realities of the world, but you see the whole of the year stretching ahead of you and summer's a whole 6 months away.And what kind of person waits all  year to make a choice about something anyway?  Why wait for one particular day to make a decision, when there are 364 other equally great decision-making days available to you?There are two main lines of brain and behavior science that influence New Year's resolutions: 1. The science of habits2. The science of self-stories.

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Here's my steps for being authentic on social media: 1. Determine who you are:Determine who you are and who you want to connect with. Remember, this is the foundation. If you don't know this, you will be lost in the sauce. 2. Determine your overall “why” Why are you on social media? Are you trying to build a brand or business? Wanting to inspire and motivate others? Sharing your experiences and life with friends/family? Maybe you don't really know and need to dedicate the time to figure this out.3. Create intentional & aligned content Once you know who you are, who you're connecting with and why you're on social media, create a list of all the things you look forward to sharing and posting about. THEN, once you have that list, find creative ways to capture content that aligns with those things while staying authentic to who you are.4. Be intentional about your captionsRemember, your words shape your brand and directly reflect the type of person you are. Your captions are the equivalent of you standing on stage with a microphone, everyone's listening, what are you going to say and how will it affect others?5. Show your true self. Get comfortable with posting pictures and stories without filters, overly edited effects, or anything that doesn't highlight your true self. You're beautiful! You don't need those filters. You want someone to see you in person and still recognize who you are. Don't hide behind the filters, they will subconsciously bring down your self-esteem. 6. Be consistent with your authenticityRemain true to yourself by not allowing your competitors or other people to influence what you do or how you do it. I know this can be hard at times but practice makes perfect. Continue to remind yourself that you are the only you and the world needs ya!LINKS: Book a Call

Thanks for coming back to part 2 of "Reasons Entrepreneurs Fail".5. Lack of PreparationIt's important to properly plan, strategize and execute during the preparation stages of your brand or business. I'll break each of these down. Planning: the process of making plans. So many people try to start a brand or business without even having a logical plan for doing it. Strategizing: Your strategy is the HOW of your preparation stage. It's how you plan on completing each of the things included in your plan. Executing: carrying out or putting into effect a plan, order, or course of action.6. Lack of Commitment/Consistency Once you are able to plan, strategize, and execute, it doesn't stop there. This is a constant cycle that you will continue as you build your brand or business. You will always be planning, strategizing, and executing. Here is where a lack of commitment shows up. If you're not completely committed to your brand or business you will lose momentum the moment it gets hard. (which it will get hard). It's in those moments that you find out just how committed you really are and whether you can continue forward with consistency or if you fall off and end up having to start all over again later down the road. 7. Lack of AuthenticityStop trying to be someone else or do what others are doing. Young entrepreneurs who succeed do so because they are true to themselves and what makes them unique. They find a niche that aligns with who they are and they master their personal brand by just being true to themselves. It's great to do market research and check-out your competitors but you don't want to become them. You want to stay in your own unique lane finding ways to promote what you offer while remaining true to your authentic self. 8. Lack of Support So many entrepreneurs try to maintain and grow their brand or business alone but it becomes overwhelming, creating self-doubt and stress which ultimately leads to quitting. It's important to know your strengths and weaknesses so you can properly outsource certain tasks that you're not good at or that take up too much of your time. 9. Lack of Systems Having a business idea is not the requirement for operating a business. Ontop of having a great idea, you must also create great services or products, a great customer experience, a workflow process and automation for your business and social media platforms. 10. Lack of Awareness/Marketing Even if you mastered all of the previous 9 steps, no one would know about your brand or business without proper awareness and marketing. The reason why I teach people how to organically grow their Instagram following is that it's a FREE way to gain awareness and market yourself online. What you're doing doesn't matter if the people who need what you have don't know that you exist.  Until next time, be shameless!LINKS: Mentorship WaitlistCourse Bundle

There are many reasons why some entrepreneurs fail at maintaining and growing a brand/business but I'll be breaking down the top 10 reasons in this 2 part series. 1. Limited Beliefs  A limiting belief is a state of mind, conviction or belief that you think to be true that limits you in some way. This limiting belief could be about you, your interactions with other people, or with the world and how it works.You will never be able to succeed at entrepreneurship if you're limiting yourself and your beliefs. Stop thinking small, it's time to dream BIG! You have to get to the point where you believe you are capable of anything you put your mind to. Think outside of the box. Stop looking at what everyone else is doing and ask yourself…”What do I want to do?” No idea is too big, you simply have to have a vision, believe in, strategize, and commit to the smaller goals that will ultimately get you to that big picture vision you have.  2. Lack of ConfidenceWhen you finally kick limiting beliefs to the curb, you then have to have the confidence to see your vision through. I've mentored so many women who put in the initial time and work into launching a business but because of their lack of self-confidence, they end up giving up before they gave themselves a real chance. Having confidence in yourself and your ability or value you provide to the people you're helping is a huge factor of whether or nor not you succeed. You have to dismiss the limiting beliefs and allow your confidence to be your driver. You have to believe in yourself, otherwise, no one else will. 3. Lack of KnowledgeOnce you have let go of limiting beliefs and gained the confidence you need to succeed, you need to be knowledgeable about whatever it is you're wanting to do. Imagine trying to promote something you have little to no knowledge of. I see so many people right now trying to be social media managers or social media coaches but they don't even have their own social media together. How can you help me with my social media if you can't even help yourself? If your social media looks like crap, you have a low following and no brand identity how could you possibly help me with all of those things?You are a walking billboard for your brand. Whatever it is you're wanting to share and offer to the world, you must be knowledgeable on it. If you call yourself an “expert” you should have all the answers. You should be able to articulate what you do, who you do it for, and how they can get involved.4. Lack of Skill It's great to have the confidence and knowledge to do something but skill is a whole other monster. Skill is the ability to do something well. It's the thing that makes you considered an “expert” in your field. The best way to showcase your skills is to build a portfolio. Before asking anyone to give you money for a product or service, you have to show proof that the service works or that the product is good.Now keep in mind that as an entrepreneur, you will constantly perfect your skills and products. As more time goes on, you will naturally increase your skillset and the quality of your products. Just make sure you do the necessary work in the preparation stage before accepting payments. Which brings us to the #5 reason entrepreneurs fail….. We will pick back up here next week with part 2 of “Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Fail”.Until next time..... Be Shameless!LINKS: Mentorship WaitlistCourse Bundle

1. Research & Make A PlanThis first step is a given and it's also something I talk about frequently. Researching and making a plan is the best way to gain the confidence you need to start something. The research will help you prepare and have knowledge on whatever you're doing in order to create a great plan.2. Excellence Isn't Required for GrowthNow that you've done the research and have a plan, remember that you don't have to be excellent to grow. Your growth will come from the act of trying new things, putting yourself out there and always striving for your goals. No, it won't be perfect and it won't be easy, but what in life is? Abandon the idea of perfecting the process and instead strive for progress. 3. It's More Important to Start, Than to SucceedWhen I look at my life now, everything that I'm successful in started from a failure. Your path will lead you to places you couldn't have imagined but in order to get there you have to start. The longer it takes you to start, the longer it will take you to succeed. 4. Don't Compare Yourself To ANYONEStop looking at the gram and comparing yourself to people who you know nothing about. You are titled to have desires and to live the life you want but don't base those things off what you see other people doing, what they have or how they live.Be your own person. If you don't you'll never make the leap to start anything because your motives are misplaced. You can't want something just because someone else has it, you have to look deep down at who you are and what you want out of life in order to get the balls to actually go after it. 5. Create Accountability Once you make the choice to start, what's going to hold you accountable? Choosing to start is amazing but having a plan to commit to it is even better!What can you set up with your plan to hold you accountable? Is there a person who can help? A system you can put in place? Think about it and find something that works for you!6. Reward Yourself Once you have an accountability plan in action, set up a reward system. How can you create benchmarks and different rewards to help keep you on track and motivated?For example, Orange Theory was my accountability partner and my rewards were massages. Each week, if I showed up to all 6 classes, I would get a massage on the 7th day!Your reward should be something that you really enjoy and that makes sense for what you're working towards. For example if my reward was fudge brownies (even though I love them) they would not be helping me with achieving the goal of getting in shape.Be creative! Your rewards could be given as often as it makes sense depending on your goal and how long it will take to achieve it. 7. Never Give Up Starting is great! Now that you're finally doing it, remember not to give up! Create a list of all the reasons why you want to accomplish your goal as a reminder to not give up when things get tough!Put your list somewhere where you can see it daily! If you forget the reasons behind what you're doing, you might fall off the track and never get back on. I'm so thankful for the day that I decided to start something. That 1 thing led into so many other things but it all stemmed from that one day! That one moment of abandoning fear, committing to becoming my best self, and creating the life I always wanted!

1. Create a plan from start to finish In order to work smart, you need to know exactly what the plan is in order to properly execute it. Creating the plan is simply understanding the steps of what's needed in order to accomplish the goal. The plan provides a step by step guide for what needs to be done in order to reach the goal which in this case was creating and launching a podcast. 2. Think of everything In order to work smart, you need to think of all the things that will allow you to get the max results with minimal effort. For example, I realized that I could use the podcast scripts and turn them into blog posts. Allowing me to launch both a podcast AND a blog without adding additional work to my workload. Max results, minimum effort. 3. Do proper research or outsource Once you have your plan and you've thought about all the other possible things that could help your process and plan, research what you need to and outsource what you need to. If you're going to do it, do it right! 4. Batch Work Batch working is literally my lifesaver. If you truly know me, you know that I hate being on social media and I hate taking pictures. I know, this doesn't add up at all with what you see or probably assumed of me but that's because I've mastered the art of batch working. I understand the importance of social media and because my businesses thrive off of it, I have to be intentional with it. 5. Automate Automation is by far the number one time-saver! You will make your life soooo much easier once you start to automate. You can automate everything from social media posts to emails and newsletters. Think about all the things that you currently do or would need to do on a weekly basis and automate them so that you only have to worry about it 1x a month instead of weekly!Or if you're really prepared, automate 1x every 6 months like I do! It's amazing to go on with my life and know that every week, my subscribers are getting a blog post, a podcast episode, a YouTube video, social media postings, and updates via email! Allowing me the proper time to dedicate to bigger projects, my clients and my loved ones!If you haven't already listened to episodes 15, 16 and 17 which talk about the power of saying no, setting boundaries and finding balance, that would be the perfect place to start. Because in order to work smart, you have to have your priorities figured out and you have to be able to say no to things that don't align with your goals and waste your time. Once you have that down, you can start with step 1 of shifting your mindset in order to work SMART, not hard, create a plan, execute the plan, batch work and automate. This won't be easy at first but practice makes perfect. If you truly want to reach your biggest goals, follow in the footsteps of those who have reached goals of their own. Most likely your friends and family won't be able to help you because chances are, they've never done it themselves. So get around people who are where you want to be or who have like minded values as you. Listen to podcasts, just like you are now. Read books, do your research! Your goals aren't as far away as you think they are, trust me I know!Put in the work to prepare yourself, dedicate yourself to execute your plan and use these tips to work SMART, not hard. I hope you enjoyed this episode and until next time, be shameless!

1. Determine your biggest goals.Sky's the limit! I want you to dream BIG! Throw reality out of the window and really dream. These goals are what I consider life-time goals, meaning in your life, what do you overall want to achieve. 2. Break Down Your Biggest GoalsNow, the work begins. If you're aware of the end goal, you can start seeing what would really need to happen in order for you to get there. The big goals are so large that you have to break them down in order to feel they are actually possible for you and not just some crazy and wild dreams.Take the list of big goals and for each one of them, create a list of things from small to big that align with reaching that goal. 3. Prioritize & PlanNow that you have your big goals and sub-goals, it's time to prioritize and put together an action plan. You CANNOT go after all your goals at once, you will overwhelm yourself, fall short, and give up. Look at your list of goals and choose 1-3 to focus on first. Based on the goal, your plan and timeline will look a little different. Once I have my full visual, I use trello to organize the plan and set deadlines and tasks. Trello is a desktop and mobile app that works as a virtual planner. I look at it everyday! It's the only thing that keeps me organized and allows me to have a daily To-Do list that I know will assist me in reaching my biggest goals. Getting into this habit of working smart instead of hard will be a challenge at first because it's not the norm or something you're used to. But it's the thing that will set you apart and allow you to begin the process of turning your dreams into reality!Next week's episode is all about working SMART, not hard so if this is something you're ready for get ready to tune in!Until next time, be shameless!LINK: Trello 

Here are my tips:1. I always kept an open mindThis means that even when things didn't go as expected, I kept an open mind to finding solutions or other routes to still reach my goals or even just move a little bit closer to them. I've been faced with adversity so many times but I never let it stop me in my tracks. I also had an open mind about HOW I could reach my goals. I was never closed-minded when it came to meeting people or attending events or accepting opportunities.2. Be optimisticBad things are going to happen. It's unfortunately, a part of the process of growth and success. You will make mistakes and you will learn from them and be better off because of them. Never allow yourself to doubt who you are and your purpose in life, even if at the moment you're unsure of what it is. You can be unsure of WHAT your purpose is but never be unsure of if you have one. You do! We all do! And sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom to truly find what that purpose is. 3. Be realistic I say this because I know that from experience when you set the bar too high and don't reach it, you will bring down your confidence and possibly give up altogether. This doesn't mean you don't dream big. It means once you have the dream, once you have the vision, create a realistic plan in order to make that dream come true.4. Be patient & find peace This is the most important part of it all. Your success won't come overnight. You need to be patient through the process and find peace in the journey. 5. Set and reach your goalsThis is by far the biggest factor as to why I am where I am today. I don't just dream and visualize, I create a plan of action with specific smaller goals in order to achieve the overall big goal. So quick recap!Be open-minded to your plans or path changing and the people or opportunities that can help you along the way.Be optimistic and don't allow challenges or mistakes to keep you from going after your dreams. Dream as big as your little heart can dream, but be realistic with your plan so you don't overwhelm yourself and end up giving up before you give yourself a chance!Be patient with the process, it's not an overnight thing. Find peace in who you are and your journey!Set and reach your goals, it's not enough to want something, you have to strategically plan and put in the work to turn your dreams into reality.When I look back, every obstacle, every bad day and every person who said I couldn't make it was all worth it in the long run. My journey is nowhere near over but I'm enjoying every step of the way!If you're ready to get closer to the life you want, keep these 5 tips in mind. In my next episode, I will go into detail about setting and reaching your biggest goals!

First, let me say that entrepreneurship was never an option or thought for me when I went off to college. My dream was to be an early childhood teacher and one day move up to Principal and eventually a college professor. Why? Honestly, I'm not sure. I always loved school and my favorite 1st-grade teacher was the one who inspired me to want to teach. She was filled with so much Joy and made school so much fun! I never really thought about being or doing anything else. No one in my family before me ever went to college so it was something I felt proud about and was excited to accomplish. But as I was going through college I started to feel a shift. I felt a major lack of purpose and was no longer clear about why I actually wanted to become a teacher. Or even what I wanted to teach and why. I knew I wanted to make a difference but the classroom became a confined place that made me feel small and I wanted to impact and make a difference on a larger scale. I had no answers though, I just felt confused and the plan was to finish school and hope that I found clarity in the process. It wasn't until dancing for NBA Cleveland Cavaliers that I started to step into realizing my potential. I had such a bad experience with the organization that it brought an even larger problem to my attention.The lack of confidence and self-esteem that young girls and women have in themselves due to society's standards of “beauty”.I struggled so badly with this that I remember thinking, “I can't be the only one dealing with this”. I started to think about all the women out there who could be struggling with loving themselves, feeling beautiful, and being comfortable in their own skin.Moms who just had a baby and are experiencing something different with their bodies. women who leave abusive relationships and are used to being told they are worthless. Women who never had high self-esteem because of their daddy issues. Women who were sexually assaulted who feel like they are just an object. The list and problems go on. I felt like this was the thing that I could help make a difference with. If I could help myself, I could help others. So I went out on a personal mission to regain my confidence, build my self-esteem, and be an all-around shameless woman who loved herself no matter what!Tune in for more.LINKS: Allabout-it.comallaboutituniversity.com

Yikes yall, I don't even know where to begin. Let me start by saying that the number 1 cause of my felony was my anger and the lack of control I had over my life and my emotions. A little bit of background story so you can clearly picture and understand the night in question. The first time I was ever arrested was due to driving with a suspended license at the age of 19.I was pretty reckless and in a 3-year time span, I was arrested multiple times for driving while under suspension, a DUI, and multiple arrests for assault. Let me explain. There's absolutely no excuse for how reckless I was and I think about this phase of my life often. Truth is, I've always struggled with anger. I'm not afraid of people and always stick up for myself but when I was younger I didn't know how to let things go or know when it was time to be the bigger person.My first fight was at the age of 14. I went to a neighborhood house party with my best friend and her older sisters. It was definitely a party for older kids so I really had no business being there in the first place. It all happened so fast, I remember being in a basement dancing with my friend and chaos breaking out. All I know is I felt pressured by my friend to jump into the fight because her sister and her friends were in the fight and they were outnumbered. I had NO CLUE what I was doing but was afraid of what would happen if I didn't partake. I was shocked at how good I was doing but I also remembered feeling like “why am I doing this, this girl did nothing to me.” All my luck quickly ran out and ya'll no lie, I felt like I was in a movie. I swear It was like a giant stomped over to me, the room got dark and I felt wind against my neck as if I needed to turn around and soon as I did….boom!It felt like I was punched by a man. I didn't fall, but I remember it took a lot out of me to stay standing. I couldn't see so at that point I kind of blanked out and was swinging at anyone who got near me. As the fight ends, my friends were so proud of me for stepping up but I still wasn't over that 1 punch. When I saw who it was who hit me, the only thing I could of was to call my older cousin. This girl had to be 17, 18 years old. She was HUGE. Much taller and much more solid than I was so the last thing I wanted to do was to fight her or have any beef. I went home and I remember my mom being so mad that I came home with a black eye. Let's just say, that was the first and last time I ever got beat up on. From that point on, I was going to make sure that if I got in a fight, I was the one to win. I know this sounds so bad but as a teenager, I looked at fighting as a way to say, “don't mess with me”. Throughout high school, I had a handful of fights and I won each and every fight. Every Time I got into a fight, it was something I couldn't get out of. I was always hit first or put in situations where I had to defend myself or someone else. By the time I started college, I matured and realized that fighting was not cute nor the answer to solve anything but I was also a little cocky in the confidence I had to know that if and when I had to defend myself, I could. So I had a couple of other situations where I felt like my back was against the wall and it ended in fighting. One time a girl who I fought, later on, broke into my car, pressed charges against me, bullied me online, harassed me by calling my phone to the point where I had to change my number. Randomly 1 day while being pulled over for speeding, I was arrested for a warrant I didn't even know I had. The girl had filed an assault claim and I was arrested and held in jail for 5 days over something that had happened months ago. Tune in now!

Here's my tips: 1. Take Small Steps and Ignore Big DramaPerfectionism loves drama. You'll start to notice that even before you've taken any steps toward fulfilling a dream, perfectionism will chime in with endless, berating questions.You can scare yourself into stuckness by assuming you have to make radical life changes in order to make progress. You don't. Real change is practically invisible as it's happening. No trumpets sound. A marching band will not play at your door. Meaningful progress doesn't feel particularly exciting. Most days, it feels like work. You show up, grind it out (sometimes joyfully, sometimes not), and repeat. So keep your eye on the prize: Take small steps daily and steer clear of big drama.2. Plan Ahead For ProblemsNo matter how organized or motivated you are, things will knock you off track. From illness to technology fails to everyday interruptions, there will be loads of obstacles on your path.Anticipating and solving for them in advance is the key to steady progress. 3. Expect (and Embrace) Self-DoubtWhether you're getting in shape, working on your relationship, launching a new business or career, healing from your past, or just going after something new—expect self-doubt to at some point creep in.Remember setbacks happen. They're not “signs from the Universe” that you should quit. (Obviously, if you discover you genuinely don't want to pursue this dream or goal anymore, then yes. Stop. Move on to something else.)4. Ask: What's the Next Right Move?Sometimes the next right move is taking a break to gain a fresh perspective. Go for a run. Work out. Dance. Meditate. Take some space. Call a trusted, experienced, and supportive friend.Or maybe when you ask yourself, “What's the next right move here?” you'll hear a response like, “That feedback stung, but there's truth in it. Use that insight to get even better.” Or maybe you'll hear, “Stop judging yourself and finish this darn thing.” Or perhaps, “Yes, we need to push our deadline back again. But we're not quitting. Let's refocus and keep going.”5. Use the Power of Positive QuittingThere are times when you must be brave enough to cancel projects, goals, or relationships that no longer align with who you are or what you value.Positive quitting is when you realize that you've gone as far as you possibly can. You've given it your very best effort and now it's become clear—in your heart and soul—that the wisest and most productive next step is to cut your losses and move on.6. Be patientCultivate patience.Don't believe the myth that if you were a “real” (artist, performer, activist, scientist, entrepreneur, etc.) that you'd make a full-time living from your work. Perhaps it'll happen someday. But that's not always true, no matter how hard you work. There are countless creatives who are legitimate and admired who also supplement their income through a variety of unrelated means—teaching, seasonal work, service jobs, or rental income.More importantly, there's no shame in doing whatever it takes to keep a roof over your head. Never be embarrassed about doing honest work. There are no shortcuts to getting to where you want to go.If you're not willing to work your butt off over an extended period of time (I'm talking years, not months), then be honest with yourself: that dream isn't really that important to you. That's okay. Drop it. Dig deeper. Find something you are willing to stick with and work for, no matter how long it takes.Life doesn't demand perfection. Life doesn't require you to be constantly fearless, confident, or self-assured. Life simply requires that you keep showing up and continue to progress.

1. Success is a Moving, TargetBe honest: What, really, is success for you?Is it about launching a product or new business?Is it about paying off debt and being financially free?Is it about doing what you love so you can care for your family?Or is it something that kinda, sorta changes as time goes by?Too often, we chase an idea of success that's patched together from what we've read or observed or think we should be aiming for. Sometimes it's built from what we've learned, and sometimes it's based on the things you think success can deliver for you, extrinsic factors like lifestyle, property, status, or vacations.2. Success is a JudgementWe're taught from a young age to elevate success and the successful. Those who create multi-million (or billion) dollar businesses are splashed over magazine covers for us to idolize. So, our success begins to be measured by what they accomplished versus our actual goals.3. Success Isn't Here, NowIt's easy to dream about the moment you become successful. We all tend to fantasize about the big pay-off for all our hard work, the moment when it all comes together, and how it'll feel to finally have made it. So it's funny that this kind of success is always in the future. Just a few more weeks or months away. Just one more challenge or goal. Just a bit more work, and you'll finally be successful.But where does that leave the right now? Feels to me like pinning your hopes on being successful in the future diminishes your value in the right now. Placing your sights on the future to a possible successful event can sometimes be a good motivator (in the short term at least), but you only get to get real success by giving your very best right now, without knowing how things will turn out. Even knowing that you may fail in the process.4. Success Doesn't Result in HappinessResearch shows that even if you have a successful career, money, and good physical health, you wouldn't be happy without supporting, loving relationships.5. Success is Already a LimitationYour sense of self, your sense of identity, your level of self-confidence, and the power that your doubts and fears have over you will all help to paint that picture.If you don't see yourself as the kind of person who can write a novel, you never will. If you think you're too introverted to present to 3,000 people, you'll exclude that possibility. If you don't feel capable enough to go for that promotion, you won't try. A vision of success comes with all of this other scary stuff, and is often tempered and shaped by it. If it's too scary, you make it less scary, or you dismiss it completely. If it's not “you,” you make it more you, something safer and more predictable. And if you don't feel good enough or worthy enough of it, you set your sights much, much lower.Here are the six reasons I find most people struggle to find success—and how to fix them!1. You're not setting goals2. You don't practice accountability3. You're making excuses4. Your network sucks5. You aren't learning6. You're not owning up to things

Having a morning routine helps us set the tone for the day. As we start each day fresh, we can better focus on what is in front of us. A morning routine helps us determine where to prioritize our time, and, ultimately, increase our productivity.Benefits: Studies show that the most successful people, wake up early and have strict morning routines Our brains function at their best first thing in the morning. Which means we should take full advantage of the first couple of hours of our day. Before you begin serving others, their agenda's, emotions, and nonsense, serve yourself! What is it that you need? What are your current goals? What are you focused on accomplishing short term? Who should you be dedicating time to? What are your areas of improvement?Successful people are successful because each and every day, they start their days by giving their most valuable time, to themselves. Really honing in on where they are, where they want to be, and what's going to get them there. Here are the benefits:ConfidenceHaving a morning routine will naturally begin to build and strengthen your self-confidence. Why? Because each and every day, you're choosing to love yourself by giving you the “me time”, personal care and pep talk you deserve. All of the daily rituals you put in place will make you feel better about yourself as you go into your day. Think about it. When you start your day with a goal-oriented mindset, your confidence grows each and every time you accomplish those small goals. Confidence comes from observing and experiencing ourselves doing the things we set our minds to. Every time we accomplish something we said we would, our confidence grows a little bit more!When you start to realize how capable you are of achieving your goals, you will begin to think of yourself in a more positive light. You will have more faith in your abilities and see the potential you haven't really tapped into yet. Productivity A huge benefit that naturally comes with a morning routine is more productivity. Giving yourself intentional time to start your day properly will provide you with the opportunity to be more productive throughout your entire day! You're simply going into the day with a more focused and calm mindset. Not rushing, not feeling behind or stressed out. If you're ready to create a strong morning routine, here are my tips: Throw away the traditional alarm (if it's not your thing)Wake up peacefullyChoose your favorite song or sound over (beep, beep, beep)Let up your window curtains, this will help your body naturally wake up in the morning Create space for a moment of clarity Realize it's time to start the day but have enough time so that you don't have to rush out of bedStart off with gratitude, think of all the amazing things and people in your lifeThink of the things you're going to do to start your day off rightTake a couple of deep breaths & stretches, then get the heck upSelf-CareHave a consistent routine to take care of your body and skin Facial masksSteam TreatmentsWorkout/ExerciseHave a glass of waterEspecially if you don't drink a ton of water throughout the dayYour body needs to be hydrated to function at its best Coffee, Tea, Shake, or Breakfast while you:Read the bibleJournalListen to a sermon or podcastJust take time to think, clear your mind, or prepare for the day 

Right now, I should be married and fully enjoying my husband celebrating that the wait is over. But as y'all know, the world was hit with something no one was prepared for. Due to travel being banded into the Dominican Republic and the safety and concern of our family and friends, we had to cancel the wedding. Now before we get into detail about what we've decided to do and why we decided it, here's the review of the week.So the wait continues….We know God approves of our unity. We just have to make it official. So you would think, why not just go get married? And being honest, I thought the same thing at 1 point. But I have never wanted to get married in a courthouse and miss out on the full experience of enjoying and remembering my fairy tale wedding day. We have been planning this fairy tale wedding for over 2 years. I've been imaging my big day and I don't think it's worth throwing away because of the feeling or desire I have to have sex. I have the rest of my life to have sex but I only have 1 opportunity to experience my wedding day and create a day that I'll cherish for the rest of my life and one day share with my children and grandchildren. At this point, our wait it purely continuing because we know that we want to vow to each other in front of God and our loved ones. Not on zoom or IG live but in a person with the people who matter most to us. The people who will be a part of the rest of our lives. We aren't just marrying each other, we're marrying our families and friends. So many of our loved ones have never even met before because they live in totally different places. Our wedding is a way to bring everyone in one place and fellowship and turn up in celebration of our wait and our unity. If I have to wait another year to have that, I say it's worth it!Our wait allows us to continue putting all our focus on our business, our relationship, and our individual goals. We are thriving in all areas of our lives right now and I know a huge reason for that is our discipline. A discipline that comes from being laser-focused, patient, and consistent. Not that that will end once we start having sex but we definitely plan on enjoying life a whole lot more once we are married. We will be spending a lot of time just traveling and continuing to learn about each other in a more intimate and physical way.  So the more we focus and stay disciplined now, the harder we play once we reach our big day. I am so excited for the day where I finally get to give myself fully Dre. In my eyes, he's already my husband. I don't need a human-created piece of paper to prove that to me. What I do need, is the experience of vowing in front of God and the people we love most.So the wait continues! 

I'm super excited for this episode on body confidence because it's something that like it or not, we ALL struggle with. As women, most of our insecurities come from our physical appearance. We want smaller waists, bigger butts, flawless skin, perfect hair, the list goes on. It's easy to feel less than when we compare ourselves to the models and celebrities we see on TV. Which of whom usually pay for all types of plastic surgery and have professional makeup artists and hairstylists any time they are caught on camera. Unfortunately, that's not the reality for most people. Of course, we want to look good but at what cost? And since when does your physical appearance determine how you should feel about yourself as a wholeBeauty does not come in 1 shape, size or color! But when the world around us puts 1 type of woman on a pedestal, it makes the rest of us feel less than or “not as beautiful”.The goal is to be YOUR best. That means instead of comparing your body to someone else, you're looking at what God gave you and taking the best care of it as you can to ultimately feel and be your best!Here's my tips: 1. Determine what your insecurities are. What are they and why do you have them? Where do they come from? Really take the time needed to think about this. Most of your insecurities aren't surface level, they are buried deep inside and stem from childhood, past relationships and situations.Journal your thoughts, pray on it and ask for clarity and give yourself the necessary time to truly figure it out. It may take 1 day or it may take an entire month to figure out. Be patient and remember the long term goal. If you truly want to feel confident about your body and appearance, a change needs to happen on the inside. 2. Change it or love itDetermine if each insecurity you have is something you can change or something you have to learn to love. This is super important because you need to come to terms that some things may not be able to be changed. The sooner you understand that, the sooner you can start working on accepting it. And if the things can be fixed, determine how. What can you do to change or fix those insecurities?3. Put in the workNow that you know what the insecurities are and whether they can be changed or not, create a plan and put in the work! Look at all the methods of changing or fixing them from step #2 and determine which method is most realistic for you. Then, put a plan into action and get busy! The key is to remember that you are totally in control! You're also human and insecurities are normal. Everyone has them, and everyone struggles with them. Just don't let your insecurities define who you are and how you live your life. Being shameless means loving yourself flaws and all, so as I close out this episode, remember that you are imperfectly perfect and your beauty shines from the inside out!

We always want fast results. We jump from this 30-day challenge to that 7-day detox and then continue life as normal until we feel we're getting too fat again and dive back into some unrealistic diet that leaves us feeling hungry and pissed because we aren't eating what we want to be eating. Each and every one of us have different body types, different genetic makeup, different goals and different versions of what we think “looks good”. So why do we buy into the hype of these 1 size fits all programs?I am seriously thinking about creating a realistic program for different sized women to take control of their lives and get in their best shapes using practical and healthy practices based on individualized goals. Especially because of the amount of knowledge I've learned over the last couple of years. I believe the best way to learn is through experience and this has by far been the most valuable lesson. Getting in my best shape went from being a challenge to being a new lifestyle. Most of the changes happened on the inside of me which brought dramatic changes to my physical appearance. When we shift our way of thinking and build our confidence inside out, we tackle life a little differently. We start to see the glass half full instead of empty and begin to appreciate ourselves and our bodies. I used to hate certain body parts and would get really discouraged because I felt like no matter what I did, they never changed. But in all reality, I was getting discouraged so often that I never actually committed to being consistent with anything long enough to see real results. The harsh truth ladies is this. There are no shortcuts to being healthy and feeling and looking your best. The same way that we learned bad habits like eating before bed, not eating breakfast, not drinking enough water, over seasoning our food, not making exercise a priority or my personal favorite, eating a whole bowl of chipotle in 1 sitting even though we know it has enough calorie intake for the entire day is the same way that we have to change those habits. Cleanses, binge diets and challenges will not change those habits and they definitely don't teach us new ones. Nothing about those methods equal long term practices. So instead, I challenge you to view your toning or weight loss journey differently and begin with your mind first. So if you too are looking to get into your best shape and feel and look amazing, here are my 5 steps: 1. Determine Your “Why”Decide what your reason for changing is. Be detailed and specific. Is it to feel better? Feel more confident? Fit Your Clothes Better? What does your dream body even look like?2. Set Realistic GoalsSetting unrealistic goals will only discourage you when you don't meet them. Start with small and achievable goals and slowly work your way up. 3. Expect Off DaysWe all have them, it's about how we bounce back that counts. Create a plan of action for when you stumble or lose your motivation and momentum. 4. Don't Weigh Your Progress Forget the scale and stop chasing numbers. Judge your progress from what you see in the mirror and how you feel about yourself. 5. Make It A Lifestyle, Not A Challenge Consistency is key! Challenges might give you temporary results but the goal is to be in your best shape long-term. Every day you're making choices to be better, that's called a lifestyle.Free Guide: “The 5 Steps To: Getting in your dream body” 

Learning to be submissive...what does this even mean? Ephesians 5:22-25 says it best, “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. As the church submits to Christ, wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” I love this because it says how the wife should submit to her husband but ends with how the Husband should love his wife as Christ loves the church. This is important because a lot of women have the wrong idea of submission. God is not telling us to submit to men, he is telling us to submit to our HUSBAND. We get to choose we marry. And if we choose based on Godly love, we would choose a man who loves us as Christ loved the church. Meaning your husband would do anything for you, to protect you, to make you happy and to support you. By submitting to a man like that, you are giving him your full trust and respect to lead you as the head of your household and relationship. Therefore the love you have for him and the love he has for God holds him accountable. Submission becomes complicated when you submit to the wrong man OR when the man you submit to doesn't follow God. God's principals are what guide a man's moral compass and the actions that he makes. If he is following God's example, every choice he makes will be in your best interest. Submitting to your husband doesn't mean that you don't have a voice or your opinion doesn't matter. You make choices as a team. But as the husband, it is his job to lead you and he should have the final say. If you are in a loving relationship with God at the core, you will never go wrong by following your husband because the 2 of you are a team. He will also take your judgment and concerns into account when making a decision because you are just as important in the decision-making process. Submission is a beautiful thing when it's with the right person.  Here are my tips for women learning to be submissive1. Find a guy worth submitting to Again, pay close attention to his actions. Do his words and actions align? Does he treat you like you're supposed to be treated? Does he know your heart and care about what you want? Does he value you as a partner? Does he value your opinion and care about your well being?2. Communicate what submission in the relationship looks like (be on the same page) This is huge, please don't submit to a fool that doesn't even know what submission is. You can only submit to a man, you can't submit to a boy or an immature excuse of a man. Make sure you guys are on the same page and have a clear understanding of your relationship and roles. 3. Work on it (its a process) The only reason I got to where I am with submission is that I am with a man who every day shows me he is worthy but also because he was patient with me through the process. 

Hear my answers to the 10 most frequently asked questions about becoming a wife!

The first thing to do is talk to your soon to be hubby to get a good idea of both of your expectations and desires for your wedding. Most men don't really care and will leave all the details up to you (if you're lucky lol) but it's important to know what type of wedding you guys ultimately want. A small wedding, large wedding, destination wedding, church wedding, etc.Venue:Once you have that figured out, you can start looking for your venue. I say look for your venue before you look for a coordinator because most locations will refer you to someone who has their own coordinators for you to work with. Date:Once you have the location, you start looking at date options. I would suggest doing a year out because time flies but at minimum, 6 months. If you're doing a more intimate wedding less time is obviously needed to plan but I always say more time is better than not enough time.Choosing Guests:There is a very strategic way to go about this and here it is. Both you and your fiance need to create 3 different lists: 1 of priorities or must-haves, 1 of would be nice to have their people, and 1 of additional options or waitlist. Find Your Coordinator: This should be someone you trust to pull off your vision. Interview multiple people to find someone who meshed well with your personality and understands your vision for your big day.Inspiration:I suggest creating different Pinterest boards and sharing them with your coordinator. The ceremony, cocktail hour, reception, cake, florals, table settings, etc. Invitations: With invitations, if you MUST do the traditional route, this is when it makes sense, not for the save the dates. But if you're like me and want to save money where it makes sense to, you can definitely email the actual invitations as well. Wedding Website:The funniest part to me was setting up our wedding website but I'm a total dork :) I created a custom site with WIX so I am unfamiliar with any wedding site hosts but I do know I've heard good things about “the knot”.  The most important thing you need to have a beautiful website is quality photos that are consistent in color and theme. For us, we used our photos from our engagement shoot.Wedding Dress:Even if you are getting a custom dress made like I did, I highly recommend doing dress fittings. Partially because it's fun to do and your family and friends would want to experience it with you but also because you never actually know what you want until you see it on you. Bridal Party:I have been apart of many weddings and the trending issue with bridesmaids was drama and stress. The bigger the bridal party, the more opportunity for drama and stress. Registry:Zola Blueprint 

The major 5 areas to set boundaries for are work, your relationship, friends, family and personal time.For each of you, these areas will look a little differently so it's important to sit down and really evaluate each area of your life and create boundaries that make sense for you and ultimately help you get closer to whatever personal or career goals you have for yourself.When it comes to work, it can be hard to determine what boundaries are needed because you have a variety of variables to look at. What type of work do you do? What is your work setting like? What is your position? Who do you have to communicate with in order to do your job? What are the hours like? What is your income? Some of you may be working more than 1 job so it can get even harder. Whatever your position, look at creating boundaries within these areas: - Co-workers- Clients or Customers- Your TimeWith your friends/family:I'm going to address friends and family at the same time because they pretty much fall in the same boat. Your friends and family are the people you love and care about the most. So it's safe to say, they will consume a good amount of your time. Nothing is wrong with that, as long as you have boundaries in place. You never want to pour so much out of your cup that you have nothing left to give yourself. You also don't want to be the person who is constantly taking from someone else either. There should be a balance. We all have those 2-3 people who we know we can talk to when we're going through things and that's good to have. Just be mindful of how much you are requesting of someone and vise versa. Something that comes to mind when I think of boundaries with friends and family is the information you disclose about your significant other. Your relationship is your business and many of the things you go through with your partner should stay between you and your partner, especially if you're married. However, I do think outside council is good to have every now and then. My advice is this, if you're married, find a married friend who could be your support friend. If you're dating, have a friend who is also in a relationship as a listening ear, and if you're single, talk to you whoever you please. I hate when girls who are in relationships go to their single friends for advice. Not saying that your single friends can't have good advice it's just wise to receive a council that can relate to your situation and properly guides you because they are in a similar or better boat than you. Relationships within your friend circle or family can also get a little complicated when people tell you their business. So another boundary to think about is gossip. You should have an expectation for your friends and family not to share your business, just as they wouldn't want you to share theirs.   Your Personal Time: My absolute favorite! We kind of talked about this in each of the other areas and it's because your personal time is valuable!Set limits and boundaries to the things you say “yes” to and the things you say “no” to. This is huge with creating balance in your life. If you haven't read my blog post on “the power of saying no” definitely check it out! I go into detail about determining your yes and no items and ways to politely turn things down and master the art of saying “no”. Whenever we overextend ourselves to others, we are ultimately depriving ourselves of “me time”. When this happens too much, we are left with an empty cup and nothing else left to give to the people we love. This is the cause of imbalance, stress, and anxiety. Set clear boundaries and commit to a schedule that allows you to give a generous amount of time and effort to yourself and the people and things you care about most. 

Dre and I created what we call the 4 F's (fitness, family, finances, and faith). It's the 4 things that we focus on in order to establish balance in our lives and in our relationships.  Let's talk about each one in detail: 1. Fitness: this refers to physical health and wellness Whether you are a CEO or just a go-getter at work, it's easy to let things like exercise and diet go by the wayside once things get busy in the office. But your body is the only one you get and you have to take of it. 2. Family: this also includes friends and your spouseHow balanced do you feel with your family & friend time? What's your relationship like with your spouse? Your kids? How about your parents and extended family members? Your relationships should be important no matter how busy things get at work. 3. Finances: this refers to whatever you do to make an income and how you budget your money. Even though making money is important, it is not everything. Creating boundaries for how much time you spend working or making money is such as important as managing the money you're making. 4. Faith: Your spirituality The final aspect of living a balanced life is your spiritual side. This could be anything from taking a walk in the woods to making a trip to church on Sunday-whatever fills up your spiritual cup.If you focus on these 4 F's you will be able to start organizing the different areas in your life in efforts to begin to find balance!I wanted to share some other random tips that come to mind when I think of balance: 1. Quit Trying to Multi-TaskIf you want “balance” why are you trying to do multiple things at once? Stop that right now! Multi-tasking realistically limits our production and reduces our capabilities.2. Shut it DownWhen your workday is over, let it be over; shut it down and leave or if you work from home like me, shut it down and leave the laptop in the other room haha! If you are working crazy hours every day, you will never establish a work-life balance. Become more intentional during your normal work hours to accomplish your “must-do tasks,” and if you don't get to the other items on your to-do list, they can wait until tomorrow. If something absolutely cannot wait, make arrangements to stay late to complete it; however, this should never turn into the “norm.”3. Give Your Best at HomePlenty of people desire a healthy work-life balance, yet as soon as they get home, they crash. If you are giving your family or spouse your “leftovers” at the end of each day, eventually, that's exactly what you'll get in return. Instead, do whatever you need to do to “recharge your battery,” then give them your absolute best; they deserve it, and so do you!And if you don't have a family or spouse, this applies to friends as well. 4. Be Absolutely Present!Whatever you are doing, or whoever you are doing it with, be absolutely present. All too often, our lives are out of balance because we get preoccupied with so many distractions; we lose focus on what's right in front of us. If you really want a better balance in your life, start being absolutely, totally present wherever you are.5. Set BoundariesFor many people, it can be difficult to know how to set boundaries or say "no" to others. Of course, there are many times when saying "yes" is a great thing! But learning how to set boundaries and how to say "no" is the key to sustaining a healthy relationship with yourself and others.So overall, determine what things in your life are a priority, schedule out the necessary time to each of those things and set boundaries so that your plate is never too full. The moment you overwhelm yourself with things, you become a disservice to the people around you and most importantly,

For many people, it can be difficult to know how to set boundaries or say "no" to others. This can be especially challenging for those who self-identify as people-pleasers. There are tons of articles, books, and talks on the power of "yes." Of course, there are many times when saying "yes" is a great thing! But learning how to set boundaries and how to say "no" is the key to sustaining a healthy relationship with yourself and others.When we say "yes" to everything and do not set boundaries with people, we often feel stressed, overwhelmed, and burned out. Most of us want to be well-liked and to please other people. It can be difficult to turn down opportunities or requests that others have made of us.“No” – it's a small word that packs a lot of power. We're often taught that saying “no” is a negative thing, that it hurts those around us and causes us to miss out on new, exciting opportunities. It's no wonder so many people are uncomfortable saying it.When you say no to someone else, you're really saying yes to yourself! Finding the strength to say no to things is something I struggled with for a long time and I had to learn the hard way that saying yes to everything is not the way to go. If you are unsure about whether or not you want to say no to something, here are four questions to ask yourself before you decide:1. Do I truly want to do this?2. What do I gain out of doing this task or attending this function?3. What has this person done for me lately?4. What else will I do with my time if I don't do this?Now that you know what you're willing to say “yes” to and what things you will say “no” to, it's best to come up with HOW you will say no.Here are my tips:Always start by thanking the person for thinking of you and reaching out. This allows them to feel like you at least appreciate the offer.Lead the next sentence with an “unfortunately, due to other obligations, I am unable to accept”. This makes it seem like you're genuinely sad you can't accept but isn't going into too much detail as to why you have to pass up the offer. Suggest an alternativeName another person who might be able to take your place or accept the opportunity. End it with, “please keep me in mind in the future”. Shows interest in future opportunities. Now, if you're absolutely not interested in what they are offering, don't say that lol because chances are they will listen to you. What you will start to notice as you get more comfortable with saying no, is that you are honing in on your purpose and making sure that you're putting your needs before others in order to reach your full potential and not overfill your plate with things that make you “busy” instead of focused and intentional.  One of the most difficult things about saying no is getting FOMO (fear of missing out). But let's really think about the benefits of saying no. Here are five things you get by saying no:1. Time to do whatever you've put on the back burner.2. Power to be more in control of your life.3. Confidence to say no more often. The first time is the hardest.4. Safety from overextending yourself.5. Opportunities you didn't even know were out there. Since you are more available, you'll find them!We are faced with choices that we have to say yes or no to every day. So you have to ask yourself, do you have the power to say “no”?

It makes me so sad when I meet women who are unhappy with their lives who are too afraid, ashamed or defeated to believe that they can turn things around and be and do whatever they put their mind to.We always have a choice and we always have other options. Don't let your past failures scare you from trying. Don't allow your friends or families limited believes to persuade you. And don't allow your own lack of confidence to hold you back. Instead, evaluate the things that are holding you back and find a way to get around them. I am going to break down my 5 steps to creating the life you want but as I go through them, understand this is a process and it's up to you to commit to it. 1. Learn yourself Who are you? - Do you actually know who you are in this world? Like what is the true purpose of your existence and what makes you feel like you're living? What makes you happy? - Not what makes you LOOK like you're happy, what actually brings you joy? What does success look like to you? 2. Evaluate your current situation Are there things you need to work on? Once you know what you want, it's time to start putting in the work. Be honest about what things you may need to change in order to get to that life that you want for yourself. What is in your life that doesn't align with what you say you want? What are you doing to reach your goals?3. Create a plan Prioritize the things that matter the most (your health, your career, family, friends, self-care, whatever is most important to you.) Create a plan to focus on those things first. Get your priorities in order before you start setting huge goals and expectations from yourself. Once you have the big goals figured out, create smaller realistic checklists and deadlines for each one. This is major because if you're not realistic with yourself, you will set these high expectations and be let down and discouraged when you don't reach them. 4. Commit to the planBelieve in yourself! If you don't believe you can do it, you won't. So before committing to the plan, do research about the things you're wanting to do, gain a clear understanding of what you're trying to do and this will ultimately increase your confidence. The more you know about what you're wanting to do, the easier it will become to get it done.5. Stop making excusesNow that you're moving in the right direction, let go of the excuses. This doesn't mean you won't have days where you fall short, it just means that you are choosing to always continue moving forward and refuse to let anything permanently get in the way of you succeeding. Stop waiting for “the right time” to start changing your life. There is no such thing, you will be waiting for the rest of your life if you choose to. There will always be challenges in your way, you have to be able to move forward and make progress even in the midst of adversity. I want to encourage you to focus on changing your mindset and overall building your self-esteem to believe in yourself. Once I had the confidence that I could do what I wanted to do and have the life I wanted to have, it was easy to put in the work and commit to my plan. So if you're listening to this and you know what you ultimately what to do or change about your life, I'm telling you that NOW is the time to do it.  If you need some accountability, download my free guide “5 steps to: creating the life you want”. 

I was 19 years old, attending Cleveland State University as an Early Childhood Education Major. I remember having so many moments in class where I just thought to myself….where will you be in 10 years? I never really knew the answer I just knew for certain I didn't see myself being a school teacher.You're probably wondering why I chose an education major… ever since I was younger I was the teacher's pet. I would help grade papers, clean the room, be in charge when the teacher left, I did it all. I've always loved school and as I got older, I loved younger children. I did a lot of volunteering, coaching a mini-me cheer team, babysat a lot. I just loved kids. The other things I enjoyed and had skill or potential in was fashion design and interior decorating. But I felt like if I wanted to, I could do both of those things without formal education or degree, so I took the route of education.Now, looking back at it, I wish I never would of went to college. Instead, I wish I would have taken a year to just work, save and get to know who I was and the type of life I wanted to have before putting myself in debt for something that I wasn't even sure about.So before I talk about why I dropped out, let's talk about why I decided to go.I remember my whole senior year, how excited I was for college. It was so much fun to visit schools and picture myself being there. I honestly watched too many movies and was picturing some love and basketball type of love story where I would be the cheerleader who falls in love and marries the college athlete haha. I honestly don't know why college excited me so much. I guess it was my first real step towards being an adult but I later found out it's way overrated. I worked really hard my whole high school career to be able to get scholarships and get into a good college. I think a big reason why I wanted to go so bad was that I was the first person in my family to go. My mom always wanted me to be the best and she made college a priority at a young age. She wanted to make sure that I would be in a position to take care of myself and one day, a family.On top of all of this, all my friends were going to college. It never even crossed my mind NOT to go to college, it just seemed like the right thing to do.So my senior year, I worked really hard and was able to get multiple scholarships. Feeling super grateful, this was another thing that reassured me that I was doing the right thing.My first 2 years of college seem like such a blur. I never really fit in with anything or anyone, I didn't participate in a lot of school festivities and I lived off-campus which made getting the “college experience” a little hard.By the time I transferred to Cleveland State I was dancing for the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA dance team and unfortunately, I didn't really fit in there either. I felt like the problem child because I was always getting in trouble, being told to lose more weight, and was having a hard time juggling all my jobs, the dance team and school. I had no idea where my life was going or where I'd up by I knew for sure that I wasn't on the right path and something needed to change. I didn't mind school, I was always a good student, practically had straight A's my whole life so I knew that school its self wasn't the problem.I just knew that when I pictured my life in the future, I was never a teacher in a classroom. The feelings I was experiencing were really weird and honestly, pretty scary. I had no intentions of dropping out of school when I did, the plan was to get the degree and then figure things out from there.

Questions asked on this episode: 1. How do you manage your energy?2. Should Christians listen to ratchet music? I'm a Christian but I love Cardi B.3. When is the wedding and will you be recording it and putting it on youtube?4. How do you stay consistent with planning and creating content when you don't feel like it?5. What does waiting for marriage look like when you live together?6. What have you done that has made you the proudest?7. If you could tell your younger self anything, what would it be?8. How do you handle personal insecurities and not make your mate feel overwhelmed?9. Being a curvy woman, what advice do you have for embracing body confidence10. How did you become an influencer?Later.comallaboutituniversity.com

At this point, I have been celibate for over 4 years. I'm going to be completely open and honest and share the details of how I got here, how I manage and my tips if you're also trying to wait. I explain in detail our individual journeys of waiting in the last episode so if you haven't already heard episode 10, I suggest listening to that first so you have the full scoop. When I agreed to wait until marriage with him, I had no clue how long I would actually be waiting. I figured it wouldn't be too long because hey, he is a man and I'm sure it doesn't want to wait any longer than he has to haha. We got engaged a year and 3 months after dating. Because we wanted to a destination wedding, we knew we were going to have to set the date far out in order to give people enough notice. We knew our location of choice was the Dominican Republic and May is the best month of the year weather-wise. We got engaged August of 2018 and we new May of 2019 would be too soon so we decided on doing May of 2020. If you don't already know this, Dre and I have been living together basically our whole relationship. 2 months into dating I moved in due to unfortunate circumstances and we always get the question of how do we wait while living together. It's honestly no different from waiting and not living with someone. You don't have to live with someone to have sex with them. Sex can happen anywhere, anytime. We are able to wait because we both know our “why”. The reason why we wait is so much greater than any momentary pleasure. Waiting has allowed us to prioritize and focus on reaching our goals and growing as individuals so that we can make sure we start our marriage in a place that is healthy and filled with love.When we first started dating I was kind of a mess. I had a lot of emotional and past baggage that I hadn't sorted through and being in a relationship really tested me. I realized things that I didn't like about myself and I knew I had to be better. In normal relationships, you fight, have sex and makeup. But the issue is that core problems are swept under the rug. They are hidden for the moment but they are still there. Because we are always in a sober state of mind, it makes us accountable for our actions and we support each other through them. I know for certain if we were having sex, our business would not be where it is today because of the amount of commitment and energy it took. Yall know how you are after sex. You wanna lay up, snuggle, chill, watch movies. We literally do not have time for that in this season of our life. Most people are shocked when they find out we have never had sex together and I don't blame them. I get it, it's not the norm. But that's what makes it so beautiful. Most people jump into sexual relationships and become attached to people that they have no business being with. Waisting years of their life on someone who should of never been in it. So if you're thinking of making this commitment, listen to me! It's worth it!Waiting as a couple will never work if both parties don't actually want to wait and believe in their “why”. So if you struggle with waiting, you don't really believe you're why or you're being pressured by the other person and out of fear for losing them or moments of weakness, you give in. You have to got find someone who is on the page as you otherwise it won't work. Here is 4 simple rules that we stick by and they haven't let us down yet:We don't french kissWe don't touch each other's private areas We don't shower together We don't get drunk Here are my tips for you:1. Know your "why"2. Be with someone who supports your choice3. Stay Busy  What If It Ain't No Good - Why We Wait For Marriage

So…. The year was 2016. I'm going to paint the picture by first telling you what was going on in Bre's life and what was going on in Dre's life before we were introduced. I was running my Shameless business in Cleveland and was in an off and on again relationship with a man who I was with for a little over a year. At 1 point, I saw myself being with him long term. He had 3 children from a past marriage and I was willing to be a whole stepmama. I loved his kids, it seemed like we were really serious but I kept seeing red flags of cheating, lying and just plain disrespect. Meanwhile, Dre is in DC working as a property manager and casually dating. At this time he was interested in another woman who he had been on a few dates with. Nothing serious but he definitely saw potential in her. His cousin hit him up and invited him to a bar to meet this couple who he had met earlier in the day. The couple was my friends Jordynn & Will. Jordynn and I met freshman year of college at North Carolina A&T and Will had been her boyfriend since Sophmore year. They are originally from North Carolina and were living in DC temporarily. I get a phone call from Jordynn saying that she thinks she met the one for me. She instantly tries to hook us up, telling him great things about me and telling me great things about him. I was saying how I have a boyfriend and I live all the way in Cleveland so there's no way it workout. Keep in mind, at this time we were both sexually active and waiting for marriage wasn't even a thought. A couple of weeks later, I ended up visiting Jordynn in DC. My boyfriend at the time was supposed to be coming with me but I found out that he was cheating on me right before the trip. I was so devastated. So I make the trip alone and as you could guess, Jordynn had arranged for me to meet Dre while I was there. I was actually kind of excited to go on a date with a random person and just forget about what was going on back home. Dre was such a gentleman. I mean opening all my doors, very respectful, a great listener and he even played the piano for me on our first date. He took me to what's now my favorite place to eat, Earls in Tysons Corner for dinner. I had the dynamite sushi roll for an appetizer, the salmon dinner for my entree and the toffee cake for dessert. It was so yummy!I think we were both surprised at how much of a good time we were having. He honestly only took me out because Jordynn wouldn't let up, he was still interested in someone else and just like I had said, we lived states apart, it wouldn't work. That next night, him, his cousin, me, Jordynn and Will all went out to this bar and this is where things got crazy. It was an open bar from 10-11 and we got there around 10:45. We all grabbed 6 rounds of drinks and within in 30 minutes we were pretty turned up. I remember crying a lot about my ex at the time and basically doing everything I could to mess up the potential of Dre taking me seriously. It was pretty bad. I was even willing to sleep with him just to make myself feel better about being cheated on. That night we fooled around and slept in the same bed, we hung out Sunday for a little bit and then I went back to Cleveland like nothing ever happened.Obviously, because I was young and dumb and thought I was in love, I took my cheating ex-boyfriend back all for him to cheat on me again. Except this time it worst. I actually had someone show me pictures and videos of him with multiple young girls. I found out his “business trips” were actually trips to visit other women and I just felt so stupid.I was at a point where I felt like it was something wrong with me. I couldn't understand why he would do this to me, and why I wasn't enough.Tune in for more.....

As most of you already know, Dre and I's YouTube channel is all about building and keeping healthy relationships. The key is communication. If 2 people cannot properly communicate, you've already lost the battle. It's important to know how each of you communicates. It's almost never going to be the same because we all are so different. We were raised differently, have different beliefs, mannerisms and we respond differently to things. So understanding the person and who they communicate is step 1. When it comes to Dre and I, he is the calm one who can be leveled headed in almost any conversation. I'm a fireball. I work really hard to stop my emotions from generating my reactions. Determine if you're in a relationship with someone who responds differently than you. If so, you will have to figure out the best methods to communicate. They may be like me and need to take a moment before they can clearly express themself. Give them that! It makes such a difference. You may be with someone who always takes offense to everything you say. Get to the core issue of that. It's probably an underlining issue and not actually what you're saying to them. You might even be dealing with someone who is really disrespectful who uses foul language, calls you out of your name and does things physically that scares you. You can leave them! Haha no I'm kidding I'm trying to show you levels in which some people communicate. All of those things are actions of someone who has some core issues to deal with and until they do, it will be really hard to have a healthy relationship with them.The foundation of the relationship is what matters. What is your foundation built off of? Is it God? Is it physical attraction? Is it so-called “chemistry”? Do you even know? Most relationships start off with no foundation at all. They are just 2 people casually dating until 1 person does something to end it. That's no way to go about relationships. Your foundation is what holds the relationship together and gives it a purpose. If you're currently in a relationship ask yourself what is our foundation built off of and what is our purpose. If you can't answer that, you're probably not in a healthy relationship. And if you're single, what are you looking for in a man? What will the foundation of your relationship be? This is so important. Because when things start to fall apart, all you have is your foundation. Communicate all of your expectations, never assume a man knows what you want. Provide him with what you expect and if he can't meet that there's 1 of 2 issues. He's either not the man for you or you're asking for too much and probably have an insecurity that you haven't dealt with that either stemmed from a past relationship or trust issues in general. After you have your foundation, you have to set boundaries for communication. Some girls feel like they need to be able to text, call and facetime they man at any hour and he better answer. If that's you, communicate that. Because if he isn't okay with that, yall gonna have to work something out. It will not work if yall are not on the same page. Boundaries are so important! Because Dre and I are waiting for marriage, we had to set physical boundaries. No french kissing, no showering together and no touching private areas what's so ever. Those are the physical boundaries we needed in our relationship to succeed. So what are yours? If you and your partner are sexually active you may need to communicate on a different level. Help him! He can't read your mind girl. For more tips, tune in now. The 5 Love Languages

Honestly, I'm not sure that I believe we all have 1 soul mate in this world. I'm also not saying I don't believe it. I just think that things in life happen and as you go through life, you can't guarantee anything. Look at couples who were happily married for 10-20 years who get divorced and end up re-marrying later. For 10-20 years those people thought they found “the one”. And years later, they find another one. We can blame it on the fact that maybe they were never right for each other and did their best to hold it together until realizing they made a mistake. Or maybe they didn't receive marriage counseling and weren't equipped to deal with certain things in their marriage. Maybe they didn't have a relationship with a Godly foundation and either person ended up stepping out or doing something unforgivable. You never really know. And so I'm not claiming that I know, I'm claiming that I 100% feel like I've found my one and I want to share the story of how it happened and how I know. Before even thinking about finding the one, you have to find yourself. If you don't know who you really are, what you believe in, what you stand for and what you want out of life, how could you possibly recognize the right person for you? You can't. You can take a guess and test the waters but without knowing yourself and what you want, you can't determine who is right for you. Before meeting Dre, I worked A LOT on myself. I did journaling daily, lots of self-reflection, lots of self-discovery and self-growth. Once I felt like I knew myself and what I wanted out of life, I started to visualize the type of partner that I needed to accomplish those things and be happy. I pictured this man so vividly in my head. Not how he looked physically but who he was spiritually and as a person. I literally wrote a list of 100 things that described the perfect man for me. I also added physical things to the list cuz I thought God knew my heart so what's the harm in putting it in writing haha. I started to fantasize about how we would meet, where he was at that moment, if he lived in Ohio or another state, how long it would take before we met…. I was excited. But I honestly thought that there was no way I was meeting a man like that anytime soon or a man who was close enough in age to make sense. Side note, Dre is a year younger than me. Crazy right!?So I continued to focus on me. I stayed busy with my business, my health, friends, and family and really worked on becoming the woman who deserved a man like the man that I wanted. So in order to find your one, you have to have a clear understanding of what the requirements are. Love is a choice, you get to choose who you love. I hate when women say they can't leave a man because they are “in love”. What does that even mean? Does he love you? Like really love you? Look at their actions. God says love is love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. So when women say that they are “in love” with someone I ask them these questions about their men: Is he patient? Is he kind? Does he refrain from getting jealous? Does he refrain from lying or cheating on you? Does he always show you respect? Does he refrain from blaming you? Does he trust you? If you answer no to any of those questions, that man does not really love you. Love is not a feeling it's an action. Just because a man says he loves you doesn't mean he means it. Finding “the one” means that you have to learn what love looks like before you can have it or recognize it. After you are in a place where you know exactly what you want out of a partner and out of life, you can&

Simply put, men can be dogs. We've all dealt with those guys who all they wanted from us was sex. But this isn't a one-sided issue, we have to take a look in the mirror and hold ourselves accountable where necessary. Now I know this may not be what you want to hear, but I promise it will be game-changing! We will talk about the reasons for men only wanting sex, the signs that that's all they want, and ways to properly deal with them!When a man only wants sex it could be for a couple of reasons. They could simply not be ready to settle down and have a serious relationship which is usually the case. They could just be in the moment and take advantage of an opportunity that presents itself, because hey! At the end of the day, they are men. Or they are human and it's in their nature to lust after women. I mean this isn't rocket science. The thing we have to get to is how are we contributing to the issue and what can we do about it. As women, we really have all the power. So why do we do things and then blame the man like they made us do it? No one makes you do anything. In different seasons of our lives, we move differently but for most of us, we have all went through a little stage of being intimate with people we had no business being intimate with. I won't use the other word for it haha. So how are men any different? We know what it feels like to have a personal agenda and be in a space where we enjoyed being single and was attracted to someone in the moment and ended up doing something for momentary pleasure. Unlike men, we usually regret it the next day but that's the only difference. At least most of us anyway. So one of the ways we contribute to it is by entertaining the foolishness at some point in our life and then becoming tired of it so we blame it on men and forget the part that we play. We feel like once we are ready to settle down, men should be falling to their knees for us. But the truth is, if there are women out there who are entertaining them in that way, there's nothing you can do to change that. All you can do is NOT give in to it, hold yourself to a certain standard and make it clear that you're not about that without coming off as the crazy girl who thinks she's too good. No one likes that girl. Signs that all men want is sex is if they use sexual language, make sexual jokes, touch you intimately while in public, try to get you in intimate settings, only hit you up at night time or when they have nothing to do or are short in their conversations as if they are doing the bare minimum to keep you around. If you're experiencing any of these signs, deal with it head-on. Let his actions speak louder than his words. Don't believe what he says if his actions don't add up. Men will show you exactly who they are and unfortunately, we don't always believe them. That's what gets us in trouble. We see all the red flags but stay anyways. We keep thinking they will change or we are just so great that they don't want to lose us and will get it together. Don't waste your time with a man who clearly only wants sex or isn't willing to commit to you. Here are tips for dealing with those types of men.1. Communicate honestly2. Don't give second chances3. Be intentional YouTube Video "You Can't Change Him": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y89Tj4x_hvI

Breakups suck. No one goes into a relationship thinking they'll break up. But the way I look at it, we have to go through experiences and people to become who we are supposed to be and attract who we are supposed to be with. The girl you were 5 years ago, isn't the woman you are now. The reason why most relationships that start at a young age don't last is that as we grow we evolve. We change and mature and the things we want don't always align with the other person. Or, something bad happens. You cheat, they cheat, you have an argument that you can't forgive or worse, something tragic happens and you lose them due to a freak accident, health-related issues or even murder. Maybe, it wasn't something they did, but something you did. Or maybe, there was no clear reason at all, the relationship just ended. The reason in which you may need to get over an ex vary but either way, I'm here to help you if you're feeling stuck. I've had relationships end in many different ways, each of them hard to deal with. The beauty of breakups is that they end one chapter to begin another. The next chapter is always more beautiful than the last because we get closer to where we're supposed to be. Even if it's tough to deal with. Think about all of the things that you have overcome in your life. You're better now because of those tough times and the same goes for your ex. Don't allow yourself to get so caught up in your emotions that you forget that your happiness and future comes first. Stop giving men the benefit of doubt and just recognize when they aren't the one for you. Stop making excuses for them, stop finding reasons to forgive. Most of the time, they don't deserve it. When you find the person who is right for you, it won't be so hard. You won't have to make excuses and try to make things make sense, they just will!I'm so excited to share my tips for getting over an ex. My relationship before Dre ended really badly and had I not gotten over my ex, dealt with my own issues and moved on, I would have passed up the man of my dreams and not of even known it.  So here they are: Completely End It Evaluate Your Experience Create a New Vision for Your Future That Doesn't Include ThemStay Busy Be Patient