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Minisode 3: Turning Lived Experiences into Competitive Advantage: Strategies for Women of Color in Entrepreneurship · Black Girls Consult TOO!

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In entrepreneurship, everyone is searching for a blue ocean.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: You know this space.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: It's where demand is created, where you don't have to fight over clients, you don't have to struggle to attract leads, you can become profitable and do this as quickly as possible to reach all the goals that you had in mind.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: But, in all honesty, most of us find ourselves in a red sea, and one of the reasons why that's the case is because most of the marketplace is filled with industries that have already been in existence, and when we enter into entrepreneurship as consultants, we often dive right in in the midst of that competition, trying to struggle in tread water and make our way.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: What we don't realize, especially as women and women of color, is that we hold the key to navigate ourselves safely to bluer waters, but in many cases, we don't know that this exists.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: In this mini-sode, we are going to unravel that journey.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: When I reflect on my experience as a coach in this space, I noticed that people come to me when they're at this point of frustration.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: They've entered into their industry as an expert and found a lot of difficulty getting their businesses off the ground, and immediately when our conversation starts, I know exactly one of the first things that is holding them back.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: I initially chose working with schools because, honestly, that was a more strategic decision, but, if I'm honest, that's not necessarily give me the most joy.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: So what initially feels like an obligation or way of traditional practice soon begins to feel like a trap, and one of the reasons why this is the case is because, as a woman, especially a woman of color in the consulting industry, a lot of your unique perspective and lived experience that would make the work that you do stand out from the competition so that you can win more business, grow and succeed in the field remains hidden.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: In a January 2022 TED Talk, entrepreneur and sole coach Rob Gottis shares more details from her research that highlights the value of the lived experience to corporate America for women of color.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Another important takeaway from the research is that women of color are corporate America's greatest underutilized resource, and yet we could be your greatest competitive advantage.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: We understand diversity because we've had to navigate a world that never had our success in mind.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: We are inherently culturally competent because we've had to be, and our lived experiences make us natural born leaders.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Imagine what it's like to be the first in your family to make a start in a new country, or to be one of a few, to raise three kids as a single parent while you work and go to school, or to be an only an executive leadership in a company that employs thousands.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Women of color have had to overcome so much just to be in the running, and we've been successful because of these experiences, not in spite of corporations.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: We are your innovators.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Give us opportunities to lead beyond D&I In product development, marketing, finance and engineering.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Go beyond your usual suspects.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Take the time to see us and learn about our unique qualities and lived experiences.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: The lack of alignment that clients find early on largely stems from the fact that they are boxing themselves into a status quo that initially, has not acknowledged the fact that these lived unique experiences exist.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: And once we're able to recognize the value of this uniqueness, we can begin to create expert driven services that rival some of the biggest competitors in the market.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: But inherently for us, there is this added benefit of being able to provide a service that others cannot offer because they have not walked that same path and cannot speak to the same problems or visualize circumstances and solutions in a similar manner.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: You are not solely meant to offer run of the mill workshops or facilitation events.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: You're not meant to offer consulting services that can easily be replaced and replicated in your space.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: What you are able to provide is a tilt to the solutions that are currently offered or new, innovative ways to approach the process, so that there is more diversity, equity and inclusion built into the work that you do, because you see it through a different lens.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: There is where the value lies, and if we lean into that, then the doors were open and the sea will become blue as a sky.