12 Inspirational Quotes for Black Women From Mandela SH Dixon Terri Lomax December 18, 2018 It was one of those days. In addition to my long, stressful day at work, I had an important meeting that required me to dress up during the day, making this a heels day, though my flats lived conveniently in my oversized purse. I began to regret the fact that I’d RSVP’d to an after work event. I knew the event would be beneficial but my introverted self was kicking me in the butt because by the end of the work day, I was beat. San Francisco was also getting some much needed rain but my hair and spirit were in a bit of a funk, all things considered. Luckily, I’m well aware of the importance of connecting with like-minded women who look like me and have a desire to make an impact in the tech industry. With this internal reminder and the encouragement of my husband to “just push through”, I made my way out the house to the Black Women Talk Tech first chapter meeting of the year. Black Women Talk What? Black Women Talk Tech is a collective of black women tech founders who have a unique understanding of the challenges we face in the industry, but also of the advantages we can bring. This movement was created to identify, support and encourage black women to build the next billion dollar business. As soon as I walked into the WeWork space the chapter lead, Angie Williams, so graciously organized for us, I knew it was meant to be. I was meant to be in that space and had every intention on staying until the end, networking, and soaking up the insight from our guest speaker, Mandela SH Dixon. I attended AfroTech just a few months ago and it seems that every person I met kept mentioning this Mandela woman. “She’s awesome!” “She grew her business fast!” “She’s a trailblazer!” “She’s on the come up!” They said. As you can imagine, I was eager to meet Mandela and learn more about her incredible journey. From what I gathered, she’s a black woman out here living life on her terms unapologetically, while pulling others up as she levels up! The vibe in the chapter meeting was so inviting and just like any other time a group of accomplished black women meet, the space exuded black girl magic, camaraderie, and inspiration. Angie interviewing Mandela. Angie introduced us to Mandela and began to interview her about her career, growth, and life in the tech industry. For those of you that don’t know Mandela SH Dixon is the Founder & CEO of Founder Gym, an online training center for underrepresented founders who want to build successful tech startups. Mandela specializes in helping anyone from part-time hustlers to full-time founders accelerate their business and achieve their goals. Mandela and I. 🙂 12 Inspirational Quotes for Black Women From Mandela SH Dixon The night was absolutely incredible, so much so that we went over our time by an hour and it was worth every minute! I want to share with you the gems Mandela graced us with because these are insights that we can use in our journey to go to the next level. I was deeply moved by Mandela’s confidence, ambition, and the fact that a woman who looked like me, was out here making it happen in an industry that wasn’t created for us and that reluctantly opened the door for us. I took about 3 pages of notes and compiled my thoughts below! #1- “Understand your super powers” Mandela talked about how it’s important for us to understand our super powers and I couldn’t agree more. As we navigate this world as black women, it’s important for us to know our worth and what we bring to the table. I’ve struggled with this for years and initially, what enabled me to see my worth, is depending on the vision of the supportive and positive people in my life to get a sense of what they see in me and what they see as my strengths. My upbringing caused me to have a warped view of myself so this is why I needed to depend on the positive people around me to get a better glimpse into who I really was. For me this included my pastors, mentors, parents, and close friends. I’d highly encourage you to take time to go within. Take personality tests, meet with a career coach, figure out what you bring to the table and what your super powers are, so you can leverage them and show up more powerfully in the world. #2- “Do what you need to do, so you can do what you want to do” We live in a world where people thrive on instant gratification. We want what we want now and not a second later. The thing is, compounded success is a real thing. If you work hard now and do what needs to get done, you could set yourself up for a lifestyle where you can do what you want because you’ve built a strong foundation. For instance, I’m in a place in life where I travel around the country for speaking engagements, I have a successful career at a flourishing tech company (Asana), and I’m literally living the life of my dreams. Here’s the catcher, in order for me to get here, I had to grind hard for about 10 years. All the little accomplishments that I made over the years allowed me to get to this place. It’s those little bricks that you lay that can build a solid foundation for a beautiful home; just like each of those small steps can get you closer to your personal finish line for your respective goals. #3- “Insert yourself into ecosystems and keep showing up” When Mandela shared this gem I wanted to get up and shout like they used to do at my Nana’s church in South Philly. When my husband and I moved to San Francisco in 2015, we didn’t know a soul here. I was job searching and hoping to make a name for myself but I quickly realized that this is a city where your network determines your net worth, forreal! It’s ALL about who you know and who knows YOU. If you don’t have a referral or know someone that knows someone, it’s harder to get jobs, secure opportunities, and get invited to highly leveraged spaces. In 3 short years of being in San Francisco, I’ve been able to work at Facebook, Asana, book speaking engagements at CMX, the University of San Francisco, and other local events, and almost every great opportunity that allows me to level up, came from me simply showing up and being at the right place at the right time and connecting with the right people. Show up, add value, be genuine, and good things will happen, I’m telling you. It’ll take time but it’s worth it. #4- “Your energy says something before you say a word” Whew chile the gospel! You know how it is when you meet someone and although everything may seem A-OK in the physical, something just seems off… the energy just ain’t right. As you network, building relationships, and look to take on new opportunities, make sure your energy is right. For me, this means being a person with pure motives that adds value and stays far away from drama and nonsense. In my phase of understanding my super powers, I had to address somethings in myself that prompted me to shift my energy from a place of lack and comparison, to abundance and celebration. Celebrate other people, check in with yourself and make sure your intentions are genuine and pure and other people will pick up on it. #5-“Don’t fall in love with the solution, fall in love with the people having the problem” Whether you’re a founder or employee, this is a valuable life lesson. This quote simply means, put your customer or the people you serve, before anything else. Don’t get so caught up on what you’re offering and how you’re solving the problem. When you love the people and truly care about what they’re experiencing, it’ll lead you to the perfect solution but in all actuality, it’s the connection you build with the human being, that’ll be highly leveraged in the future. #6- “The most successful CEOs have coaches” Listen, just like it takes a village to raise a child, I’ve learned it often takes a village to raise a woman of excellence as well. It takes valuable information, guidance, mentorship, coaching, and an encouraging community. It can often be frustrating to think about where to begin when you’re charting new territory on your own. It can often be challenging to commit to the journey when you don’t have accountability. This year, I invested more than I’ve ever invested in business coaches. Sure I was scared, I had second thoughts but I knew that in order to get something different, I had to do something different. I couldn’t do business as usual. After paying the amount I paid, I’m even more dedicated to the process and the results. I’m determined to make my investment back via my business. Most successful people have coaches because many of us need accountability and guidance in order to show up fully and make progress fast. #7- Don’t take advice from people you wouldn’t trade places with” Whatever you do my friend, please don’t take advice from people on the sidelines when you’re trying to play in the game. You should always seek to get insight from those who are where you want to go or who’ve been where you aspire to be. Would you get advice on buying a home from a person that’s rented their whole life? No. #8- “Audit who you idolize” If you want to be like Auntie Oprah or Michelle Obama, consume their products. Invest in the business of them and get the gems they’ve left behind. Success leaves clues boo. You’ll notice that successful people tend to have certain attributes. Also, I’m a firm believer in the principle of sowing where you want to go. If you want to be like Mandela SH Dixon, follow her IG stories, they’re lit and inspiring. Attend the conferences she speaks at, join her program, invest in her and you’ll gain the insight that allowed her to get where she is today. #9- “You need to have a destination or you’ll end up anywhere” Just like anything in life, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It’s like hopping in your car and driving down the freeway aimlessly. If you don’t have a destination or goal in mind for your life, you will end up somewhere and it’ll likely be somewhere you don’t want to be, or worse, somewhere someone else led you based on their own agenda. #10- “Be more compassionate with yourself. Be present, feel the reward, be happy now, celebrate what you’ve done” If I had to take a guess, you and I have a lot in common. We have dreams, goals, ambitions and we simply want to be happy. Oh and of course, we desire to make a positive impact on the world. And if you’re anything like me, once you achieve that goal that you’ve been chasing so fervently… it’s on to the next one. With little celebration. With barely any appreciation and admiration for self. We look to our planner and start mapping out the steps for our next achievement. Sometimes when we’re so busy chasing after our dreams we forget to pull over to the side of our journey and take a look at how far we come. We postpone happiness “until FILL IN THE BLANK happens” when in all actuality, we should be happy right now and embrace every step of the journey. #11- “Know what you really want” “What do you want?” Is probably one of the simplest and most complex questions, that anyone will ever ask you.Take a moment right now and ask yourself, what exactly do I want? Not what you think you should want, what others want you to want, or what they want for you. What do you want? Do you want to own your own business? Do you want to join the air force? Do you want to provide a better life for your family? When you have clarity on what you want, it makes it that much easier to create a roadmap to your ultimate goal. #12- “The means are just as important as the end” Submit to the journey. Every answer you need is in the journey. It’s like leveling up in your favorite video game; you need the lessons and skills from level 1 in order to succeed in level 10. Don’t rush to the destination, instead, savor every aspect of the journey because that’s what it’s all about. Growth, learning from mistakes, and sharing those stories with others the way Mandela shared her gems, lessons, and insights with us. Question: Which quote resonated with you the most? Why? Share your feedback below and let’s chat!
