This is a sponsored series with Wells Fargo. I was invited to reflect on, and share, my Untold story.
Please read on as I share the first of two posts!
The day I graduated from Cal State Fullerton with my Bachelors in Business, my grandmother was already questioning me about when I would achieve my Masters. As the eldest grandchild, I was spoiled, BUT I was also driven and given no option to settle. You see, I come from a long line of women who bucked the system and challenged status quo. Women who wanted MORE.
The bar, the expectations, and the dreams were set high.
So, after I finished my MBA, my mother and Nanna were already challenging me to leave my current job, to do more, and calling me a big fish in a small pond. They SAW it in me, before I could even recognize my calling. They SAW (or refused to see anything else-lol) that I was to do more and be more than a retail manager (which I was all gung ho about!).
They saw me owning my own, creating my own, and charting a path anew.
Me? I was all team corporate- until I lost my job on March, Friday the 13th, 2009.
At the Women’s Leadership Conference in California when I launched my online store
Being that my blog just turned 6, I JUST launched a new redesign of my site, and am at the top of the New Year, I felt it befitting to reflect and share my thoughts about my journey and how his story resonates with me as I was watching the Wells Fargo Video series celebrating diversity in the community.
The one video that stood out to me the most was the one from Ron Jemison Jr and Entrepreneurship. Take a watch to see why!
This video had me reflecting:
I am the first in my generations to chase my dreams, curate them, and turn them into something that I make my living off of. One that I never saw coming, could never have planned for, but one that felt… right.
As the eldest grandchild of Marie C Leggette (named after her) and daughter of Grace, there was NO EXCUSE, no reason why I could NOT, or could NOT make it happen. I reckon, this is where my drive, passion, and focus comes from…
So I charted a course.
Here I am, at the start of my sixth year as a blogger, creating something, establishing something from my thoughts, dreams, and visions, making them into something tangible- all by having the gumption to live like the women before me- a single mother who served in the Navy for 23 years and my Nanna who snuck to get her Bachelors in engineering while raising five children.
And I am just getting started.
I just finished laying the foundation, and now it is time to have a little fun, to step further out on faith, to have a bit more nerve and moxie, to do more- to stare my fears and insecurities in the face. As I enter into this new year, this new phase, this new place (literally) I find myself transitioning into a place of knowing WHO I am and WHAT I need to do.
Looking back on my successes over the past five years, I can truly say that I am building. BUILDING something that I can be proud of, my family can respect, and that my future children can look to.
This is a blessing.
One that I wasn’t QUITE ready for, but one that I am growing into. Having the space and the chance to build a dream into a business, into something bigger than myself? THAT is something that I will be forever grateful for. KNOWING that I am headed on a journey, and I am unaware of where my foot will land at each step? A path that I know NOT the end of? This is the fun part, the scary part, and the exciting part of this faith walk.
Chasing my dreams into Entrepreneurship.
I have learned so much about my strength, who I am, my confidence, my style, and my goals as a woman, sister, daughter, businesswoman, and whatever else there is for me! I know each step I take – whether it be backwards, forwards, or sideways – is all for the growth, development, and betterment of who I am. I just so happen to be blessed to do this as fulfillment of a dream and vision!
Please take a read and watch the other “Wells Fargo Presents – The Untold Stories Collection” in the series to read more about the #MyUntold Stories!
What about you? Have you chased your dreams? As you pursue the idea, dream, or vision, what obstacles have you had? What or how has it affected you on your journey? I want to know!
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Wells Fargo Bank
This is a great post! Really liked reading all this background info 😀
THANK youuuuuu!
Greetings from North Carolina Ms. Marie,
I honestly do not know why I am sending this email. I never email or comment but it was something about your article posted today, January 23, 2015. Coincidentally, my 27th birthday. I read the post 3x but the third time Beyoncé “I Was Here” began playing on my laptop. Which has been my anthem. You don’t know me and I don’t know you besides your blog but reading your article felt like you were sitting next to me in my living room directing me. Again, you don’t know me or my story so you could not have known how the last 2 months I have been dealing with wanting to quit my good job as a high school teacher and pursuing my master’s of entrepreneurship. I am conflicted about losing this life I have become so accustom to but I want better for myself and my future children.
I am a fashion school graduate. Graduated in 2012 but have yet to put my bachelors degree to use. I went from a corporate state job to being a high school teacher. I believe (or at least tried to trick myself in to believing) I had found the perfect job for me, an apparel production teacher. Now, I am realizing the dream I have held hidden in my heart since being a young girl is not dying. The entrepreneur spirit will not loose my mind, body or soul. It is who I am, it is what makes me happy. Like you it’s time for me “to stare my fears and insecurities in the face.” I have never lived outside my city, where I was raised by a close knit family who still has dinner together every Sunday.
I know I possess pure greatness in me. I know the time has arrived for me to tap in to this greatness. I know my dream.
Whether you read this or someone on your small team does and tells you, thank you for this post. I pray to one day meet you while covering a grand opening for my business with your blog but if not still know your story has touched this birthday girl.
Tandra
Hi Tandra, how do I get in contact with you.
Thank you soooooooooooooo much for sharing! You are too kind. I replied to you via email, but just wanted to tell you to go after it! If even baby steps or hustlin on the side. I will be checking in and on you boo! I look forward to attending your grand opening!!!
Very moving and really beautiful. I’ve been reading with you for a while now, and always am so happy to hear the good things that happens for you. You motivate me. Thank you.
THANK YOU SOOOOO much Donna! XOXOXO
Saw you today on a show for AT& T U-Verse subscribers called The Art of Fashion. I thought the premise and concept of your blog was very inspirational for a couple reasons: 1) I’m plus-sized and know the frustration that trying to have style while being overweight can bring. 2) I’m also a blogger with a desire to do the entrepreneurial thing. So I decided to check out your site, and came across this post which also proved to be inspiring. It’s so great to see that you — as a woman, especially a young black woman — are achieving your dreams. It gives people like me hope that I can do the same…and look good in the process!
Looking forward to part 2!