*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.
Q and A with Cait Scudder, Los Angeles, California
“Spend time getting quiet and getting clear on what you want to create and bring into the world. Vision is the birthplace of all creation, so you need to take the time to do this.”
Click the video above to watch Cait’s TEDx Talk.
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I’m obsessed with helping women monetize their genius. To dial into exactly who they are, what makes them unique, and to help them bring forth those gifts into the world, and ultimately, turn them into a business that changes the world. I ‘ve always been most lit up and passionate when I am helping people. I am so passionate about helping women leverage the power of energy, strategy, and sales to grow a business because so many women struggle to believe it’s possible, that they have something unique to offer. Nothing could be further from the truth. To watch the women I serve A) fall in love with their own capacity and uniqueness of their genius and B) develop a roadmap to turn those gifts into a profitable business, I feel like I’m doing what I was put on this earth to do. I share these nuggets inside my FB group, podcast, and daily motivation on my IG stories. Outside of my career, I’m also passionate about my health (I run daily) and emphasize inner work-mindset and spirituality as much as maintaining my physical health. Now that we’ve settled in LA, I’m also loving the process of slowly settling in, setting up a home, and doing all the domestic things like cooking. After jet setting around the world and living in Bali for 4 years, I’m loving the change of pace.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: Ever since I was a little kid, I dreamed of going big. Be it on stage speaking, on the sidelines coaching, or teaching at the front of the room—I knew I was meant to be a leader.
I attended Amherst College and spent my undergrad years keeping straight A’s in the classroom and getting my hands out in the world. At the ripe age of 20, I became the Director of International Programs for a local non-profit organization, raised $10,000 of capital, and founded a thriving rural literacy initiative in Costa Rica that still, to this day, is one of my proudest accomplishments.
Upon graduation, I felt the urgency of the world’s needs and desire to bring my gifts to the table in an even bigger way. I knew that teaching, leading, and inspiring others was my core purpose and work on this planet, but I didn’t know how or what this looked like, yet. So, I did the safe thing. I dove straight back into academia and earned another degree because my mind told me I needed more letters after my name to be worthy of serving at the level I wanted to serve. I earned my Master’s in Teaching from Smith College at 23, shouldering twice the workload of required of me and volunteering 10 hours a week on the side (yes, while in graduate school). On the outside, I was a beacon of success. A peak performer and giver to boot.
But on the inside, I felt utterly depleted. I was an anxious, depressed wreck, burning the candle from both ends, leaving nothing for myself. And we all know how sustainable that is. I hit rock bottom midway through the year and knew there had to be another way. What kind of educator, mentor, and leader could I expect to be if I wasn’t taking care of myself first?
Two years later, I quit my teaching job and got a plane ticket to Bali to pursue a women’s leadership training and advanced yoga certification program that rocked me to my core. I invested in myself and my growth at an unprecedented level and taught myself in the process that I didn’t have to play by anyone’s rules but my own.
And guess what happened? I spent a month deepening my relationship with myself, and days later, I met the most mind-blowing, heart-blasting love of my life in pure serendipity. I traveled to 7 countries in 6 months and kissed goodbye for good to the conventional 9-5 life I thought I needed. I gave myself time to dream big and permission to have it all. I launched my business in mid-2017 and scaled to 6 figures in under a year, all from my laptop while traveling the world. There were times I thought I couldn’t do it. Times it felt scary AF. But staying trapped in a world where I was grinding myself into the ground, not using my gifts, and denying myself the fulfillment, freedom, and impact I desired was way scarier.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: Spend time getting quiet and getting clear on what you want to create and bring into the world. Vision is the birthplace of all creation, so you need to take the time to do this, and if your vision gets muddied by everyone else’s business [or dreams], you could very well end up creating a business [or dream] that doesn’t look like you.
And with that said, don’t try to be everyone else. In the coaching industry, there is a lot of ‘the blind leading the blind’ and women scrambling to imitate other successful coaches. The women know who are the most successful and have created sustainable success in their businesses are those who have done it their way and created a true niche for themselves.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism to me means women taking a stand and having a voice that weighs equal to men. It means knowing I don’t have to marry into wealth and success, I can create it for myself. It means knowing that I don’t have to wish and hope for a boss who can provide me security, that I can go ahead and become my own boss. Most of all, it means knowing that by taking an unapologetic stand as a woman leader blazing a trail, I’m doing it for all the women who will come after me, and in so doing, be a living example that for them, too, everything is possible.
Click the video above to watch Cait’s TEDx Talk.
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Thoughts, questions, or comments?
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