“I seek out to channel the lessons I’ve learned from Khadija every day.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I love teaching. I’ve always loved teaching because of being able to help people go through breakthrough moments. It has been my passion from a very young age. Writing was always my coping mechanism. My parents were terminally ill since I was a kid, and I wrote poetry to cope with it.
So, I became an English teacher who also wrote copy on the side. Around 2 years ago, Bill 21 came into effect in Quebec, which prompted me to decide to start a business. I started writing copy full time. I realized I was actually developing most of their content strategy as well as doing their copy, and that is when I started studying it even more (I love studying) and ended up doing this full time. Within 3 months, I was able to make more than my 9-to-5 job and quit. Eventually, I started missing teaching. So now, I teach new entrepreneurs how to make a full-time income out of their business.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: My upbringing was centered around the fact that my mom had breast cancer and my dad had lymphoma. My mom died when I was 16 from her second cancer and my father from his third when I was 25, so 2 years ago now.
I’ve always loved writing and have always used that as a coping mechanism. In fact, I have a poetry collection coming out soon entitled, “Eulogy: Our Stories Put to Rest.”
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: That you can do anything you set your mind to! That you are literally the one that decides your faith. Focus on what you have control over and move forward collecting the tools (learn) you need for the outcome of your dreams.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: Everything. When I was young, my father told me the story of Khadija RDA, a historical figure in Islamic heritage. She was a business owner and considered to be the mother of Islam. I was so fascinated by the fact that she had proposed to her husband, the Prophet in our tradition; she was one of the wealthiest individuals of her time and space and also one of the kindest. She was so ahead of her time! She would always put out a green cloth over her entry way so people would know to come to her if they needed help. I seek out to channel the lessons I’ve learned from Khadija every day.
I am a strong woman that has always taken care of herself. That is the backbone of my story. In fact, my life today on Facebook is about the 3 lessons I’ve learned from amazing women. And, I will be focusing on Audrey Hepburn, Khadija RDA (historical figure in Islamic heritage), and my mom.
Thank you for reading!
MORE ABOUT MARIAM: I drive my company and my everyday life on empathy. It is at the core of my philosophy and my business. I set goals to give back. In fact, I have a mastermind coming up next week. 100% of ticket sales is directly going to fund food baskets for families in need.
Q and A with Leah, From Duluth, Minnesota, Living in Cape Coral, Florida
“One thing that I’ve learned the hard way is to pursue your passion, not just the easiest path in front of you.“
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: In all areas of life, I’m truly passionate about helping people and can’t sit idly by when I know I can make a difference. When it comes to business, I work together with my husband, and we’ve found that we have a knack for digital marketing, and more specifically with creating, launching, selling, and scaling digital courses or coaching programs.
And what’s really cool is that by honing in on our genius, we’ve been able to enable amazing people, people with expertise and on a mission to help people; we help them to make a huge impact with their programs.
I truly count it a blessing to have clients and a network of amazing, powerful, and positive entrepreneurs all over the globe.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I had a bit of a rocky upbringing that drove me to push myself and strive to create a better life for my future family. While it pushed me to excel, it also drove me to the security of a stable job and my thought process was 180 degrees away from entrepreneurialism. It took several burnouts in the corporate world before I started to being open to the whole idea of business, and a lot of personal development before I could become a rockstar business woman, willing to take risks and be confident enough to step out of my comfort zone.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: One thing that I’ve learned the hard way is to pursue your passion, not just the easiest path in front of you. While I ended up where I am supposed to be, I took several detours along the way as I just accepted other opportunities that were the easiest to move forward with instead of crafting a business around my passion.
I strongly encourage women to start with their passion and look for how they can form a business around it, even if that means it’s going to take longer to get off the ground. The reality is that you should be creating something you truly love and can see yourself doing for years to come, something that drives you and is bigger than just earning money.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: While I may ruffle some feathers on this one, I consider myself a true feminist. I feel that in today’s society, feminism has become warped to either make women better than men or to make them into men, ignoring the amazing gifts of womanhood.
True feminism is about celebrating our femininity, that women are of equal worth but different than men and to celebrate that difference. I embrace and cherish the gifts of being a woman and know that I can use them to serve and impact the world, from motherhood to nurturing and serving others in business.
Q and A with Charli B., from Sydney, Australia; born and raised in Brisbane, Australia.
“We are growing in a world that is rapidly changing and open to change. It’s time, now more then ever, to start believing in yourself and creating a life you’re proud of.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I’m passionate about changing the way women view the lifestyle we are trained to believe is the way of life. I don’t believe we have to go to university to get a degree to then work a 9-to-5 job we hate to survive. I believe in living—living to your worth, your passions, and doing what you love, which is why I became a business coach. [I want] to teach women that there’s more to life than the 9-5 and to help them to believe in themselves and to take a chance on themselves. I’m a 19-year-old entrepreneur who skipped university to create a life for herself and family. At 19, I was given the position of head of marketing as the marketing and engagement manager in a financial company. I also run my own successful, international business and run it all by myself. I’m not saying this to show of; I’m saying this to show you it’s possible. Trust yourself and believe in yourself enough to take a chance.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: Four years ago, while I was in high school, my life was accompanied by loneliness and depression. Life felt so ordinary, empty, and predictable. It was mundane, and I felt unfulfilled. I started to notice the negativity I was surrounding myself with and the life I had built. I realized that I was merely surviving. I was annoyed at the world and above all, annoyed at myself. I felt alone, unwanted, and betrayed. How do all of these people have such beautiful lives, living peacefully with themselves, and I am stuck with me?
I took my frustration and self-hatred out on boys and partners, becoming obsessed with the need to have someone love me, whether it be for a night or a couple of months. I started attaching myself to guys no matter how they treated me; at least it took my attention away from having to deal with myself. But I knew there was more to life. I knew this was not what I wanted my future to look like. The idea that “this was it” made me angry. I was unwilling to settle for “this.” It led me on a path to question my life.
I was seeking advice, looking for solutions, and finding out who I was. I started back at the beginning and stripped every layer back. I looked at my root cause and every experience that had led me to where I was, and I started one after the other to work through them and accept it for what it was. I started to find and discover who I was. I become a YouTuber, a social media influencer, a model, all of which had a great impact on who I am today.
With the skills I learned from these businesses, I started to understand business and understand what makes you stand out from the rest, how social media can have a great impact on your business and influence. Not too long after, I found the personal development world where everything started to make sense, which is when I became a mindset coach. Using the skills I had learned through my own personal experience and trainings I had, I started to develop a greater understanding for how people work, how sales work, and how much of an impact our mindset has on our success. After two years of being obsessed with growth and development, I was able to allow myself to love and accept myself. I finally was able to run my own business, and do it properly…without the obsessive negative talk, mindset, and lack of self trust holding me back. In 2020, I moved from mindset coach to business coach! I developed my own strategies and systems for my business now having nailed it through my periods business, which is how I help my clients grow and develop their businesses and get constant leads and clients.
While working a full-time job and with the effects of COVID-19, I knew it was now or never. I invested $5k into my first coaching business while, living payday to payday with little than $4 left in my account each month. I was determined to give myself and my loved ones the lives they deserve, and to help my clients provide an incredible life for themselves and their families as well! The time and love you put into your business will allow you to share that with others. Self-hatred and your internal battle stops you from living. Stops you from creating what you want and living true to your passion. It keeps you in survival mode and doesn’t allow you to grow and thrive. I want to share this because I once suffered from anxiety and depression; I once lived in self-hatred and with limiting beliefs; I wasn’t an A grade student. I was able to get conquer dyslexia. And I have taken life lessons from everything I did to improve myself and utilized this to propel my business. Growing a business will test everything you have, and it’s important to have the backup support and strategies to do it right! Now, I stand here and in front of you, grateful and fulfilled, to lift and inspire you and to testify that I was once there too. Now, I have created a life for myself. I am not special or any different than you.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: There is another way; life doesn’t have to be this stereotypical life cycle. We are growing in a world that is rapidly changing and open to change. It’s time, now more then ever, to start believing in yourself and creating a life you’re proud of. I spent a lot of my year stuck in a nasty, negative relationship with myself, including self-hating, putting myself down, and self-blaming, which then created the life I had. Dull, boring, depressing, unsuccessful. I was sick and tired of it. I was annoyed that ‘this was it,’ so I made a really big change and started my self-love journey. I’m very proud to say that, two years later, I have created a life I’m proud of. I love and am excited about all because I knew it stopped and started with me, my mindset, and what I focused on.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism, to me, means the art of a woman understanding her power, worth, and respecting herself. I believe it’s a woman coming into her own, having that ‘I’m a boss a** b**ch’ feeling and giving herself the permission to be fully self-expressed.
“Never give up on your dreams and, more importantly, never give up on you. You are worthy of all things great!”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: My name is Jeanette Applewhaite, and I am the proud owner of PinkTeeBag.com! I started my business shortly after I married my husband eleven years ago. While planning our wedding, I created everything from the ceremony floral arrangements to the bridal bouquets. After I revealed our wedding photos to family and friends, I was hired to decorate and coordinate celebrations. However, I later discovered that I was not only talented with floral arrangements, but I am I also talented in crafting as a whole. Crafting feeds my inner happiness and my soul. I founded Pink Tee Bag in 2018 with the goal of creating positive quotes on tee shirts for the entire family. In 2019, I launched my Carrie Nail Polish line, which I have dedicated to my late mother Carrie C. Bailey. Carrie Nail Polish was developed to pay homage to my mother and our bond of painting our nails together when I was a little girl. Pink Tee Bag is now the home of custom apparel, home décor, Carrie Nail Polish, and…new to the Pink Tee Bag family is…Serene Scents! Hand-poured, soy candles. Pink Tee Bag will also be paying homage to my late father, Wallace Jerome Sudler, in the Spring of 2021 with the Wallace J. Collection–a men’s jewelry line! My passion has always been being a great mother to my two children, Kayla (age 22), and Sean Jr. (age 13), as well as being a great wife to my husband, Sean Sr., and our fur baby, Daisy (5 year old Yorkshire terrier). My passion is also to bring positive vibes and great energy to anyone who is in my presence. I am a strong believer in sprinkling kindness around like its confetti!
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: As a child, I can recall my mother being very creative; I was in awe of my mother’s creativity. She would take old phone books and sculpt them into different abstract shapes to decorate the house. Whenever there was a holiday or birthday, she would always create phenomenal centerpieces or focal points on the dining room table. My parents raised me to be very family-oriented. We enjoyed family traditions like baking cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and staying up until midnight to watch the ball drop on New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, by my 22nd birthday, both of my parents had passed away. Although I miss them dearly, my husband and I raise our children with the same values and morals that we received from our parents. As for my creative side, I owe this to my mother. I consider myself to be a creative because I am not boxed into one avenue of creativity. While running my business, I am constantly thinking of ways to enhance products and give my customers an experience rather than a purchase. I’ve built my website, pinkteebag.com, to represent a welcoming feeling of comfort and happiness while shopping.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: I would like others to know that, even when the odds are against you, you are still destined for greatness. I lost both of my parents at a very young age. However, everything that they taught me, I’ve used as a foundation for my success. I constantly think about the morals and values that they both instilled in me and I use that as motivation to keep striving for greatness. Never give up on your dreams and, more importantly, never give up on you. You are worthy of all things great! Also, never allow negative energy to determine your outcome in life. As you put good out into the world, the good will come back to you in ways that you couldn’t imagine! And last, be your own cheerleader. Never get caught up in likes or comments on social media; you have to be your own driving force to your success.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism, to me, is to include all people regardless of their gender. I was in education for 17 years; I have held the roles of assistant teacher, teacher, and education coordinator. Currently, I am a family crisis therapist in my state. I have met people of all walks of life, and I pride myself in the respectful relationships that I have gained over the years. I find it imperative to treat all people as an equal; we are all humans who have struggled at some point in our lives. However, as I stated earlier, I tend to sprinkle kindness around like glitter in the hopes that it will make a difference in the way that we treat each other.
“My dad told me that I had two options—I could allow the statistics to govern who I would become or I could recognize that those statistics were BS and define life on my terms.“
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: First and foremost, I am massively passionate about empowering women. Not even just empowering them but ingraining in them their infinite possibility that can only come from intimate relationships with oneself. I am so completely obsessed with reminding women of how incredibly powerful and needed they are in the world, exactly as they are. I believe that when women are empowered, they show up in a way that completely changes the way we operate as a collective whole. On the flip side, my other passions include food, baking, cooking, and feeding people. Feeding people, to me, is absolutely a love language and allows me to nourish people from the inside out. I have also found that if you truly want to know people, share a meal with them. Some other passions include photography, being outside, going on adventures, travel, fitness, and being present in life. Meditation is my jam! Life is what happens when we disconnect from this version of “reality” and connect back into the truth of ourselves.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I grew up seeing two sides of the coin. Being a child of divorce, I had the unique opportunity to experience life in two different ways. On one side, I saw what it was like to live in a balanced partnership through my dad and stepmom. They got married almost 30 years ago, and they’ve been together through it all. They’ve been an amazing example of how it’s done and what it takes to build a real partnership that is equal in all parts. On the other side, I learned what being a strong, independent woman was from my mom. There literally wasn’t any situation that she couldn’t make it through. She always reminded me, as did my dad and stepmom, that anything was possible on this planet as long as I put my whole self into it. I definitely grew up always being told that there were no limits to what I could do in my life. This, in turn, really prepared me for the moment my life did change. When I was 16, I dropped out of high school, acquired my GED, moved to NC from FL and found out I was pregnant (with my now 15 year old daughter). All of this happened within three months. My dad told me that I had two options—I could allow the statistics to govern who I would become or I could recognize that those statistics were BS and define life on my terms. It didn’t matter what the world said or how anyone else showed up in it. What mattered was how I chose to show up every single day, and that’s how I chose to live life from then on. I knew that I would do more, and I would change the space that I was taking up so that my daughter wouldn’t continue fighting the generational battles passed down to us. Fifteen years later, I can testify that all chains are broken, contracts voided, and ancestral lines healed. We are not victims in this family.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: As cliché as it may sound, anything is possible once we figure out what we’re here for and what it is we truly want to do in this world. Not what anyone else tells you, what you tell you. I always tell people that I get what I want and that has proven true 100% of the time when I am fully invested in the direction I am placing my intentions and energy into. It doesn’t necessarily look like how I see it, but it always works out in my favor with far better outcomes than I could’ve created. On the other side of that, once you have an idea of what you want, START TAKING ACTION! Don’t worry about the how. Know your why, and start taking action right now. The ‘how’ will present itself. The universe loves a determined heart. Before I manifested my TV show, I spoke about it for the year I was operating it on FB and YouTube. I would tell everyone that I am the next Oprah, and one day, this will be a globally syndicated TV show. I didn’t know how that would happen. I didn’t have connections, money, or anything that told me it was a possibility for me, but I still knew. I knew that if I kept speaking it, showed up, and took action, the rest would fall into place. As of next week, The TUF Woman Table airs, GLOBALLY, on Amazon TV, Apple TV, and Roku. Best part is, it’s just the start. Seek that which is in your heart and then take the next step, even if it seems miniscule in the moment. Sow seeds continuously, and I promise you they will harvest when the time comes. You cannot fail when you bet on you.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism to me is empowerment, equality, and freedom of the feminine to exist and take up space. It means creating a space for all people who resonate to feel safe, seen, heard, and allowed to be, as is. Feminism doesn’t say that you must show up in this way to be included, instead it allows space for you to just be. Feminism is saying that you are worthy, equal, and important in all capacities. Feminism is the most beautiful space when we begin understanding that it’s about embodying the fluidity, compassion, inclusiveness, and true balance of both the masculine and feminine working together in harmony. Neither one being more or less, simply equal as they are right now. I think everyone has the capacity to be a feminist and the world would be a better place if we were.
The Woman Wednesday Blog 