“I’ve always had a “plan B,” but there are so many others who weren’t prepared for their lives to change in such a way [during the pandemic].”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: One of my biggest passions in life is helping others. I’m a licensed financial advisor. I love what I do simply because I’m able to educate my potential clients on ways to create generational wealth for themselves and their families.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I grew up in a very close-knit family. Education and religion were two things that were at the top list of importance. I’m grateful for all the lessons learned because it helped me to become a better person and who I am today.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: 2020 was a huge wake-up call for me, and I’m sure for a lot more families as well. I was laid off from my job of 15 years. Luckily for me, I’ve always had a “plan B,” but there are so many others who weren’t prepared for their lives to change in such a way. My advice would be to never solely depend on one stream of income. Keep multiple streams coming in in order to keep your family afloat.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: Being a woman, I think, is about being strong. It’s about continuing to move forward in all of life’s endeavors. I definitely have to keep a positive mindset and stay 100% committed to making all my life dreams a reality. I have two daughters that look up to me, and I want them to grow up stronger and better than I am. I love to see my ladies succeed! There was once a time when women were told we couldn’t do certain jobs or we couldn’t make a certain amount of money, but look at us now! Kudos Ladies! Let’s keep it up! God Bless.
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“You can be incredibly skilled or invest in learning the best strategies, but without the right mindset, you still won’t get the result.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I’m passionate about finding ways to play and making the most of my time every day. I love spending time being a mom to my three-year-old son, cooking, SCUBA diving, and my work supporting other entrepreneurs.
I help entrepreneurs tap into playfulness in their business to elevate what they sell and how they sell it, so they can create massive visibility, make consistent sales, and have a whole lot more fun! Some things I’m currently working on in my business that I’m excited about are launching a networking container that will include a retreat to a fabulous location. I’m also building out a new program for people who want to work with me in a group or short-term capacity. It’s amazing because it allows me to support more people by having an impact at multiple price points.
In my personal life, I’ve started taking harp lessons. It’s so much fun! This is my first time playing a musical instrument, it’s never too late to learn. Also, I love to travel! I’ve visited over 40 countries. My new ones this year were Costa Rica, Senegal, The Gambia, Cape Verde, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. My favorite things to do when I’m traveling are to wander the streets and make new friends, take food tours, and watch my son take in the world.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: As a kid, I always wanted to be a writer and a performer. I loved to sing, act and tell stories. So, it’s really perfect that now I get to do all of those things in my business, and teach other people how to grow their impact by telling their own stories. I really loved and excelled in school. And in my childhood, I always received the message that the path to success was to go to school and get a good job. So I did exactly that, went to a great school, and got a great job, but it didn’t make me feel successful or fulfilled.
I knew I needed to do something different, but I didn’t grow up with many examples of entrepreneurship, especially successful black female entrepreneurs. That’s why supporting and guiding that community is so, so important to me. I want to share the knowledge I didn’t have and inspire more women to build something of their own.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: Mindset is greater than skill set. When it comes to growth and success, winning the inner game is crucial. I experienced this when I was transitioning from being an employee to an entrepreneur. I brought my employee mindset to building a business and it held me back for the longest time. But once I hired a mentor, he helped me rewire how I was thinking. Within six weeks, I made $20k in sales. And within a year, I had a six-figure business.
You can be incredibly skilled or invest in learning the best strategies, but without the right mindset, you still won’t get the result. Those limiting beliefs will still hold you back, and you’ll get stuck at the same point, the same level of success, over and over again. If you want to have a breakthrough, you have to have a mindset shift first. I’ve seen it for myself and my clients, it always works this way.
Q: What does feminism mean to you? A: Feminism, to me, means having choice and opportunity. For women to have the ability to choose what feels aligned and right for them in every area of their life, without barriers to their happiness, success, or fulfillment. The choice to be a mom or not be a mother. The choice to work or not to work. The choice to be feminine or not feminine. The choice to follow a faith or not follow it.
And for those women to have every opportunity that’s afforded to men. The opportunity to grow, to be a leader, to flop and make mistakes, and to see themselves represented in their media. That’s what feminism looks like to me.
MORE ABOUT NATASHA:
I’d love to share the mantra I live by, it’s been the mindset that’s made everything possible…
“Sports have been a passion of mine since I started playing soccer at 4 years old, and I have been coaching for 15 years.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: As the CEO/ Founder of Girl Boss Sports and a professional tackle football player with the Seattle Majestics this year, you could say that one of my biggest passions is sports.
Girl Boss Sports is a company I created for two main reasons:
1) To improve the pipeline of female sports coaches as there are simply too few of us (for example, only 21% of soccer coaches in the US are women) and
2) To provide a quality sports experience FOR girls BY women (currently we are focusing on soccer in the Seattle area). We work on soccer-specific development, mentality, fitness, AND do all of this with the added benefit of providing female role models to the athletes we coach.
Sports have been a passion of mine since I started playing soccer at 4 years old, and I have been coaching for 15 years.
In addition to being a soccer player, I have now joined the Seattle Majestics football team to try my hand at something new.
As a rookie, I am excited to step outside of my comfort zone, learn to tackle, and hopefully win a championship with the impressive women who make up this team.
I am also passionate about leadership, women supporting women, and being a “womanpreneur.”
Currently, my two big goals are having the best season I can with the Majestics and scaling up Girl Boss Sports as we hire several coaches and are establishing partnerships with other local businesses who have similar goals.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: Being an athlete my entire life was one of the most impactful things on who I am to this day (and I’m not alone in this). According to a survey of female C-Suite Executives, 96% said that they participated in sports as a teenager, and I am one of those individuals.
Sports ignited my passion for leadership when I first took on the role of “captain” and then eventually “coach.” Sports also taught me life lessons about teamwork, accountability, working toward goals, sportsmanship, confidence, and communication–all these things that have helped me to be successful as a woman in this world and at work.
These lessons I learned along the way are a huge part of who I am today and what Girl Boss Sports is working to do for the next generation of female athletes and coaches.
Q: What is something valuable you’ve learned that you’d like others to know?
A: I have learned that if you want success (in whatever area that is for you), it takes hard work, grit, preparation, and resilience (and one without the other doesn’t work).
Life will hit us hard at one point or another, and the ability to be resilient in the face of adversity is one lesson that sports taught me that is transferable to finding success and happiness in life.
Secondly, I have learned that nothing comes easy that is worthwhile, and this is where hard work and grit comes in. One thing I often find myself speaking about to the athletes I work with is centered around these topics.
Often I have found that athletes can be hard on themselves if every movement, touch, etc. is not perfect every time.
Instead of getting frustrated about not having fully developed a specific skill we are working on, I discuss that it is not perfection we are after, but progress.
The only way to progress at something is to go through the discomfort of imperfection.
Finally, whenever I am working on a “hard thing” (and what that is varies depending on the circumstances), I have found that by preparing for it ahead of time not only does it go better, but I have significantly less anxiety around it as well.
Preparation really is the key to success in life!
Q: What would you like others to learn from your story?
A: One of the things I hope you learn from my story is the power that sports can have on anyone and everyone.
Being involved with sports provides so many opportunities to teach life lessons and find success on AND off the field.
Whether you are someone who has never played before or are thinking about getting back into it, just do it!
There are a ton of recreational leagues and teams and classes around the nation [and around the world] that could be a great outlet for you, and I highly recommend it.
And, if you are someone with children (or know somebody who has children), I’d encourage you to get them involved in (and help them stay in) sports. If you have girls, it’s even better you’re reading this.
By age 14, girls are 1.5 to 2 times more likely to drop out of sports, and this is incredibly sad to hear. This is due to a ton of reasons, including lack of access, costs associated with participation in sports, and lack of positive female role models. These are all things that Girl Boss Sports is working to change.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Intersectional feminism is where it’s at! This means that I am striving to do my part in advocating for equality, not only among the sexes, but also working to be inclusive of women with other intersectional identities (i.e. women of color, LGBTQ+ women, women with different abilities, and more).
As someone who has experienced how hard society can be on us women, it is so important for us to stand together and advocate for one another in everything we do.
“Don’t be afraid to put your work out there. It’s very daunting at first, but it’s so rewarding when people read your book and tell you how much they love it. What makes us feel good is when we get a message from a reader telling us how she had a pretty hard day and our book made her feel better.”
Q: Who are you?
A: We are Dee J. Stone, a pseudonym for two sisters who write and publish young adult and adult novels on Amazon. We’ve been doing this for over five years. Here is our Amazon author page.
Q: What got you interested in writing?
A: We were always creating stories since we were little kids, although we didn’t know that at the time. As young kids, we would sit with our dolls and play for hours, creating a story and running with it. When we were a little older, around middle school, we would draw comics and create stories that way. But we didn’t actually start writing until high school. We started off writing plays before moving onto novels.
Pictured: Dee J. Stone’s most popular novel,Merman’s Kiss. Available for Kindle or paperback, click here.
Q: Why did you choose self-publishing, and can you explain it?
A: Self-publishing is when you write and publish a book all on your own, without reaching out to an agent and/or publisher. A self-published author has to handle every aspect of the publishing process including providing a good cover that would catch readers’ attention, editing, proofreading, and marketing. Many authors hire other people to take care of the cover and editing, though marketing is usually on their shoulders. The reason we chose the self-publishing route was that we like the freedom to make our own choices when it comes to our books.
Pictured: Dee J. Stone’s novel, Cruiser. Available for Kindle or paperback, click here.
Q: Can you tell us about some of the books you have published?
A: Sure! Our most popular books are a part of a paranormal romance series called Merman’s Kiss. Here is the link to the series. It follows the story of Cassie Price, who stumbles across a merman that has washed up on shore. The two of them become close and eventually fall in love.
Another series we have is a superhero series called Keepers of Justice. It’s about a school for kids with powers. Here is the link to the series. We also have a fairy-tale retelling series. We write in many genres, such as paranormal, fantasy, contemporary, and romance.
Pictured: Book one of the series, Keepers of Justice. Available for Kindle or paperback, click here.
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
A: Don’t be afraid to put your work out there. It’s very daunting at first, but it’s so rewarding when people read your book and tell you how much they love it. What makes us feel good is when we get a message from a reader telling us how she had a pretty hard day and our book made her feel better. Another piece of advice would be to make sure you give your book to someone to read before publishing it. Someone who is not a family member or friend and can give you honest feedback. A writer constantly needs to learn from her mistakes. And another piece of advice? Try not to take bad reviews too seriously. Every book gets them, and they hurt really badly, but try to focus on the good reviews and continue writing.
Pictured: Dee J. Stone’s Falling for the Genie, available via Kindle or paperback, click here.
Q: Is there anything valuable you have learned throughout the writing/publishing process?
A: Stay true to who you are and what you believe in. Many writers feel like they need to change themselves in order to fit in and sell more books. If you want to sell, you may need to make some changes to your writing, but you shouldn’t have to compromise your beliefs. Readers will love your story if you write it well and touch their hearts.
Q: What would you like others to learn from your stories?
A: We believe in writing characters who respect one another. When we write romance novels, we try to portray sweet and kind guys/men who treat women with the utmost respect. There are so many books out there that have male characters who don’t treat their women very kindly, and that is not something we believe in. Hopefully, readers will walk away from our stories with a better understanding of how people should treat one another.
Pictured: Chasing Sam, written by Dee J. Stone, available via Kindle or paperback, click here.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Expanding on the previous question, we believe that feminism is about people respecting one another. No two people are created the same, and there will always be a difference of opinion or arguments. It’s how a person treats other people that matters. Feminism is not only about women feeling equal to men, but showing men how to treat women, and how women should treat one another as well. As the golden rule goes, “Treat others the way you want to be treated.”
“We know that if it isn’t pleasurable, we aren’t going to stick with it.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I’m passionate about helping people through food. My biggest joy in life is creating a combination of clean and healthy, festive, and flavorful cuisine that nourishes both the human body and spirit.
I love being a part of someone’s special event. Great food with amazing service is my goal for every client. I come to where you are, bring groceries, cook, serve, and clean up on the way out the door, allowing you to give your loved ones the gift of time. I get joy from watching people enjoy dishes that they initially thought they wouldn’t.
After years of following and learning fad diets riddled with destructive information, I could see the damage it was doing to my own body. This prompted me to research what an actual healthy diet looked like. The last 15+ years, I burnt up my library card reading information on everything that I could on all types of different eating regimes and scientific studies, and eventually, it clicked to me.
If whole food, plant-based eating has the highest number of people worldwide living without assistance well into their 90’s and into their 100’s, then there had to be something there. As I studied, I learned dishes everywhere and from anyone who was willing to teach me. I joke with my friends that “I cooked with your grandma.”
As I thought of how the groups of people worldwide that still lived by the diets of their ancestors it became to clear to me. A diet full of rich, vibrant fruits and vegetables and natural, lean protein was the way people ate 100’s of years ago, before processed food or “easy foods” were available became my mission.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: Growing up, I was raised on and off by my grandma, who was not only an amazing person but also an amazing cook! She let me cook with her from a young age. There is a story they would tell me growing up that when I was four or five, my mother’s blood sugar started to get to low. I got the idea to make her an egg sandwich while scrambling the eggs I decided to put popcorn kernels in the eggs, because I love popcorn so why not. My mom used to tell me that if I ever wrote a cookbook that the title should be “Popcorn & Eggs.” It is in my business plan to write a cookbook with that exact title. My grandma raised me with her passion to help people and to care for humanity.
I am a military brat. I grew up a little of everywhere and nowhere. I spent a lot of my early childhood with my grandparents on a farm in Burlington, North Carolina, and the rest of my time traveling. I moved back as a teenager to remain in North Carolina until the beginning of this year, when I moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to open Kiss Creations Personal Chef.
Kiss Creations Personal Chef has been my passion project for over half of my life. I continue to study, listen to information, and research healthy living because there are a few pieces of the puzzle that come together to reach the goal of a healthy life and it is my mission. One piece of the puzzle is the fact that if it doesn’t taste good, then it won’t work. We know that if it isn’t pleasurable, we aren’t going to stick with it. For myself, I began to take old recipes that my grandma had made and removed some of the ingredients that lacked a nutritional base and replaced them with nutrient-dense foods. I played around with different styles, different techniques, different concepts, creating new ways to give the comfort of people’s favorite home-style meals and cultural favorites, while also creating my own personal style along the way.
Another piece of the puzzle is physical activity. I personally love lifting weights, walking, running, hiking, anything I can do outdoors invigorates me, but that’s my personal story. Taking a 30 minute walk every day on top of your regular schedule can work miracles for both your physical and mental health, get outside and garden, play with your kids, whatever it is that brings you joy and gets you moving.
The other piece is taking care of your mental health, having people around you that inspire you, care for you, and treat you well. Everyone deserves this in their world and if you don’t have it, listen to these words, babe…everyone deserves these things in their world, that means you! Back in North Carolina I would cook for friends, dinner parties, making food for charity events and my favorite event, Girl Parties, learning along the way how much fun it is to take care of people who take care of everyone else.
At the beginning of this year, I decided to move to Myrtle Beach to assist people in their journey with healthy living. I have met some amazing women who have inspired me to fight for my dreams and help where we can. With this ongoing crisis that we are facing as humanity, being a personal chef that comes to your home to cook meals isn’t the most popular service at the moment. In my first week and a half, I did a dig into my business what was working and what I needed to improve on. I formulated a plan of action around these lists and what I needed to do after this horrible crisis that we are in finally ends concerning my business. I’m also a state-licensed life insurance broker, so I am lucky that has still been an avenue to financially survive this crisis and reopen. I believe we should all help where we can throughout our communities during these times. Everyone is going through their own thing right now, so let’s be kind towards ourselves and each other.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: Something valuable I have learned in my life that I would like to share is that you are worth so much. Never let anyone make you feel like you don’t deserve to be completely healthy in mind, body, and spirit. As women, if we stand together lifting each other up as we journey through this life we have been given, there isn’t anything that we can’t accomplish.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism to me is the idea that whatever it is that makes you feel powerful and like a female should be supported by society. It is also the fact that, as women, we shouldn’t have to fight to be given the same rights and equal pay as our male counterparts. We shouldn’t have to be twice as good as the man standing beside us for the same pay. Feminism to me is this idea that women should support other women throughout our journey and understanding that our paths aren’t all going to be the same. Women are powerful beings, and if we would stand together, there is absolutely nothing we can’t create.
