In today's episode of The Art of Self Belief, Estella Edward is joined by Denise Morris, an accomplished entrepreneur, award-winning Networker, and CEO of TAG Network Midlands; an inclusive networking community and membership organisation that advocates the professional development of multi-sector Students, Graduates, Professionals, Entrepreneurs, and Leaders within the Midlands region.

Denise talks about finding yourself as a young person and how to handle self-doubt and self-criticism. And her advice to young women who are entering a male-dominated work environment and how young people should grow themselves.

Themes:

• Mindset
• Imposter Syndrome
• Self-doubt and self-criticism
• Networking
• Leadership

Quotes:

"... try and expand your horizons with the right people that will support you. And if that goes, well, you then catapult yourself in the understanding and the self-belief of different things that you pick up along the way, different people who help you and nurture you."

"You just go out there and you swim, and you find things that are going to be resourceful. And you take time to reflect on the types of things and goals that you now have to kind of align within your current situation." 

"You just sometimes have to push yourself and uncover the things within"

"...your sense of self, your sense of purpose, where you want to do what you want you've got in your toolkit is a fantastic thing for you to aim for, and to look at and say do I need to develop more, there are courses, there are people that you can learn from shadow. And also there are roles that you can actually move yourself into that incorporates all of your other skills, but just gives you a bit of an elevation. So you know, I always find that there are things and people's stories that can inspire you to make things feel better as well.”

"You can be ambitious with your thoughts. You can be ambitious with your plans. But ultimately, do you have the skills to match that? So if you find that you don't, this is where you really have to self analyse, and have a look at if I was to achieve X, Y, and Zed, what do I need to be able to get there? And what haven't I got that I need to now have to implement to maybe get to the next stage."

"Go in with an open mind and establish your way of doing it for yourself. Because you can't, and I would definitely implore someone not to try and change themselves to fit. 

If you are you, authentically and unapologetically, you should be in those spaces as you are, as a new form of representation, as the new standard. And there is nothing wrong with that."

"Making sure that you don't dim your light or soften your voice when you're in those spaces. Because that may be the one time you can actually inspire somebody who never thought somebody like you would change their perspective on something. And if there's an opportunity to do that, take it, but you should do it more for yourself, not for anybody else."

In this episode of The Art of Self Belief, I am joined by the brilliant Eudora Okoro-Andrew.  Eudora is a former employment Lawyer that provided advice on all areas of employment law and also provided advocacy at Employment Tribunals. And now famously known as DJ Lady E that has DJ at a variety of venues all across the country, including Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. 

Listen in to learn how she switched from a secure career in law to the arts, DJing. 

Quotes: 

“Don't let anyone derail your path to your target. “

“One of the most important things to me throughout my life is that to look after myself, I think I was lucky enough to recognize that if I didn't look after myself, physically, that affects me mentally. So whilst I was in an environment that felt hostile to me, I kept myself physically fit and eating healthily.”

“Recognize people you encounter whether they’re negative towards what you want to do, whether they try to put you down easily. People in our circle have the biggest influences. “

“... we all have the capability of recognizing the good for us and who's not good for us. Choose the path that you want to travel along.”

In this episode, our guest speaker is Janet Douglas, CEO of Feed My Creative CIC. Janet is a multiple award-winning social entrepreneur working with young people and adults of all ages, with a history of exemplary practice and social impact. In July 2020, she was listed as one of 55 inspiring entrepreneurs in the Social Entrepreneurs Index 2020.

Theme:

• Impostor syndrome
• Entrepreneurship
• Cancer Battle
• Isolation

Quotes:

"...everything that I have had a story."

"As you go through a plan, it's like biting a slice of cake. You're not going to put it all in your mouth at once. You can take little bite-sized pieces. And that is what I was doing; I was taking little bite-sized pieces, testing out things, seeing how it worked, doing some trial workshops and seeing how that worked. And it just escalated."

"Try not to do everything, all at the same time. You've got to pace yourself. And you know, it's okay not to have a solid plan. But it's good to have a plan because things can change." 

"...taking that time to reflect and think about what you've got to do or how you think about it. Who can you speak to before you go into a complete panic and a meltdown? It's okay to have a meltdown once in a while. But don't look at anything a step backwards. It steps sideways and pauses to reflect."

"Check everything. If it doesn't feel right or look right, go and get it checked. Don't sit on something because you never know what might happen. "

"...find things that you like to do, and go to an event. Even if you're sitting back, just observing."

"...believe in yourself, that's what you're doing and give it a go. You've got to try it. If you don't try and you don't know, it's going to work."