Sustainability, Purpose, Inspiration, Creativity & Empowerment

Included in this week’s newsletter (monthly-ish turned to weekly-ish):

Table of Contents

• Building Bridges and Rebuilding Brands

• Leaning in on Purpose

• Inspiring Youth and Getting Inspired

• Events to Put on Your Calendar

Building Bridges and Rebuilding Brands

Jazmynn Appleton and Sabrina Madison brought (let’s face it) white business consultants from MABC together with BIPOC women entrepreneurs at The Progress Center for Black Women. Within a couple hours, we rotated around as the entrepreneurs expressed the challenges they faced in their new businesses while the consultants offered ways they can help. What a great way to connect a diverse group of passionate people!

I left that event with meetings scheduled to help two entrepreneurs with specific challenges regarding their brand that can help them be seen and grow their target audience. That night I realized that I had more to give than I thought.

Stay tuned for a future announcement as to the services I will offer and when for The Progress Center For Black Women. In the meantime, I challenge you to brainstorm with me on how we can provide services to members of the BIPOC and/or LGBTQ community so together we can help create a sustainable future for us all.

Leaning in on Purpose

I could buy a closet full of Dr. Martens if I had a $100 bill for every time someone said, “Huh. Really? You’re focussing on the LGBTQ community? That group has never been useful to me.” Or my favorite, “I’m concerned. What are you going to do when you’re broke and have no clients?”

… let’s all take a moment to belly laugh and shake that off …

My experience? We who wave the rainbow flags love supporting each other! And, you know, those who like working with me tend to be smart, forward-thinking, and schedule a vibe check. When we realize that we’re a fabulous fit, we go ahead and make plans for working wonders.

So if you’re reading this and wondering if you can be brave enough to lean in on your purpose, courageous enough to focus on the precious people and brilliant businesses who truly align with your purpose and values, I say LEAN IN! You only have this one beautiful life to live! And if you need someone to lean on, I’m strong enough.

Inspiring Youth and Getting Inspired

When was the last time you worked with students? This week I kicked off another incredibly moving mentoring series for writing students in Waukesha. This is what happened with these amazing seventh graders:

• We added 1-3 words to identify ourselves to our names in the Zoom call

  • This showed we all had a lot in common. Top word: Creative

• We all had scary memories we wanted to rewrite

• When we took the time to rewrite that story as fiction, we felt empowered

• When one kid was confused, frustrated, and called themself a bad writer, ALL of the other students immediately jumped in to offer support

• One kid is determined to use this exercise to complete a book

  • They found it helpful while they deal with tough reality within their family

• Everyone cheered each other on. They also all thanked me with sweet words.

Was this what your seventh grade experience looked like? Holy moly! As each beautiful kid thanked me for the “empowering” exercises and expressed excitement that they get to work with me again, I’m feeling goosebumps and heart swells. THEY inspire and excite ME. Imagine this empathetic, supportive, inclusive generation decades from now. How does this inspire you? Me? I’m going to teach more workshops to spread more inspiration which most surely will spread more inspiration. And some of this is going in my next book.

Disclaimer: the website and Wa’am Writes brand is going through a major refresh, so everything is going to look QUITE different before we’re celebrating Halloween. Talk about holidays…

Events to Put on Your Calendar

SO… if we need to get on a virtual or in person call before I take off…

Muito Obrigada, amigos! Beijinhos!

Your superhero for other superheroes,

Laura Paisley Beck