We recently connected with Necia Gamby and have shared our conversation below.
Necia, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
First and foremost my women ancestors especially my great grandmother Katie and my mother Sandra Brown who Katie raised from infancy. I watched them meet the challenges they faced and find a way to change them into ways forward. My wonderful sons Jamal and Jaz, who both early on began asking for help with their specific interests, using their spare time to learn and explore deeply what they loved outside of school. My chosen tribe are self starter, innovators, visionaries, who lean towards artistic expression. They are Musicians, Dancers, Writers, DJ’s, Muralist, Beat Producers, MC’s, Vocalists and Film Makers who through their personal efforts have created public awareness of their talents by staying the course no matter what. The Volker Community in which I have lived and worked for the last 30 year works to move forward while preserving it’s neighbor connectedness. I feel this is owed to it’s walkabilty, the 39th street river that we all use to travel and see each other on our travels, wave, nod, make plans to meet over dinner, pet each other’s dogs, watch children grow from baby to high school and college, while supporting the many businesses that line our river
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
As a clay lover turned Massage Practitioner, skilled touch is what I do whether clay or human tissue. I have experience many times how the whole of the person is very present while I work with their tissue and this excites me most about my calling. I often see a changed expression on the face of my client after their session. They are lighter, more integrated, and centered as they reenter their life. I love watching them leave this way. Coming from hand oriented people ie cooks, visual artists, gardners, and musicians and I think of my sessions as works of art unique to the person receiving it. No two sessions are alike. As an artist and detective of sorts, my work is rarely boring or routine. After 40 years in practice I still an captured by the transformative power of skilled touch so at age 70 I don’t see myself retiring as long my body allows me to continue.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Sit down yearly and honestly write out your skills, talents, and soft assets. You’ll find you’ve increase your list just through living, working, and being interested.
Let yourself have a complete vision of who you currently are and who you’d like to be next year and map out the how step by step. Follow your map to those changes.
Notice your circle of friends, see who around you, you admire for a specific skill, talent, or character trait. Ask to have an hour of time to interview them, prepare your questions with wanting to better understand the thing you admire. Take notes and record with permission the insights they share with you. Reflect and listen to it for ways you’re like it and other ways you can learn from it.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
At 10 years into my practice, I gifted myself a Covey workshop titled “7 Habits for Highly Effective People.” The organizational construct presented with ways I could manage my broad interests and be the person I felt I wanted to be. It started with choosing a max of 7 roles that were most important to like daughter, mom, friend, practitioner, teacher, supporter and lover of life. This gave me the insight needed to sort through all the things I was enjoying doing and set intentions on the role I was actually fulfilling. After sorting through I was able to create a color code for my chosen roles and map time for these in my planner (lovingly known as my “brain annex”). Being a visual planner this was a game changer for me. My satisfaction of being able to see and feel my time commitments to what was important to me was life changing. As a single parent of two amazing sons I could see how I was living my commitment, nurturing my close friendships and being a daughter to my mom. I was more able to be wholely present for my clients, and most importantly present for myself as I lived a life that was meaningful to me.
I recommend buying reading rereading and writing in the margins of this book if you are wanting live a purposeful life.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.heartlandmassages.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STEALTHNRG?mibextid=ZbWKwL
Image Credits
JT Daniels Vernon Leat Danny Mac Stanton
