We were lucky to catch up with Naijha Wright-Brown recently and have shared our conversation below.
Naijha, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
My motivation to work began at the age of 14. I wrote letters to a couple of retail clothing stores in my local area asking if they had part-time job openings. One responded called Disco Queen. They brought me in for a brief interview and accepted me for a junior sales associate position. My life would change for the better. I could now afford new clothes!
By the age of 16, through a high school work cooperative program, I was offered a part-time administrative job at a computer consulting firm in midtown Manhattan. This was around the time when personal computers were becoming popular. After graduating from high school, I made the tough decision of not going straight to college. I accepted a full-time administrative employee at the computer consulting firm instead. Two years later, after an uncomfortable incident with the owner at the office, I resigned and registered with a temporary agency, in the same area, that offered me an exciting opportunity to work in short and long-term contractual positions with various companies in New York City. Gaining the experience to service business customers, including some direct high-end corporate clients holding private bank accounts, by taking care of details that nobody else seemed to notice is where my work ethic started to develop. By the age of 23, my young professional journey would eventually land me my first official salaried corporate job with benefits as a help desk specialist for Dow Jones Markets. At the same time, my continued relationship with the temporary staffing agency, granted me the opportunity to contract work, in the evenings and weekends, with junior investment bank analysts on pitch decks at Credit Suisse First Boston. The impact of 9/11, eventually led to the dissolution of both jobs causing me to face unemployment for the first time in my life. I fell into a depression that would last close to a year. By the time I turned 30, my second full-time, salaried job was with Verizon Wireless where I spent a decade working quite a few positions including frontline management in the consumer, business, and government departments. What I learned on the frontline, whether dealing with multi-millionaire venture capitalists or senior citizens who couldn’t figure out how to use their smartphones, was to connect to people and build relationships.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I received my Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and applied some of what I learned to become a skillful business partner of a multi-award-winning vegan soul food restaurant, The Land of Kush, two special event planning companies that created the first-ever vegan festival and restaurant weeks in Baltimore City, Vegan SoulFest and Maryland Vegan Restaurant Month, and the executive director of a non-profit organization that promotes plant-based eating, Black Veg Society.
Through this journey, I produced events with the focus of bridging the gap between races and cultures that earned me awards and accolades from local city and state government, organizations, businesses and media outlets. Naijha Speaks, a digital talk show on YouTube, was launched during the pandemic to assist people with finding their vegan soul. We’re in our fourth year. In my past life, I was a nightclub promoter who produced diverse comedy and talent shows. Succeeding in business where others have failed led me to do a TEDx on my journey from the inner city of the South Bronx to Wall Street. My career has been featured in Forbes, Baltimore Business Journal, Black Enterprise Magazine, and other media publications. My passion is to uplift women, especially our African-American and Latin sisters while at the same time advocate for holistic health, veganism, and the plant-based lifestyle.
Some upcoming developments in the city of Baltimore are the long-awaited opening of the larger-spaced Land of Kush and a first-time-ever children’s veg fest this summer.
Here are some tips that I’d like to share:
> Let go of toxic relationships to make room for prosperity.
> Raise money by enrolling partners.
> Connect to your communities by offering giveaways.
> Find customers by using three to five low-cost marketing strategies.
> Overcome obstacles by using creative thinking.
> Expand your business by creating inclusiveness that builds bridges rather than walls.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that we most impactful in my journey were possessing strong interpersonal skills, being a go-getter or doer, and leading by example. To develop strong interpersonal skills one must know how to communicate, especially VERBALLY. We’re living in times when too many of our business people rely heavily on emails and text or direct messages as their primary form of communication. There is nothing better than picking up the phone hearing someone’s voice and feeling their genuine, sincere energy. Emails and text messages are often misconstrued when written and expressed the wrong way. Being a doer or go-getter takes extra energy and enthusiasm. I used to have this saying back when I was working at Dow Jones Markets, “You vote with your actions, not your words.” No one cares what you’re saying, it’s what you are doing that matters. Walk the talk or don’t say anything. Your vote does not count unless there is action behind it. Leading by example needs no explanation. I am an advocate for those who represent themselves (Do YOU!) unapologetically with the best intention to create positive change. As a free spirit, I appreciate and embrace diversity because we are all spiritual beings living out a human experience on this planet. What are you doing with your time, energy, and space? Will it have a positive impact on the next generation?
Here’s my S-E-C-R-E-T: Self-Development, Excellence, Contribute, Responsibility, Extra Energy, Time Management
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
During the pandemic, I discovered Infinite Waters by psychologist Ralph Smart on YouTube. Watching these segments really got me through it. Along with keeping your seven chakras (1. Root 2. Sacral 3. Solar Plexus 4. Heart 5. Throat 6. Third Eye 7. Crown) aligned and balanced is important. We’re living in a society where everything is fast-paced. We’re taking on too much, with very little time, unnecessarily. Achieving a work-life balance is incredibly challenging and even impossible to some. When you balance your chakras, something magical happens. A door opens up! Be ye entered into a new world! Have you ever felt as if you were living in another dimension? Your whole physical, mental, and emotional well-being improves. Your mind calms down and your spirit soars. Just imagine increasing your energy and vitality, improving your physical and mental health, strengthening your spiritual connection, increasing your intuition and clarity, and becoming more harmonious with your relationships and your overall emotional well-being. How does hearing this make you feel? Yoga is a way to balance your chakras which I do practice at times. My primary way of balancing the chakras is meditating during the day and deep sleep meditations at night, or during a nap. I listen to Inner Lotus Music on YouTube. I burn Chakra candles and incense. I even use chakra oils on my body. Another important thing that I do is block out time just for myself. Whatever that looks like for you, do it! You go hard for everyone else, make sure you go just as hard, or more, for yourself. And, knock some of those items off of your to-do list, especially those things that should not be there. Say, “No!” more often without feeling guilty about it. Someone else’s emergency, or priority, is not necessarily yours. You can’t do everything and you can’t be everywhere. You MUST, absolutely, be there for yourself, though. Blessings 
.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.landofkush.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelandofkush
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelandofkush
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naijha-wright-brown-58633150/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thelandofkush
- Youtube: http://www.naijhaspeaks.com
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-land-of-kush-baltimore
- Other: Black Veg Society https://www.blackvegsociety.org
Image Credits
1st photo of me and Greg – Scott Suchman 2nd photo of me with Black Veg Society t-shirt – Big Shots by LJ 3rd, 4th & 6th photo courtesy of The Land of Kush 5th photo courtesy of AVA Summit 7th photo courtesy of Midday Maryland 8th photo courtesy of Fox45 – DC
