We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Fabrice Felix a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Fabrice, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?
I’m a person who always enjoyed taking pride in my work. With that comes the understanding that not everyone will have the same vision as me in completing the task, so once I’m locked in on something, that’s all I’m worried about. Sometimes I might just be impatient, which leads me to work alone. Being in rooms where nobody else looks like me isn’t unfamiliar territory to me. I was one of a few African American students in both high school and college, and one of the few “younger guys” in most companies I’ve worked for. So, I know that my work will be critiqued twice as hard, therefore I need to put twice the effort. Seeing “favoritism” amongst others also pushed me to realize that. Just understanding that I have goals at hand to reach and nobody to hold accountable but myself is what pushes me to be more effective at all I do. One thing I learned in network marketing was to “remember my why” and that “why” is something nobody else wants but myself. Having that mindset definitely helped in preparing myself for those moments of being in a room with nobody else that looks like me.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m currently a Staff Accountant for a Commodities company. It’s been about a year and a half. I received my degree in Finance from the University of Scranton in 2018. Even though Accounting and Finance go hand in hand, I didn’t see myself going down this route initially, but I’m thankful for it. I’ve made great connections and received great benefits so far. Outside of that I’m a part-time day trader. I’ve been trading for about 5 years now, and I definitely do want to get back into it full-time. My issue was lack of consistency, which I took a year off to really backtest and work on. I also have a podcast for entrepreneurs called “What’s Cookin’ NYC” where entrepreneurs can speak about their business and general industry. One thing I’m definitely working on as well is photography; definitely be on the look out for when I jumpstart that journey. I am partnered up with a few other networks. Me and one of my trading mentees host monthly networking events In Brooklyn, called “The Royal Connections” where we have guest speakers that we invite come speak about their journeys entrepreneurs. I also host Occasional networking event for musicians and artists called “Home Town Players” where artist gets to create content, network, and perform their music for one another.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Self accountability, courage, risk management would be my 3 most impactful. Self accountability allowed me to understand my flaws, and I advise everyone to do the same to avoid unnecessary conflicts with business partners and changes to the business. Courage is definitely necessary if you want to be an investor and a risk taker. There is a saying that says “you’re 0% on the shots that you don’t take in life”, and I’m a firm believer in taking that shot every time being a former basketball player. Risk management is key when it comes to how you allocate your money. I learned as a trader not to over leverage because trading is something psychological, so when you see a lot of money lost, even if you don’t close out of the trade, it does give you a lot of anxiety. Also, when you do lose the trade, you lose a huge chunk of your money, which was one of my errors in my early stages of trading. However, it doesn’t only have to be trading. Having good risk management will allow you to know how much money you could afford to lose in any investment that you make, and it also helps you prepare a proper plan. A lot of people don’t properly plan. They see it as a game, and they’re just worried about making a profit.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
Through the podcast I can say I definitely grew in terms of how I communicate with others as well as how I listen to others. In the beginning, I was so caught up with trying to “put the backpack on” I didn’t allow the rest of my team to drive and what they’re good at. No, because of this, there were early disagreements because I didn’t consider their opinions and options. I would just go ahead and do whatever I thought was best for us going forward. It wasn’t until I realized I couldn’t do it all on my own, and there were certain things that I wasn’t good at that I really put more thought into my team and seeing how they could help me. Plus, the feedback of our viewers helped. People were mainly saying that they would like to see more work and effort out of the rest of my team. Originally, they thought nobody wanted to help, but in reality, I wasn’t allowing them to help. I noticed our social media has been growing more my teammates do as they please. We’ve been able to lead just by their word-of-mouth and their own marketing as opposed to just me trying to use my network only.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatscookin_nyc?igsh=MTltOHVvbjNzeGJqeg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@whatscookinnyc212?si=d9n5cJYmtiSc1k1n
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