Meet Tracy Lowe

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tracy Lowe. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tracy below.

Hi Tracy, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Honestly, I never really thought about resilience as a concept before the last decade or so. Continuing to move forward through obstacles was just something that was expected. Growing up I was very close to my father and he expected me to do my best in all situations, most times better than best. I think that instilled a drive in me to keep going and overcome whatever was in my path. This was of course not in a destructive way, but more internal. I was competing with myself to become a better version each day. I lost my dad to a chronic disease years ago so his early teaching and expectations stay with me, driving me forward. Then over the last 10 years I lost both my mom and younger brother, leaving me as the last member of my nuclear family. I had to dig deep to get affairs taken care of and continue to provide for my own family. I think that my love of life and wanting to experience more propelled me forward.

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?

Over the last year I remembered something. When I was a little girl I loved to play office. My mom would give me envelopes that came in the mail and those free return address labels (remember mailing letters!) and I’d collect pens and paper clips, setting up my office just so. As I acquired part time jobs while in school or over the summer I’d think about what I’d do differently if I had my own business. College and life happened and those thoughts were pushed down, forgotten.

Over the years I’ve had friends and colleagues ask me why I didn’t have my own business. I would just laugh it off and keep working. A few years ago when the world changed, I found myself facing an incredible opportunity- starting my own business. Maybe it was my resilience kicking in, but I dove in head first and created my company. It was born of necessity and I didn’t have the luxury of sitting around thinking of clever names or a just-right color palette, I simply got to work.

Now, headed to five years in business, I’ve been able to take a tiny pause, deciding how I want to move forward, the services I want to provide, where my skills shine and even a brand new color palette! My focus now is on helping companies with their strategic planning, content development, internal messaging and company culture. What does this mean? It means that I serve as a fractional marketing director for some clients, part of an internal team, and as a consultant or project manager for others. Figuring out how to make a client’s business shine brings me joy. While I focus on their marketing and related initiatives, they focus on running their business.

I believe success in business depends on thinking about your brand and goals as a whole and building relationships. As a business owner I know that I’m able to do a lot, but not always everything so my business network is very important to me. Much of my network is made of true friends; people that I count on to have my back, and I theirs. It makes work and life so much sweeter.

I’d say that right now my business focus is on maintaining my current relationships and serving my clients to the best of my ability. Because business lives in an ever-evolving landscape, I must be resourceful and stay informed. The current use of AI in the marketing industry is moving so incredibly fast. I’m working to stay on top of trends and be aware. I regularly immerse myself in learning opportunities, test new tools, processes and systems to bring the best to my clients. Rest assured, they are still working with me and my ideas, not plans simply generated online. There is a use for AI, it’s in our life on a daily basis, but it’s a tool, not a replacement for authentically crafted work.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Over the years, self-motivation, the ability to stop talking and listen and curiosity have served me well. You have to be able to get up in the morning and get yourself going. Whether it’s for work, exercise or just to feed the cats and dogs, you have to get yourself moving. Set goals for yourself, give yourself down time and take a rest day if you need to. All of these will help you stay focused and motivated. In recent years I’ve turned to yoga and meditation to help me focus and stay grounded. The tools I’ve learned through my practice help me each day and I encourage others to explore overall mindfulness.

It’s been said that many people just wait for a pause in a conversation so they can speak. They don’t listen to a person talking because they are too busy thinking about what to say back. I challenge you to really listen in a conversation. Comprehend what a person is telling you or a group of people. You will learn a lot by studying their tone, word choices and gestures while speaking. In doing this you can respond in a manner to move the conversation forward and make it more meaningful.

Finally, curiosity helps keep work and life fun. You learn more when you’re curious. When you explore, you learn more about yourself, the people around you- increasing motivation. In my mind it becomes a circle and that’s living!

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

My father died as my last year of college began. It was a rough time in my life, but I finished school because I needed to and that’s what was expected. After graduation with a degree in Sociology, I moved from Virginia to California to live. I moved with no job, not a single friend or contact and began my post-college life. My mom provided support for me emotionally and even financially at first to be able to explore and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. It was there that I went back to school specifically for marketing, learned more about my own self-worth and landed a fantastic job that launched my career. That experience has served me well in life.

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracywlowe/