We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Armani Fountain a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Armani, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
My optimism comes from life experiences. I believe that if you pay attention, you can find the positive in almost everything, even if you’re experiencing something bad.
I remember listening to Tony Robbins on a podcast and he told the host to look around and notice everything he could find that was brown. Tony told him to close his eyes and tell him what he saw that was red. The podcaster couldn’t, he was only looking for brown. Then he told him to open his eyes and look for red. The podcaster found a ton of red items in the room and even called a few things that were burgundy red just to feel more successful at the exercise.
When you believe something’s true, you’ll find evidence for it.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
By day, I’m a pharmaceutical sales rep, by night, I’m a content creator who gives career and interview advice. Interview preparation was one of the hardest skills I had to learn. The most exciting part about creating this content is that I get a chance to give advice to my younger, less experienced self. Getting a job can be difficult and highly competitive. I want to help people highlight and articulate their story (work history) so they can let their experience shine!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think the three most impactful things that have helped me along my journey are: constant education, self-belief, and not being afraid to try different things. I believe education is very important. When I say education, I don’t mean just going to school and getting a degree. What I mean is that if you’re genuinely interested in something, go learn about it! In today’s world, we have more resources than ever to learn and do a deep dive on the things we are interested in. If you don’t know where to start, I highly recommend this amazing resource called YouTube.
When it comes to self-belief, it simply comes down to trusting your thoughts more than the opinions of others. This is something that I’m constantly working on. You’re always going to have that voice of judgment in the back of your mind, but the goal is to make it quieter over time. When you quiet that voice and the voice of others, you can really create something unique and special.
Finally, I really believe that the only way to find out what you’re good at is to try different things. I’ve started a clothing line, tried my hand at fashion influencing, comedy content, etc. While all these things seemingly failed from an outside perspective, I was developing a skillset that built the foundation for my career and interview content. But the most important lesson I learned is that nothing special can happen if you don’t take action.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
The most impactful thing my parents did for me was that they led by example. Growing up, I saw the hard work my parents put in to give my sister and I the life that we had. When I was younger, they made everything look so easy that it seemed like they enjoyed it all. As an adult with responsibilities and my own family, I now know that definitely wasn’t the case. Work can be hard. Day-to-day responsibilities can be hard. Life can be hard. But if you don’t step up to the plate and tackle things even though you don’t want to, you have to realize that absolutely no one is coming to save you. My parents have played a huge role in my work ethic, and it’s all because they led by example.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.interviewgems.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armanigems?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@armanifountain?_t=8ozXdmXY9uw&_r=1
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
