Meet Zollyann Howell

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Zollyann Howell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Zollyann, 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?
My resilience got me a seat at Pinky Cole’s American Sesh! But let’s take it back! If I were to truly be honest with myself. My experiences of building my resilience happened throughout my life growing up. Every time I was told no and that I wasn’t capable of doing something by one of my teachers or going on job interviews after graduating college and being told that I wasn’t a great fit for the opportunity all somehow helped prepare me for the resilience that I needed as a mother, educator and an entrepreneur.
It’s really a trait that you have to constantly keep working on and build up to face all the adversity that could be thrown at you as an entrepreneur. Everyone handles chaos and failures differently. Having the ability to bounce back and thrive in catastrophic times is what truly sets you apart from the crowd.

I think back to when I first became a mother. There were so many difficulties I faced throughout my pregnancy and even after raising my child. Life became real and I quickly learned the ability to bounce back from those difficult events. Fast forward to being an entrepreneur. In my newest released journal “Set Your Mind to Win”, I touched on the importance of practicing gratitude to help you manifest the things you want to accomplish in life. But it’s a bit deeper than that. I’ve learned as an entrepreneur that practicing gratitude also helps you build your resilience.
Every time I was faced with a difficult decision or encountered a problem or failed at something being an entrepreneur, I started to shift my mindset and began practicing gratitude. Practicing gratitude has helped me reprogram my brain to stop focusing on my failures and inspired me to focus more on finding new and flexible ways to thrive and look at my bigger picture for success.
It really changed the game for me and also allowed me to build lots of new and meaningful connections because I stopped being afraid of people rejecting me and my vision and would shoot my shot at an opportunity regardless of my fears.
Perfect example of this was when Pinky Cole the Founder and CEO of Slutty Vegan dropped the American Sesh on Social Media. Thousands of entrepreneurs and creatives from across the country including myself were shooting for an opportunity to be a part of the experience. She dropped 13 Sesh-ions prior to me being selected for Sesh 14 and I could have easily given up and become discouraged when I wasn’t selected for the first 13 Sesh-ions. But my gratitude started to kick in. I started to become grateful for the learning experience from Pinky Cole and all the gems she would drop on social media. I started to become grateful for the opportunity to network and connect with other creatives who were also seeking the opportunity to be in the room at American Sesh. And somehow God made room for me and I was eventually selected to be a part of the American Sesh Opportunity.
My advice to any entrepreneurs out there who wants to learn how to build their resilience would be to practice gratitude. Gratitude is all about recognizing that good things can come from bad situations. Practicing gratitude daily can help you handle any conflict or negative experiences that come your way.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
It’s always fun sharing my journey and what I do because there’s no limit to my potential. Outside of being a full-time educator and a single mother raising three amazing kids, being an entrepreneur and running several businesses in different industries keeps me busy and on my toes. Since getting the opportunity to participate in American Sesh by Pinky Cole, my brain has been in full creator mode and execution mode. I was given so much advice, inspiration and resources to help me propel my businesses to the next level.
One of my main focuses recently has been about community and connecting with and uplifting other women. Which is why I created the Mindset Mixer. The Mindset Mixer is an Annual Networking Event that was born from my book “Your Mindset is LIT AF”, where creatives and entrepreneurs from different industries and at different stages of their journey come together to connect, network, build, collaborate, learn and grow from each other.
My next focus is working on how to take my company Books by Zee to the next level. I’ve been working on pitching myself to local retailers to get my books on their shelves. I’ve also been able to help several new self-published authors successfully create and launch their own books. So my next goal for Books by Zee is securing a physical location that I can turn into a Black Woman Owned Bookstore to be able to showcase not just my work but the work of other diverse self-published authors as well as a space for inspiring authors to come in and get the support and resources they need to start their writing journey.
And then there’s BAE & CO. my online fashion shop that features a selection of trendy clothing for women of all shapes and sizes. We recently dropped new items in our Luxe Collection that are perfect for any fancy occasion such as prom, red carpet, birthday, gala, etc! I pride myself in having a fashion company that is not only affordable but a company that provides quality clothing and a unique shopping experience.

And of course there’s still Zee’s Virtual Library, the philanthropic side of Books by Zee, where we provide free, high quality books to children across the country to promote the love of reading and to increase early literacy within families. We are always taking donations to help keep this mission and project alive at https://gofund.me/6a5810c2

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?
The three skills or qualities that have been the most impactful throughout my journey as an entrepreneur have been having a set of non-negotiables, building my knowledge and my people’s skills. Having a set of non-negotiables and values that I stuck to has allowed me to operate my businesses with integrity and allowed me to develop boundaries for what I will or won’t accept for myself, my past employees, my customers and any business connections I’ve made.
Building my knowledge has allowed me to learn and grow as an entrepreneur. You can never stop learning and growing. I go through everyday and look at every opportunity or experience as a chance to learn and grow regardless if it was a positive or negative lesson.
Building my people skills has allowed me to overcome my fear of public speaking. It’s impossible to be the face of your brand if you don’t know how to connect and interact with customers, potential investors, etc. Having great people skills is key in becoming successful. People skills are oftentimes underrated when it comes to career development but it’s one of those skills that are essential. You can look the part but you also have to be able to “talk the talk”.
The best advice I can give to any new or aspiring entrepreneurs is to never give up. People are going to talk. They’re going to say you don’t know what you’re doing, that you’re wasting your money, and tons of other negative things. However, I don’t recall one successful entrepreneur who didn’t lose or fail at some point in their journey. Sometimes you just have to lose big to win even bigger! And you can only win bigger by not giving up and keeping at it.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Yes, Yes, Yes! I am always looking for other individuals and businesses to collaborate with. One of the needs for Books by Zee is to secure an opportunity to source our kids and adult affirmation books in local or black-owned bookstores in urban communities across the country. We are also looking for angel investors to fund our goal of opening our very first physical bookstore. I can be reached at [email protected] or at [email protected]
Anyone looking to make a monetary donation to our Zee’s Virtual Library project can donate directly here https://gofund.me/6a5810c2 . If you’re looking to donate new, high quality books please feel free to email [email protected], we are a legal 503(c) non-profit and can provide paperwork for tax writeoff purposes, etc.

I am also looking for grant opportunities and programs to use to expand our Virtual Learning Academy to hire educators, purchase quality resources, provide in person services to families such as tutoring, enrichment programs, camps, etc. I can be reached at [email protected] or at [email protected]

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Dezirae OzMarie Photography Atlanta Photographer

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