We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Roc. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Roc below.
Roc, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?
I am naturally inclined to avoid risk so I have to actively force myself to take those chances. As I have grown, this has become a bit easier because I think about all the things that can happen if I succeed at that risky thing vs not trying at all. 9 times out of 10, the anticipated outcome is worth it and I don’t enjoy the feeling of “should’ve, would’ve, could’ve” it just doesn’t sit right with me in my spirit. From a business aspect, in terms of the non-profit, if we don’t take risks, try new things, we may miss an opportunity to not only fill a need but also an opportunity for us as an organization to grow and further our goals.
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 go by Roc, that is my childhood nickname. I am the President/CEO of the Black Girl Brown Girl Collective which I am super proud to say. We are a tax exempt non-profit organization based in South Phoenix that does arts programming for women with a major focus on women of color. As a woman of color myself, it is extremely important to me to help grow spaces for us to be safe, authentically us and be able to share our art in whatever medium it may be. As a native Arizonian, these spaces were always missing for me and I am so thankful to my sisters of the collective, who are excited and have the desire to to do the same-pour into our community in this way. As an example, we host a free arts and crafts series called HERarts N Crafts that provides a moment of wellness, a place for women to commune together and to learn a new craft. We also host our annual events, Queens Rise Art Walk which showcases local women artists and Her Voice Open Mic which is platform for women expressionism. These events not only highlight women but are such a vibe, everyone is welcome to attend and support.
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?
That’s a great question, I’m going to start with the one that I struggle with the most and I am still putting into practice, 1. “You can’t expect you from other people”. So, I have a very specific way of working, I am responsive and complete my tasks in a timely manner, when others don’t work at the same level-I can struggle. (I am being overly honest here) I have to remind myself of this regularly and this speaks to every relationship, romantic, professional, friendship etc. 2. “Your word is your bond”, I’m old school in this way. If you say you’re going to do something, you do it and communicate if anything changes but I thoroughly believe, if you say something, you mean it, you do it. If you move like this through life, you can establish trust and I believe grow even more opportunities because people know what to expect with you. 3. Trust your intuition, listen to that voice or gut feeling, if something feels right, go for it, if there is a something that doesn’t-trust in that feeling as well. I have learned overtime that first instinct is always right for me.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
We need a space in South Phoenix. At the moment, it can be hard to find venues to hold our events. A lot of the options either require food to be purchased in order to rent the space or are very expensive. We often have to rent the same two venues, which works for now but we are getting close to outgrowing these options, we therefore are hoping in the near future to have our own space to host all of our events. I watch for venue options almost daily and we as an organization will soon focus our fundraising on these efforts. We look forward to the day that we get one. I envision something like the Y but all arts focused, it will happen, it’s just a matter of when.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bgbgcollective.square.site/
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