Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kellee Halford. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kellee, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?
During my freshman year of college I remember sitting in my English course and reading an essay about this topic, the instructor then had us write a 3 page reflection on the matter. I attended Howard University an HBCU in the heart of the nation’s capitol. Prior to that experience I frequently found myself in the position of being the only person who looked like me in a lot spaces. I wish I could say that I drew on inner strength or my faith or the confidence and love of my family to manage being in those spaces but honestly and more often than not I committed myself to keeping my head down and “doing the work.” Why? Because sometimes the fight to be effective and successful is brutal on the soul but a kid just needs to be a kid. I also found myself fighting the idea, held by some of my peers, that being in those spaces was an honor or privilege. For me it was neither but both stress and pressure. Learning to be effective or successful when you’re the only one that looks like you requires a great deal of fortitude, tenacity, and resilience and that you have keen self-awareness and emotional intelligence. I’ve learned that it is important to have community. When I speak of community I mean a set of friends who allow you the space to be considered normal and not an anomaly. From my time as a freshman until now, I purposefully and intentionally make time to be present with my community of friends so that I am not an exception to some socially ascribed rule. I’ve learned that I can only be as effective or successful to the extent that I understand that I am not the only one in existence even if I’m the only one in particular space.
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 feel like every time I do an interview like this something’s different about what I do. I work in the creative and performing arts as a curator of creative experiences. I am the owner of a creative consulting firm that specializes in artist management and development, event management, production/project management, and strategic planning facilitation and implementation for creatives. I’m dedicated to helping creatives, music artists in particular, cultivate careers that they can effectively manage and sustain for as long as they choose. My company, L’Erin Greenfield Consultants is committed to excellence so we begin by analyzing vision and developing strategies that make that vision reality all while holding the visionary accountable to their expressed goals and desires.
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?
I think it’s important that anyone committed to excellence/success be adaptable, coachable/teachable, humble. Humility goes a long way. It prevents one from taking themselves too seriously and losing themselves in the idea that their perspective and perceptions are the only lens or filters to examine, analyze, interpret and engage. Humility helps to keep us teachable/coachable. It allows us to foster our ability to learn even as we become teachers/coaches aka “masters” of a craft or vocation. Adaptability enables us to “go with the flow’ or “roll with the punches” it’s the quality that helps us to unlearn, re-learn and regroup after missteps, miscalculations and mistakes. Adaptability also gives us a creative edge because it allows us to retool and fine tune aspects of our plans, processes and procedures to make new discovers and create paths for innovation. My advice to those who are still early in their journey, though I feel like I’m still early in mine, consistency and constancy will yield continuity of purpose and character. It is important that you know who you are and have a solid idea about where you’re going so that your character will be consistent and constant even though times change and some of the “players” in your life change. Also, losses are a part of doing anything well, don’t beat yourself up about them. All things in their season and time.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I am an advocate for learning so I’m always going to say that investing in efforts to improve in an area is more advantageous than allowing your strengths to dominate. My experience has taught me that I can focus on opportunities of growth and improvement while leaning into my strength because growth in any area will only enhance me overall. Often the strengths we believe we have are natural abilities that we don’t take the time to work much simply because they come to us naturally. But the areas of opportunity that in which we don’t exhibit strong natural acumen can become just as strong if we commit to improvement. My natural capacity for learning matched with my natural acumen have produced qualities and successes for me that I would not have believed simply because I committed to improving in the areas that weren’t natural to me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @leringreenfield
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/leringreenfieldconsultants
Image Credits
Black and White Photo Credit : ELH Photography All other photos are from personal use
