We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alyssa Evans. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alyssa below.
Alyssa, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
A lot of developing my confidence and self-esteem came from stepping outside of my comfort zone. It was me constantly putting myself in vulnerable positions that could allow me to fail and not saying “no” even when I’m pushed into these situations unwillingly. Through embracing these new experiences, I realize time and time again that it’s never as bad as I thought it would be. There’s always something you can learn from an experience, whether it’s that you realize how much you like it or are good at it, or maybe that you know it’s something you never want to do again, but regardless you tried it. Confidence really is just a lack of experience or knowledge in something, so if you want to feel more confident, try it and then do it again, and again, and again.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
The focus of really anything I do is to better the community around me. The Atlanta Book Club is probably what I am most proud of. It came out of this need to bring people together and build relationships. Yes, the club is centered around books, but the books just provide the platform for conversation. At its core, The Atlanta Book Club is a social club, we have book discussions, but we also have socials, book swaps, Audiobook Walks on the Beltline, and volunteer work with local organizations. For our book discussions and meet ups, we focus on meeting at beautiful and inviting restaurants, cafes, and venues around Atlanta. So if you’re a food and cafe lover, this club is a great way to experience new places around Atlanta. Overall, what you can expect from The Atlanta Book Club is a lot of laughs, good food, great conversations, and maybe a new friend or two!
Not only do I lead The Atlanta Book Club, but professionally I’m a marketing consultant for my own consulting company, Grounded Marketing. I help businesses build or improve their brand and marketing strategy at any stage. We specialize in branding, social media, digital, events, and field marketing.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
One thing I’ve learned is to have a plan or vision, but be open to it changing. For example, getting laid off from my job earlier this year was not on my bingo card. And then entering a tough job market, going 4+ months without any job offers, then navigating how I was going to pay my bills and pay for the things I needed was not on that card either.
However, situations like this put you in a position to be creative, and can put a fire under you to finally do some of those things that you’ve wanted to do, but you told yourself you never had time for. This lay off period allowed the time and space to do so many things that I couldn’t have possibly imagined. For example, co-founding a company with my sister, called Hauswarm, a production company helping to place essential conversations into intentionally designed spaces. Also, I got the opportunity to do some amazing projects with Poshmark like getting to be featured in U.S News and World Report, doing a segment on 11Alive News, and then being a speaker at their PoshFest. Then last, but not least, starting my own marketing consulting company, Grounded Marketing, allowing the amazing opportunity to help businesses excel in their marketing, which is something I’ve been wanting to do professionally for a minute. So getting laid off was not in the plan, but so many amazing things came from it, and I just learned to lean into the opportunities and see where they go.
Second, in this same breath, if you encounter a similar experience, like a job loss or maybe you’re not sure where to go next in your life, DO SOMETHING. I find that just waiting for things to come to you, only gets you so far. You can start small like sitting in a coffee shop once a week instead of just staying in your house or going to local networking events. Just leave your house, whatever that looks like to you. The key here is every time you step outside of your house, you open the opportunity for something new to happen that can give you the step towards the next thing. I find that 99.9% of the random cool things that have happened to me, happened outside of my living room.
Lastly, be authentic. I know we hear that all the time, but I’m realizing more and more how important it is. A lot of us don’t even give ourselves the chance to show up authentically from the get go, assuming that our personalities will not be accepted. You’re doing yourself and this world a disservice trying to be what others expect you to be. Think about anyone who did anything cool for this world, those people are known for what they did because they were different and stepped outside the status quo. Those people are the inventors, the tv personalities, the billionaires, the artists, etc. Embrace how different you are, because that’s actually the coolest thing about you.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
For one, let me set the record that I literally have the best parents in the world! The most impactful thing that they did (and still do) was see a passion I had and invest in it so that I could be the best in whatever I decided to do. Even at an early age, they exposed me to as much as they could, like piano, tennis, science camps, cheerleading, gymnastics, so that I could develop my passions. I’ve always felt so supported by them and I can never thank them enough for how much they have poured into me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/begroundedmarketing/?next=%2F
- Other: The Atlanta Book Club Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theatlantabookclub/
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