Meet Ayana Love

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ayana Love. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ayana below.

Ayana, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?
Being the only one; charging towards change or uncomfortableness has always been apart of my DNA. Having unique interests that quite often differed from those in my immediate environment began to create a sort of pioneer aura for me. From early times in my life participating in exchange student programs, being a member of golf clubs or fraternity associations, and being a young black independent/entrepreneur from age 17 served as a natural redirection from the expectations that societal statistics place upon someone who looks like me. Attending Western Michigan University, a predominately white institute, I was always either the only black individual or woman in the class given the courses I chose to enlist in. Effectiveness I believe is something I learned through trial and error. I learned many skills from my professors who thankfully embraced my perspectives and encouraged out-of-the-box thinking. From there, staying consistent with myself and endeavors I began to develop a balance between being a professional and still maintaining what many would say makes me eclectic. Success no matter what we choose to embark upon in our lives, it comes with time, it comes with real-world practice. For instance, attending a myriad of meetings, learning first from many great master level mentors, and allowing space and time to learn God sent lessons from life’s tribulations. It all helped to guide me towards the current success I have found thus far and will continue to grow into. Lastly, listening is a big key to what makes the path less turbulent. My entire life has been focused around the study of message and communication. As humans, it’s in our nature to want to connect or be heard. Learning how to effectively listen to my environment, the people in that specific environment and what it’s all really saying to me has helped me to remain resilient, avoid potential roadblocks and build up proper emotional intelligence. Being the only one in the room many may see as a discomfort or weakness but it really is a game changer when an individual can accept that energy and allow it to set them apart from a world of many saturations, business or personal.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My name is Ayana Love. I am a Detroit native currently expanding my endeavors and artistry within Chicago, Illinois. Always being of the entertainment and cultural realm, I’ve been blessed to be able to focus on and develop my crafts for the better part of 3 years now. From humble beginnings, with just learning the scene and supporting other artists through documenting and curating via my knowledge of cameras/tech, and also through my start-up entity for business/brand strategy to then utilizing these experiences in order to publish and release my own original work. I have invested a lot of time into not only myself but others over the past decade, majority behind the scenes until I felt I was ready and of confidence to be up and in the openness of our public’s eye. I create within many types of mediums depending on what will best translate my feelings and emotions at that moment to my audience. I allow the interpretations of the art to live for itself as I believe that is the point to not control but to truly make people feel something. I focus mostly on music and visuals. Musically, I have naturally gravitated to creating alternative R & B and hip hop. Visually, I produce these sounds and feelings of mine through different meshes of color and textures digitally or through oil paintings. These types of mediums have always been my most truest forms of expression and have greatly grown as I dive deeper into the soul of it all. When I am not working on art I am staying productive and progressive with the development of the entity I own, L.A. ENT. (MBU). ManagedByUs is a full service consulting agency available to businesses of any size or independents. Events, marketing, and general curating is what our team specializes in. Currently, we are in our expansion era, and open to new clients and team members.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I believe the three qualities that were impactful to jump starting my journey were listening, persistent student mentality and an ability to follow through on the things I have decided to begin. Naturally, advice I always start with is that everyone and every path is so uniquely different, even if at surface it shares similarities with others. So it is very important to focus in on self and figure out what works best for you and stick to it. Listening, I would suggest to practice communicating with all types of people. Learn what connects you to people and how you can be an asset to the things that you may learn from others. The more you communicate with others, the ability to listen becomes more and more fluid. Having a student mentality even when I graduated from college was a superpower to me. I love to learn like a hobby so this helped me to acquire skills that otherwise similar industry professionals didn’t have. The cliche “an individual who thinks they know it all, really knows nothing at all” speaks to my point because when we allow ego to get in the way of our evolution we really close ourselves off from a lot of potential opportunities simply because we don’t take the time to first be a student. Then there’s following through on the decisions we make. There will always be things we may fall short on but they shouldn’t outway the amount of times we make it to the finish line once beginning a small project, studies in school, or even something as simple as chores in the household. A great way to practice this skill is start small, and discipline yourself to finish each choice made. These are simple things I have done through the years and still work on daily.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Connecting organically is my priority. I never want to force partnerships when it comes to my artistry or business. An ideal client or partner is someone or a business that is ready and focused on progression. While I am still growing everyday on all levels of business and artistry it would be ideal to work first with those who also have an established foundation in the industry they are looking to grow within. In my eyes, I am still at the beginning of my already expanding career. Those individuals or entities that are open to merging networks helps myself and team to be as efficient as possible plus serve the public in affordable ways. Life to me is all about the intentional flow. If someone wants to grow with me, I invite it if it is genuine because you really just never know what life/God has in store for our journey. We miss one hundred percent of the opportunities we choose to overlook or not explore. Currently, the best way to connect with me as an independent would be by google search of my name, Ayana Love. You can then decide which platform listed would best serve for a potential collaboration. To explore options with my team’s entity MBU, a starter email to our information portal getmanagedinfo@gmail.com is always the best way to start the conversation and get more information on next steps. This allows us to remain exclusive to our serious inquiries and hold competitive pricing for the public.

Contact Info:

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Portraits of Resilience

Sometimes just seeing resilience can change out mindset and unlock our own resilience. That’s our

Productivity
Perspectives on Staying Creative

We’re beyond fortunate to have built a community of some of the most creative artists,

Confidence
Kicking Imposter Syndrome to the Curb

This is the year to kick the pesky imposter syndrome to the curb and move