We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bri Davis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Bri, 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?
We’re just going to dive right into this! My whole life I have experienced being the only black woman in the room. Either if this was in school or if this was in my career. It’s clear why black women are turning to entrepreneurship, and it’s not because we’re not qualified in the corporate world. It’s because we’re not seen. The tools I’ve learned to be successful even when I am the only one who looks like me are:
1. Know What I Want: I learned what I wanted from a business or as an entrepreneur and I went after it. This prepared me to say no to anything that did not go with what I wanted. This allowed me to set clear boundaries and not have to do things that weren’t in alignment.
2. Know My Worth. If I was working for someone or even for my business I did a lot of research. I calculated my time and efforts and used that to understand what my monetary value was. I also did research on the company’s budget and yearly revenue and the position and competitors. This allowed me to not have to prove my worth. This allowed me to not just say yes to anything because I wanted it so bad or because I am Black.
3. Create A Balance: I can’t show up as myself for myself if I am not aligned. I need to get sleep, feed my WHOLE self, take vacations, and recharge. Being successful comes with extreme highs and lows. I needed to celebrate my lows just like I did my highs. I needed to balance out my low and high moments and not let the low moments consume me. I learned that with my balanced life, I got to have some fun and rest so that my created energy can flow again. Taking days off is much needed.
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 WORK: I help children and adults see life from many perspectives. I challenge their current thoughts to help them have a better tomorrow. I am a certified life coach who helps workaholic professionals find joy and balance with nonword-related things. I guide children and adults to grow through their trauma. I provide social-emotional skills to children. I incorporate reiki in all my work to help with mindfulness and being in the present moment. I incorporate sound bowls and aromatherapy to shift the energy in the room and create a safe/relaxing environment.
I am a part-time school counselor who teaches social-emotional skills to K-8th grade. I also help students by using Reiki to help them align and aromatherapy to create a safe/relaxing environment.
In my previous interview with VoyageLA I mentioned that I wanted to start working with kids and I am proud to say that I am doing it.
What’s next for me is to write a few books and support more people around the world.
THE PRODUCTS: Just A BRIzze curates essential oils and essential oil blends. Just A BRIzze lab curates body products that promotes hydration.
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?
Looking back three of the most important skills of knowledge that were most impactful to me were
1. NOT SHRINKING myself. There are many times during my journey I shrunk myself and observed. I always felt so upset when I did that too. So when I started embracing me and showing up as me. I gained more success and learned much more.
2. Be intentional with everything I do. Knowing why I am doing something and how it is providing purpose in my life made it motivating to show up every day.
3. HEAL those wombs the bandaids aren’t working. I had to learn that healing is constant. I had to do deep work on myself, my trauma, my mistakes, my decisions, and everything in between. I knew that ignoring certain things will only show up later. But, if I constantly worked on it I will be working toward a life that I love. I had to work on my whole self and not just selective parts.
What I will ask you is are you okay with sitting with your own thoughts? If not I will advise you to heal the whole part of yourself. I will advise you to put the mask away unless you’re using it to celebrate. I will advise you to not shrink yourself on a job you know you are overqualified for. I will advise you to be intentional with what you do, feel, and say because that’s the only thing you have control over.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
Here is what I do when I feel overwhelmed:
1. Think about what is causing me to feel overwhelmed.
2. Check out my environment and see if it needs to be decluttered or cleaned.
3. I make a list of the things I need to do.
4. I use Just A BRIzze essential oil “Focus” so I can gain some focus.
5. I take a timed nap and hop straight up with no hesitation.
6. I make sure I ate and drank some water.
7. Start crossing some things off that list to feel accomplished.
8. Journal before bed on all the things I accomplished that day and then what I will do tomorrow.
9. GIVE MYSELF GRACE AND BE MORE PATIENT WITH MYSELF.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.justabrizze.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justabrizze
https://www.instagram.com/britheschoolcounselor - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briii
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/just-a-brizze-san-fernando-valley
Image Credits
Jennifer Mcdougall
