We caught up with the brilliant and insightful ERICA YOUNG a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
ERICA, sincerely appreciate your selflessness in agreeing to discuss your mental health journey and how you overcame and persisted despite the challenges. Please share with our readers how you overcame. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.
So I battled anxiety before it was being recognized and accepted. Even to this day I think my family ignores the conversation about mental health within our family. However, once my mother was diagnosed with cancer, I started addressing my anxiety issues after numerous panic attacks. I became so overwhelmed in life and work after a while, I was afraid I would not live long. Anxiety was causing my blood pressure to increase and me to constantly worry. I finally had a heart to heart with my mom and she recommended counseling to help me cope. She knew I had the pressure of taking care of her and being the “go-to” person, as well as trying to achieve my career goals.
Eventually I start going to therapy and learned about self-care. I began setting boundaries like not accepting calls before or after a time, I refuse to participate in conversations that made me uncomfortable, and I started allowing myself to say no to family. While all my family did not respect who I was becoming, I loved my changes and the evolved person I was.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a publicist and manager. So if someone does not know what a publicist is, I help brands and people control their public image. I gather opportunities such as endorsements, press opportunities and more. I have a “one stop shop” type company if you need help with your image or brand. I learned a lot of skills in college and also worked in various industries from sports to nonprofit, to entertainment and more! I am excited for my growth in business. I constantly am working with new artists, new producers, new media, new ventures, new products, and just networking with new people.
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?
A key skill is listening. Make sure you are active listening to achieve the goals or tasks you desire. This means listening without always responding.
I would say another skill is problem solving. The reality is you will face problems in life and your career rather you like it or not. Learn to accept the problem and how to come up with solutions.
I think the main skill to have is communication. Communication helps when networking. This is probably one of the most important skills to have. I wish I would have taken communicating with people earlier in my career more seriously, it would have helped me communicate.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I would like to partner with other black media outlets to break barriers we generally face in this industry. Media outlets, other publicists, brand specialists, or something along those lines that will allow us to cross collab and expand one another’s brand.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ericaapublicity.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/e
ricaapublicity
