We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mercedes Brown. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mercedes below.
Hi Mercedes, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I get my resilience from my desire to not want to be a product of my environment. Also I learned early on that I’m responsible for the life I want to create for myself and future family. In addition, losing my parents before the age of 30 truly forced me to grow up a lot faster and to essentially fend for myself in a way. Also the desire for happiness despite of my circumstances also encourages me to push through adversity.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Professionally I am a recruiting and retention manager by trade but I do have a travel business that I also do simultaneously while working my 9-5. I love to travel and help people so both of these ventures aren’t by coincidence. I’ve always wanted to be in Human Resources since I was in college at Howard. I got into it through Recruiting, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 3 years. I specifically work with HeadStart here in Indianapolis where I oversee the hiring and onboarding process for 8 different centers.
My travel business The Getaway Club started October 2024 to fuel my love of curating experiences with my family and friends. I am the planner of the group, so this opportunity just made sense for me. I am definitely looking to expand my team of agents as well because I want to show others how Travel can also be a part of their daily lives because it is not something that is out of reach. My goal is to bring on 10 new business partners by the end of May.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Skills- Networking, Self-Awareness, and Public Speaking
Those were the skills that I would say the successful people I encountered have.
For me Networking was my greatest area of opportunity because I was very introverted when it came to talking to people I didn’t know. I would have to force myself out of my comfort zone in order to do this, but I understood how valuable it was.
I would also say self awareness. I am very self aware and I know what people think of me majority of the time. I care about how I am perceived to a certain degree, but I am still very authentic to who I truly am. Most people are oblivious and aren’t self aware at all, and that is where I would encourage those early on to work on that.
Lastly, the ability to speak well publicly will get you into rooms and allow you to be at the table when the decisions are made. Is also not a skill a lot of people are good at so when you are it definitely gives you a huge advantage.
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
Someone who is open minded
Coachable
Not afraid to take risks
Creative and innovative
Driven
Supportive
Encouraging
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/thegetawayclub
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mercedes.mariexo?igsh=MWM0ODFqNGxqcDAwMw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BN5WXktJo/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mercedes-brown-a73a4453?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Other: https://form.jotform.com/242910812932151
Image Credits
Jai_ivyproductions
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