We were lucky to catch up with Meyakka “MeMe” Sturdivant recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Meyakka “MeMe” with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
Watching my grandparents harvest and grow their own garden and chicken coop that fed many families in and around our neighborhood is a seed planted in my work ethic. I learned from them first hand how to build up your own with dignity, hard work and sacrifice. How to be genuine in your efforts to elevate and empower. No gatekeeping, as you lend a helping hand to your fellow counterpart.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Coach MeMe is someone who meets no strangers. She believes in being a guiding light to women in business and leadership who just want to live their dreams out loud, just like she’s currently doing. Meyakka is a southern city girl with a big heart for seeing others develop, grow and win with authenticity. She’s a mother of two amazing children, Kaise and Khaderrick.
Who would have ever thought the young MeMe from the projects would be an entrepreneur of a thriving and successful consulting business where she gets to lean into her own wellhouse of knowledge, intention and purpose. My career dreams were to be a voice of exponential opportunity. To be someone who would get inside of the corporate environments and make my way to the top just by staying the course. Learning all that was necessary for me to make it as a successful black woman.
I did all of that by starting my career in telecommunications. Stuck with it for 24 years until 2018. Mastered the task of building brands and departments that offer every day needed services to consumers. With my many years of hard work and connections I was able to turn my corporate skillsets into my own brand. That’s where Klassy Business Consultant now known as MS Consulting Solutions LLC was born.
We offer brand development, consulting, strategic planning, leadership training and development workshops, minority certification assistance and so much more. If you ask me can I help you with your business, I’ll look and you and say are you ready to run with a profitable and successful business?
Mindset is everything! You have to be mentally prepared to get into Entrepreneurship for the long haul. These are the clients I show up with.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
High Intuition, keen aptitude and of course very inquisitive. I’ve always been a heavy thinker and really analytical. I love research and solutions. Problems are meant to be solved and that’s where strategic planning gets me growing, lol! Sometimes that can be a gift and a curse.
Just start. The more you wait and procrastinate the less motivated you will be. Owning and operating a business is not for the weak and it’s definitely not any game.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
With starting up my business I had to juggle family and working from home, battling societal expectations, or navigating the intricacies of networking in unfamiliar territories. The jumpoff of COVID-19 caused so many of us to look in the mirror and fear less. In today’s fast-paced world, women are breaking so many statistical barriers, shattering glass ceilings in every corner of their lives, and rewriting the rules of entrepreneurship by becoming their own boss, for the first or fourth time. But even the most ambitious woman can sometimes find herself lost, overwhelmed, or in need of inspiration.
After going through an unexpected layoff and job loss in 2018, I was that lost woman. But not for long though. In the past year once I learned just how much my corporate background was the catalyst I needed to propel me into the same areas to which I was more qualified, because believe me starting out it was not like that. Men were more respected and mostly requested in consulting areas. I’m much more equipped and believe in my worth and the values I bring to any project, client or conference that’s requesting me and my services. That comes with internal Growth and God’s timing!!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @ms_consultingsolutions
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KlassyBusinessCo?mibextid=b06tZ0
Image Credits
Image credit: John Ingram of JP Photography
