Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tavetta Patterson . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Tavetta, 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?
My resilience comes from a clear understanding of my purpose and the people who have protected my purpose. I learned resilience from my godmother. She was diagnosed with vitiligo, and she had open heart surgery. However, I never heard her complain. She took care of me with kindness, love, compassion, and unwavering faith. My resilience also comes from my mother. She was a single parent and a fierce protector of my purpose. My resilience also comes from teachers who cared about their students. The teachers who made a positive difference in my journey to understand resilience are Mrs. Hopkins, Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Murphy, Mrs. Knox, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Barnes, Mrs. Siggers and Mrs. Harris. Then I learned resilience from school supporters like Mrs. Bynum and Mrs. Johnson who invested time at the school to teach us valuable life skills, in addition to being mothers to their own children. The investment of their time in my life helped me understand the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” As an adult I learned resilience from my Aunt Maggie who has nurtured seven generations of children.
I learned resilience from my Uncle Dee Dee. He had to be put on an ECMO machine, which is similar to a heart-lung by-pass machine. After that experience he had to learn how to walk again as an adult, and I remember thinking that he personified resilience.
I learned resilience from my Uncle Paul. He has a heart of gold. He willingly worked 44 years; then went through a surgery that required physical therapy. His courage and willingness to get back up to speed was amazing. The physical therapist often told him, “You don’t have to speed because no one is chasing you.”
I also learned resilience from the 21,000 children that I was allowed to provide leadership, college and career readiness programs for during the years 1998-2018. I witnessed the students come from extremely under resourced communities, then they transitioned from surviving to thriving.
As an adult, I learned resilience from my mother-in-love. She was diagnosed with cancer, but she found a way to hold on to joy and love until she passed. I learned resilience from my friend Ms. Mollie who lived to be 108 years young by choosing to greet everyone with a smile and a heart filled with love.
Finally, I have learned resilience from my husband. In a world that has a tendency to treat people harsh, he has remained kind, loving, patient and solid as a rock. His resilience gives me the courage to continue to be resilient. I believe resilience is the best choice in life, especially considering the alternative. Choosing resilience is saying that instead of allowing life to roll over me, I am going to roll on and see what the end is going to be. Choosing resilience is the best option for me, especially considering all the people who have believed in me and invested time with me.
There are people in life who can teach you resilience, if you are open to learning.
I choose resilience as a way to honor my loved ones. I choose resilience to remind myself that I come from strong, wise, brilliant and determined people.
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 was given a microphone in elementary school when I was eight years old, and I came alive in a way that I had never experienced before. That is the moment that my purpose was discovered. I surrendered to invest the rest of my life dedicated to living my purpose. While some people are fearful of public speaking, I view it as an opportunity to share light and distribute hope. While delivering speeches I have witnessed people smile and cry tears of joy. I am thankful that I get to share stories of transforming tragedy to triumph that moves audiences to release tears. Some people have described the tears as a release from years of exhaustion and having to try to hold everyone else together. Some people describe my words as comforting as receiving a warm hug. I believe words have the transformative power to guide people through the process of recovery. I also believe in the transformative power of words to motivate people to take action toward creating a better life.
I am a public speaker who views life through lenses of love. I get to deliver speeches that promote purpose discovery; transforming trauma into triumph; grief recovery and leadership development. I enjoy public speaking, because it is an opportunity to inspire people to extract purpose from the pain that has happened in their life. My joy for public speaking was ignited when I was eight years old, but I am still excited for every opportunity to speak, just like I was the first time I had the opportunity to speak.
Although I discovered the talent of public speaking when I was eight years old, I still nurture my talent on a daily basis. Nurturing talent is essential for real success in life, and it can be done at every phase of life. For example, during elementary school I studied speech books. Then I competed in speech contests and consistently won. During junior high school, I chose electives that were in alignment with my purpose, such as speech and drama. I further nurtured my purpose in high school by studying speech books. My persistence paid off because my teachers started referring me to speech contests. Those contests allowed me to receive financial prizes which led to travel throughout the United States for speech contests and leadership conferences. During my college years I recorded a spoken word CD, and my first book was published. It was a collection of poems and speeches. As an adult I have traveled to speak at colleges, conferences, corporations, empowerment events, grade schools, leadership events, nonprofit organization events and retreats. One year prior to the pandemic I founded The Worthy Empowerment Tour to travel the world and remind people of their worthiness. The tour included a conference format and over-night events filled with empowering renewal activities. I developed each aspect of the tour to empower people to reclaim their time and focus on breakthrough to prevent break down. Now that the world has opened again for more in person events, I am ready to reach more people to share my light.
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?
The three areas of knowledge that were most impactful in my journey include clear purpose, faith, and resilience. Clear purpose at an early age in life has given me the ability to stay focused on my why, even when I face adversity. Faith has given me the ability to continue to believe in each dream, even when I experience adversity in life. Resilience has given me the ability to return back to living life with more focus, after every adversity that I have ever experienced in life. My advice for everyone who is early in their journey is to dedicate yourself to being a lifetime learner. Then consistently implement what you learn, instead of overthinking what you learn. As a result, you can prevent analysis paralysis.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I am interested in collaborating with creative people who are familiar with developing documentaries. I am also interested in collaborating with people who have strong administrative, marketing, organizing and planning skills. My purpose for collaborating is to be in position to help more people. This year I am interested in collaborating with the decision makers who plan speaking tours, speaking engagements at colleges, conferences, corporate events, high schools, leadership events and/or retreats.
People can communicate with me through the following platforms:
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 219-730-7621
Facebook: www.facebook.com/tspeakerauthor
Instagram: www.instagram.com/tspeakerauthor
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/tavettapatterson
You Tube: www.youtube.com/@tavettapatterson
Website: www.abundantlp1.com/tavetta
Contact Info:
- Website: www.abundantlp1.com/tavetta
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/tspeakerauthor
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/tspeakerauthor
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/tavettapatterson
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/@tavettapatterson
Image Credits
Roosevelt D. Patterson
