Meet Teia Goodwin

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Teia Goodwin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Teia, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

Resilience is a muscle that God nurtured in me through the exercise of affliction and hardship. When I reflect on my life, thus far, nothing has come easy. I have made countless mistakes along the way, but God’s mercy and grace have sustained me. All things considered, it’s been a beautiful struggle and life lesson of learning to endure to overcome.

I have a profound appreciation for my journey and the very necessary values in the toolkit of resilience that I needed to bear the weight of the tremendous blessings that have come and continue to flow into my life. I’m living in a reality of so many answered prayers, it’s overwhelming.

I’ve learned to keep going. It sounds simple, but sometimes unexpected challenges will undermine your goals and capacity to move forward if you allow it. The answer is to be resolute in your pursuit. I’ve learned to perform under pressure, with a broken heart, and spirit, in seemingly precarious situations. In those moments, it took everything I had to keep going. Persevering now feels a little easier and it’s still required.

I actually have many more responsibilities now than I did when I was going through the many God-given storms that God used to refine me. I used to think that once you reach a certain level of success, everything would come easy. The truth, for me, is that blessings must be managed. You still have to show up, even more! It’s a heavier lift but it feels light because I was built for this. Right now, I’m participating in a remote interview as I recover from illness. You have to keep going.

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 creative with a love for writing and storytelling. I remember my first freelance blogging job paid me around 3 cents per word, and I was so happy. What I made was barely enough to cover my modest Starbucks habit, but it was a start. Since those humble beginnings, I have gone on to write million-dollar grants for cities, ghostwritten books, speeches, digital content for national audiences, and a myriad of things in between.

About six years ago, I scaled back my content creation to pursue journalism and fell in love with storytelling. More than four years later, with local and national news experience in tow, I began lending my love of storytelling to the field of communications. I didn’t think that communications could be as fast-paced as news, but it is possible.

These days I’m in graduate school studying intellectual property law and am launching a podcast with an anticipated launch date of March 2025. I’m excited for the opportunity to share other’s stories and explore issues that are close to my heart.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Most impactful on my journey…

Surrounding myself with the right people. Early on, I had a mentor, Dr. MJC, who saw potential in me and invested time to nurture those gifts. My inner circle is tight, tiny, and mighty. It’s better to have a few people who believe in and are personally invested in you than dozens around you who express indifference to who you are and what you do. I’m grateful for my support system. They are a tremendous expression of God’s love and compassion for me.

Be eager to learn. I wanted to become a better writer and for that reason, I was open to trying new things if it meant I would be able to learn something new or valuable. Some opportunities didn’t pay me well, but the experience I gained was priceless. I started out working at a small, local news station to learn about journalism and ended up in national news. I took a sabbatical from the news industry, after turning down offers from Fox News and Gray Media because I wanted my son to stay close to family.

If first you don’t succeed, try, try, try, try, try again. I’ve had some of my greatest breakthroughs on the heels of tremendous disappointment. Keep going.

What advice do I have for folks who are early in their journey…

Create for yourself. If you are a writer, write for yourself before you write for anyone else. I believe this idea follows for every creative. You have to know and master your style before you can master anyone else’s.

Perfect doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes perfect. There are many things I hesitated about for fear of not meeting my unrealistic expectations. My desire for perfection at times has hindered my progress and robbed me of the joy of celebrating and acknowledging my accomplishments.

Be yourself. You are enough. This may seem like overused advice, but I promise it’s not. You are gifted enough. You are beautiful enough. You are brilliant enough.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

I used to think that focusing on what I felt was “wrong” about me would lead to gross personal improvement. Instead, it bred greater insecurity. I believe it’s more productive and impactful to understand and use our strengths to our advantage. This is not to say that one cannot learn, but I feel as if a focus on what is not “right” can be inhibiting. It would be better to find a partner or team member who possesses the strengths that you lack to account for any deficiencies. When you focus on what you do well, your perceived weaknesses become better.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teiabgoodwin/

Image Credits

Ron Coleman