Her Story
About Arnita
My background stems in athletics. I was a world-class athlete in 1984, an Olympic trials finalist in 1988 and 1992, pursuing my goals for the 1996 Olympics. I blew out both of my Achilles tendons, and I felt just distraught. I said, how can I get that burn? As an athlete, I always wanted to feel the burn of running, and I knew I wouldn't get it because I was no longer able to compete. So that burning desire to pour into other women and help them pursue their goals, even after 12 years, only for 12 seconds, because that's all my race takes, 12 seconds. But for 12 years, because the Olympics only come around every 4 years, but I kept going back. That tenacity, that commitment, it's innate in women, but a lot of times it's just dormant. Women igniting women, that ember that's there, it just ignites them, and they're set ablaze in every area of their life. My four F-words are where I set that blaze: faith, fitness, food, and fashion. My name means Eagle Girl, and I've developed my Champion Enterprise around SOAR: Seeking, Overcoming, Achieving, Righteously and Radiantly. I'm a best-selling author for two books, and I have a platform on social media where I pour into women through recipes, videos, encouraging words, scriptures, and affirmations every Friday.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Arnita
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my failures, not my successes, because my successes allowed me to feel like, okay, I'm there. My failures had me go back, check myself, and re-pivot, and do it again. My failures opened my eyes to tons of questions: who, why, when, what. I began to question everything. I also attribute my lack of relationships to my success, because I refuse to point the finger at anyone that I've been in a relationship with. I toast to them, because it's because of them who I am today. So I'm like, toast to you! Those relationships and failures taught me the lessons that shaped who I am.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It's not for the weak-hearted. You're going to get naysayers from everyone, even your family, because when you choose to walk away from a safety net, your job, from 8 to 5, to only go to a 12 to 12, because entrepreneurship, there is no 8 to 5. It's ongoing. It's gonna take some grind, and it's not gonna come overnight, and if it does, wow, perfect. But the stability and the consistency is what it's going to take. Hook arms in arms with different individuals that can get you to your goal, and not try to do it alone, because if you fall, there's not going to be anyone there to assist you to get back up. If you do it alone, you're gonna stay there, you're gonna struggle. It's not a one-man show or one-woman show. It's gonna take a tribe, a community, a family, everything, especially for entrepreneurship.
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