Cheyenne L.

I would say my inner child. I had a point to prove to my younger self. I've been discouraged, and I felt that I always had to work hard, and what I was doing wasn't enough. So now it's me celebrating myself and proving to myself that I can do it, rather than having failures. Some people believe that if you fail at something, or you don't do well at something, you have to know how to do it right the first time. They don't believe in the learning process. Some people are great, it only takes them one time, but I mastered my craft single-handedly self-taught.

Internship. Surround yourself around whatever you want to be a part of. I learned at a young age that you can just talk about doing something, and you can go to school as well, but when you're actually working in that field and gaining experience, you're meeting people as well, so you're learning tricks that you can't just learn in the book or following someone. Attend events. It's very important, and events that are surrounded by the field that you would like to be a part of. Wherever you see yourself, be there.

The biggest challenge I would say is resources. Yes, we know there's grants and things like that, and I've invested and tried to get help, but it's finding the right people and the right resources. Yes, they exist, but are they accessible to the average person? Having the right team is difficult because a lot of people own businesses and they're able to get help easily. On the opportunity side, I would say what leads to the opportunities is networking. It's very necessary that you get out, you put yourself out there, and the more people that you engage with, and the more confident that you are with speaking. The industry I'm in is not a job that most people can be successful at just at home by themselves. You have to know people in order to really become successful, because you can only do so much online. You have to get out, be confident to approach, and be confident doing things alone. If you go to an event with a friend, it's less likely that someone will come up and engage with you, and less likely that you'll engage with someone else as much. When you're by yourself, people welcome you, make you feel comfortable, and you can observe more in solitude and learn and see your environment.

Morals and integrity. I've passed up a lot of opportunities in the past because of having integrity. Working with the right people is very important to me, for myself and my brand. Some people will kind of do anything for money and to be around, and I feel like what makes me stand out for myself and my business is being what people would call self-made. I didn't take the easy route, and I didn't depend on anybody that carried me. I did a lot of this by myself. I didn't have any friends or family supporting me on this path of my journey.