Dōmo Jones

I had to find what worked for me, and what worked for me was learning to embrace who I am and then leaning into my strengths. Although I have a disability, that's not my life. I had to teach myself to find what I love outside of just a medical accessory and going to a doctor. There's more to you than that. You're alive, but there's gotta be more. I had to embrace where I am instead of trying to compete with others. I grew up the only child and all my cousins were athletes who did physical activities and got recognition, but I didn't have that luxury. I was in surgeries, I had neck braces, I had braces and stuff. So I had to find what worked for me, which was embracing who I am and my personality. Now people say they don't really see my disability because my personality is so bold and I'm so independent, but I had to teach myself that. Everything that I've accomplished has stemmed from my disability, and I learned to pace myself according to my body and be comfortable with saying no. That no has saved my life so many times.

Make sure you have a passion for what you’re getting yourself into and not because it’s just a trend. The passion will stick with you when you don’t feel like doing it. Trends fade.

Don't go by outside rules, because our bodies are different. The pace of the world is not our pace. There's things that, you know, there's just days, honestly, there's days where my body just won't move and I don't know when that day would come. So I have to pace myself according to my body and be comfortable with saying no. That no has saved my life so many times. I take the emotions out because as women we are naturally emotional, but I know that I have a job to do. I want to get the work done as much as I can and then handle the pressure later. I give myself space, meaning I give myself a time to do this specific thing, a time to do this, a time to do that, and I make sure I accomplish that task. And then after that, I'm not gonna deal with it no more. I take the time to rest. I have to have set times because my body can't run 24-7.

I want to share with people that having a disability and saying you are disabled, it's not a bad word. It's not a negative connotation. But you want all the benefits - you want to have the parking spot, you want to have the placard, you want to get in early, you want to have all this access, but then you don't want to claim that you have a disability. And it's okay to have one, but you just show people how to live it. People say all these things like disabled, elderly, not really able, but girl, you're disabled, it's okay. It's not a bad thing, it's not a disease, it's just a condition that you live with. I think the challenge is getting people, especially in the Black community, to embrace disabilities instead of using other terms or avoiding the label entirely.

Definitely a balance. I don’t mix work with personal life because I want to separate the two and enjoy each space. So when I’m in Work mode, I enjoy the life of being a business owner. But when I’m in personal mode, I enjoy the life of just being Dōmo.