Felicia Smith

My why was when I became a mother. I attribute all my success to understanding my purpose, but that process came through becoming a mother, believe it or not. So I always give the motivation to that self-development process, to become the best version of myself while becoming a mother. Two things were birthed - I had a child, but I also was birthing who I was becoming. I was going through a birthing process while I was becoming a mother, so I give all of that motivation, all the credit to that process in general. I always joke with my adult child and say, you know, I work for you, because she made me the adult that I am, even though I was an adult at the time, I was almost [a certain age], but it was still just a redefining moment of who I am.

Years ago, I had a mentor who asked me a question: What would make them want to listen to you? It wasn't necessarily advice, but it was a challenge to pursue my goals and to really go after what I wanted to do. This was way before I got any degree or any type of credentials. The question challenged me - what would make people listen to me? So that question propelled me to go after it. Really, if you're gonna do it, do it, and do it well. I tell people to really think about why they want to pursue their goal in the form of a career. Really think about their why. Why do you want this? Why do you want to go down this road? Why do you want to invest time, effort, energy, resources into pursuing a career? Really look at the why. That was the best challenge. It wasn't advice, but it was kind of convenient advice, because she also followed with, you know, what would make them want to listen to you? And then, if you're gonna do it, make them want to listen to you.

Look at your why. Why do you want to do this? Why do you want to pursue this career path? Really think about why you want to pursue your goal in the form of a career. Think about your why - why do you want this? Why do you want to go down this road? Why do you want to invest time, effort, energy, resources into pursuing a career? At this point in my career, I'm a licensed professional counselor supervisor, so now I'm training junior therapists, and that is a question I ask when interviewing them: what makes you choose this path? Because the answer is important. If it's anything to do with monetary involvement, it's not the right path for them.

I would say a challenge, because I'm a CEO of a micro-enterprise, is sometimes making sure that you have the right team members on board. I shouldn't say it's a challenge, it's an opportunity to learn when you are acquiring team members. As a CEO, you have to sometimes play duality, and that can be somewhat of a challenge, which we consider opportunities - making sure that you are aware of the business needs more than your personal needs. While I may sometimes want to be personal in some instances, if it's a business situation, I have to remember to wear that hat. So that can sometimes be a personal challenge - remembering that you're a provider, but you're also the CEO of your company. For example, there are times when I have clients and they don't follow the policy of our no-show policy. I could make a personal decision and say, oh, don't worry about that, but then the business is like, no, this is business, they understand the policy, and you need to follow up in a business manner. So sometimes that can be a challenge, and you have to take the seat of the business, you have to honor the business. But it's, again, an opportunity for growth.

Integrity is very important to me - the value of bringing integrity into any type of relationship, whatever the relationship is. I honor having a relationship full of integrity. That's one value, having integrity. But also, I highly value my faith at this point in my life. That's probably my number one value system, being a woman of faith, because I feel like I operate from a place that helps me to align with the decisions that I'm gonna make daily, which includes being caring and having integrity in the things that I do. I highly value having connections that are embodying integrity.