Gabrielle Claiborne

I attribute my success to my willingness to do my own work. I think a lot of times people get stuck in these ruts, whether it's relational, vocational, whatever area of their life they're feeling stuck in, because it requires us to hold the mirror up to ourself, take a good, hard look at what's going on in our life, and taking responsibility for that. Oftentimes, we project onto other people because we want to say it's because of something outside, because of an external force. I encourage folks, when you are feeling in this place of feeling stuck, take a good, hard look at yourself and pay attention to the clues, the invitations that come your way. I had a number of invitations that came my way that I ignored for four decades. It wasn't until I was in my forties that I finally got honest with what my heart was telling me. When I finally got honest with it and started doing that hard work, working on myself, accepting the things, forgiving myself for things that I had done, holding space for people who perhaps may be struggling with who I am or who I am becoming, that is when I started recognizing that I'm starting to usher wonderful things into my life because I'm doing that hard work. If you want your life to change, start by looking at yourself and taking an inventory of what you need to change.

The best advice I received is that it's not signing the big contract, it's not speaking and showing up on the big stages that I've showed up on. It's how you live, and how you function, and how you operate in the in-between times. Those in-between times when you are worried about where's your next check coming from, where's your next client coming from. How you show up, how you build your brand, how you build your business, how you build your message in those in-between times is what's going to create a sustainable brand, if you do it correctly. While I celebrate the big contracts and the opportunities to be on the big stages, I also understand that it's how I show up in the in-between times that actually determines those realities in my life. I do a lot of mentoring with aspiring entrepreneurs, and that's one of the first things that I tell them, is that it's how you show up in the tough times that's going to ultimately determine if your brand is successful and if it's sustainable, and if it becomes the thought leader, the thought brand that you're wanting it to become.

Own your voice. I think one of our superpowers is our visibility and how we show up. If we're not owning our voice and showing up the way that is most authentic, the way that is in alignment with what our heart is compelling us and urging us and inspiring us to do and become, then the world is going to miss out on our magnificence, and what a loss that would be to young women everywhere. I'm encouraging and hopefully inspiring them to say, look, your voice is powerful. When you show up owning your voice, you are an inspiration to someone else who is grappling in their own mind, can I truly be me? When you own your voice, you're giving people permission to lean into that space of discovering their most authentic self, their most authentic voice.

One of the biggest challenges I've had to navigate is that my company has been kind of a cutting-edge organization. We started doing the work 16 years ago and have been doing the same work for the last 16 years. A lot of times when people think of diversity and inclusion, their concepts of those terms are related to race and ethnicity, and that's it. But there's much more to this industry, the diversity, equity, and inclusion industry, that people are now being aware of and having to be mindful of. One of the biggest challenges I've faced is to help folks understand the value that I bring to their organization and why the services that I offer are worth investing in. People want to do work with people they know and trust, so it's building those relationships with organizations where they can trust that you're going to come in and actually set them up for success in the services that we offer. One of the joys I've experienced is just watching workplaces transform their culture when they do embrace the services that we offer. They not only set themselves up for success when it comes to attracting and retaining the best talent, but they actually maximize the production, the productivity, and the collaboration among their teams. There's a saying, you can't be it unless you see it, and because of the work we do and the companies that have embraced the services we offer, they're now starting to see what truly DEI can look like in their workplace.

Honesty is at the very top for me. The reason it's at the very top is I was not honest with myself for so long, and not only with myself, but with others. I've learned that with the honesty piece, we talk about authenticity, but what we don't talk about is the impact of living inauthentic. What I've learned in my own life is that the longer you live inauthentic, you create and build relationships on deception and sinking sand, and you have to pay reparations for all those years that you have lived inauthentic. That's what I've had to do with my kids, with my parents, with past friendships, because they thought they knew me, only to find perhaps they really didn't know me. So honesty is the top. Integrity is huge with me. And kindness. Those are probably my three top values. I talk in my book about the difference between being selfish and self-honoring, and that has to do with being honest with yourself and others.