Jennifer Vaezi

I attribute my success to God, honestly. Just my faith. I've really had to build that, going through what I've gone through as a child, and being a single mother, and then being in the domestic violence situations. I would never have gotten through if it wasn't for him. He is the biggest thing in my life that has pulled me through a lot. And his angels that he sent me that have turned into family - I have a lot of people I call family, and I like to say they're my pennies from heaven. God is definitely everything for me. I can't say enough. I can never tell people enough that he is the one thing that can bring you through it all.

The best career advice I've ever received is to take care of your team. Because, like I said, your team is your backbone, your team is who gets you through some hard positions sometimes. So, make sure you're with the right team, and if it's not the right fit and you think you need to go somewhere else, that's something God will direct you with. I feel like He puts you with the right people at the right time, when you're ready for it. Teamwork is definitely a big thing for me. I mean, I still have my team from my previous jobs. My previous employers, my prior bosses - I still have them in my network, I still have them in my phone personally and can reach out to them at any time, and they will back me up with any kind of decision I need to make, or they will give me strong advice. Having a strong team and taking care of them, that's one of the biggest pieces of advice that I carry with me when I move forward with anything.

I would say to just go for anything you can go for. Like I said, I started being a janitor at one place and ended up being a manager. It doesn't matter where you start. I feel like God puts you where He needs to put you at the exact moment for his blessings to reach somebody else. And no matter how hard it gets, how tough it gets, just buckle down, pray, and know that storms are gonna come. You'll get through those valleys and learn who your people are. Learn your team, because you're only as strong as what your team is. And being a leader, if you can't lead a team, and you can't help other people even prosper higher than you, it's very hard to make it in industries, being a woman, for one thing, because a lot of men do carry those high positions. But just don't give up on yourself, and don't ever think that you're the only one going through what you're going through. There's a lot of others that have been in your shoes and taken those steps. Don't give up on faith. God always tells us that no weapons will be formed, or the weapons that are formed will not prosper. So you will have things that are formed against you. You will have things that will try to tear you down, but that's where your people come in - that's where I call them my tribe and my family. That's where they come in to scoop you up and remind you who you are, keep your crown straight, and know whose daughter you are, and that you're gonna make it. It's gonna be where God needs you, and at the time, you may not understand everything thrown at you, but eventually, you will see your steps have led you to the place where you can shine. People will see exactly where you've been and gone through, and I'm a big believer of saying that you can turn your test into testimonies. That helps other people see they can reach their goals, no matter what they've gone through. There's always someone there. There's always going to be someone for you, and someone rooting for you, so don't ever give up.

Actually, just keeping the people coming back to your business, because there's only so much we can offer. Sometimes the people that do come out there, they're just wanting someone to talk to. It's an older crowd, and they just want someone to listen sometimes while they're playing, just to hear them out. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that are on the side of alcohol, and they come out and they want to run away from what they're going through for the day. I don't try to condone alcohol to them, but I do try to be an ear to listen and just let them know that there's somebody there that cares and I'm not there just trying to make money off of them. It's hard to say what I do that brings them back in, because it's not just me, it's a team effort. I'm really big on making sure that my team gives them that same treatment as well.

The values that are most important to me are honesty and accountability. I always make sure that I'm not blowing smoke to somebody, because people can see right through that. I feel that accountability is a big thing as well - just owning up to what you do, because people make mistakes, and that's how we grow, that's how we learn. And they're not gonna break you. If something doesn't work and it was because of something that you did, own up to that, and then correction always comes, and then you grow, and you know how to take care of those situations in the future. Holding onto your faith is a big thing as well. You gotta have faith in yourself, you gotta be sure of yourself before you take steps, because if you're just going blind, it's going to be a disaster. If there's things I can't do, I tell people that's something I can't do, but I can find someone that can help me to make that happen for you. I've always told my kids to be honest about things, because once you start a lie, you have to create another lie to cover that lie, to cover that lie, and it's just one big spider web. If you're honest, you never have to worry about remembering something. Honesty takes people a long way, as does accountability and their faith. I try not to give people what I can't give them, or give them hope of something that I can't give them.