Your Social Brand

One thing that celebrities understand more than most is that you are your biggest asset in regards to your brand. YOU sell you and what you’re pushing. Whether that’s your expertise as an employee or actual tangible goods, you create and dictate the narrative. Do you honestly believe that those celebrities you follow on social media are always happy, overly joyous and continuously live exaggeratedly beautiful lives??? If you do then they’ve accomplished selling you their brand. The illusion that you too can get a piece of what makes them SO happy by purchasing that “it item” they’re pushing or if you go to the same places they’ve visited. It’s all an illusion and the gift of social media. It’s what made Kylie a billionaire without a single advertisement!

So how can you build your brand in 2020?

• Use social bookmarking sites to push your social media site and brand pages. Social bookmarking sites use tags or keywords to get your site or topics picked up by Google faster. The list of bookmarking sites are:
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Mix (formally Stumble Upon)
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • Dribble (for designers)
  • Pocket
  • Weheartit
• Engage and interact regularly! Respond to post on your links and reply to interact with those who follow you. It allows your audience to feel apart of your community and personalizes the experience to promote repeat visits and follows. Users are also more prone to recommend you and your brand if you engage them.
• Ask your audience to share! Share their thoughts on their platform about you and your brand. It promotes a homegrown trustworthy community for your brand and comes across more authentic and natural.
• Conduct live events and Q&A’s about your brand and your expertise. Personalize the experience of your community with direct contact with it’s creator.
• Create tags and slogans! Especially when using Twitter and Instagram. It allows users to follow your tag for more exposure. Decide how you want to be seen or what you want in a brand and stick to it! Be consistent and promote content that supports the narrative you’re curating and design all your tags/slogans around that narrative.

Life with Purpose

This morning while scrolling through my feed, I stumbled on a question of how do you find your life purpose? As I scrolled through the comments I saw a pattern that repeated the question saying “I would love to find out that answer”. Then it continued with more questions than answers. That got me to thinking and it pains me to say this but more times than not, most of us are living life coasting on autopilot. I know I’m definitely guilty of auto-pilot living. I believe that’s how I lost my wedding rings! Not fully being aware of my actions and just coasting. I think I went to the bathroom and took them off, added hand cream and got side tracked forgetting them somewhere. I know… sounds insane but it happens. There was a study conducted a few years ago and 96% of those surveyed exhibited signs of living life on auto-pilot.

How can you tell if you’re on auto-pilot and how it impacts our ability to live in our purpose? There are a few tale-tell signs that you’re coasting.

1. You hate what you’re currently doing professionally and live for the weekend! This is definitely A LOT of people. You perform your daily task routinely so it requires little effort or brain power to perform your duties. You already know how your day is going to work out. However you find yourself fully invested on planning what you’ll be doing starting 5pm on Friday through Saturday night.
2. You automatically check you feed and cellphone. Despite not looking for anything in particular, it’s a habit to surf your phone and scroll social media or email. That’s autopilot! It’s filling your day with emptiness and that time could be spent doing something more meaningful.
3. Checking out mentally! Do you find yourself daydreaming? Or replaying a scenario from the recent past in your mind re-evaluating how you responded or how someone else responded? Thinking about would’ve/ could’ve type scenarios??? Auto-pilot darling!!! You aren’t mentally thinking of what you’re presently doing. Don’t daydream about your potential. Live all those hypothetical moments out loud and savor them. Deep down you feel your potential to do MORE then and you’re robbing yourself. Do it!
4. You have poor memory? Can’t remember conversations or discussions and feel like you’re in a fog searching but your recollection is foggy? Another sign that you were cruising on auto-pilot during that time.

So how exactly do we live a life of purpose? Your live is an ever evolving entity. Purpose changes as your life evolves so that answer is really unique to you currently. However there is one thing that remains constant within that evolution and that’s no matter what you should leave each encounter and the earth better off than how you found it. Small incremental steps make a huge difference long term. At the same time make sure you’re giving back to people you encounter and the universe. Smile and be pleasant! Start a small book club or social club where people can just vent, chat and interact with like minded people. Start a small garden and grow your own produce. In exchange give some of that produce out when your harvest is greater than you can consume. You can definitely control how you interact with others and you never know how your little act of kindness helps someone in their process.

All of this is no secret. You already enjoy giving back in some capacity. Ever look forward to giving someone their gift that you got them? It’s the reward of feeling gratitude that you brightened someone’s day with your gesture that you look forward to. It’s rewarding to put a smile on another’s face. It makes you happy to see others happy and as you grow with those gestures you’ll do it more. You can even join a larger group that have substantial impact potential that will definitely be rewarding to you as a participant. So in short the answer to finding your purpose is to find what makes you happy and do them. Then bring yourself to do those actions with others and try giving back to those around you anyway that you can. Even if it’s with polite conversation. You’ll definitely feel satisfied in life and that’s all that matters. Your act of kindness will impact someone else and they’ll do the same. It’s definitely a chain of events. Allow yourself time to process all of those actions entirely and move slower so that you’re fully in the moment. Now go out there and be great and grateful!

Job Trends For 2020

Trends show that tech continues to dominate with growth in market shares and earning potential

If part of your new year resolution is to get a new job then you may be at a crossroads wondering which job is best for you. Figuring out which direction to invest your interest can be difficult and if you’re like most more money is generally at the forefront of your decision making. It’s fine to start your job search using money as a gauge in deciding the best fit for you and your time. You’re working for a salary and demanding the most money for your time while gaining self satisfaction for your work should be high on your list of priorities within any new job search. Another topic of concern can be deciding which careers/markets are expected to see growth so that you know there’s security in this new chosen profession. The job market experiences rapidly changes as of late and we’re constantly witnessing jobs phasing out and growth in sectors that most aren’t even aware of without doing a bit of research.

Employment based sites like Indeed.com compile their data and create trends based on average salaries and potential growth in the market which allows job seekers to better understand the job market. If you’re like most you aren’t aware of all the new potential changes in the job market and careers such as machine learning engineers weren’t even on your radar but it should be. With an average salary of $146K annually and growth of 344% between 2015-2018 a machine learning engineer is looking quite tempting when comparing for a switch. Especially if you’re already employed within the I.T. industry. It’s safe to say that this is the wave of the future and if you’re interested in expanding your knowledge base and raising your bottom line then its worth looking into what it takes to transition into that job. Data scientist and machine learning engineers work together to stockpile organizational data and then design systematic approaches to assist in optimizing the business. For analytical technology workers these jobs expand upon your current responsibilities involving processes and data analysis. On the contrary if data scientist seems more your speed then they have a average median salary of $131K annually with a 78% growth rate. Either way the technology market is stacked on the list with potential new endeavors.

On the chart below you’ll find further information that can assist you in determining the correct path for you. Happy New Year and I wish you a prosperous 2020 on the job front.

The difference in 365 Days

My life was forever changed on New Years day 2018 exactly 2 years ago. On January 1st 2018 my husband announced to me that he thought he had cancer and he was right! I could tell from the inflection in his voice that he had held on to that nugget of information for a while and in the silence of our lazy day he sprung it on me. In private I cried… A LOT! Year one consisted of a major operation and then New Year’s day 2019 we celebrated with a small get-together at the house commiserating the milestone. However the celebration was short lived.

In January 2019 he felt a little bump under his skin that felt like an ingrown hair and it continued to grow. Another operation scheduled and another round of radiation treatment and we go for another scan only to find colon cancer. Another freaking surgery!!! It’s safe to say 2019 was a hell of a year. Two surgeries for my husband and and then as fate would have it… another re-occurrence of squamous cell carcinoma. That’s skin cancer for those who aren’t aware and at this point we’re told that there is nothing else we can do regarding surgery. So that left my husband to develop a rapidly spreading fungated wound! Well actually 2!

If you’re like me then you’ve never heard of a fungating wound unless you’re familiar with cancer. Bringing he story full circle my husband hasn’t been able to go outside very often because he developed high sensitivity to cold weather. He keeps our home temperature very hot and has a poor quality of life. However we recently started immunotherapy and I’m not 100% how I feel about it yet but I know that I had to fight damn hard to have them offer it to him so this is what I want to concentrate on now. With Cancer we’re both learning as it progresses but from this day forward I’m going to use this platform to discuss cancer care and how I juggle caring for my husband, working full-time, parenting my kids and the lessons I’ve learned during this difficult phase of our lives. With it I hope that someone can find solace and learn from what I post.

I hate to damper your 2020 because that is truly not my intent. I’m just laying out how I’m going to refocus this blog and hope that you agree to come along on my journey because during this process I’ve discovered too many people dealing with the same things but it’s really taboo and not discussed often. There are wins and set backs but I’m going to discuss them all here. Therapeutic for me and hopefully informative for you. I’ll also continue to include recipes because I definitely cook soups often for my husband and try to include healthy meals for my other 3 kids. Please make sure to follow the blog and interact.

Sweet Potato Soup Recipe

It’s cold outside so what’s better then staying in with a great meal, a cozy cute pajama set, a great meal and a good show. If that sounds like a plan then I have a warm hearty healthy meal to dine on while binge watching See (on a side note this show is LIT) or Netflix then let’s go!



Sweet Potato Soup

3 large sweet potato – I used organic white and 1 organic orange sweet potato

2 large carrots – I used organic long carrots

2 cloves of garlic minced

2 teaspoons of nutmeg

Half  teaspoon of ginger

Half teaspoon of sage

Half of white onion

2 cups of vegetable broth

Almond Butter

Olive oil

Can of coconut cream

Splash of salt and pepper to taste





First skin and cube your sweet potato. Peel your carrots and slice them thin. Mince your garlic and thin slice your white onion. Combine all your ingredients together in a pot using your olive oil to saute. Add your nutmeg, dash of sage and your ginger. You sautee until your sweet potato begin to noticeably turn color and become slightly tender. I suggest sauteing for 20 minutes and adding a small bit of water to coat the bottom of your pan so that your veggies don’t begin to burn. You don’t want to continue to add olive oil so adding water will work.

Once your sweet potatoes are tender and most of the water has evaporated, you’ll notice sweet potatoes will begin to become slightly mushy and break into lumps. That is how you want it.



Next add your vegetable broth, coconut cream and almond butter. Let that sautee for another 15 minutes. Once your potatoes are super soft and you’ve let simmer for 15 more minutes you can add another dash of nutmeg or taste to see if it’s to your liking. At this point you can puree with a food processor and serve.



 Now that you have the food situated what are we watching? If it’s a binge night then let me suggest SEE on Apple TV. That show is excellent! It also staring Jason Momoa who doesn’t disappoint in this show. I’m not going to spoil it but believe me, you’ll be nice and cozy and well entertained. Make sure you send me a Thanks in the comments.

Best Breakfast Smoothie

Prepping for work is not an easy feat. Especially coming off of a holiday break when we’re home more, it’s dark when we awake and it’s cold. Breakfast is usually a nice to have or it’s easier to grab something quick on the go. That quick on the go bite is the problem though for a lot of us. Breakfast sets the tone for our day and it’s best to have something on your stomach within an hour of waking. Also studies show that eating breakfast that has protein and fiber keeps your appetite in check throughout the day which eliminates munching on throughout the day. What better way to ensure you’re on the right path than to prepare? Below are a few fiber rich breakfast smoothie a that will benefit that diet and get your day started off on the right track.

My favorite smoothie that I prepare for my family that we all love is the Fruit Punch!

Fruit Punch is packed with vitamins! You’ll definitely hit your daily does of vitamins with this one.

-Vitamin A (206%)      – Vitamin K (650%)      -Vitamin C (140%)      -Calcium (9%)

-Vitamin B6 (35%)        – Potassium (9%)          – Copper (10%)            -Potassium (24%)

– Magnesium (15%)      – Iron (4%)    – @10 grams of dietary fiber

You’ll need a juicer, glass mason jars and a blender.

I first juice a small bushel of kale, 2 large carrots (cut in half), 3 apples, half of small lime, 4 stalks of celery.  Then I pour the content of all those juice into a blender with a banana, frozen mixed berries and a

 scoop of organic vegan protein powder. It comes out great and the best part is it’s not gritty from the protein powder and my kids love it!  You’re getting all your veggies raw which are the best form for optimal nutrients. In addition you’re getting fiber and protein all in your breakfast. You can store the excess in your mason jars with lids or if you’re prepping for more than just you then you now have breakfast for multiple people and it’s filling and nutritious. 

 

 

 

 

Rules to conquer corporate life

Corporate life can be down right draining at times and there isn’t a blue print to follow which makes it more difficult to navigate. It’s been known to cause a few individuals to become overly stressed and outright depressed unless you know how to navigate it. There are rules to everything and corporate life is no different. It can be cliquish, some people can be outright evil and it can lead to you wondering why bother. However if you remember your main objective and devise a plan for yourself it’s quite easy. Which is why I’ve decided to share a few rules that I’ve picked up along the way.

I’ve learned a thing or two along the years and it’s helped me accomplish a lot. First… I’m not a college graduate but I’ve clawed my way up along the ranks to earning a six figure salary. I’m constantly asked by colleagues how I’ve established myself so well so I thought I’d share tips I’ve picked up with you. To begin my main objective for working has always been to earn the most that I possibly could while attempting to succeed in other ventures.  Honestly I thought of my corporate career would be temporary while I followed my true passion with several entrepreneurial endeavors. To my dismay my entrepreneurial attempts never matched my success in the corporate world which seemed to come rather easily.   I was told recently by a senior executive that I may be threatening to some because I  am confident in my skill set. Why wouldn’t I be confident when I’ve had years to build my knowledge and it’s that very knowledge that lead the company to hire me in the first place. I took it as a sideways compliment but this is normal at work when others are threatened. This particular executive is one of those people who has overstayed their tenure by becoming complacent and I’ll discuss that in another paragraph. I am confident in my knowledge within my field and it’s taken me a while to get here and I’m not apologetic.

First thing is to know your goal and to stick to it. Remember I’ve always remained focus about why I’m working and that was for money. However I have changed career paths because some paths aren’t worth taking if you’re not happy. I find satisfaction in what I do currently but I still do it for the paycheck for my family. One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of people fall into using their job to pool for friends. The trick here is to find a few seasoned individuals that you can use to pick their brains and develop a mutual working rapport. That’s not to say you may not enjoy a quick chat or two but keep it professional. In an office setting, it’s too easy to fall into the office gossip circuit and that can harm your upward mobility.  I’m not going to say that I have not met a few people who I’ve genuinely liked but I’ve always kept my personal and professional lives separate. This is rule #1! Especially when it comes to social media. Never accept a friend request from current coworkers. I don’t care how many times you’ve hit up  happy hour with them.  They can take your personal post and use it as fuel for office gossip. This can be used to paint you in a unflattering manner so keep the two separate. If someone asks you why you don’t accept their friend request kindly state your belief of not mixing personal and professional contact. It’s okay to interact on platforms designed around your career such as LinkedIn but all other platforms should remain private. It’s too easy now a days to have a personal post misconstrued.

Be the office subject expert by knowing your responsibilities so well that others have no choice but to come to you. It may add time to your daily task list but you and only you determine the priority level of those you help and you set your to-do list. Becoming the subject matter expert does two things. Your reputation begins to proceed you and people know of you even if you have little contact. Inadvertently it can bring you to the top of the list when looking to promote from within. They know you’re more than capable because your reputation will speak for you. It will be their hope that could use your skills to easy pick up the new responsibility and build upon it which will enhance their productivity. A win-win for both you and the company. Also try to convince them to get your certified in as much as they can afford. Speak to your manager about certification programs related to what you do. If they’re good they will see the benefit and it will come out of their pockets and not yours.

Don’t get comfortable and settle for no growth. Put yourself on a timeline because you’re time is valuable. If your skill set isn’t being acknowledge with a plan to advance after 2-3 years where you are then it’s time to take your skill set elsewhere. People become complacent within their routine which often time means they choose to stay in a job that they know they’ve outgrown because their comfortable there. That is a true disservice to yourself and too often blocks your financial growth.

When one leaves a job for another, the switch often associated with a 15% or more pay increase. Again your time is valuable. Invest as much as you can in their 401K plan and devise a action plan on what you expect from your current job and if you see potential growth there. If there is room for advancement try to achieve it but within a set time frame. My time frame is 2-3 years. If you haven’t been promoted within 2-3 years then it’s time to get your promotion some place else. Also jobs who promote from within typically only increase your pay by a small percentage which doesn’t match your potential earning increase if you leave. If you can take the promotion and the new title, learn the job responsibilities within a year and take your title to a new establishment. Doing that you’ve now given yourself 2 large pay increases within a years time.  It will add up and you’ll be upgrading your lifestyle quicker.

 

ACHIEVE MORE!!!

We’ve all at one point in time or another had the feeling we weren’t progressing or moving in the direction we thought we would. For me, it’s traditionally around my birthday when I start thinking about what the next year will bring for me. Some of the things I’ve learned in life that served me well is to remain true to myself, always be respectful even when my head may tell you otherwise, and to be as strategic as possible. To get to the next plateau in life you must make a bold move. However to be successful you will need to be strategic and plan out the smaller executable action items to achieve the larger goal. This is the blueprint for achieving the next plateau when you may feel stuck!

Remain True To Yourself

Never compromise your core beliefs to fit in to what you may view as the norm. Whether it be your quirky personality, infectious smile or an against the grain way of thinking. Uniqueness is a great gift and if you have a different view point or a unique way of execution, then that is your slight advantage and should be used to get noticed. Not fitting in with the status quo is a strategic move all in itself as long as you know how to utilize that uniqueness to achieve your desired goal. It’s all in the  rarity of the execution! As life has shown us, there is always a small percentage of folks that achieve more than the masses and the reason behind that is typically due to the oddity within them. That oddity or what some may see as an oddity gives them a different perspective and allows them to approach things in a unique manner. Everyone has a uniqueness within them but we’re systematically programmed to follow the majority instead of being taught how to fine tune our individuality and unique qualities. We’re trained for automation and to follow what has worked in the past. Very rarely given thought as to how we can add improvements and those who break from that mindset are the innovators and self achievers within the collective.
Always Be Respectful In Spite of…

This is one that may be the absolute hardest to achieve. It’s easy to get sucked into the collective “shit show”. Everyone is a master complainer in today’s world. Sit at a light 2 seconds too long and someone is honking their horn. Look nice at work or actually know your job and someone is secretly talking behind your back and trying to discredit or belittle you for something. No need to get distracted over things that you can’t change and you cannot change someones negative behavior towards you. However you are always in control of how you react! Kill them with kindness or ignore them because they aren’t imperative to your goals. People hate when their efforts are ignored or better yet they hate when you win in spite of their negative attempts. I promise you that the best way to ensure that you win is to stay classy and keep doing what you’re doing because it’s not only being observed by your haters. Your respectfulness is also being quietly observed by others who aren’t so vocal and malicious and those are the ones who matter. Not because they matter to you directly but because as you move upward you’ll be surprised how many people transition to where you’re going as well. You’ll always run into someone you’ve known previously and it’s best that they have a good impression on how you conduct yourself because that news travels too. It’s HOW YOU REACT and HOW YOU CONDUCT YOURSELF that matter. Especially to you in the long run!

Be Strategic

The best thing you can do for yourself is to start a journal or invest in a planner to set goals! I believe this was the first post or close to it that I ever posted and it was certainly about setting goals for yourself.  Large goals and small supporting goals are all to be written down! It sets you on a subconscious path to achievement without you even realizing it. You will achieve or get damn near close to achieving your goal in your set time frame. You just have to write it down and set micro milestone goals to support the major ones. This has worked for me 100% of the time. Even when I doubted my abilities and the goal itself.

Derma Rollers To Improve Skin

I am not a product junkie but I am on a crusade to ensure that my skin looks it’s possible best as I age. That is what led me to Microneedling or in my case derma-rollering which both are similar procedures. If you’re interested in minor cosmetic boosting then Microneedling / at home derma-rollers may be the cheapest answer to your quest. Before we begin to delve further I must admit that these are two distinct versions of Microneedling that are used. One is done professionally by  your Dermatologist with really deep needles and can often times show markings. This is what the professional Dermatologist label Microneedling.  The other Microneedling  is often called derma-rollering and is performed in the same manner but is more of a DIY method. Yes… the do-it-yourself method requires needles to the face too however it’s not the painful injection type of needle most would think of.

The idea behind both methods are the same. It’s a non-invasive alternative to plastic surgery that provokes the skin to produce more collagen which is induced with the small needles. Basically the process tricks the skin into believing it’s been injured (minor injury) and encourages the body to mass produce more collagen to correct the injured tissue plumping the skin. However the pricks from the needles are so small that all I’ve noticed is minor tenderness which sort of feels like a light rug burn to the face. Let me clarify that the sensation isn’t as intense as an actual rug burn however immediately after you do feel slight sensitivity which is what you’re striving for. My sensitivity was a bit heightened too because it was my very first time using the derma-roller and I followed up with a vitamin c serum to wrinkle repair. Another important note is that I’ve started out using a small  derma-roller at .25mm because I need to build up my tolerance. I’m also not looking for major changes to my skin. I just want to prevent laugh lines, crows feet and premature forehead wrinkles. If I were to actually see breaking in my skin from the derma roller or experienced any pain I would not continue but so far so good.

A lot of online reviews that I’ve read suggested the method to combat under eye bags. I’m guess it’s great for people who aren’t willing to undergo eye fillers and are looking for a more cost effect, injury free alternative to surgery. I did use it under and around my eyes so hopefully I notice a difference but it’s not my main objective. I want to lessen my fine lines and wrinkles. The at home procedure recommends a treatment schedule of once per week working your tolerance up to eventually performing the procedure 2-3 times per week. I plan on sticking to a regimen of 2 times per week to see if I notice any subtle changes for 5 weeks. Now this is where the professional and DIY treatments vary. The professional treatment noticeably punctures which allows for a max of 6 sessions whereas the at home DIY version is not so intense. Both boast similar results for the skin that include correcting acne scaring, age spots, wrinkles and improvement to elasticity and uneven skin tone. However the professional dermatologist say that the at home results aren’t the same as the in-office treatments but I believe that subjective. Dermatologist want to get paid. However I’ll take the diluted version with its results over the 4-6 weeks in office procedure at about $300 per session. The do-it-yourself roller runs about $15 and even if my results are minimal I’m okay with spending $15 over $1800. I ordered my derma roller on Amazon.