Early Accountability

EAP 28: HIV Positive and Refusing to Live Negatively

On this episode of the Early Accountability Podcast, Kimi is joined by LaDeia Joyce, who found out on September 29, 2016, that she had HIV. She took the next year to document her journey and dwell on Psalm 23 while only a handful of people knew about her diagnosis, and on September 29, 2017, she held an event during which she publicly disclosed her status for the first time. LaDeia has experienced first-hand the stigmas and misconceptions about HIV since her diagnosis, and her goal is to provide resources and support through her blog, videos, and events to others who may be going through the same journey. In the early days and weeks after learning her status, LaDeia searched for resources to help her process and cope, but she found that if she wanted an African-American woman’s perspective, she would have to be the one to give it a voice. Over the past nearly two years, LaDeia has found great comfort in her relationship with God and through consistent therapy sessions. She encourages everyone to get tested and know your status, and do not be afraid to have conversations about HIV. Topics Covered in this Episode: • Overcoming an HIV diagnosis to help others who are struggling • African-American woman’s perspective on HIV • Disclosing HIV status • Misconceptions about HIV

EAP 27: Claiming Your Story, Curating Your Persona, and Crafting the Perfect Pitch

Ebonee Monique Thompson, owner and founder of The Persona Agency, joins us on this episode of the Early Accountability Podcast. Ebonee is a published author and social media and content expert who began consulting in response to the number of requests she received after the publication of her second book. She got her start by winning the Elevator Pitch contest through Black Enterprise with her idea for Momma I Want To Write, a ghostwriting company that would help people without the time or talent to write their own stories. Momma I Want To Write evolved into The Persona Agency when Ebonee saw the need for content writing and strategy and social media management in addition to ghostwriting, and The Persona Agency now exists to help businesses tell their stories. Ebonee’s advice to those who want to start writing is: • Write something every single day • Grow comfortable with being authentic and transparent • Don’t be discouraged by your areas of weakness – find someone who can do those things for you Ebonee’s advice for storytelling on social media: • Use whatever method makes you feel the most authentic • Talk about your struggles • Video is a great way to tell your story Topics Covered on This Episode: • How to create your brand • Authentic storytelling • Advice for beginning writers • Services of The Persona Agency

EAP 26: Perfecting Your Digital Marketing + Visual Strategy

EAP 26: Perfecting Your Digital Marketing + Visual Strategy by Kimi Walker

EAP 25: Ex Gang Member Evolves into an Urban Life Coach - Refusing to be a Victim of Circumstances

On this episode of the Early Accountability podcast, we are joined by Justice J. Wali, an urban motivator and life coach. Growing up an only child in the South side of Chicago, Justice was easily influenced by the gang and drug cultures around him, even becoming a gang member before changing his ways. He began spending considerable time with his grandmother at home and at church, which he believes saved him from making more negative life decisions. In 2005, he moved to Minnesota, where he found opportunities and possibilities that had not been available to him in Chicago. He decided to use the underutilized skills of listening and finding solutions in the context of urban living to encourage and coach others who find themselves in negative situations like he grew up in. He is now the father to 3 intelligent sons, who follow examples over advice, and in 2015, he began public speaking engagements to share his acquired wisdom. Justice’s advice to others considering public speaking is to believe that your voice is important and you have a story to tell. Most local libraries will allow you to hold an event for free, and this is a great way to practice your speaking skills. You can be successful at whatever you want to become if you commit your mind to it and set aside an hour every day to brainstorm ideas or solutions.

EAP 24: Off the Web & Into the World - Turning a 150k Member Facebook Group Into a Massive Movement

On this episode of the Early Accountability podcast, our guest is Dr. Melissa Chester, CEO of Black Educators Rock, Inc. Dr. Chester and one of her former students founded Black Educators Rock as a Facebook group which quickly gained traction and engagement, amassing 1,000 group members within 24 hours and 100,000 within 90 days. The Facebook group has now been segmented into geographic subgroups, which are moderated by volunteers, and has even resulted in the establishment of some local chapters across the country and the world. In 2015, Black Educators Rock, Inc. became a 501(c)3 organization focused on instructional strategies, professional knowledge, and advocacy and empowerment. The largest product of Dr. Chester’s efforts is the annual Rock Conference held every summer to encourage and enrich participants and prepare them for the upcoming school year. This year, they have sessions on youth mental health first aid, active shooter training, advocacy and empowerment, and even homeownership 101. Dr. Chester has found time and again that there is strength in numbers and she hopes that Black Educators Rock might develop into an institute where members can become advisors to group members in their areas of expertise. Dr. Chester advises anyone in the early stages of developing a nonprofit or any organization to spend their time and energy on the vision, mission, and areas of focus of their organization and understand that it will be a lonely journey initially. But be confident in your mission and put in the hard work to ultimately benefit the people you want to serve. Topics Covered on This Episode: • How to build a movement • Listening to your constituents and create solutions to their problems • How to properly begin your organization

EAP 23: Quitting Your Job & Owning Your Signature

Our guest on this episode of the Early Accountability podcast is Renotta Burke, owner of Renotta Burke Signatures event planning and design company. Unhappy with her job at the time, Renotta decided to quit at the end of 2011 and use her life savings to purchase the linens that would be used by her events company. Now several years into this endeavor, Renotta and her team have found great success and fulfillment through planning and designing weddings and other events for their clients in Georgia and beyond. Renotta recently embraced the art of delegation and prioritizing her areas of strength in the company, recognizing that other members of her team are better at various other aspects, and they have found great synergy in this work structure. Renotta highly recommends that people use an event planner if they are even remotely considering it. Having an event planner handle your event takes away the stress of having to handle every detail on your own and allows you to actually enjoy the final product. She recommends that you know your budget from the beginning and be reasonable with your vision for the event based on your budget in addition to providing the event planner with a vision board of what you are looking for. Once you have had all of the necessary discussions with your event planner, trust them and the vendors that they hire to do their jobs – they want your event to be a success as much as you do! Topics Covered on This Episode: -Having the courage to pursue your dreams -Learning how to delegate and manage time -Prioritizing areas of strength in your work

EAP 22: Becoming a Love Coach After Divorce

Joining us on this episode of the Early Accountability podcast is Leonardo Cavalli: an actor, singer, author, motivational speaker, and love and life coach based in New York City. Much of Leonardo’s wisdom comes from the lessons he learned from his marriage at the age of 23 that ended in divorce the next year. This is the subject of his book, entitled 24 and Divorced, as well as the album that he wrote to accompany the book, entitled Wounded, and through his motivational speaking and love coaching, he hopes to equip people with the tools they need to make their love last. His advice to people at the beginning of a relationship is to make sure to carve out some time to yourself, to really think about and become established in your goals, your love language, and your core values and then as the relationship progresses, to make sure that you are staying true to yourself. If you find yourself being pushed to depart from your core values or leave everything else in life that you love or enjoy to meet the other person’s expectations, you are headed down the path to destruction, and you should take a step back to refocus. As the relationship progresses, it is a good idea to seek mentorship and counsel together and separately so that when issues arise, you have a plan for conflict management. Leonardo’s divorce at a young age led him into a time of depression, from which he was able to emerge by focusing on establishing value in himself, being consistent in his daily life, and practicing gratitude for the little and big things that were happening. He encourages anyone struggling through a tough time to just keep going with hope that tomorrow will be a better day. Topics Covered in this Episode: -Finding love and making it last -Red flags in a relationship -You are valuable even if you don’t have “valuables” -How loving yourself and being grateful can change your outlook on life

EAP 21: Invest In Your Wealth & Financial Wellness

On this episode of the Early Accountability podcast, our guest is Maurice Wilson of Wilson Wealth (http://wilsonwealth.com/), which specializes in investment management and a little bit of financial planning. During his education, Maurice’s goal was to learn something that other people didn’t know, which led him down the path of engineering. He started working at Daimler-Chrysler after college and realized that investment management was really where he wanted to be, so he started taking steps to get there. To the individual looking to invest, Maurice recommends starting with contributing the maximum percentage that their employer will match into their retirement and then putting in the maximum amount allowed into their Roth IRA as well. If the individual still has funds they want to invest – such as a tax refund – the stock market is the best place for long-term returns. If you find yourself living paycheck to paycheck without the ability to save or invest at all, Maurice’s advice is to find a creative way to increase your income to make it happen. Maurice’s advice to entrepreneurs is to make sure upfront that they have sufficient resources to cover living expenses independently from the business, so that all business profits can be invested back into the business for growth and improvements. Realize that it will take more than a few months to really get started, so securing the capital or angel investor needed should be a top priority. Topics Covered in This Episode: -Tips for personal investments -Advice to entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs -It is never too late to start investing -Are investments more practical than building up savings

EAP 20: Unlocking Your Purpose + Tackling Your Goals

Our guest on this episode of the Early Accountability podcast is James Luter, a Navy veteran, military spouse and father, and life coach. James takes his clients through a three-step process focused on personal development during their coaching sessions with him: (1) unlocking their purpose, (2) developing personal goals, and (3) setting up accountability measures to help them reach their goals. During his 18 years of coaching, James has found that when people are not living in their purpose, they are often frustrated and discontent with their personal or professional lives. Discovering that what you are doing is not a good fit is actually a great place to be, even though it would be easy to feel discouraged by any wasted time or energy invested. James helps his clients through the process of mapping out their exit strategy based on their personal goals and reasonable timelines, which provides very tangible steps for the individual to take as they develop a clear vision of their future. He emphasizes the importance of being confident in yourself and your goals and not being influenced by societal norms or expectations, even those of your close friends and family members. While they have good intentions, their ideas for your life may only lead you to another situation that is not a good fit for you. You know best what will be fulfilling for you, so it is critical to be single-mindedly focused on the steps to get there.

EAP 19: Adjusting Your Strategy During Life's Setbacks

On this episode of the Early Accountability podcast, we are joined by Dr. Sharice Bradford, a life coach with a background in pastoral care/counseling and healthcare administration. She also edits and contributes to Life Coach Network magazine and maintains a lifestyle blog (https://thissinglesole.org/). Dr. Sharice has a passion for helping people, and coaching provides flexibility in methods and scheduling that traditional counseling often does not. Dr. Sharice shares that the most important thing to keep in mind as you are maneuvering through the different aspects of your life is where you want to end up, and then you will be able to figure out the best route to reach that goal – short-term or long-term. None of us can see the birds-eye view of our route to our goal, so we must give ourselves grace and space when we encounter bumps in the road or unexpected setbacks. The key to staying on course (even when the course is different or more difficult than we expected) is to adjust your strategy and continue to make progress after encountering a hurdle. Beginning – and continuing – with the end in mind will help you weather the storms when they come. You have already survived 100% of your worst days in your life so far, and those experiences have only made you stronger.