Meet: Stacey J!

Introduce yourself and profession to our readers:

Hello to all my Glambitious ladies! My name is Stacey J. aka The Social Enthusiast aka The Inspirational Rockstar! Professionally I am one of the Associate Producers for the Rickey Smiley Morning Show, I have my own radio show “The Inspirational Lifestyle”
on www.worldstarhitradio.com, I am the Founder of The LIVE365 Empowerment Network and President of Stacey J. Enterprise! Whew I know I know that was a mouthful! 
 
Most time when we describe ourselves personally we tend to mention that we are a mother, a business woman, a student blah blah blah. Not to discredit those things because I am a mother and a business woman however I believe when we are asked “tell me a little bit about yourself” we normally go with the formalities of what’s common. So, I’m going to do things a little different this time. Can I be honest with you all? Stacey J. is silly, animated, quite funny, cry when watching some movies and commercials, passionate, loves horror movies and inspirational books (I know those 2 don’t go together). I like to travel, I’m afraid of heights, I love to talk, I’m spontaneous, I love to inspire and oh and I absolutely LOVE to laugh! That’s a brief overview but of course there’s more to this 5 foot 2 woman.
 
What inspired you to pursue this area of interest?

There are times in your life where you ask yourself…what is my purpose? You look back on your life and sometimes realize you’ve been doing something that you had no real interest in. Maybe your parents instilled that a certain professional would be best, maybe you had a child and needed to provide for your family or maybe you were just looking for a job and whoever was hiring you went for it. In my case I had my first child at 20 years old so reason number 2 was why I worked for many years as an Executive Assistant with a few Fortune 500 companies. What I soon came to realize is…I wasn’t satisfied or happy. Grateful yes but happy no. 
 
So, when I had the opportunity to work for myself I jumped out of faith immediately. I spent the next 10 or so years doing personal assisting for celebrities and event planning. Was it easy…nope but I enjoyed it immensely.  Now there comes a time in every woman’s life where we have a moment that some call a mid-life crisis or a re-evaluation of where youare and where you want to be. I soon realized that my time as a PA had come to an end because I was no longer excited by it. I knew it was time to move on.
 
When I turned 40 I had my coming to Jesus moment and I asked…Lord what is my purpose? That is when the Lord revealed to me that my calling was to inspire people. Now I’m thinking to myself, who me? I was optimistic and all but I didn’t feel like I was in a position to inspire anyone. I didn’t even feel like I had my life together. It wasn’t until I was talking to an old friend that I hadn’t spoken to in probably 20 years that said to me “Stacey you’ve always been optimistic and inspiring since we we’re younger”. She also mentioned that I was the reason she moved away from Chicago to start a new life. I was like WOW that’s powerful! I had to stop and think about it and I realized that the gift was already instilled in me. It was at that moment I decided to pursue inspirational speaking and empowerment. 
 
What advice would you share with those interested in a similar pursuit?

My advice to anyone interested in empowerment is to first ask yourself is this something I really want to do. Empowerment is like ministry and a lot of times you find yourself giving more than receiving. It doesn’t matter what your background is because God sometimes uses those that have the most scars, those that have been through hell and back to inspire others. You never know how your story can be the very thing that saves someone’s life. 
 
I would encourage educating yourself and consider doing some research before starting. Try studying other successful inspirational leaders and get a mentor. Decide in which way you want to inspire. It could be writing books, doing events and seminars or speaking at schools. Whatever you decide Itshould always be organic and sincere. Know that when you are attempting to empower someone that there is a psychological element involved because you are encouraging someone to change their mindset maybe from discourage to optimistic or from stagnate to taking action. You also want to be able to know when you are unable to help someone and there may be a deeper-rooted issue that may need professional attention.
 
 
Lastly, always pray for leadership skills and for Godto leads your words. Remember you’re going to be in the business of empowering people so it’s very important to make sure you as the inspirer gets empowered because as rewarding as it can be it can also be draining. You want to make sure you try to keep yourself uplifted so that you can be helpful to your clients. 
 
Discuss a professional challenge and how you overcame it:

In any business, there will be challenges. I know I don’t like it either but it happens. For me, I love people. I love hearing their stories and learning about the dreams they want to achieve but more importantly how I can help them. One challenge for me was learning how to structure this passion and purpose into a business. What I mean is I talk all the time to people and speaking empowerment is something that rolls off me like oil on water. I would find myself just talking and talking allowing people to pick my brain and resources and wasn’t getting anything from it. Let’s be clear I still do it time to time but I’ve taken my purpose and made it into a business so I had to put some things into perspective. Sometimes I felt bad charging for speaking with people but I had to realize everyone has a gift and if people are seeking you for your knowledge or advice then you shouldn’t feel bad for getting paid to do what you love. Free all the time don’t pay them bills.
 
What is next for your brand/business in 2017?

I’m so excited about 2017!!! I’ve had to do some revamping of my business and goals for this year. This year is totally about working smarter not harder. I have some awesome events coming up, some bomb services that I’ll be offering and I will be doing a lot of collaborating and outsourcing with other passionate and professional people. One of the things I’ve come to realize is that there are so many amazing businesses that may offer similar or other services that could benefit my client and I have no problem sharing the love. If we would stop competing and work together when applicable we all could win! 
 
How can readers connect with you online and through social media
If you would like to connect with me
online you can visit my website
www.live365empowermentnetwork.com
www.stacyjent.com 
and on all social media @therealstaceyj