I make sure folx who know me well, know that I don’t cook on purpose, not even for my child. That didn’t stop me from owning two bbq restaurants with my husband, Bigmista. As much as I hated being in the kitchen, I Ioved being around good people and making sure they got some love that day.
In my role as Mrs. Mista, I was not only the boss mother to my staff, I was the manager mother to my customers. It was during my times of holding someone’s baby while they ate and checking on folx who had been MIA for a while that my mother vibe would shine.
I supported them in their business endeavors as much as they supported mine. This was never more evident then when Bigmista and I showed up at a head banger club to support one of our customer’s bands. We were two big old black folx in a sea of white 20-something kids with spiked hair, black clothes and loud ass punk music.
But, as much as I loved my restaurant family I knew it wasn’t for me. I started studying to become a certified business coach to get away from the restaurant world.
In my effort to get clients I suppressed my mother vibe. I put on some fake ass persona in order to appear more professional. I ended up giving away more coaching than I got paid for. When I got started on my 4th certification I fell into my happy place.
The information they gave me to become a brand coach was not enough. I had to go all in. I began to dig in and research to understand branding. I paid for classes, read books and watched videos.
I knew this was the life for me but imposter syndrome was kicking my ass. I didn’t feel qualified or worthy to tell folx about their brand especially since my shit was raggedy. It was at my raggediest that I found brand strategy.
Brand strategy helped me embrace my Ghetto Country. Telling folx I was raised hood adjacent by a country momma is a homage to my roots. It's a deeper meaning than most folx would believe and has its own origin story. Saying I'm Ghetto Country is not something I say without thought.
Embracing my ghetto country allows me to be bold in how I speak (bad English and all) and how I represent the hood. The more I owned that part of my brand, the more people (leads) began to gravitate towards me.
I also knew I had to bring back my mother vibe and embrace family, especially my family. It wasn’t until I put a some effort into my personal brand that the Brandmother emerged.
The Ghetto Country Brandmother® is so much a part of me but not all of me. She’s a bit bolder in her pursuit to help introverted late bloomers get authentically branded as fuck. She is persistent where I might walk away. She’s caring where I sometimes don’t give a fuck. Nevertheless she’s just as vulnerable and transparent as me.
The Ghetto Country Brandmother® journey is still unfolding.
