I have had a lot on my mind lately. This post is kind of lengthy but please stay with me. In the past six months or so, I have completely changed my career route. So far, everything has been going great! I didn’t realize the only thing that was holding me back from doing what I wanted to do was me! But it wasn’t that easy to realize! 

I have attended five different universities, changed my major about three times and knew zero about what I truly wanted to do. While working in the hair salon with my mom since I was twelve I figured I would just go to cosmetology school and figure it out from there. I was putting limitations on myself without realizing it. When I finally made the decision to attend cosmetology school after graduation, I didn’t even have a true date set for graduation. Whenever someone asked me when I was going to be done, my answer was probably different every time. Lol, I was at a point where I was just tired of people asking me what I was going to do. In my mind, I finally had a response for my family, for my mom’s clients, and myself. But this Summer of 2015, something in me switched on.

When I first came to the school I am currently enrolled in, I was so lost and probably looking more lost than I felt. I didn’t know what I wanted my major to be and I didn’t care. I was just praying that they would accept my credits from my previous schools. The admission advisor suggested I pick an Interdisciplinary Studies major and then I could minor in whatever I want…she went on to explain it but all I heard was it will accept ALL of your credits you have earned…

Moment of silence for the news I just shared…

WHAT!?? HECKY YEA THIS IS MY MAJOR! Lol I enrolled into school that same day.

Fast forward—–>

Long story short:

So last year, I decided I would just go with human communication as my minor and it turned out that I absolutely LOVED all of my communication classes. My professors were the bomb!!! I did have a lot of writing but I didn’t mind, I loved it!

The end of the year I went to talk to my advisor and that is when she told me what I had to do to graduate. I then registered for my summer courses like she told me to do, registered for the fall,  and applied for graduation.

Fast Foward——->

Out of all my classes this summer, the one that changed my life was Self-Esteem in Media. This is the class that made me realize I could do whatever I wanted to do! I was beating myself down and limiting myself because of the things I saw, the people with “greener grass” who had lives so “glamorous.” I thought I had nothing. I let ME get in the way of ME. It’s not that the class had soooo much to do with my life, but I think it took that class to help me realize that there is so much more out there I could be doing that I KNOW I am good at.

But how.

How do I get to the next step? Well, I talked about it with a few family members and close friends. I prayed. I took a look at my different options, S/O to Google. I prayed. I reached out to a few young professionals. I prayed. I looked up some internships. I prayed. I got help with my resume. I prayed. I applied to only paid internships. And I PRAYED!!!!! LOL I told God that I need a paid internship, everyone I talked to told me that probably won’t happen. Most of the places I applied to were downtown and forty-five minutes away. There was no way I was going to be commuting downtown for a non-paid internship! So what did I do- I prayed even harder!

I applied to almost fifteen places and none of them called or emailed me back. Except this one. I received an email from my school’s career center about a paid internship in Park Forest, which is about fifteen minutes from my house and seven minutes away from my school. I read the description and applied right away. It was for a Social Media/marketing position. About maybe two weeks later, I received an email saying they wanted me to come in for an interview. I SCREAMED! I started thanking and praising God right then!

Long story not so short, I sent the word out to some prayer warriors to be praying I get the position. My extended mom, Victoria Hackmon was the person who really helped me have a different perspective on the situation. After I asked her to continue praying for me, she said, “Okay, what is your exact prayer request? GO BIG!” So I said, “I want to pray that the interview goes well and that it will pay enough to cover a few bills, and that this will be a stepping stone for more opportunities and I will be hired on the spot.” God does answer specific prayers, and why wouldn’t I think to go big in the first place?

Long story not short at all,

The interview went very well, it turned into an hour long conversation. I was so nervous going in but I never would have thought that I could learn so much in an interview than I did that day. The interviewer gave me tips on my resume, told me things that I should and shouldn’t say. It was just truly a moment I will never forget. He told me that the last part of the interview process was to create a flyer from the brochure and send it by Sunday…

Well I went home that night and worked on it for about 4 hours before I sent it. I think it was about 8:00pm at this point…and then there was the waiting game…

OR TWO HOURS LATER! Lol.

He replied that night saying how he liked the flyer and the fact that I sent it the same day. He then offered me the position at 10 something at night! I was so excited and knew that this was nobody but God himself.

He answered my prayers! Not only was this the position I have been wanting, but it is a paid position, my interview went well, AND it is only 15 minutes from home!

I know this was a long post, but if you want something just ask God for it! Go and get it! It seemed like my life was going down a completely different path, and you might feel like you are so far from where you want to be. The desires and passions you have are not only your ideas but God’s plan! He is the one who put them there! You just have to ask him how to get there, ask him to put people in your path that you need to talk to. There might be people who are threatened by your drive and send you off but if you realize they don’t matter it could make you go even harder! Do your part so that he can do HIS part. He loves us so much and wants to see us succeed. Even more than that, he wants us to seek HIM for the answers!!

I hope my story encourages someone- No matter what age you are, no matter what the circumstances are, if you want to finish school, then FINISH IT!! If you want to start a business, then START IT! If anybody knows me when I have a burning desire for something, I go after it until I have it. But I didn’t do it alone. I pray about it and God ALWAYS sends me people who I can network with and who will encourage me in my journey.

Don’t give up. He is awesome.

#NetworkAndPray, just #NetworkAndPray