Learning in Reverse - Deconstructing Everything I Knew

From time to time, I get invited to speak at university events, high schools and even corporate events to share my story and how I have built Hazelmade. As I prepare for these speaking engagements, I always consider the audience and how to best tailor my talking points to where they are in their education or professional journey. I try to share less of a resume and more of a honest conversation about the process of building my business. I love to prepare for speaking because it helps me pause and think about my journey. To me, speaking engagements are a chance to inspire people to find their own version of success and, more often than not, they help me see new perspectives too.

 

Before Hazelmade, I was very successful in the way people are “supposed” to be successful. I had graduated top of my class and earned coveted internships that led to jobs at great design firms and even a national publishing company. However, along the way I lost touch with the design work I was producing and did not feel fulfilled. I explored ways to create my own work and started developing my brand, Hazelmade, on the side. I found out that having my own brand felt like what I was meant to do, but I still struggled with choosing between the “successful” path I was told to follow to something less traditional or universally understood. I questioned if I should stay at my job and stick to the path I had set out on, or try to build my own brand even if I was not guaranteed success. Eventually, I did decide to quit my job and go all in on Hazelmade because I knew what I wanted and believed in what I was creating. In fact, that “all-in moment” is one of the main points in every talk I give: your journey towards success may be nontraditional, but if you believe in what you are doing, you must give it a shot.

 

Last month, I told that story when I was invited to speak to a cohort of postgraduate women at Akron University. I planned to talk about recognizing your own success and thanking yourself, but these women opened up a much bigger dialogue. It felt like less of a speaking event and more of a conversation with peers. Even though the women in that room studied everything from physics to accounting, my story resonated with them. One of the women remarked that the key to my success was learning in reverse: I had to deconstruct everything I thought I knew about success in order to go all in on Hazelmade. Another woman observed from my story that we can't lead others until we lead ourselves. I would have never found those words to describe my experience if not for this group of insightful women. I love speaking events for that reason: they challenge me to reflect on my journey and allow both me and my audience to find a new way of looking at things.

 

At the end of the talk, each woman received a box of thank you cards and had a chance to write a thank you note to themselves which I would mail to them at a later date. It was so powerful to see a room full of women taking the time to reflect and thank their future selves. And, as I stood there watching them write, I was reminded again how important it is to stop and show gratitude for the work you've done.

 

I am so proud of the me that started Hazelmade, the me that went all in on my brand and the me who shows up everyday to do the really hard work. I find a lot of comfort in the idea that I learned in reverse and am so happy I took the risk and went all in on my nontraditional path because today, ten years later, I have so much to show for it.

 

I'm actively looking for more opportunities to share my story. If you're an educator, advisor or just an interested person, please reach out!