"Elsa. LeBron. Y'all get me."

Pull up, Cousins, I’m going to get semi-personal.

On Wednesday, Shelton Banks facilitated a conversation for BIPOC sales folk about code switching and whether right, wrong, or neither.

(Code switching most often refers to the alternation between dialects, styles and/or registers. For the purpose of right now, consider it the act of dulling one's **insert an underrepresent group here** as means to better fit into, let's say, corporate working environments.)

Yesterday, Alexine Mudawar and Gabrielle “GB” Blackwell facilitated a conversation for woman in sales about navigating otherness while finding and amplifying our individual and collective voices.

Today, Alexis Matthews, Hannah Ajikawo, Gabrielle "GB" Blackwell (yes, again), and I circled up for “SET IT OFF.”

(Sales Excellence Tips & Info Tech OFF the record.)

We talked “Change.”

At the intersection of the aforementioned topics, here’s what's true:

Revenue generating roles will forever be “What have you done for me lately?” in nature.

Meaning no matter how many hours I once spent slicking down my Afro before work to attract less attention and/or look more “professional...” Or how many times I deferred my personal life for work life (including the whole marriage I was once in but am in no longer)... Or how many consecutive months worth of quota over-attainment...

The following quarter I’d still be asked about my pipeline and my forecast and my commit. In that order.

Then, if I may:

We live in a world where a triple minority making it home at day's end is cause for celebration, rendering the thought of spending my last day on Earth, whenever it will be, filling shoes that aren’t my own, in a space I minimized myself to occupy, sickening. 

#TLDR: Choose to show up each day entirely yourself while trusting you’ll attract the opportunities meant for you, no matter the cost.

We are mortal beings. Death is inevitable.

This is not a dress rehearsal. There are no do overs. 

So, if and/or when you find yourself with back against the wall, suffocating in professional spaces too simple to receive you, let it go like Elsa, take your talents to South Beach like Lebron, and refuse to surrender your soul.

Elsa. LeBron. Y’all get me.