Listener Spotlight: Ellice Patterson and Abilities Dance Boston

Now that we’ve been making Hello Monday for a while, listeners often write in with their own career stories. The truth is you don’t have to be famous, or a career expert, to have a story that can teach us all something.   

So, I’m going to start bringing you some of those stories. And, if you’ve got something to share, please write to us at [email protected]. Sharing our stories helps us all get smarter about the ways work is changing.

Ellice Patterson first wrote to me last spring, after our episode about Blue Delta Jeans. It was a clothing company from Tupelo, MS, the town where I spent the spring, and where Ellice was born. Now she lives in Boston, where she finished up a master's degree from Boston University's Questrom School of Business in 2017 and started something truly unique.  

Ellice's story tells us so much about resilience and self-reliance. She also offers lessons on how to build authentic digital--and physical--communities. And she's proof that embracing every aspect of your identity offers a path to success. She says that embracing her blackness, her disability, her womanhood, and more has made her a better dancer -- more elegantly connected to the movement that is uniquely hers.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. And once you've listened, please share your thoughts using the hashtag #HelloMonday.

From the archives:

If you want to catch the episode that Ellice enjoyed enough to write to me, you can find it here:

Your turn:

The Hello Monday team would like to feature more of your stories. Has your career journey taught you something invaluable that would be useful for listeners to understand? Have you made a mistake that made all the difference? Have you taken a chance that paid off? Write to us at [email protected]. Maybe we can feature you in a future listener spotlight.