You can still WIN ... EVEN IF you feel like you're starting from behind

To all the underdogs out there, you can still WIN even if you started from behind.

During the summer I got a text from my colleague Margie Scott about our law school student loans being discharged (not forgiven...there's a difference).

$280,000+ of debt I held would be wiped clean.

I cried like a baby in the hallways of the conference hotel I was in. The hotel staff brought me water and Kleenex lol.

It was a joyous moment.

If this your first interaction with me, I'd love to share a little insight into my background.

Like many folks, I experienced a lot of trauma earlier in my life that almost destroyed me.

Due to PTSD, all the memories I swallowed and suppressed from my childhood came back like a rip tide threatening to pull me completely under during undergrad.

I pretended like I was okay, but I wasn't.

I stayed in a pit of depression for 5 years from the age of 20-25.

Those years were hard and seemed never ending. I was placed on academic probation and took 9 months off from school in 200-2009.

The warning letter was the wake up call I needed from the Registrar at NC State.

I couldn't pretend.

During my time away I developed a relationship with Christ. I sought therapy.

Those six little sessions with my therapist in February 2010 where the keys to unlock the chains I had found myself in.

I returned to school with a renewed mindset and focus.

After 7 years, I graduated with my bachelors degree with a 2.2 GPA from North Carolina State University.

I was embarrassed that it took me 7 years to do one thing while my friends had gone on to merit multiple degrees.

Thankfully, today that's the degree I hold which I'm most proud of.

But at the time, I felt stupid because I always measured my worth by numbers.

Those numbers felt like a mirror of how good or bad I was. How worthy I was of happiness and experiences and joy.

Confidence in my intellect seem to dwindle to obscurity.

With therapy and continual personal work, I slowly began to change my mindset to adopt a more elevated view and version of myself.?

So when I got into the Charlotte School of Law I was incredibly happy that an institution would take a chance on me.?

That's honestly all anyone ever wants when they've experienced life's valley.

My school made promises as an institution that they could not fulfill which left many defrauded students holding unrealistic expectations for what a career in law would hold.?

I saw a black woman trademark attorney that worked at 可口可乐公司 give her presentation a patent drafting class I took with the Patent Institute of Training (now the Patent Pipeline Program)? led by the incredible Braxton K. Davis, JD, CPP .

When I saw her I had that moment.

To see your dreams personified was indelible.

Through her I saw myself and knew that I wanted to practice trademark and copyright law.

I wanted to fight for the little guys on the rise. The underdogs of the business world.

I continued school and ultimately graduated with this big cloud of doubt and debt over my head.?

After passing the bar, I was able to find a brief gig at a local law firm where I worked at for three months for FREE while 5/6 months pregnant.

The attorney would curse me and the other staff members out almost daily. The yelling and comments of relegation were par for the course.

I didn't leave because I felt like it was the best that I could do and I had to work with the hand I had been dealt.?

I served as his legal secretary. I organized files, I swept the floor, I wiped the counters, and I did research to help benefit his firm in terms of systems and process and workflows.???

He shot down all of my ideas when presented. (I now realize those ideas were never intended for him in the first place but for me.)??

In this valley, I discovered how he ran his firm, how he got clients, how he treated his staff, and how he branded himself. He never taught me trademark law but I did learn BUSINESS.

That was the gift he gave me and for that I am forever grateful.

The gift of doubt is a great motivator for underdogs.

While on maternity leave, I had my son. My beautiful boy. I remember how his birth gifted me a level of confidence I didn't know I had.

I never realized my own strength and remember telling my husband Tyrone Davis, MBA , "If I can do that...I can do anything."

When my baby was 10 days old the managing attorney called me and fired me saying “I should focus on healing my body and get over my pregnancy brain.”

His words were like a punch in the gut.

The best thing I had ever done in life he was attempting to curse.

I sheepishly hung up the phone with him and thanked him for the opportunity.

Afterwards, I found myself working temp jobs for a little is $18 an hour while applying for over 100 jobs at law firm all over North Carolina.

Rejection letter after rejection letter. It all resulted in even more heartbreak because nobody would hire me due to my school’s reputation.

I honestly never wanted to be an entrepreneur.

I just didn’t think I could do it.?

But sometimes God has to dry up the brook so you can go to the well.?

My Pastor Gary Lamont Bellinger gave me a prophetic word in December 2016 from God. It was like God opened his mouth and words fell out.

He said, "The Lord says MAKE HASTE. Open your law firm as fast as you can. He will send you clients from ALL over the country and the world... people will want to BUY your law firm."

I was scared.

I was unprepared.

But I was crazy enough to start.

I'm always a good investment I figured... so in July 2017, I started The Creator's Law Firm out of my bedroom closet with $300.

5 days after launching I got a call from a producer at VH1 to appear on a show called Black Ink Crew as they need a lawyer to advise a reality star on her ownership interest in a tattoo shop.

They were my first client.

Then more clients came.

With each new client believing in me...my skills increased.

I read as much as I could about trademark law, devouring statutes and online forums. I learned about processes and about business. I imperfectly implemented and executed.?

From very humble beginnings, my company, The Creator's Law Firm have grown to serve hundreds of Black businesses and female founders, have filed over 1000 trademarks, have a 98.5% success rate with registrations, named by Law Firm 500 as the 11th fast growing law firm in the US in 2021, and made an incredible impact in the lives and legacies of our clients.

But the most important statistic of all is that I am 100% proud of myself and the woman I am today.

I hope my story encourages you if you feel like you're the underdog.

You can still WIN even if you feel like you're starting from behind.