Powerful Conversations: Insights from leaders, coaches, and entrepreneurs on living a life that matters - How To Build Communities That Matter w/ SC Moatti, Darryl Grant & Anne Devereux-Mills

How To Build Communities That Matter w/ SC Moatti, Darryl Grant & Anne Devereux-Mills

01/10/20 • 58 min

Powerful Conversations: Insights from leaders, coaches, and entrepreneurs on living a life that matters

Having a supportive community full of inspirational people surrounding you can be the difference between success and failure. You can find your community online, through social networks, but it’s even better to find a group local to you to get that inspiration face-to-face. Today’s guests, SC Moatti, Darryl Grant, Anne Devereux-Mills, are all founding members of women’s communities who find great comfort and support within their groups. SC Moatti is a technology visionary, entrepreneur, and investor. She founded Mighty Capital, a tech company based in Silicon Valley, and Products That Count, one of the largest networks for product makers in the world. Her companies focus on creating products that people love. Darryl Grant was born and raised in Harlem, NYC, and has 20 siblings! Through his involvement in the Merrill Corporation, he founded Inspiring Connectivity, a community of C-level executive women based in San Francisco. Darryl takes his inspiration from his mother, Eloise Grant, who raised hundreds of children and mentored dozens of women, sometimes in the middle of the night. Anne Devereux-Mills is a driving force behind making change possible and showing women where to start. She’s the founder of Parlay House, a national affiliation of thousands of diverse and inspirational women. Anne praises collaboration over competition and believes that women are oftentimes guilty of rejecting other women. In this episode, we’re talking about the power of social communities, how these leaders have built their groups, what value they have, and how other members have received support from within. You can absolutely bring a group together and embrace the resulting empowerment, and each leader explains how they’ve cultivated that for themselves. We discuss what it’s like to nurture and advise young women, and transferring these skills to working with business executives across a diverse range of industries. Establishing relationships among your community is vital to creating a harmonious environment that promotes support and inclusivity, as well. Community relies on strong leadership and consistency in order to grow and develop trust. Everyone wants more community, the key is finding people that actually inspire you. Do you have a community of powerful women who support you? How have you embraced all the ups and downs that life has given you? When is the last time you met up with a local person who inspires you? In This Episode: How to reframe what’s important in your life after everything changes How you can bring a group of diverse women together to embrace empowerment What it’s like being an advisor to young women Why you need to build and nurture relationships across the board How you can build a network full of support and trust Why you need to run events on a consistent schedule in order to build community Why you need to embrace both the highs and lows that come on your journeys Why it’s more important to meet the people that inspire you, rather than the people who just bolster your numbers Quotes: “There’s so much judgment in this world. So many times that women reject other women, either because they’re competitive with them or they don’t feel they’re right for a job, that I didn’t want to cultivate a place of rejection or encourage a choice to be included.” (8:24) “I think so many of us that are successful want to present ourselves as perfect, whether it’s on social media, or in our work lives, or to our families and not wanting to show that there are struggles. And the fact that we can create these environments where people who you might view as role models are saying ‘here’s what was really going on behind the scenes’... it makes everyone not feel alone when they have their own struggles.” (11:53) “Find your tribe, surround yourself with great people, focus on one thing that matters, and find others that want to be part that with you.” (35:55) “Sometimes trying and failing is more insightful than trying and succeeding.” (42:23) “Continue to be ambitious in your dreams and reshape that image in the mirror. Always evolve. Anchor yourself in what you want to be and continue to reach for that. No matter what the people around you say.” (55:24) Links Find Anne Devereaux-Mills on | Find Parlay House | | | Find SC Moatti on | | Find Mighty Captial | | | Find Products That Count | | | Find Darryl Grant on Find Toppan Merrill | Follow Monica on | | |

Previous Episode

Leslie Schrock on Bumpin

If you want to write a book, the best advice out there is that you really need to like writing because the whole process is time-consuming and, to be perfectly honest, kind of hard! My guest, , joins me to talk about the process she went through writing Bumpin’ while she was pregnant and some of the best parts of her book. Leslie is an entrepreneur who works with start-ups, co-founded her own selling sustainable protein made from crickets, and is a member of an advisory board. She’s a published author with her book Bumpin’ which is a modern woman’s guide to pregnancy. Leslie has had some tumultuous pregnancies and when she was finally pregnant with her first son, she knew she had to document these experiences for other women to talk about the new normals. Leslie was 36 when she was pregnant with her first child, and one day her doctors told her they were going to induce her. She didn’t agree with this advice, sought out a doula, and is a firm believer that you need to become your own medical and birth advocate. Only you know your body the best! Bringing your partner into your pregnancy is also something healthy for your relationship and family that you should make sure you’re doing. Leslie shares the best ways she’s found to integrate your partner into this new life, because, let’s face it, both of your lives are going to change when the baby is born. Leslie also explains how you can talk to your employer about what your needs are when you’re pregnant and what expectations you’ll have on your return to work. Childcare is also something you need to consider, maybe even from before you get pregnant. Leslie believes that we should all be campaigning for government-funded childcare, similar to an initiative started in France. When you’re a new parent returning to work, you might find that you become better and more productive at your job. Leslie says this is because of your priorities change, so obviously you’ll want to spend as much time as possible with your child. For Leslie, having a doula is the best thing she did during her pregnancy. This is a person who advocates for you throughout your pregnancy and birth, and even after you’ve had your baby. Having a doula also made Leslie more comfortable asking for help. She encourages all women to start asking for help - we’re all better when we work together. Have you thought about writing a book? How can you integrate your partner into your pregnancy? Do you feel confident asking for help? In This Episode: What the process of writing a book is Why you need to be your own medical and birth advocate How you can integrate your partner into your pregnancy and how your life is going to change How you can communicate with your employer what you need when you’re pregnant and when you return after maternity leave Why we need to champion for government-funded childcare How becoming a parent can make you better at your job What the benefit of a doula is in pregnancy and childbirth Why we should become more comfortable asking for help Quotes: “I think until we as women and families really demand the system change, it’s not going to. We have to go into appointments asking questions.” (23:16) “Your partner is not a mind reader, you’ve got to sometimes just tell them what you need.” (32:06) “If you want to talk about the parts of the book I didn’t enjoy writing as much, it’s definitely the financial planning and insurance stuff because it’s kind of the last thing you want to think about. But in some ways, it’s the most important because it is what dictates whether or not having a family is a net positive or net negative for you emotionally as a parent..” (40:05) Links Find Leslie Schrock on | | | | Find Powerful Conversations on | | |