10 Years Strong

Today is my 10^th work anniversary. I started working at the Bureau of Economic Analysis as an Economist on May 15, 2006. I have made significant amount of personal and professional progress in a decade. I worked there for 6 years. BEA has moved from DC to Maryland. I have moved on from BEA but since live in DC. When I walked back from seeing my officemates, I felt like it was survivor of the fittest because DC had undergone a lot of changes but I survived them. After 4 promotions in 9 years, a couple of discrimination complaints and fighting off eviction due to a new company wanting to raise the rent and push out poor people, I was still there!

Now I am at the beginning of the new 10-year phase. I am an entrepreneur who is on the cusp of releasing my first book entitled Expand Your Personal Brand. If the first 10 years here in DC is any indication, I am onto bigger and better things! These first 10 years were just the warm-up!

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What I have learned in 2015

2015 has offered me a whole lot of lessons, both good and bad. Here are my biggest lessons:

• The higher up I go, the more stealth my backup plan has to be.
• I am very good writer and will publish my new book next year.
• Overcoming my fear of failure has increased my opportunity. I have owned my own website and started my own online radio show.
• My being genuine has helped me personally and professionally in so many ways.
• That I’m now a senior-level professional who might have to rely on search firms now to aid me in my job search.
• I’ll have to entertain entrepreneurship because I think that I might have hit the ceiling on pay.
• I need to speak more instead of thinking that the data will speak for me. I admit that I am quite an analytical person but many people aren’t.
• After filing a customer complaint, release my emotions from the final result.
• I have been in DC for 9 years and have survived every situation. I most certainly will survive whatever happens next. 

Things Are Never What They Seem

             Speaking with my life coach has helped me clarify things. First, I’ll survive my current workplace Second, since I was promoted in August and that should be my FY13 annual rating, I should demand 2 5s and 2 4s. A promotion is the highest award you can receive so why not start there? My supervisor signed it so she can’t dispute it. End of story. Third, tread lightly on asking about the government shutdown. That might bring up a red flag. I ‘ll ask the contractor about this since she’s  worked during the government shutdown. That might bring up a red flag. I ‘ll ask her about since she’s a contractor who worked during the government shutdown. I’ll ask her about starting pay so that I don’t undercut myself. I want to start at $120,000. Also ask about work schedule and holidays off. Fourth, I will make my life coach proud next Thursday by executing on Wednesday’s interview. There’ll won’t be a letdown just to generate a story. This time will be different. The narrative is that I would’ve received two promotions in one year. It’s not the way I want but it’ll due. I will end 2013 on a high note. Remember, life is all about resiliency.

Honoring Dr. Maya Angelou and Commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King's Assassination

            Today commemorates the 45^th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray.  It is amazing how much racial progress has been made since 1968.  America has a black president, school desegregation, you can shop, live, eat and play anywhere you want.

            It is also Dr. Maya Angelou’s 85^th birthday.  She is a national treasure for her civil rights advocacy and poetry. Her grace and perseverance in the midst of overt segregation is honorable. She has survived and thrived and if I get to be 85, I would want to accomplish the same level of success.