Bevy

If you're building something and some days it feels like you're going backwards, this one's for you. Drop a comment, hit the ❤️, and ✈️ with someone in their own "worse before it gets better" season.

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of running into Bevy Smith on Lenox Avenue. I, like many, fell in love with Bevy when she hosted Fashion Queens on Bravo. She went on to write her book Bevelations, which turned into a SiriusXM podcast on Andy Cohen’s channel Radio Andy and now has her own podcast called “In Bed with Bevy,” where she talks to guests on the verge of a breakthrough in their careers. Recent guests have included Michelle Buteau, Joy Reid, and one of my favorite online financial educators, The Budgetnista aka Tiffany Aliche.

Over the years, I’ve seen Bevy out and about at professional functions in the neighborhood. I had no idea she was a Sugar Hill Creamery patron until our conversation last week, which made me giddy. She was familiar with the store and its flavors.

Image: Bevy and I at the store on Lenox Ave. What a bright light she is!

During our conversation, I learned more about her career transition as a media personality and entrepreneur. She describes herself as “an accidental entrepreneur,” just like my mom described herself after transitioning from a corporate media job into her own media boss. Bevy had a career working in magazines and then transitioned to television and radio at midlife. On her podcast, she talked about being broke for five years at the beginning of this transition, and that really sat with me.

She was established and decided to shoot for what she wanted next. The safety net wasn’t exactly there, so she endured some hardship in the process. Being broke in your 40s can be hard to navigate, but when the dream is bigger than your fears, you press on. Plus, she always says, “It gets greater later,” and I’d say things seem pretty great for her now. The sacrifice and stress of that time panned out.

Calling on Bevy’s season of uncertainty as she worked toward the next rung of her career ladder, I’m trying to remind myself that the stress I am feeling now in the business — where things feel like they’re getting worse before they get better — is also temporary. As we approach the 10-year mark next year, it’s hard not to regret certain decisions we made when we were first starting: store layout, organizational structure in the human resources department, and management of inventory are among some of my personal regrets.

Image: Screengrab from a video a friend sent me of Bevy and I chatting on the street. I didn’t know she was eating at Settepani and she happened to see us and made a video. 😆

Among them, I also have current obstacles to navigate: the person I made a leadership offer to ended up taking a position closer to their experience. My scoopers are feeling a little burned out because it’s been busy. Our production team has been working overtime to keep up with the demand, and we are constantly negotiating the woes of managing multiple physical spaces — fixing broken and deteriorating things is high on this list. Anytime I walk into a store and see something that needs attention, it gets added to my already overflowing list of things to do, which makes me feel overwhelmed because there is so much to do.

In all of this, I am also trying to have grace for myself. We have accomplished and endured a lot during this nine-year run. I told some of my scoopers last night about how in the early days I used to nap on our wood benches at the Lenox Ave store while Nick made ice cream from midnight into the early morning while I was pregnant with Nico; they were shocked. I think the fact that the store used to be the space for production from midnight to 7am every day and that I actually slept on the bench were the most shocking because the business they work in now doesn’t show signs of that kind of sacrifice.

We have absolutely made progress and what I am experiencing now is just more growing pains that I hope I can look back on in five years and marvel at how far we’ve come yet again. And, as Bevy always says, “It gets greater later.” I just need to push through this time because I’m counting on that.

Petrushka

Your Local Ice Cream Lady & Life/Business Coach