Do

Your timeline is not behind. It's just yours. Nine years in and I'm still reminding myself of this. Tap ❤️ if this resonates and share with someone who needs to hear it.

I was going to write this weekend’s email about the concept of jealousy. I think it’s so easy for us to look at other people that we admire and aspire to be like and feel pains of jealousy for what they have accomplished while we are still striving to achieve. But instead of focusing on that dark emotion which is so normal and natural for all of us to feel at some point in our journeys towards our goals, I’d like to focus on the actions of doing.

Images: (L-R, Top, Bottom) Me with Toni Tipton-Martin, Kardea Brown, Robin McBride, Ben's Chili Bowl Owner Virginia Ali with her daughter-in-law and Nia Renée Hill on stage at Black Women in Food

Friday and Saturday were a whirlwind. On Friday, I went to DC for the Black Women in Food Summit, came back that night and attended Cherry Bombe Jubileethe next day. I’ve also been listening to Emma Grede’s book on tape Start With Yourself, which I highly recommend.

Over the last few days, I’ve been listening to a lot of powerful women entrepreneurs and women working in hospitality. In many cases they spoke about how they’ve managed their ascension in the industry and how they have survived in the process. Between the conferences and Emma’s book, my biggest takeaway has been that no matter what, just do.

Image: Prepared in collaboration with Cornell University, Nina Oduro shared the first of its kind industry report capturing data and experiences for Black Women in the food industry.

At the Black Women in Food Summit, co-founder Nina Oduro talked about how she and her co-founder Maame Boakye moved forward with their work creating a conference dedicated to Black women in food without anyone’s approval. The festival was conceived out of the intent to recognize Black women in the food industry. And, they have been doing that for the last several years. They have been acting without permission and doing the work of making space for Black women in food to shine. Their vision is what has guided them.

On Saturday at Cherry Bombe Jubilee, Jody Williams, a self-taught, James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur, said the same as she talked about the beloved restaurants she has co-founded with her partner Rita Sodi — focus on what matters, build the experiences you personally want to enjoy and don’t listen to the noise of other people’s opinions. Just keep going.

Image: Cherry Bombe CEO Kate Miller Spencer facilitates a conversation with Jody Williams and Rita Sodi in a breakout session at Cherry Bombe Jubilee.

Williams talked about how her restaurants weren’t always packed and didn’t always have waiting lists. She said it took a while for that to happen. As I listened to her speak, I wondered when our shops would always have lines out of the door. Maybe ice cream shops are different but I don’t feel like we’ve quite arrived in the same way. As I listened to these ladies talk, I felt a little jealous about what we have yet to accomplish as a food business. But I also know that we’ve only been at it for nine years. It sounds like a long time for some but in the scheme of things, it’s really not. Jody and Rita started their journeys in the early 10s and late 00s, respectively. I was consoled by their candor that it took time to get to where they have. I do know that good things take time.

So often we can feel jealous when somebody has accomplished something that we aspire to. And sometimes we feel jealousy over things we will eventually accomplish but have yet to happen.

The thing is, we’ll never accomplish whatever our hearts desire if we don’t do. We have to do in order to get to where we aspire. The gap between our desires and our hopeful outcome is action. We must do to get from point A to point B because the outcomes we desire will not come to us without the effort.

Images (L-R): Me with Jenny Nguyen, founder & CEO of The Sports Bra and my friend Bri who owns Toss't & Press't in Mount Vernon; Me with Kate from Kate's Ice Cream

I sometimes question why I don’t have some parts of our business dialed in the same ways as some of my peers. But as I shared with my ice cream friend Kate of Kate’s Ice Cream in Portland, my journey into entrepreneurship and being an ice cream lady specifically was not everyone else’s path. I started this journey with a full-time job and a primary focus of being able to parent my young children on my own working schedule. Now that those children are a bit older, I am moving into a new season where I am able to dive deeper into our business to shore up the areas that are underdeveloped. My accomplishments aren’t going to track with everyone else’s because my journey and life circumstances have been different. And I am ok with this though at times my eye wanders and I wonder why I have not arrived yet.

I’m leaving the weekend with the inspiration to just keep going and I hope that you share my commitment to doing…whatever it is you need to do. Do not look or be distracted by what others have done and do not feel overwhelmed by the feeling of jealousy because of what others have already accomplished. Lean into what you uniquely want to do and tap into your unique approach in doing it.

I’m heading into this week feeling reinvigorated by the fact that my vision and my actions will get me to where I want to be. My timeline may take longer than others but if I’m locked in on my vision and committed to action, I know I will arrive.

Petrushka

Your Local Ice Cream Lady/Business & Life Coach