If you’ve been following my journey “Taking a Leap of Faith” you know I recently relocated without having a job. I’ve basically been living off my savings and I’ve been here just a month. Just recently I was able to get 4 interviews. For one of the jobs I got hired, the other three are still pending and I’m waiting to move on to the next step. So here’s what I’ve learned so far about job hunting… Continue reading
Category Archives: Careers
Taking a Leap of Faith “Update”
So for those of you interested in my relocation progress I’ll say I’m about 75% there. Everything is in place at this moment I have the apartment, I have things boxed and packed up, and I have a moving truck reserved. The only thing left is getting through these next two weeks and actually getting to my destination.
Meet Writer and Natural Hair Rocker Precious Williams
Precious Williams UK writer and author of the book Precious (Color Blind U.S. version) shares with us how she became a writer and what inspired her to write her first book. Along with being a writer Precious rocks natural hair and shares with us her natural hair journey. 
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Gold-Digging 3.0 and Beyond
There was a feature in this month’s ESSENCE, with Taraji P.Henson on the cover, and did it get me thinking. I don’t know if any of you caught it but basically it was what ESSENCE call ”sponsoring” where a bright black woman will allow a man to sponsor her with riches, credit cards, trips abroad but no hoo-ha in exchange.
I am really obsessed with making my ideas work for my own merit and one thing I am very curious about is how this sponsoring works. I am trying to think if I was a bloke, what would I do and like? At the end of the day, I think this is an emotionally dangerous way to think.
I, out of many women, would love to clutch the heels of Christian Louboutin high heels in my hand, but I think I would walk with a better swagger if I knew I paid for them myself. There is nothing wrong with gifts, but if you are only going out with a bloke because he has money, that in itself is worrying.
What do you all think?
And for giggles, check out this video by Shades called ‘Tell Me’, considered the golddiggers anthem.
Go for Gold: My 4 Goals, 3 Aims and 1 Vision
My late father used to tell us to go for gold. I have been straying lately for that, after being hurt and depressed over the past few months, and even being in Kenya. No point crying over spillt milk, so I have decided to come clean to you, my Charcoalies and reveal what my goals are.
I would love to hear yours, or even just one or two so please feel free to join in the discussion. A lot of my future content on Charcoal Ink will be career-focused and feature my adventures of me trying to reach this goals.
4 Goals
1) Be financially independent by having £500,000 in savings by age 35: Currently, I have saved £10 for this goal. £2 in cash, £8 in a savings account. This means £499,990 to go!
Within this goal, I hope I can therefore have the financial means to support a child, if God wants to have one. Continue reading
No More Bets: How I am choosing & weeding out ideas for my future
Background: If you remember, I had an initial idea that I sought criticism for, which I received (thanks Charcoal reader Bianca!). Upon doing some further research on TechCrunch, I learned that comment annotation tools already exist with several capital-funded companies operating in this sphere.
I will not be pursuing this idea further. Why not? Because it is a crowded market place and I believe I need to focus on a better executed idea that users want and a product that will produce value. This is not me picking and mixing, but I think you need to dump ideas when you see that the possibility of growth and your ideas may not be worth the investment. If you asked me two years, I probably would have chased this idea down, despite the market-place being crowded and my idea not offering anything new. Continue reading
Why lack of following-up shows lack of focus
I have realised one of my biggest flaws is my lack of following-up. I can have an idea, such as the one I had for vp, and for example, call a PR for a story — then a few days later, completely forget that I did that and think, “Well, they won’t want to hear from me now so what is the point of following up?” I think this is a huge mistake, but it is one that I have and I need to fix, especially considering the goals I hope to achieve in my life, that I have mentioned here for example.
I think when you don’t follow up, it is essentially planting seeds but forgetting to check whether your plants have bloomed yet. I would love to hear from you about what your thoughts are, and how you overcome following up in your professional and personal life.
Below are two examples of when I followed up successfully and when I did not do it properly: Continue reading
Poll: What sector do you work in?
I’d love to know about what my readers do for a living. I think Charcoal will take more of a career-oriented slant in the coming weeks and months, with the same focus on media, hair, fashion and of course Beyonce! Lol jokes aside, like the Texan superstar, I am focused on my career but it has been hard thinking of how to position myself after the recent disappointments.
What are your jobs? Please fill out this poll and talk in detail in the comments section!
I am still studying for the journalism MA but my dreams are definitely in the first category: entrepreneurial.
What to do next?
Are you ever stuck on what to do?
I handed in my MA project in last term. One segment of it was creating my careers website/blog for people who want to work in entry level PR, which you can view here. I am so pleased and humbled to say that I got great feedback from some PR experts in the industry.
I am delighted.
Several wicked things have happened so far (which I kept under wraps until it was confirmed): Continue reading
