“Tales of a Fly Female Entrepreneur” Panel Event

By Kailei Richardson

This past Thursday Renae Bluitt from In Her Shoes Blog hosted “Facing Your Fears: Tales of a Fly Female Entrepreneur” in NYC. The event included a panel discussion with several “fly female entrepreneurs”: Karen Tappin-Saunderson (Karen’s Body Beautiful), Maya Lake (Boxing Kitten), Jodie Patterson (Georgia), Tracey Ferguson (Jones Magazine) and JaKissa Taylor (DJ Kiss). Let me just tell you how wonderful it was to be surrounded by so many intelligent, beautiful, successful women – not only on the panel but also attending the event. Looking around the room, everyone was engaged, attentively listening to what these “fly female entrepreneurs” had to say about starting their businesses, having a life outside the business, fighting their fears, and other challenges.

Though I took away many nuggets that will certainly be helpful to Keesha and me as we continue to grow our business, I was struck by the both the questions and the comments during the night. Here are a few insightful take-aways that I wanted to share:

Jodie Patterson said she goes out on date nights with her husband. She also “hibernates” with her family on the weekends where they try to “disconnect” from everything and get away for some quality and decompressing time.

Tracey Ferguson said that it’s important to have mentors, but mentors do not (and should not) have to be people who are like you. Some of her best mentors have been “blonde men” who shared their business principles and could give her helpful information for her business.

Some of the qualities the panelists said successful entrepreneurs should possess are: perseverance, tough skin, resilience, point of view, drive, life experience, passion, dedication, confidence and discipline were all mentioned.

Most panelists said that balance is virtually impossible to attain. You may have different priorities each day, but something is going to take precedence over the others at any given point. To strive for everything to have equal value all the time is unrealistic.

There are some questions asked at this event that we want to hear from you. Post a comment and let us know your thoughts:

Who is your career icon?

How do you keep balance in your life?

What qualities do you think successful entrepreneurs possess?

(Top middle image left to right: Karen Tappin-Saunderson, Maya Lake, Renae Bluitt, Tracey Ferguson, Jodie Patterson, JaKissa Taylor)
Some of the photos courtesy of In Her Shoes Blog

Check out the recap video here:

“Facing Your Fears: Tales of a Fly Female Entrepreneur” (Recap) from Renae Bluitt on Vimeo.