Today’s guest is Kayci Baldwin. She went to Harvard for college, then started her own company, and now is a brand manager at Brooklyn Boulders. On today’s episode, she talks about some of her own experiences as a woman of color in the workplace. She also shares some advice for anyone who may be in a similar situation in their work.
Hot Seat Introduction: Three words that Kayci would use to describe herself are rebellious, intuitive, and resilient. If she had to choose, she would choose mountains over the beach or the city. If she could be any fictional character, she would Fallon Carrington. A book that changed her life - 168 Hours. The last concert she went to was a Shawn Mendes concert.
Key Takeaways:
[2:30] - Kayci has always been comfortable going with the flow; her journey has been a lot of unexpected opportunities that have turned into beautiful things in her life. Some of her first jobs were in start-ups, and her experiences in those jobs spurred her to start her own company, Six Things, that created a culture more geared toward women of color in the workplace. She now works as the marketing director of Brooklyn Boulders.
[5:05] - One of the benefits of making a career pivot from an entrepreneur to her current job was formal mentorship. At the same time, there were tough decisions to make navigating business and personal relationships. You don’t need to convince yourself that something is bad to walk away from it.
[8:40] - In the world of innovation and technology, the script wasn’t really written for women to be involved from the start. She talks about some of her frustrations, specifically not feeling seen or respected with some of her male co-workers.
[11:20] - For other women who may be feeling the same way, the biggest piece of advice is to find your tribe. Surround yourself with other ambitious women at other stages of life who can relate to your experiences and hold you accountable. Some important traits are humility, and a similar level of ambition.
[17:10] - She is now the marketing director at Brooklyn Boulders. They are getting ready to launch a new fitness modality, and she’s been heavily involved in the marketing plan, and building the brand.
[19:27] - Outside of work, Kayci has been trying to tap back into her creativity. Carving out specific time for this has really helped to ground her. For a young entrepreneur, finding work-life balance can be difficult. One thing she’s been doing is making her weekends really intentional by not focusing on work-related things.
[26:40] - Taking care of ourselves makes every other area of our lives better too.
[27:50] - Kayci talks about her own journey to finding authenticity. It’s easy to conform to different versions of ourselves, but that can be very exhausting. We tend to get the best responses on the content that was honest, even when it was scary to share or talk about.
[32:50] - One of the biggest things she learned in her 20’s, besides owning authenticity, is that people aren’t entitled to us, or our time or energy. It isn’t mean to say no; sometimes you have to take the time out for you.
[35:10] - Our time is so precious. Who are you going to surround yourself with — people who lift you up or people who cause you anxiety or don’t support you. You have to set yourself up for success in all of the ways that you crave it.
Mentioned in this Episode:
The SheFactor
168 Hours, Laura Vanderkam
six things
Brooklyn Boulders
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