Goals. Drive. Adaptability. Passion. Follow through. To start your own business, especially if you are completely changing your career, you need to have a combination of all of the above qualities. Not only does Jamion Berry possess these qualities necessary for him to found the apparel start-up, Execumask, but as a multipreneur executing FIVE business pursuits amid a pandemic, he exemplifies each of these traits to the fullest.

 

Evident that these characteristics are innate to Jamion’s personality, his story of doing whatever it takes to achieve his professional goals begins 20+ years ago. Classmates with host Amy Rowland, he graduated from the small liberal arts school, Kenyon College, with a degree in chemistry. He’d also always aspired to be an engineer. So, Jamion opted to do a partnership program with Washington University St. Louis’s engineering department. He graduated with not one, but two—Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

 

With his degrees in hand hand, Jamion did not hesitate to push himself out of his comfort zones to achieve his professional goals. When given the opportunity to gain experience with capital and process improvement projects as a project manager for Kraft Foods, he moved from the Midwest to Florida. His vibrant personality and interest in finding ways to “continuously improve” enabled him to excel in this role, in which he was traveling to and making recommendations to increase efficacy at Kraft’s multiple southern plant locations. In line with making his dreams a reality, he networked with the right people to move up the corporate ladder as a continuous improvement lead engineer in Atlanta, a city where he’d always wanted to live. Jamion thrived finding ways to better Kraft products’ efficiency, procurement, and quality. He especially enjoyed that in this role, he was able to travel globally, adapting to solve international plants’ needs. 

 

His drive for learning was not just confined to improving business practices, as he decided to pursue an Executive MBA at Emory University in 2013. Likewise, so that he could pursue his MBA while working full time in his management/engineering role, he needed to adapt his already driven self to leverage unprecedented levels of determination and eagerness. Simultaneously, Jamion also bought a condo and became a landlord/property manager. Despite how demanding it was to be a full-time student, manager, and landlord, Jamion reflects on his time at business school as “one of the best decisions [he] ever made.” 

 

His commitment to personal growth paid off; shortly after graduating from Emory, Jamion received a call from McDonald’s to join its executive team, located in Chicago. Jamion had always aspired to live in Chicago, but was only willing to make the move if he could afford to live in the city. As McDonald's new Director of Continuous Improvement, Jamion saw himself as a change agent, building the improvement program “from the ground up.” Between training 1000+ employees and working in Germany, he reflects very positively on this career step. However, it was also at this time that Jamion realized that after 20 years in corporate America, he was ready to transition to a career that allowed him to be his authentic self. 

 

Driven to find a fulfilling career hallmarked by his happiness, Jamion left McDonald’s in February 2020-a month before the pandemic. Through reflecting upon “what [he] wanted to focus on… and create,” Jamion realized that he could adapt his interest in men’s fashion to fit a growing need in the apparel industry-luxury face masks to match custom pocket squares. With the encouragement of his peers and professional connections, as well as thorough research into the mask market, he founded Execumask. Where many Americans were deterred by the pandemic, he adapted to the situation, following through to become an entrepreneur. Execumask marked the beginning of Jamion’s success in pivoting from 20 years in the food production industry to his new saga as a multipreneur. 

 

Not one to settle, Jamion simultaneously pursued his dreams of owning/managing a luxury apartment building. Despite the obstacles in quitting his corporate job and applying for loans in a pandemic, he overcame the odds, opening his building in August 2020. From both not paying rent and garnering an income through his residential building, Jamion is investing in himself so that he can also accomplish his goals of being a public speaker. In mere months, his YouTube channel of motivational videos gained a large following, large enough that it caught the attention of a fellow Kenyon College graduate. She urged him to invest in himself by studying to become a life coach. Jamion is also in the preliminary stages of opening his own consulting firm.

 

Jamion’s story is one of allowing yourself to rise to the occasion to achieve your professional goals. Be inspired by how, for his entire life, Jamion radiated positivity needed to persevere through challenges. The only move that makes sense for Jamion so that he can manifest his happiness and career aspirations. Having the courage to pursue five of your entrepreneurial goals at once? You will be encouraged by Jamion’s resilience and energy in this episode to accomplish any (or all) of your ambitions.

 

A recurring theme in Jamion’s interview is “creating your own life.” This episode will motivate you to shape an idea or aspiration you have into reality.

 

Topics in this episode:

• Advice on transforming your interests and/or hobbies into a career
• The importance of both leveraging connections to support your business pursuits, as well as in being open to new ideas or opportunities those in your network suggest
• How to fully observe/analyze a problem to then create a marketable solution
• A keen sense on problem solving to accomplish every step in developing a start-up
• Why visualizing and writing your goals out is key to achieving them
• How a multipreneur compartmentalizes his very busy day
• Seeking out relationships and pursuits that are rooted in appreciation