Hello Folks!

It’s time for another month in Review and while I did share my 6 month assessment last episode, this episode I’m sharing a few feelings around what went down this month.

During this episode I talk about:

How prioritizing effectively leads to saving more time & energy

How the Elegant Excellence Journal was an amazing resource for accomplishing my main goals for the first 6 months of the year

My frustration around being considered an Anti-Racism resource on several lists!

My thoughts on the sudden swell of white followers… keeping it brief.

My lessons from one of the biggest shoots of my career to date.

Enjoy this episode!

Much Love,

P.S. I’m taking a break for the month of July and New Episodes will begin in August! July will be a podcast rewind where I’m sharing some of my favorites!

Catch you in the Fall!

Much Love,

Tamera

Hey Hey.

It’s time for a new episode of Real Talk with Tamera and I’m covering a few topics.

If you’ve lost track of time it is Tuesday, 16th… My initial post was going to be how to rest + recharge during times of chaos, but that wouldn’t have been honest + genuine. To be honest, I’m exhausted mentally and emotionally.

I’ve been finding ways to find peace + happiness and work has been one way to find a sense of joy and control. Work is certainly a coping mechanism and so my work output will certainly look different than most LOL.

Instead, I wanted to take this episode to share how I’m feeling, along with the importance of establishing boundaries and the power of pressing forward.

Also, while shit is crazy, we are still at the 6 month mark. This is a great time to assess what is working and not working in your business + personal life and I have some lessons to share.

Once you’ve listened, I’d love to hear your thoughts or share what you’re proud these past 6 months. It can still be our year!

What is authentic? Authentic is certainly a buzz word nowadays. While it can certainly be thrown around, today I’m having an open + honest conversation with Lauren McPhillips, the founder of This Renegade Love who has built a following of over 39,000 on Instagram. She’s been able to build this audience organically, being herself while dishing out open + honest opinions & stories of vulnerability.

During this conversation we covered how to just not give a *beep*, how being vulnerable & showing our failures is just as important as sharing your wins when building your community and what happens when we get some not so nice or unsolicited feedback or opinions from the peanut gallery.

This is certainly a conversation worth having and I’m so happy to have it with Lauren. Before getting more into this episode, here is more about Lauren:

Lauren McPhillips is the founder of This Renegade Love, serving up positive, purpose-driven content that teaches women to ‘influence with intention’. With a career background in magazine editorial and travel PR, Lauren has since spent the past five years growing a loyal following on This Renegade Love L through her no-BS approach to the influencer industry, and has worked with brands like Google, Indigo, Air Transat and Wealthsimple to share authentic, original content with her online community. In 2018, Lauren moved from online to offline to launch The Renegade Sessions, a series of intimate workshops for female entrepreneurs and did a TEDxTalk on 'The Power of Personal Storytelling', highlighting the ways in which we can use our voices and stories to bring people together and impact change. This year brings an exciting new direction for This Renegade Love as Lauren is set to launch consulting programs for both influencers and brands on how to navigate the industry with more intention and authenticity.

Without further adieu, let’s get into this episode!

Whew. What a week in Black America. What this week and really any week reminds me of a quote from Will Smith “Racism never went away, it’s simply being recorded.”

The reality is as a nation cannot move forward we cannot truly heal until racist systems + white supremacy is dismantled.

Today is a special episode with Monique Melton, a friend and amazing woman who is an anti-racism educator…..

We discussed so many things within this 60 minute episode. Topics touched included the practice of anti-racism, the assumptions around participating in this work, how anti-blackness materializes in our own communities, self care + what that looks like and how white women can begin using their privilege to begin dismantling oppressive systems especially in the digital space.

Here is a little bit more about Monique

Monique Melton is an anti-racism educator, published author, international speaker, and host of the Shine Brighter Together podcast. She is also the founder of Shine Brighter Together, which is a community dedicated to healthy relationships & diverse unity.

She travels the world speaking at conferences and events on topics related to anti-racism, personal growth, diversity, and relationships. She’s been published in magazines, featured in blogs and podcasts, and has touched the lives of people all over the world.

She is a natural big-bold dreamer and a deeply rooted woman of faith.

She is a proud Navy wife to her high-school sweetheart, and she is a loving mother to two little ones.

She has a BA in social science with an emphasis in sociology & psychology and two years of graduate school education in Clinical Counseling from Johns Hopkins University.

She believes it's not all about your comfort, but it's about your growth.

I hope this episode brings about healing, awareness + change within all who hear it.

Let’s get into this episode.

I am back for another Month in Review, chatting about May… Is it just me or are the months just blending together? Like how are we already in June, almost 6 months into the year of our Lord 2020?

While time definitely feels somewhat disjointed, I think we can all agree that time is still moving and is waiting for no one.

This time, while completely jarring + unwelcome, has been a rather unexpected blessing.

I’ve seen more Black people launch businesses, reclaim autonomy, pivot, collaborate and change the game so much, you’d be really hard pressed not to be inspired yourself and make some changes in your own life. Black people are amazing and I’m happy to be alive at a time to see all of the amazing developments + strides we are making in our culture.

With that being said, if you’re not using this time…to dismantle personal negative beliefs, to launch something placed on your heart, to reconnect to yourself, to let old habits die… I’m going to ask you a question… what is at risk for you if you stay the same?

Could you live with how your life will look a year from now, doing the same shit you’re doing today?

During this episode I discuss

why you should stop blaming & using your loved ones for not sharing in your vision as an excuse to not pursue your own dreams + desires

how you can begin curating your own environment to work for your needs

how I quick lesson in disobedience caused me to actually pivot & do what God called me to do when I launched my membership for Product Photographers.

Take a listen and let me know your thoughts!

Books Mentioned During the Episode?

It’s About Damn Time by Arlan Hamilton

You Are A Badass + You Are A Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero

Girl, Stop Apologizing + Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Hello & Welcome to another Real Talk with Tamera episode! This one is really special, not to say any previous or following are not, but this was my first time hosting a live recording of the real talk with Tamera episode!

This was a really great way to connect with listeners but also celebrate 6 months of the podcast, which is hard to believe it’s already been 6 months, but here we are.

My guest for this special episode was my friend and fellow boss in charge, Sakita Holley. Sakita is an award winning publicist + the Founder/CEO of House of Success PR, an award winning firm that launched 9 years ago.

The topic was increasing your visibility and how to thrive + build resilience in an unpredictable environment and this is totally something me + Sakita are pretty familiar with.

Here is a little bit more about Sakita…

Sakita Holley is an award winning publicist and the Founder/CEO of House of Success PR.

The nine year old firm has worked with a wide array of clients that include Luster's Pink, African Pride, Lottabody, KinkyCurlyYaki, Harlem Arts Festival, Heat Free Hair and more.

In addition to her PR work, she also hosts a popular business podcast called Hashtags and Stilettos, which is designed to help millennial women win at work, in business and everywhere in between. Sakita has been featured by Essence Magazine, Black Enterprise, Women's Biz Journals, xoNecole and more for her PR and business expertise.

In 2017, Sakita was named as one of PRWeek's 40 Under 40 honorees and she is a proud graduate of Howard University. You can find and follow her on social media @MissSuccess

What’s really special is we’ve seen each other grow up and build our businesses since the beginning. We graduated a year a part from Howard University and we’ve been in the thick of building our businesses, dismantling our own limiting beliefs and growing together.

We talked for about 90 minutes, but I edited it down to about 70 or so and honestly, we could have gone longer.

We covered how it was in the very beginning, how done is better than perfect, why it’s important to give someone their flowers, while they’re still here, the importance of networking laterally, actually building with people you like, some relationship advice and so so so much more.

So grab your favorite drink or cocktail and settle in for what was an amazing conversation. So without further adieu, let’s get into this conversation.

P.S. Towards the end of the conversation, a listener asked for our book recommendations for entrepreneurship and here they are!

Sakita’s Picks

The 50th Law by 50 Cent & Robert Greene

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

The Dip by Seth Godin

Tamera’s Picks

The One Thing by Gary Keller

You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero

My So Called Freelance Life by Michelle Goodman

New Favorite The Dip by Seth Godin

New Favorite Building a Brand Story (one of my favorites to date!)

Knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em… We don’t like saying no, we’d don’t like to disappointment, but there is power in knowing when to say no.

You can save yourself time, money & peace of mind when you decide to say no to the right things.

I was inspired to talk more about this topic, when I saw a post from Myleik that said: Every time I deny my first mind, I pay for it. Every time I say YES, when my answer is NO, I pay for it.”

I’ve learned, you can pay for it financially, mentally, physically or all of the above. Saying yes when you should have said no, can certainly be a teaching moment. I know the first client I ever had, was certainly a teaching moment.

The thing with business, you’ll constantly be faced with the decisions to say yes or no. It doesn’t end once you’ve unlocked a new level in business. The decision making never really ends.

Especially now more than ever, understanding what to say no to so you can say hell yes to the projects that will really make you soar is so important. But first, let’s quickly talk about why you should learn how to say no.

During this short episode I share:

The importance of saying no to the right things

What to consider when saying No

What to consider when you decide to negotiate

Advice on how to terminate an existing project (because it can happen in business!)

Happy end of the month cool cats + kittens! It’s another end of month review and I have a lot on my chest. For most of us or depending on where you live in this country, it is Month 2 of lockdown or stay-at-home order.

Many of our way of lives have been upended. Many of us are working on surviving. While big corporations continue to be bailed out. This isn’t a commentary on how much of a hot mess this country is because let’s be honest, this country was built on the backs of the marginalized and continues to be built on the backs of those who continue to be oppressed. This country will never be able to right their wrongs until they do right but us…but I digress.

During this episode I’m sharing what’s been going down including:

A real business takeaway surrounding the Babyface + Teddy Riley #Verzuz Music Battle

The importance of showing up during times of adversity

What’s really been holding me back from building a viable 2nd stream of income (I finally found the issue and it even surprised me)

One exercise for evaluating limiting beliefs you can try today.

Grab your beverage of choice and enjoy!

What’s going on boos & welcome to another episode of the Real Talk with Tamera podcast. Today is fun because I’m chatting with fellow Howard alum and #TheSEOQUEEN Charlene McCraney. You may recall Charlene is also the creator & author of hair care blog Textured Talk and today we’re talking all about SEO.

SEO or search engine optimization is definitely something that can incite excitement or complete anxiety for business owners such as myself and bloggers alike. This was really great because Charlene did a really amazing job simplifying SEO and how to begin using SEO now to drum up more traffic to your website which means more leads and why it’s so important now more than ever to improve our SEO skills. Before we get into this packed episode here is a little bit more about Charlene.

Charlene McCraney is a blogging coach and SEO strategist that teaches bloggers how to grow online and beyond social media, so they can turn their blog into a business and stress less over likes and followers. In her 5 plus years of blogging, she has been able to generate consistent high traffic to her website creating passive income and monetizing through a variety of mediums.

Charlene is passionate about showing bloggers and content creators they have value beyond a follower count. After developing a very unhealthy relationship with Instagram, Charlene shifted her focus to a platform she actually owned which brought her even more joy and success - her blog. As a result, Charlene helps other bloggers and content creators through her signature Blog Like A Pro! VIP Day where she teaches her four-part proven SEO system to blog strategically for growth in order to drive traffic and turn your blog into a business.

Charlene also created her free #BlogGoals challenge that helps bloggers with showing up consistently with blog content for 30 days and teaches newbie bloggers how to build and launch a blog from scratch in 90 days through her online course Ready. Set. Blog!

When she’s not blogging you can find her working out or binge-watching TV shows with her husband on the couch.

Without further adieu, let’s get into this episode! Be ready to take notes!!!

Hey Folks! This is a quick listening episode where I’m sharing 4 thoughts to consider when hiring a photographer for your project. You may be surprised, but one is not price.

During this episode I’m sharing:

4 thoughts to consider when hiring or outsourcing content creation

The 2 categories my clientele fall into

Why what the photographer’s work personality matters in the success of a project

Enjoy!