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Own It | Three Secrets to Living an Empowered Life Ep 15

Iva 0:49

Today we are here with Dr. Dionne Greaves. And he is going to be sharing three secrets to living an empowered life and we can't wait to know what those secrets are. So Dr. Dion, thank you for being here and welcome, your podcast.

 

Dionne 1:20

Thank you for having me. It's a privilege to share this platform with you both

 

Desiree 1:24

So you are a Global Empowerment Speaker and a mompreneur, a coach and a mentor and you're really known for your innate ability to empower all women through entrepreneurship. You specialize in helping aspiring mompreneurs transform their own passions into a thriving businesses. That sounds absolutely amazing. You are the creative founder and CEO of the Mompreneur CEO, which is really the flagship for your business pursuits. So, it's so great to have you and why don't you start by telling us more about these business pursuits and how you got to where you are today.

 

Dionne 2:08

So I am the Mompreneur CEO. So I go by that title, people know me as that. And I would have launched my business back in 2020 right in the middle of the pandemic. When my son was just about two, and really, actually I knew I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. From the time I was 12. I mean, what people call a school we call it Secondary School here in Barbados. So if you're wondering that you're hearing a different type of accent I’m from the beautiful, breathtaking island of Barbados

 

Iva 2:37

And I can vouch that it's absolutely stunning. 

 

Desiree 2:42

Yes, even I may have already self-invited ourselves over

 

Dionne 2:49

It is the gem of the Caribbean, beautiful, beautiful, and so from a young age, I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I didn't quite know that's what it was called. Because entrepreneurship was not something that was talked about from you know, where I came from. I grew up in a background of very low-income type of community where lots of women were having children from multiple guys and just not working but dependent on men for support. And the few who did work they actually had very basic, menial jobs. And so growing up I see that no, it wasn't part of my household culture, but growing up and seeing that around me something that I did not want it was a pattern that I personally did not want to subscribe to. And so, I always knew that I wanted to do something different. I didn't just want fall into that category. So when I started high school, I always thought about what could I do that will make a difference? What could I do that will change your world? What could I do that would allow me to do something that I'm passionate about? Because I wasn't necessarily passionate about buying into the idea of having a job or working for someone. So I wanted to find that thing. So I remember having a dream to be a paediatrician because I love kids, and I said no, I could work for myself and do something that I love. And somehow it never worked because I wasn't great at science. So it never worked out. And I had enough plans. So I tried different things as it was when I left school at 16 I literally went into teaching preschool. So I started to work at 16 teaching preschool. I would have then had my own private babysitting service. I would have had a full business. I did an administrative return business. So over the years, I would have tried my hand at different types of businesses trying to find the right fit. So yes, I did have jobs along the way, but I always it never felt like the right fit. I always felt restless, like I was made for more. So in 2019 it was a pivotal point for me because this was a year after my son was born. And as a matter of fact, him being born I think that was a trigger. That was a trigger for me. I didn't want to return to work. And so, I had the heart wrenching decision to make to put him into day-care and go back out to work because with work, they were telling me that I couldn't have time off with him, because I didn't naturally birth my son. He's my son by way of adoption, but I had him from two days old. And so I felt like I had to choose and 

 

Desiree 5:42

Wait, wait so they do have time off?

 

Dionne 5:51

They didn't give me the time. But here's where the mom in me came out but suffice to say because I stood up for what I believe in relation to my son. A year later, the maternity leave policy was changed to include mothers by way of adoption, mothers by way of fostering, mother's baby or surrogacy and they also added a paternity leave policy for men as well. So, because I stood up for myself, what I believe, the company's policy was changed right across the globe. And so, I am honored to have initiated that thought process for [inaudible].

 

Iva 6:29

That is and I can see from this story alone, that you have shared with us and it's so I mean, thank you for that because we need to hear more stories like this right. About how empowered you felt in making a call for what you thought and believed as well in your heart of hearts to be true. And you stood by it, no matter what the consequences were going to be. But that was just shows that the courage that it takes, right when you are facing the odds, people, you know, the ‘oh, it's politics, is this has never been done’, you know, whatever it might be, and just standing your ground and saying, ‘No, this is my conviction. You know, this is my heart speaking to me. And this is what I know to be true and saying no matter what I'm going to be with my son’.

 

Dionne 7:23

As sometimes you have to be the first to stand up for what you believe in, right? So just to go back to the whole story about maybe becoming an entrepreneur, so there was never an entrepreneur, my family before. And so it was always the thought of you know, where are you gonna get the money from? You didn't learn anything about business. I had all the naysayers telling me I couldn't do this. And so now that I look back from where I'm at today, the same people who were giving me all of the stress, the same people who were asking me all of these questions, same people who were questioning my qualifications and such are now rooting for me because I pushed my way through and they're seeing the fruits of my labor. Because people ask all the time, how did you do it? I mean, you're from Barbados. I've never even heard about Barbados before. How did you do it? How did you create a global presence? How did you create a global brand? But I knew that I was called to serve more. So in 2019, I launched one business before this one and it was a vision board company, where I used to do vision board parties and show people how to tap into their visions, how to create the actionable steps and make them a reality. And so, in 2020, after that stopped because it was a partnership with some friends of mine, but they weren't pulling their weight. So I kind of dropped off and decided, you know, what, I was done with business. This guy approached me, he, you know, come to pitch me a coaching program. I recognized that I pretty much was called to be a coach. So this is how I discovered the ability and a gift of coaching. And he's said to me, remember he said to me, you know, you are teaching people all of these things for free. You can actually get paid for this and then they get paid for it. Because I have the gift of taking anything you give me and turning it into a business. I could give you a business idea and it will work. I can scale your business with a new strategy and it gets off, right and he was like you're doing this for free. But you can actually get paid for this. So this is how I got introduced to the world of fortune 2020 And it was scary when I started trust me. Because I had no clue what to do. I felt like they needed to be qualified by some way in order to be considered a coach. But I tapped into my own knowledge, my own skills, my own expertise because I had a wealth of experience working in different jobs. I had a wealth of experience by launching different businesses. And so, I tapped into that, monetized it and I took off running so my heart of hearts is to help moms, especially corporate moms, transition from the corporate space into full time entrepreneurship, or if they so desire to be able to balance both because as moms, we have so many dreams we have so many aspirations and we put them on the back burner. Yes, because we become moms. We're not only moms to our children, but our husbands, our spouses, our you know, everybody taps into our unique genius. And so we have to prioritize ourselves. I recognize that whatever it is that sets our soul on fire, we've got to pursue it passionately. And so that is my dream to ignite that fire within these women. And to show them Hey, it is possible, not because I've read a book and saw that it is possible but because I'm living that life. So I'm living the life of a corporate mom, I work. I live the life as an entrepreneur. I'm a pastor's wife, and they also call a pastor in his ministry, and I travel the world speaking and empowering lives across the globe. So I'm here to tell every mom here tonight. It is possible, that dream that you had when you were a child, that dream that you had 10 years ago, it is still possible today, is very, very doable. You don't have to do it according to my plan. You don't have to do it according to anybody else's plan, as you find the groove that works for you. It is possible.

 

Iva 11:23

I mean I love this story.

 

Desiree 11:25

I love that. I mean you are the true example of you know, living your truth. You are an entrepreneur at heart. We can feel it, we can hear it and bless you for you now giving this gift to other moms who really for whom it may not come so naturally and they can look up to and be guided by you Who are you are truly an empowered woman. How do you then identify these women who you feel need to be led to this light of empowerment and to live their truth as well?

 

Dionne 12:05

To be honest, I would have to say that the women identify me right? I am at the point and it happened really quickly. I just was showing up as my authentic self, showing up as that woman you know, unleashing that truth, that power, the inner confidence that I had that I just didn't recognize was there. So as I did that, it just kind of attracted those people to me. So I don't go looking for people. They just gravitate towards me based on hallway shopping, the layout space, and one of the things even coming out of this retreat. I'm hearing the word life changing every time people come to me to talk about it being life changing, transformative, empowering, those are the repeated words that I use every single time so to be honest with you, I don't have to look anymore is like there's something about me that draws them and the more that I live my life and be authentic and transparent about it the more people are being drawn into me like I've never I never expected even with this retreat, to have so many people in my inbox already asking about 2023. It was just crazy.

 

Iva 13:26

So what would you say are, you know, those secrets or, you know, advice that you would have for anyone that's saying, You know, I resonate with feeling empowered and leading an empowered life. But am I doing it right? Or where could I even start if that's really my North Star and aspiration of how would that look like for me? What can you say to someone that has, you know, that that sort of questioning inside of them at this moment, and saying like, Oh yes, empowered, I want to feel empowered. I want an empowered life and empowered life, but how do I make that happen? Like what are the secrets to make that a reality for me?

 

Dionne 14:13

Great question. And this is how I started my journey. So many times we aren’t this empowered, because we entertain a lot of negative self-talk. We entertain a lot of negative perceptions about ourselves. So it starts with changing that narrative, and how they change that narrative. By first discovering who you are. So I started a journey of self-discovery, where I literally went and dug up the good, the bad and the ugly and then embraced it- all the things that were good, I kept I made better. The things that were bad I changed to good and the things that were ugly, I learned to either live with them or discard them. There were things about myself that I thought were ugly that I didn't like, for instance, my weight, and that has always been a point of contention. People would always cut back on that. And so I started to love every inch of myself. There was a point where I could not even look at myself in the mirror. So I made it a daily habit of standing in front of the mirror and looking at myself and say You're beautiful. I love your eyes. I love your face. I love your lips. I love your tummy every part of my body I started to show love on I started to pour gratitude into it. Let me tell you something that was a game-changer because it allowed me to embrace myself in its entirety. So whether somebody needs

 

Desiree 15:44

To fall in love with ourselves, right we need to fall in love with ourselves

 

Dionne 15:48

And to fall in love with yourself, you first got to discover who you are. So there are things about yourself that you're not going to need. That's the reality. There are things about yourself, you may not even like but you've got to embrace it all. And that's what I did. I discovered it and then embraced it all. The second thing that I did, and that is what allowed me to show up authentically is that the second thing that I did, I was very intentional about changing my narrative. What is a narrative? You would have had a story that life would have given to you based on your circumstance, based on your economic situation, perhaps based on your social situation. But you've got to change that narrative if it does not align with who you want to be. And so, I made a conscious decision to change my story to rewrite my story. Not saying that I throw out the things that happened to me or anything like that. But I embraced it all and decided to reframe that narrative about my life. And so that, for me was a huge, huge game-changer for me, right? It allowed me to paint a narrative that I wanted. So when people use something against me as negative, I take it  and I use it as leverage. So yes, I was raped. Yes, I was in a domestic violence situation. However, instead of wallowing in the pain or pity party, I took that I leverage and said, Hey, I overcame this. I overcame that. And so I use it as a stepping stone to build my own path towards the journey that God had for me. And so that for me was truly, truly empowering. And the other thing is, we spend 100% of time with ourselves. What are we telling ourselves, how are we speaking to ourselves? We have no power over what people will say to us, but we have power over what we tell ourselves. And so I was very intentional about the things that I told myself. So if somebody says something negative, I use a filter that's not coming in. This is what is going to come in. So those are the three ways that I became empowered initially, learning how to embrace my authenticity, The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly. How did they do that? Like went through a journey of self-discovery. The second thing that I would have done was to change my narrative, rewrite my story, use the negative things in my journey as leverage to build my own path in my journey. And the third thing that I would have done was legit, have positive conversations with myself. I suppose that allowed me to show up as a confident bald a powerful woman that you see today.

 

Iva 18:41

I love that, I love that so much and what I really heard you three secrets the way I translated these for myself is really, you know, you created this energy around you, the energy like looking at yourself in the mirror, and that's going to reflect to others that's going to attract them to you like a magnet because that's what you're giving out. And that's what's coming back into you're also attracting the right people, in the right fit. Then you have it's all about mindset shifts, complete mindset shifts. The way you look at the situations, the way you turn something negative happening until you create a positive one How are you using hurdles as leverage points and the answer that's a complete mindset, power tool right there. And then lastly, the self-love, having self-love for yourself and only when you can be so confident about yourself and power and your own unique, authentic rights. Are you then able to attract these people to grow your business to live your truth? I think it's extremely powerful. 


 

Iva 21:01

We love, we love also how you are, you know on this journey to make an impact as well. Like it's not only you Oh, I you know I found the secrets I'm leaving and empower life and good luck to everyone else that doesn't, right. It's about you saying you know how can I give back and continue to be a source of inspiration or allow other people to see what is possible for them. And you mentioned right at the beginning for conversation that you are from Barbados, and I am from Panama. It's also very small country in Central America. And so a lot of us are not born into superpower type countries, right where there's a lot of opportunities or a big market, or there's like all these things that are available to those societies. So we can easily feel very discouraged because within our communities as you said, there's no previous experience of somebody being an entrepreneur like that was your case, or somebody just even setting a foot outside of the country, right. I know a lot of people that have never lived elsewhere. From where I am and they're happy they're on their content. But then when aspire to something more you don't have those role models to look up to and to emulate. So I love that your story is also story of saying even though m biography started in a very small place or with very limited opportunities, look how I was able to rise up and not only that, but come back as a source of empowerment, but also as a source of pride to your origins. You know, you do retreats, you bring people to your sphere, you bring them back to Barbados to discover the beauty of where you're from, and that is also being authentic, right? Yeah, honoring your roots, but it's being authentic and saying like, hey, come and discover where I'm from.

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Dionne 23:15

I'm telling you that because when I first came into the space, I remember people in Barbados mentioning to me, Oh, you're doing live videos and your videos are getting like 300 views at that point and didn't even recognize that my videos were getting such traction. And they're commented to the point you know, but you know, you have to change your accent because you know, you're a Barbarian and people will not understand what you're saying. And then I remember saying to them, I'm not doing that. I'm from Barbados, and the entire world is waiting to know that because I have had to get used to different accents, working in a multinational company that they were and it's a telecommunications company. I had to get acquainted with people from all across.

 

Desiree 24:00

But nobody was asked to change their accents, right?

 

Dionne 24:04

Funnily enough, my current boss, she's German, right? So I had to get used to all types of people, all types of that said, imagine that I'm an Executive Assistant and I'm sitting in boardrooms with all these executives. I'm taking notes and having to translate what is being said, because sometimes you're not even capturing that right and let me tell you something, right? Yeah, I'm from Barbados, and the entire world is living. No, I had to get used to American accents. British accents. Australian, Russian, Indian friend, hey, we'll get used to this because I have not changed my accent. And the funny thing about it is, there are times when I do switch into my vernacular because we do have a unique dialect here as well. When I switch it people love it. And that's how people started to create the Barbados queen is like, and is like the hottest thing since Rihanna man. Love it.

 

Iva 25:07

This is this is so empowering already. You know your energy and the way that you own who you are. Right? And that is what it's like, it's what I tell my clients it's like you do you right, you know, do anyone else so you're going to be very frustrated.

 

Dionne 25:24

Right miserable trying to do somebody else you know, and I've tried that Been there done that had a shirt and a bandana for it, but you have to thrive in your authenticity. Nobody else can be you and that is your unique superpower. Yeah, that's it.

 

Desiree 25:40

Yes. And so we also like to ask our guests this question about and we don't, we don't really use balance that much. Because sometimes balance can be very stressful when, especially when it comes to us women feeling oh, you know, I have a business or a career and I'm a mom and I'm a friend and I have to do all this where all this hats and be all these roles for all the people in my life. So what we have discovered for us is that the word Harmony feels a little more effortless, more flowy more in the you know, appreciating where you're at and allowing that season of your life to be what it is. And it doesn't have to be permanent. It's just the season and then we move we move on. Right? So how do you create this harmony between your business your career and motherhood? Everything that you're doing and creating? And what advice can you give others that want to do the same?

 

Dionne 26:44

So what I will say is that and I call it my groove. I do particularly is simply know my supporting cast. Alright, and everything you've heard, you have to have a supporting cast, because no man or no woman is an island. And so I would say that initially, when I started out, my supporting cast was a bit shaky, but no, everybody's on steady ground. So I have support, not necessarily family, but I've created a supporting cast, who is there to support me and the things that I need. And as a matter of fact, in the last couple of weeks, I've had to rely on them heavily. More so than they've had to because I was going through some challenges after my last trip to Miami and my body so it was having some physical challenges in my body. So I've had to rely on my supporting cast, but you have to have a supporting cast, who are the key stakeholders in your business, not necessarily people, but who provide you the support that you would need, whether it is the emotional support, somebody that you can talk to if you're going through something because the thing about building business, entrepreneurship is a very lonely road sometimes. And the higher you claim, the as we say here, the more the market claims and what you see is tail right so the more elevated you are you become critiqued. I love it. You have to have people in place, that when you're feeling vulnerable, when you're having moments of vulnerability, what's your weakness, but when you're having moments of vulnerability, you can say to them, Hey, I'm going through this particular thing. This is how I actually feel, you know, somebody that was saying to you let's keep going how can we solve this problem? Especially when you are the rich, most moms are the problem solver for everybody. Have to have somebody in your supporting cast that can provide the emotional support that you need, from time to time,

 

Desiree 28:46

And you're speaking from our heart we always say that you need your tribe. You need your business bestie, you know you need your support. Absolutely.

 

Dionne 28:56

Yeah, there you need that person who is going to be there to support you physically. Read a certain tasks that need to be done. So I have an assistant and if my house needs to be cleaned she get somebody to do that for me if I needed someone to do those things for me. So what I've learned is that I don't have to be a supermom, so I don't clean and cook and all these amazing things because I don't have time to do it. Bless the mom that does but I don't have that time, right. So I've had to delegate tasks. And so I have a supporting team that knows how to delegate the tasks. And so if I need child care, I have resources that I can tap into to say, Hey, I needed to watch my son for an hour or two. Usually it's my husband, but sometimes outside of him. We have people that we can call the time but you must have some type of support system in place. If you try to do it on your own, you're gonna burn yourself up and out of the building atrophy. Right, yeah, so that is one of the key things, knowing how to prioritize. Prioritizing is very, very important. We as moms tend to have to do less, or we try to do every single thing on that list on a particular day. You have to prioritize and also be flexible, in part prioritizing, you have to know that and how to pivot because every day you can plan a picnic, but you cannot predict the weather. So sometimes you're gonna say what to do ABC, but somehow you have to start with XYZ. So you got to be able to have that flexibility here and the third thing that I will say is to give yourself grace. Grace is a huge part of this thing for me. I have a type A personality. So I like to have these things done a particular way. There are certain things that you know, I was ticked before, but in this thing, I've had to learn to give myself grace. Absolutely. You don't always get it right. You don't always get it done. You know, so you have to give yourself grace, and the fourth thing that I would say to do prioritize yourself, if you are not good, whether it's physically, mentally, emotionally, whatever, nothing else is gonna work. You cannot be pouring all the time and not replenishing. So as much as you pour you've got to be able to receive as well. So that is my strategy for those moms out there. 

 

Iva 31:36

Thank you so much for this amazing conversation. And I mean, today during this talk, we already learned about these powerful secrets_ three secrets to an empowered life, but what you're giving to our audience and to us now as an amazing freebie is actually Five Powerful Secrets To Becoming An Empowered Woman. Would you like to tell us a bit about this Masterclass.

 

Dionne 32:03

So this masterclass I would have birthed last year, because I would have shared a story about me going through some domestic abuse and a lot of women that resonate with that, and so out of that sharing of that story and receiving all the different stories from women who wanted to tell me their own story, I decided to create this Masterclass as a way to show them how they can actually become empowered, even having gone through such because a lot of the women were actually older than me, they could have been my mom, and you know, they would have had trauma from years before that was not dealt with, which caused them to not live this empowered life. And so I felt it a resource that was accessible to them as well, so that they can begin to live because it does not mean that because you've been living a different part of life that you can't change that you can start to live it. Live an empowered life right now. So this Masterclass, it will give you five powerful secrets, and it will truly truly transform your life. I've had women who have, who were part of the live Masterclass, who would have given great feedback, how it would have caused them to even stand up their marriages to stand up on the job, all of these different things and how they were able to get quick results just by implementing some of these strategies that I will share. And also, I've had people who watch the replay and stuff like that reach out and say, You know what, this has caused me to build more confidence. This has given me the step that I needed to get to this particular point. And so it is truly truly transformative. So I decided that it's something that I will be sharing, cascading as well. So I'm glad that your audience

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Desiree 33:51

Thank you very much. 

 

Iva 33:55

Yeah. And we also want to, to thank you, Dr. Dion, for chatting with us today. And if you want to connect with Dr. Dionne, you can find her on Instagram @themompreneurceo, she has her Facebook link, we will share the links to her LinkedIn profile and her website. And of course, the fabulous freebie that she is that she is sharing as well. So thank you, and we look forward to possibly meeting you in Barbados sometime soon. We're gonna put the intention out there. Yeah.

 

Desiree 34:33

Dr. Dionne really, thank you so much for being with us today.

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Dionne 34:38

You're most welcome. Thank you.

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FEATURED GUEST

Dr. Dionne Greaves

Dr. Dionne Greaves is a Global Empowerment Speaker and Mompreneur, Coach&Mentor who is known for her innate ability to empower women through entrepreneurship. She specializes in helping aspiring mompreneurs transform their passions into thriving new businesses. She is the Creative Founder and CEO of The Mompreneur CEO which is the flagship for her business pursuits.

 

She is also the Executive Producer and Host of The Mompreneur CEO Show and the Chief Executive Assistant of Jesus Coffee and Prayer Christian Publishing House LLC and the Women Win Network. Dr. Dionne is also an International Bestselling Author and a recipient of both the Brainz Global 500 and CREA Awards. Her personal mission is to help mompreneurs live authentically and fiercely so that they can navigate motherhood and entrepreneurship with confidence. 

 

Website https://www.dionnegreaves.com/

IG  @themompreneurceo

FB https://www.facebook.com/dionnesgreaves 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dionnesgreaves/

FREEBIE

5 Powerful Secrets to Becoming An Empowered Woman Masterclass

 

https://rebrand.ly/tmcfreebie

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