The Happily Ever Aftermath of the Pandemic

We have all had our fair share of the pandemic in these past two years, both personally and professionally. As CEO of my own company, I experienced the tremendous loss of losing most of what I had spent the last 10 years building in order to survive through it and get to the other side. This experience has led to a far better version of my life and business than I ever could have imagined. 

The pandemic disrupted the world; it made us reevaluate, and we had no choice in what hands we were dealt and how that affected every part of what had been our normal up to that point. That was until the world turned on its head and we had to take action, adapt, evolve, and, in my case, press the reset button.

Collectively, we have a second chance to build back up and learn from past mistakes. As business leaders and entrepreneurs, we must continue to learn from those lessons in order to streamline and make strategic decisions to build back clearly and concisely. We have the opportunity to restructure in accordance with the world today.

I had to lose it all, and be stripped of everything I knew and had, to be able to build it all back in a far better way. It has been a real lesson in humility too: being back at year one of business but with 10 years of knowledge, experience and clients in hand.

This is what it comes down to — never taking anything for granted. As business leaders, we often get sucked into the day-to-day minutia, but ultimately it is our clients who keep things turning, and without them, there is no business.

Let’s bring things back to basics, simplify our lives and prioritize what matters. Simplifying business but respecting the value of relationships is also important. Never compromise or tolerate anything less than working with only those who align with your own values. This is something I have always stood by, and since having to reset in so many ways, it’s truer now than ever before. So despite the hurdles we have all gone through — that we could never have expected or anticipated — we now are in a place where we can build solid foundations.

The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify?

As a woman in business, and a mother at that, I had to navigate the immense rollercoaster as the pandemic came first for my business, then uprooted my family, and then came for my marriage. Ultimately Covid eventually got its grip on me, to the stage of having to be on oxygen and with sepsis as it took hold of my lungs. I was beat but still refused to give up. If anything, the face of so much adversity made me more determined and resilient than ever.

We can be knocked down, but we can get back up every single time. 

I lost friendships, premises and my marriage. Still, I gained new people, resilience and strength from perseverance through what felt like a never-ending time of trauma and being in survival mode until the light finally came at the end of such a long tunnel. I was able to take control of my life and call the shots once again after being on the receiving end of everything outside of my control. It was a very humbling experience but one that meant my business and my children saved me. They gave me purpose. They gave me a reason to get up, fight each day and never give up.

I used that fire in my belly and carved out my new vision while keeping the wheels turning and course correcting. I focused on the areas that were bringing in the revenue, while still chipping away on the passion projects, building up new relationships, networking and putting more hours in than ever before to bring it all back to life.

If I can go through what I did, and power up in all the ways, then you can too. There’s no excuse. We can achieve anything we set our minds to. You just need to be prepared to put the hours in and work hard for it. There is no shortcut, nor should you ever want there to be. 

March to the beat of your own drum and use your experience to shape and grow your business. Stand in your own authentic truth: It is the only recipe for success in creating a company that is reflective of truly your own passions, values and expertise. 

Sometimes we have to lose everything we ever worked hard for and held dear to realize that perhaps it wasn’t actually what we wanted at all. Sometimes we go along with what we perceive to be what we want for such a long time, and only once that is gone or comprised, do we take action and truly reflect on what matters most and what we want. This is necessary to rebuild properly and ultimately give yourself the gift of doing what is right for you — and that makes all the difference.