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00:00already been tuning in and welcome if this is your first program of the day
00:05thank you to everyone for just stopping by essence's first ever virtual entrepreneur summit
00:11we're so excited to have you guys and i'm marquita harris the senior editor for work and money at
00:16essence and i also host an unboss the unboss podcast um for this next segment um we wanted
00:22to have just a bit of a heart to heart with you guys and this is why it's titled we're all in
00:27this together joining us today is bosma saint john the chief marketing officer of endeavor
00:34while bose is not an intrapreneur she's an intrapreneur with an i and this woman is a leader
00:41and she's a self-starter and i think many of us can relate to that she's also known to bring her
00:47whole authentic self into every workplace and i just wanted to learn more about how she's adapting
00:53to this new normal of working from home and just kind of you know talk to her about her vision of
00:59the future of our work lives bose you there i am i'm here just hey hey how are you doing thank you
01:10for joining us today i'm so excited to talk to you and i'm like this outfit is just just fantastic i love
01:17it i love it um so just to start can you kind of just talk to me about how your day-to-day work life
01:25has been impacted um also do you have a routine in place for your day-to-day now and what kind of
01:32boundaries which is key are you setting while working from home oh yes okay well so first of all
01:40i'm so happy to be here with you um it's such a great feeling to be in conversation especially on
01:47this platform with essence you know my heart and my spirit my soul everything connects to my black
01:55woman-ness and so to be here certainly feels really good um i'm i'm so glad this community is thriving
02:03and that it provides a space for us to connect and even be better during this time um thank you
02:09you know what to be honest with you yes of course um to be honest i have i have really struggled you
02:16know with this time um of isolation in my career i have been going at i don't know maybe 500 miles per
02:26hour uh yeah we know i mean those those of us who lurk on your social media guilty uh we know
02:34so that's why i'm curious yeah yes um and that's probably been for two decades you know and so to
02:46this forced stillness is uh a very much a change of pace and one that i have i have struggled with um
02:56you know because i am constantly looking for ways to innovate ways to make myself better
03:04and greater um it is a constant endeavor for me um and so even in in this moment i've had to
03:11switch up you know what my regular routine is and so to your question you know part of it is that um
03:18i have always felt like a self-starter you know someone who motivates from within you know it's not
03:26necessarily the um requirements of an outside force that make me do what i do you know it's not a boss
03:33giving me a deadline that makes me run faster you know it's my own competitiveness that is making me
03:41seek the greater heights and so in this moment i find even more ways to do that you know and so i
03:48did set myself myself on a schedule after day three of like laying down and me like that's what i was
03:55wondering how long how long did it take to get you know on that schedule and get adjusted so that's kind
04:01of that's pretty insightful it took me a little while yeah so what is that what is that now yeah
04:08i i probably took like i took a good solid like two days of like literally laying down in the bed
04:14curled up in a ball like i can't believe you know what i mean
04:20and for real like not showering not brushing my teeth
04:23it's real that first few days when all this happened i mean it was a lot like i definitely
04:34had some moments i had a couple panic attacks at the grocery store i can't lie um and definitely
04:40was walking around the house looking a little ragged so so i understand what happened is that i
04:47felt the you know the need to create my own like i said my own umph you know something to get me going
04:55needed to get my blood moving needed to feel like i was accomplishing something and so crazy as it might
05:02sound i created you know a schedule for myself okay okay allowed me to stay on track and i mean the
05:11schedule that even includes when to call friends or no fair yeah you know because there you know what
05:22i mean um and so that means that these days i'm still waking up at 5 45 i'm going on a run usually by
05:316 30. um i'm saying i run about seven i work out to about 7 30. then you know shower get dressed and i
05:39mean dressed like i'm dressed i see i love it i see it on the outfit you know move from the bedroom to
05:48the den you know um my meetings uh start at about 8 or 8 30. and so i have back meetings until about
06:00noon or so take lunch um for about an hour get back on work till about four uh again meetings back to
06:08back break for a snack uh then answer emails or use some thinking time till about six have dinner and
06:16then call some friends you know and then i'm excited to keep you productive yeah um because otherwise
06:27you know you'll get lost the days will flow into each other and you know you'll feel
06:32you'll feel like you're floating out here with nothing that centers you or grounds you definitely
06:39i get that um and also just that the idea that you also schedule which i think is important just
06:45time to talk to friends so i think that's so important just for your own health and just to feel
06:51you know like you're still connecting with people because you bring that energy into work too
06:55so um yeah so i have to ask your mom your mama so how like how is it balancing this new work from home
07:05life um with the role of being a parent is have there been a lot of changes or tell me about those
07:14how old is your daughter again also my daughter is 10. um and single parenthood in this time
07:21i'm whoo i thought it was hard before this is this is tough yeah this is like phd level you know
07:31because um you know again because i'm moving around so much i really do utilize my community
07:37you know i've been very dependent on my network to help me do everything that i do
07:43uh and that even that was even a um a point of inflection for me six years ago when my husband
07:50passed away uh because up until then i hadn't been used to depending on anyone really you know to
07:56help me do what i do um but when he passed away i then took the sort of vulnerable space of asking for
08:05help you know asking friends to step in asking my mom to step in you know like anybody everybody for
08:12for things you know to help me get through um and now that is all gone you know because we're isolated
08:20and so i am back to having to depend on myself and so there is a now a renewed way of asking for
08:29help of having the community come together um you know fifth grade math is kicking my ass you know
08:35what i mean like listen i don't envy i don't envy you listen i know i'm smart okay i i have
08:44conversations all the things yes in corporate america you know i have battled with the smartest
08:51engineers at apple i have created huge productions that cater audiences of hundreds of thousands of
08:59people and i can't get like no contest no no console that i yeah the vulnerability of having to ask for
09:11help um so that i can concentrate you know so that means and again this is gonna sound real crazy but
09:19it works i've had to schedule time you know with friends um with my daughter's cousin with um a tutor
09:31with i mean any anybody and so even though first i was sort of flailing um and lost i have the luxury
09:39of having wi-fi and the luxury of having an ipad that she can sit in front of and operate so that
09:47also means he has the ability then to connect with um people who can also help her right because just
09:54the two of us probably driving each other insane yeah the blindly in the blind for fifth grade math yeah
10:01yeah but having somebody in and that is that is really really really important because um you know
10:09again in this time of isolation when the world has stopped to slow down we are not allowed to also slow
10:16down you know that coming out of this period um we need to be better and you know i do fight against
10:24this idea that like you know if you don't come out with a new skill or you didn't build a new business or
10:29that somehow you failed i don't i don't subscribe to that um however specifically for me and i believe
10:38for a lot of black women who are trying to create and we are constantly on the verge of figuring out
10:45our own destinies that we have to be better and if you have kids in the house or you are trying to
10:51find the space to think you cannot do it we're we're doing all of the jobs you know and so how can you
10:58have the time to think and the time to rest and the time to rejuvenate unless you are asking for help
11:04from your community still you know and so for me it's been scheduling you know these play dates and
11:13work dates and school dates for my daughter yes i have i have the time to also do my work yeah it sounds
11:21like you're kind of taking those you know those skills i think so many of us learn working in offices and
11:27corporate jobs and kind of applying those skills to like everyday life keeping things organized and
11:33also you know out being when you can't outsource getting that tutor and you know um using that ipad
11:39and all that um so boz we're in the midst of it's such a surreal time and you kind of got into it a
11:47little bit earlier it's a surreal time and i think it's safe to say that the impact of covid 19 is
11:54i i mean it's it's going to be with us for a very very long time um but i want to know what's your
12:01perspective on i guess like what the future of work is what our work lives may be looking like in the
12:08future um and even to a more um minor point are there any you know trends that you're seeing right now
12:16even in your at your at endeavor uh that you think may persist yeah yeah well like i said this is a
12:24time of innovation you know the true innovators are the ones we're going to win at this time and
12:30winning and innovating doesn't mean that you are necessarily creating things from scratch you know
12:36it is the it is the evolution of our current world um that we have to think about so some things require
12:44brand new thinking um but other things are really just small pivots and that means even in our own
12:51world you know in our own being and so what is the pivot within you that is going to accelerate your
12:57ability once we're out again once we're out in the world again um you know there are lessons that
13:03i'm learning right now even about myself and my own productivity uh that i'm going to take into the
13:09future uh once we are allowed back outside you know yes because the the truth of matter is that
13:18i don't like i said i don't necessarily prescribe to the theory that you have to come out with all
13:23brand new skills during this time learn a new language or whatnot in order to feel successful
13:27um but i do think that in our own worlds that um using this time to pivot and to um evolve is
13:36absolutely necessary the thought that we're going to go back to normal doesn't exist you know if
13:41you're thinking that thinking you know there's no way that it goes back to normal even if you're just
13:47allowed to you know go back to the office or um you have to be a different office
13:52yeah um your customer your audience is different that you're dealing with different emotions you
14:01know and whether you are working in a corporate office or you have your own business i mean we're
14:07still talking to the same people and so and those people like i i always say like you know use
14:12yourself as a focus group of one what do you need what do you want you know and and think about
14:18that because right now we're working in very high emotional states you know in which people are
14:25afraid they're anxious um they are concerned about their money um they are trying to figure out ways to
14:34bring comfort to their lives their their person they want peace of mind you know these are not the
14:40traits of like you know if you're selling uh soda that you know you're trying to
14:48just tell somebody to hydrate that's not that's not gonna work no no no no no no no we need a little
14:55more you need the emotional state and draw that emotional state in order to have your customer
15:00connect to you better and so as a marketer my sole job is to figure out how to evolve our emotional
15:08state to connect the products that we are working with to connect to our consumer you know so you draw
15:14those lines um and so again it's about understanding what the emotional state is of your customer and
15:20then working with that in order to make your brand um your brand live in the life of that person you
15:29know there's um we've been talking about at endeavor about what the brands that that we provide how they
15:37are going to behave now in the world so at endeavor our companies are wme which represent actors actresses
15:44musicians etc everybody from you know denzel washington to janelle mona and a big one yeah
15:54img which uh you know creates a lot of events um i run the img fashion events group which is responsible for
16:03for all the fashion weeks across the world yeah uh and then you know the miss universe there's just a
16:10bunch of companies our our umbrella but also we represent a lot of brands like you know marriott and
16:19visa and abmbev you know which which is responsible for and there's so many different brands underneath
16:26the umbrella that you know we have to rethink the way that we are connecting to our customers and for me
16:32the center of the strategy moving forward is going to be how to make your brand a companion to our
16:44audience not the service so i also love like i mean to me that kind of taps back into what you said a
16:54moment ago about using yourself as a focus group really and kind of using that as i guess a way to kind
17:01of you know address what's going on in the world and what other people are going to need um so i do
17:07have to ask you because i want to keep you on here for about 50 more minutes but i know you don't have
17:13time and they're going to kick us off i gotta ask um when you get up in the morning and you ask yourself
17:22what do i need for the day where do you start and how do you bring that into you know your every day
17:28well every day really is different i mean although we're doing the same thing again and again my
17:34emotional state varies you know sometimes i do feel high anxiety um other times i'm concerned about my
17:42mother's health you know or my parents health i'm worried about money you know there's there's all kinds
17:48of concerns and so um i really do try i mean we we all know to do this but rarely do we put into
17:55practice of having the attitude of gratitude you know thinking about the things i am most thankful for
18:02in the day um and i also put intention into what i want to get out of the day you know do i want to
18:09stay feeling happy do i want to feel the day feeling productive do i want to end the day feeling
18:16you know just joyful do i want to feel do i want to end the day feeling sexy as hell you know what
18:23i mean like what is well you're giving me you're giving me all of all of the things right now you're
18:28giving me all the joy and it was about yes feeling my full african woman-ness i am still feeling it i'm
18:38feeling it i'm like i'm very angry that i decided to wake up it's rainy and i'm wearing black i should
18:44have put on my orange for you and i can i mean i can can wait wait hold on you know what i mean
18:55behind you change it up i love it i love it that's it's a little color well both so much thank you so
19:04much um i really i wish we could have you know we could talk for another hour but i really do appreciate
19:08energy um i think you're such an inspiration like inspiration and um i love your point of view so
19:18thank you for keeping it 100 and please i'll help you and your family stay healthy and safe and yeah
19:25i wish you guys the best i appreciate you thank you thank you thank you so much thank you okay thank you
19:33both bye
19:46the idea was we would take the wealth that we had created in our sundial shea moisture business
19:53and we would invest that wealth directly back into black women entrepreneurs within our communities
20:09today we've invested in over 50 black women-owned businesses i'm excited and proud to announce
20:17that for our seventh one year we now have another 10 new investments and so i'd now like to announce our 10 winners
20:35congratulations we're so impressed with your business we're so moved by the intentionality
20:44and you know the pillar in our communities has been our churches and to have somebody thinking about
20:50how we can make them stronger financially it's very important so we're going to invest another five
20:56thousand dollars
21:03how are you doing congratulations congratulations
21:40It was so much fun making a popsicle recipe, designing a recipe card, and being able to try them ourselves.
22:03I'm working on a book called Be Fearless. It's going to give some advice that I've learned over 10 years of being an entrepreneur.
22:12With our collaborator, you can share docs so we can work together and make sure everything's up to date.
22:18I hope the book is going to make a measurable impact on save the bees, but also encourage social entrepreneurship at the same time.
22:24Legacy is something I never thought about having.
22:33And then once you get it, it's harder to keep it, I believe, than it is to get it.
22:39Wow.
22:39So, oh, I do have a word, but man, I'm thinking about it.
22:46Protection, because you have to protect your legacy once you create one.
22:50How are you protecting your legacy now?
22:52A lot of different ways.
22:54It's not just like, you know, I mean really protect it.
22:56You know, the people that work for you, the people that you hire, the people that speak for you, the people that just represent you.
23:04So, after you get to a certain point, you have to let them know that they're representing your legacy, not just you.
23:12You know, so they can't go out here and do, you know, whatever they want that we was probably doing prior.
23:18Because now people look at us a certain way.
23:21And they want us to, you know, they hold us accountable to certain things.
23:24And now you as a person that works for me or a person that's involved with me, you have to carry yourself as such or you're not representing my legacy.
23:37We as women pour so much out to everyone else.
23:41It is like absolutely essential that we make time for ourselves.
23:45I've also learned to calendar the things that matter.
23:48So, I'm really setting more boundaries so that I have more peace because for me that allows tranquility in the household.
24:18Society tries to tear us apart and pits us against each other, but when we work together, we do some pretty amazing things.
24:44And the reality is that they look just like us and they're investing in us.
25:14Many of you have lost loved ones or people in your community to COVID-19.
25:19We salute and support all of the first responders, healthcare professionals, and essential workers.
25:24Black people especially have been hit really hard in this time.
25:29Hopefully we can provide you with some information that can help us get through this troubled time and lead us on to better horizons.
25:36Outside of health, another major way this virus has affected us is our wallet.
25:40That's right, in our pockets.
25:41With the global economy coming to a screeching halt, we're now living in unprecedented times and people are hurting.
25:47Businesses are hurting.
25:48People have lost their jobs and small businesses are hurting.
25:51Now, as you all may know, the government enacted a $3 trillion stimulus plan to help out the economy.
25:58And of this $3 trillion, $600 billion of it is for small and medium businesses.
26:04African Americans are the fastest growing entrepreneurs.
26:08The question is, how do you access those funds?
26:11Well, we are here to help you with that.
26:13If you're a black business owner and you have fewer than 500 employees.
26:18I don't care if you're in a barber shop, a nail salon, a dentist's office, a car wash, a juice bar.
26:23If you own a business like that, this money is earmarked for you.
26:27The time to act has never been more important.
26:30And the clock is ticking.
26:31Because once that money is swept up, it's gone and it's never coming back.
26:36So what do you do?
26:37Well, first off, it's important to know that when you do apply for the stimulus loan, there is no collateral or personal guarantees necessary.
26:45The loan gets wiped.
26:46You heard him right.
26:47The loan gets wiped out, but only if you keep all your workers employed.
26:52You also need to know you can only use that money to keep your lights on, pay your employees, etc.
26:56So keep the paperwork, please.
26:59Keep that paperwork.
27:00It's important.
27:01And that paperwork better said before February 15th, 2020.
27:06Because y'all know.
27:08Now here's the good part.
27:09We have the plug to get your application completed at no cost to you.
27:13Use Upserve if you're a restaurant owner.
27:14Use QuickBase for all of the businesses.
27:17Log on to QuickBase.com to determine your eligibility, assemble your documentation, and find the right lender for you.
27:25Now is the time to be the change and do your part, okay?
27:28So what are you waiting for?
27:30Click the link below and follow the steps listed to get your money.
27:33Don't hesitate.
27:35Act now.
27:35Go to the website and apply.
27:37QuickBase.com
27:38In this crisis, we've already lost too much.
27:41We can't afford losing your business too.
27:44Our communities need you now more than ever.
27:47This is not a slam dunk.
27:49This pandemic has really affected all of us.
27:51But there's a three-pointer at the buzzer.
27:53You can make this shot, but you have to do it together.
27:56And we're here to help.
28:52So the New Voices Fund was created to ensure economic opportunities and inclusion for women of color. We have so many women out in the world building businesses trying to create a better life for themselves and for their children and their families and their communities with very little support.
29:19Of every dollar that's invested in entrepreneurs, black women receive something like .003 cents. It starts to show with some scale what can happen when you give these women the opportunities that they deserve. And so that's the mission of the New Voices Fund. That's why I was founded.
29:44We as women pour so much out to everyone else. It is like absolutely essential that we make time for ourselves.
29:59I've also learned to calendar the things that matter. So I'm really setting more boundaries so that I have more peace because for me that allows tranquility in the household.
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