I was honored to share some biz tips, work life balance insight, and about getting off the fence. Thank you Rebecca for this fun interview on your site GossClub.com, which as you would imagine, readers, stands for Girl Boss.
Here it is….
GOSS CLUB: HOW TO GET OFF THE FENCE WITH ERICA DIAMOND
Erica Diamond is an entrepreneur, a mother, and a go getter who proves that you can have it all if you work hard enough for it. Erica’s story inspires women and young entrepreneurs to find their passion and get what they want from life. Here’s how she got off the fence and turned her dreams into reality.
Erica graduated from McGill University with a degree in Psychology and minor in Marketing. She always knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur.
“My plan was to get a great job, work for a few years, go back to do my MBA and then become an entrepreneur [except] I bombed my GMATS, and I didn’t get into MBA school,” so instead [of waiting for another opportunity] I thought, I’m going to start my own business, NOW.”
At the age of 24 years old, she took the ultimate leap of faith: she had saved up money living at home and decided to launch a website and build a marketing plan and began her journey as an entrepreneur. She sold branded promotional products (pens, t-shirts, mugs) with corporate logos which quickly became a success.
After seven years in the business, and pregnant with a second son on the way, she decided to seize the opportunity to sell her company. She stayed home for three years after that with her young boys, which is exactly what she wanted at the time.
It wasn’t long though before she got the entrepreneurial itch again, and in 2009, she decided she wanted to get back in the game. “I was really stuck and on the fence about what I could do now. I knew I didn’t want to go work for anyone, I wanted to make my own money and my own schedule. I wanted to be independent, take a risk, and become entrepreneurial… again.”
“I went to a mommy’s luncheon and I met this woman who presented herself as a blogger. At the time, it wasn’t such a trend yet, and I didn’t even know what a blogger was! But after talking to her, I thought, “AHA, that could be my next business idea!” I’m going to start a blog where I will document my journey getting off the fence and will share my own vulnerabilities, as well as spotlight other women who got off the fence and who can teach us how it’s done. I will share inspirational stories, but REAL candid stories, where we can all take the leap off the fence together.”
I just really envisioned a community where we could all safely be ourselves. There were celebrity moms who caught on early on Twitter like Denise Richards and Brooke Burke who had millions of followers, so when they were sharing my articles on Twitter, it became a natural evolution of sharing. The blog simply grew organically form there.
TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW, CLICK HERE.
