“Women in Flight”
This article is dedicated to the women who have found themselves building their business plan while flying at 50,000 feet. The women who have made a decision to take a connecting flight at a junction in their lives when society says they should be playing it safe and planning for retirement. The women who were not born with the means or opportunities to make drastic changes. Making changes at a time in their lives when money analysts say they should be planning for the stock market to crash. Women who say, not yet! These words are for you.
I sat at a table across from women with 20- and 30-year careers who had not yet fulfilled what they call their dream job. I took a moment to listen to how they plan to make their next career their last. This time they decide to do it on their own terms. They’ve decided to make a change that will count. A change that will leave a legacy. A change that will fulfill their dreams. A change that will make a community stand up and say where has she been all this time? I’m talking about “Women in Flight.” In the meeting, I heard one of the women say, “we are building this plane while flying 50,000 feet in the air.”
Devon is the founder of The 89th Collective, the first coworking and creative space in East St. Louis, Illinois, created to provide entrepreneurs, creatives, and community leaders with a place to connect, collaborate, and grow. She is also the founder of The Biz Spot Community, an organization focused on entrepreneurship, workforce development, and economic empowerment. Through her consulting, entrepreneurial, and ecosystem-building work, she has helped businesses access more than $4 million in capital and has spent over 15 years creating pathways to business ownership, wealth creation, and community impact.
Devon Moody, the founder of The 89th Collectivein the heart of East Saint Louis IL, had a dream as a young mother to create a thriving group for women that allowed them to push past the concrete walls of corporate and venture into the land of visions and dreams. I must add Devon is one of my most loved and trusted mentors and a fearless businesswoman. She is the real deal!! During the time she was putting pen to paper, she had her own children, who followed her around like a mother hen. Devon was bringing them to meetings, into classes and into events. That’s what CEO Mom’s do they nurture and they teach other mothers how to succeed when no one else is cheering them on.
Years later, after rebranding her vision of what she called the Entrepreneur Mom into the CEO Mom Accelerator co-hort, her vision drew in a community of women who lived a life of working for corporate America yet had a dream of pressing forward creating a legacy of their very own.
Devon offer’s her platform, her knowledge, her finances, her connections, her office space and time to the community of women that surrounded her. Her genuine demeanor and enthusiasm for growth and women in the community fuels her dream of the CEO Mom Accelerator co-hort. I recently joined this group of women called the CEO Mom’s.
One of the mothers is a 22-year mechanical aviation engineer at her day job. She brought her business plan to the table for a mechanical aviation school. Devon’s response was, “let’s get to work!” The aviation engineer looks over at me and says, “I need you for my human resources department.” I gladly jumped at the opportunity to assist this woman “in flight.” She has agreed to a full interview later down the line...YEAH!!
There are other awesome middle-aged women within the co-hort. Women who are creating farm to table meal options for their St. Louis community. Women who are creating “Channels” for new entrepreneurs looking for online branding opportunities. I watched these women take flight while the economy is crashing. While the housing prices are high. While the interest rates on loans are unattainable and the cost of living takes on a whole different definition than it did a year ago. Yet these women have decided to use the wings of an eagle to fly high.
These women were branded as past their prime. These women are entering their second and third careers. These women refused to allow society to tell them when it is over. I am one of these women. In an earlier article, I was referred to as a Phoenix. Well, I have to say I found my “Phoenix Squad.” We refer to each other as, “The Clickers.” You had to be there to understand.
I went in with the thought of what I could provide as a human resource expert to this group. Within weeks, it was evident that my cup was not yet full, and I still had space to be poured into. So often we get to a certain age, and we begin to think that we are full of life experiences. It is time to pull out our folding chair and kick up our feet. This group taught me something different. This group forces you to put up or shut up! At some point in our careers, we were beginners, then we were advanced, and at some point, we will become experts. When you reach the expert level it is time for you to take your skills, your ingenuity, your wisdom, and your knowledge into flight. Don’t just go by yourself, take someone with you, no strings attached. Devon walks out this truth.
I found myself sitting in the meeting, telling the mechanical engineer what words to use while branding herself. I’m thinking I’m an HR lady. What do I know about branding? All of us have a little insight into branding when we have lived such colorful lives. No one and I mean no one has the answer to the equation on what the future holds, we are all living this life one day at a time. What we have to go off of is what we have already experienced. I know that’s not something that a typical HR person would say but you should know by now there is nothing typical or common about Felisha Ford…LOL.
I spent a lot of years advising people on what to do legally and ethically, but sitting in this meeting, in this in this circle of trusted women, seasoned women, learned women I said,
“Felisha you are entering into your next act, soak it all in.”
While, I enjoy, let me rephase that and say “I love” talking about human resources, training & development and standard operating procedures. I also enjoy talking about the element or the art of my profession that people often forget about, which is the human side of life. When speaking to the mechanical engineer, I was fascinated that she’s not only an engineer, but she is also a pilot, not only was she a pilot, but she was also a teacher within her profession. She serves her country in many areas as the only woman. As I said earlier, her story will be brought to you later this summer in its entirety.
She served alongside men for 20+ years as the expert, never thinking that this is something that I can do on my own. Isn’t it interesting how we carry all this knowledge, yet we continue to hand it off to others as if we borrowed it and we’re paying it back. Not understanding completely that this belongs to me. This is mine. Protect what is yours!
The knowledge, the experience that I have, no one can take it away from me. She said, “today I have made a decision to take flight.” I will use what I have to pull on the purpose, the plan, the vision and the dream that got it all started. The dream that I had as a little girl making paper airplanes. The dream that I had as a little girl to serve my country in flight. Why can’t I take that to my community?
These are the women that I found myself surrounded by as I sat in this co-hort refining my marketing plan, my goals and what my next move was going to be. The initial plan of what I was going to do next suddenly took a backseat when I stepped into the presence of these women. I realized that I was in a space where I needed to be still and soak in the wisdom of the women taking flight around me.
This wasn’t a moment to talk about standard operating procedures for their companies. This wasn’t the moment to go over point 1 and point 2 of a federal employment law. This wasn’t the moment to talk about wage analysis. This was the moment to push them forward for the next ten weeks. It is going to be a pleasure to sit with these women, to dive into their dreams, to understand their visions, to push them through and to engage in the power that is within them. These women will be the catalyst for the next journey of FF Consulting Solutions, LLC. Follow me, as we take flight. A HUGE thank you to Devon Moody and The 89th Collective.
Felisha Ford, CEO & Founder
FF Consulting Solutions, LLC
ffconsultingsolutions@gmail.com
(618) 671-8803
www.linkedin.com/in/ffconsultingsolutions
“At FF Consulting Solutions, LLC, we help businesses build high-performing workplaces by reducing HR risk, strengthening compliance and developing workforce strategies that drive growth, retention and long-term success.”
For more information, reach out to us at ffconsultingsolutions@gmail.com
