A redo... let it cook
lowkey hated the last newsletter, so here's a bonus with some cool opportunities and hot takes I think you'll like
I love legally blonde. The final court scene specifically, where Elle Woods uses her beauty knowledge and legal acumen to solve the mystery of the murder case (no spoilers because I can’t be the only one who missed the hype entirely and didn’t watch it when it first came out.)
This afternoon that clip popped up on my algorithm (when I was doom scroll procrastinating) and it made me oddly emotional.
Because it’s about being misunderstood, labelled, underestimated, yet having the courage to be yourself anyway.
All the interjections, the “why is this relevant,” commentary before Elle is hurried to land her point make it all the more satisfying when the argument lands so spectacularly.
Elle loves beauty, fashion and the colour pink. Because of this she’s viewed as simple and basic, cute enough to date but not serious enough to marry. And certainly not elite university material. We cheer her on because we know people are wrong about Elle, that there’s more to her. We know this because people are wrong about us too…
Those of us who’ve been snubbed because our interests are deemed trivial, root for Elle when she doubles down on her authentic self and thrives regardless.
But in real life the underestimated don’t often get that luxury.
Today I read that Ami Colé has closed down. Whilst the founder Diarrha N'Diaye-Mbaye has handled it masterfully and shared her story on her own terms, reading her reasons provoked the opposite feeling of that Legally Blonde High.
Because I know how it feels to dedicate your career to fixing an industry that doesn’t cater for you, only to have to walk a tightrope with minimal support and inevitably fall off to the sound of gasps from those throwing stones from glass towers.
So much of Diarrha’s story sounded familiar, from recognising just how culturally important beauty is to so many of us and choosing to build in that area despite the challenges; to fighting against the insane odds to become part of the 0.003% of Black women who raise VC funding; and even becoming one of only 30 Black women to raise over $1 million for a start-up… and it still not being enough to change an industry that is sorely in need of a shake up.
And I know how that feeling can drive you or it can crush you. I’m sure many of you are reading this because you’ve felt aspects of that too…
And on that note, this is a bonus newsletter for two reasons. One, I didn’t love the last one. If I’m honest, I didn’t expect so many people to sign up to my newsletter in the first place and writing this still feels vulnerable and raw. Copywriting about a product or event or course is easier and with my last newsletter, I gave into that desire for safety… looking back, that email felt a little too salesy (don’t get me wrong, the event will be wonderful… but this is a newsletter that’s all about realtalk and I wish I’d shared from the heart why I’m co-hosting the event instead of looking for an angle.)
When you email me back or comment on my substack, it isn’t usually because of my stellar marketing ability. It’s because you were moved by the emotion in something unpolished and honest I wrote.
So I’m going back to raw newsletters that make me cringe a little because I feel like I’m publishing my journal.
I hope you enjoy this newsletter. Thanks for indulging my do-over.
In this month’s Newsletter:
Project Updates: Build in Public or Protect my Peace?
What I'm Learning: When trouble comes in trios
What I'm Loving: Yendy & Diome
Stories: Anansi’s Daughter
Events & Opportunities: The Pivot Event in London, Pitch for $1m, Seven Six now hiring
Project Updates
As you saw from the little snippet in the newsletter I mostly didn’t like, I’m about to start product trials on a new brand I’m launching! Sign ups have now closed but thank you to everyone who was interested.
I keep going back and forth about whether I want to build in public this time. I mostly did with Afrocenchix and people told me how much it helped them… but people also stole our ideas, poached our staff and even messed with supplier relationships. Though I’m older, wiser and more discrete, and think I could do it without repeating those issues… I’m feeling cautious. So I’m putting it to a democratic vote!
What I'm Learning
This week was a busy one for me. I delivered two keynotes and had 2 board meetings, and 3 deadlines in the same week my kids finished the school term so there were a bunch of events I had to ferry them round to.
On the morning I had to deliver my keynotes, I got some difficult family news which shook me. My childcare fell through. Then I missed an important package I’d been working-from-home all week to sign for, because the delivery driver came whilst I was mid nappy change and stayed for about half a millisecond. So needless to say I wasn’t feeling my most hyped & confident.
But an old friend stepped in to help with the twins and I parked the other two issues to get on with my work.
Midway through the virtual keynote speech to over 200 people, the chat was going crazy. I’d made a few funny jokes but none were quite that good… so I switched to questions and opened the chat.
Turns out my wifi connection was unstable and they could barely hear me. I wanted my kneeling seat to swallow me and had to switch to attempting to type as much of the Q&A as I could as well as saying it, in the hopes that my audience could hear or read my answers to their question.
I pay for super fast broadband and the tech test had been fine, I’d never had internet issues before and I deliver workshops and keynotes from home all the time. I couldn’t have predicted it and it wasn’t technically my fault… But in that moment, I felt shaken to my core. In the back of my mind I thought I wasn’t cut out for keynotes, that I was a failure for not having a several backup options ready to go.
So what did I do? I stopped and prayed, then reached out to friends and my husband for help with my tech set up. Finally, I suggested to the organisers that I do a similar keynote for the afternoon session and they record it and send it to the morning participants.
When I went live the second time I got nervous when I saw the chat popping off again… but this time it was with questions and thank yous!
One of the questions I got was ‘how can I stay confident when things go wrong?” I laughed and shared this story despite my usual rule not to share anything too fresh to large audiences. But the experience had shown me how much we tell ourselves false stories about who we are when things go wrong.
The lesson for me was that setbacks only bring us down when we give them meaning. And when we let our confidence be shaken, we have less energy for the things that matter. The truth is, things go wrong for all of us and sharing those failures and learning from them is a great way to grow together.
What I'm Loving
This weekend I’m packing goody bags with full sized products from our goody bag sponsors Yendy Skin and Diome (worth £86.) These products are wonderful and I can’t wait to share them at The Pivot event!
Stories
Someone told me they loved my story last week and it made me smile so I’m sharing the link to the anthology they read it in, just in case you love it too.
Events & Opportunities
The Pivot – using strategy & storytelling to future-proof your career
I’m co-hosting this event because I’ve had conversation after conversation with women who are worried about redundancy, or who are self employed and their invoices have slowed. As someone who has been through three corporate restructurings, two redundancies whilst on maternity leave and who has spent months chasing unpaid invoices and apologising for my own being delayed… I’ve learnt the hard way how to build career resilience.
This event is all about learning the skills and building the network you need to help you navigate the current economy and thrive despite uncertainty. Plus we have really cool goody bags.
We still have a few more spaces and if you book by Tues 22nd July you can use code: TRC or click here to get £10 towards your ticket.
Win up to $1m for your startup from Future of Capitalism
Values driven entrepreneurs/founders can pitch for up to $1m in this super cool competition!
Seven Six Agency hiring Junior Talent Manager
and her team at Seven Six Agency are hiring a Junior Talent Manager. If you have talent assistant or talent management experience or know someone who does, find more details here and apply by August 4th by sending your CV + cover letter to careers@sevensixagency.com
xoxo – Rachael
p.s. What did you find most helpful about this post? I’d love to hear your thoughts over email or in the comments.
p.p.s. If you loved reading this, please do forward on or hit the restack button.
Love that you always keep it real, and love legally blonde!
I loved that film too..weirdly!
Thank you for the re-edit, you're honesty vulnerability and openness is evident in the way you write. I always take away something from your posts. Looking forward to supporting your new venture.