Luvvie was in Houston today and took all 500+ of us by storm. Though Luvvie has a small frame, her life and words come with a big punch. Luvvie represents what it means to be underestimated yet surprises her under-estimators. During her keynote hosted by the Houston Museum of African American Culture, she blew us away with an overview of her journey starting in college. I, along with many, walked away feeling motivated like we had just left a Joel Osteen sermon (yet with Luvvie style). I profess, I do not consider myself one of the Luv Nation (though I am in the BeyHive), I realize I have been reading Luvvie at least since 2014. Now, that I am an official fan, let’s share the 15 tips I learned from her keynote.
- Write the vision and make it plain
- Surround yourself with solid mentors
- Authentically be yourself
- Know your worth
- Hire a team when it is time to help increase your efficiency
- Procrastination doesn’t make you a bad person
- Strike while the iron is hot
- Have friends that are older than you and younger than you (10 years + on each side)
- Share your truth
- Know that sharing your truth may put you in crossfire
- Dream bigger than your dream
- Always give back
- Your success is about more than you
- Block distractions (even using an electronic app to prevent you from straying to websites and apps during focus time)
- Nurture your community
It was amazing to learn how Luvvie went from a psychology/pre-med major at University of Illinois to writing in her college newspaper. Changing her major to drop the pre-med due to struggling in Chemistry 101 (this Chemistry major understands the struggle) to finishing in pyschology, an area she loved. She spent 8 years writing for her blog before she received any compensation. When asked what she would do differently, she said she would get paid earlier.
There were many full circle moments for Luvvie where her break began when Shonda Rhimes tweeted about her Scandal Recaps. Later, Shonda would go on to endorse her book and is now turning the book into a TV series. Luvvie expressed her gratitude for Shonda to help bring her up along with her. Now Luvvie is carrying the torch to help someone else as well. That is her mission of the Red Pump Project, which started as a campaign turned into a foundation. The Red Pump Project is to bring awareness to HIV/AIDS for women and girls and to help eradicate it.
Luvvie acknowledges that she has been blessed to use her gift and talents while meeting the right people at the right time, orchestrated by God. What I loved most about Luvvie is her transparency about not always being ready. Though she set out she would be a New York Times Seller years before it happened, she realizes that though she forgot about the goal (among others), declaring the goal was half the battle. There is something about being intentional in setting goals that helps begin the wheels of accomplishing them — even if, they are years later.
Oh, and buy her NYT Best Seller book (duh!): I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual
