Colleen James: Don’t Be Afraid to Do It All Through the Power of Education
Are you tired of sticking to the status quo? Colleen James broke barriers by becoming an entrepreneur and educator. Tune in!
In this episode, Colleen James shared her experience becoming an entrepreneur through education. She was influenced by her parents into staying in school and going into service, with time she understood the system we live in and decided to break barriers.
Colleen James, Educator and Entrepreneur
Colleen is the CEO of Divonify and a professor at Conestoga College. All of her jobs helped her become the woman she is today but mainly being the executive assistant and political assistant of the mayor of Waterloo. That job taught her how to assist people from the government and that gave her the inspiration to start a business. She understands the dynamics of politics and decided to start consulting others.
See the three lessons you can learn from Colleen’s journey:
1) Influence
People influence people, that is a fact. Who are you influenced by? This is an important question because people can influence you positively or negatively and it’s up to you to decide if you are going to let them sway you either way. Be careful who you surround yourself with because what they do and say is definitely going to affect you.
Like a lot of people, Colleen had the influence of her parents. They influenced her to study as much as she could, and they wanted her to enjoy the opportunity they didn’t have as immigrants. As we grow, what influences us changes and we have to be careful and aware that what we let guide us is either going to open doors to good opportunities or bad situations.
2) Staying current
Colleen’s parents influenced her to continue her studies after high school but she quickly found out the importance of education and staying updated with the new information. Everything changes, it is inevitable and it is up to us to keep up with those changes. Colleen believes that it is important to educate ourselves all the time.
Having a college degree does not guarantee that you know all about a subject. We live in a changing society where what we believe is true today, might be false in a few days, months, or years. Taking courses and reading is definitely a big help to stay up to date. It’s important to stay proactive in your education, because it helps us become better to each other and the world.
3) Representation
Colleen understood at an early age that not everybody looks like her. She recognized that there was a disparity in the amount of POC in important roles or roles she aspired to fill, which made her decide to break barriers. She understood the importance of representation and that not only made her get jobs where her representation was missing but to also start her company, Divonify.
Divonify helps businesses become more aware of the equity, diversity, and inclusion inside of their company. She started doing this on a small scale but noticed that not many people know how to handle certain situations and needed help. Divonify examines other companies to know where they are at and give advice on how to improve. Their goal is to create a safe space in the workplace, a relentless job that needs to be done.
“Be The Change.”
Colleen James’ Social Links:
