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It was never my desire to be an entrepreneur. My focus was to become a C-suite executive with all the money and all of the things. As I was climbing the corporate ladder, I realized it wasn’t really about talent — it was about politics.
After becoming an executive, it was less fulfilling than I thought. In fact, it was more stressful, and I didn’t find the work personally rewarding. I had no work/life balance and ended up burned out. In those dark moments, I had the idea to start my own company. So, after talking it over with my therapist and identifying effective coping mechanisms for the reality of not having that direct deposit hit my bank account every two weeks, I tendered my resignation.
As I started my business, I quickly learned that being a subject matter expert was only part of what was needed to succeed. I had no idea how to run a business on my own. This created a feeling of inadequacy and imposter syndrome that I had to work through while figuring out all of the administrative aspects of the business (i.e., strategy, accounting, business filings, visas, marketing, etc.).
I began networking with other entrepreneurs at various stages in their businesses. This helped me to understand what to expect as seasoned entrepreneurs would share lessons learned. And it also helped me develop a tribe of entrepreneurs at the start of their journey where we would work together to figure it out.
Over the years, I’ve realized that entrepreneurship is full of peaks and valleys. I’ve had to learn to be more flexible and comfortable in a constant state of learning. Your “to-do” list is never done, but finding new things to enhance your business is exciting!
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Founder and CEO of Ethintegrity LLC, a consulting firm empowering forward-thinking organizations and professionals to solve complex ethics and compliance and DEI problems.
My story: It is a basic human need to want to belong. I found that I consistently tried to assimilate into boxes that I thought would help my career. What became obvious was that these key performance indicators were ever-moving and I had to contort myself more than my non-Black colleagues by modulating my tone of voice so as not to be seen as an “angry Black woman” or pressing my hair and changing my style of dress so that I fit into the European standard of beauty. It was exhausting both mentally and physically. When I started my own company, I initially kept that way of thinking—trying to fit into the corporate ideal. But as I grew more confident in my business and started to realize the superpowers that I brought to this industry, I embraced my unique, diverse identity. This pivot has created a meaningful impact on my work as I’m able to disrupt spaces from a place of knowledge and power.
My advice: Take time to get to know who you are. Corporations and society like to tell us who we should be, and sometimes we conform for so long that we don’t know who we are anymore. Take a step back and figure out what makes you happy—when do you feel authentically you? Then embrace that as a superpower. Use your uniqueness to connect with, embrace, and disrupt spaces to create equitable and inclusive services and products.
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You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would love to create a movement focused on Empathic Curiosity. So often, we operate unknowingly from biases inherited via structural and interpersonal biases (i.e., media, families, schools, society, etc.) that we don’t challenge those inherited beliefs enough to see if they are positively or negatively affecting our communities as a whole. By engaging in actual dialogues (instead of 2 monologues where you are just talking at each other), you can take in critical points of view that may differ from your own. Being “empathically” curious means actively listening and creating a safe space for others to share differing points of view based on their lived experience. It doesn’t mean that you will agree with everything said, but it will allow you to expand your understanding of an issue with more data points. And by having more understanding of cultures, groups and ideas that are different from us, we can make greater progress as a whole by working together.
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Founder and CEO of Ethintegrity, a boutique consulting firm focusing on a culture-based approach to diversity, equity and inclusion, and ethics and compliance.
“The strategy I’ve found most helpful in getting me to trust my intuition is centering myself with breathwork and meditation. By calming my nervous system and clearing the clutter from my mind, I can tune into how my body feels and get clarity. Typically, when trying to figure out what to do, I sit quietly and allow the thoughts to come through like closed captions. I feel into the ideas, and when I feel a sense of peace, I know my intuition has been activated. Now, if I want a second opinion, I’ll ask for a particular sign to confirm my decision, which has always worked well for me.”
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Founder and CEO of Ethintegrity, a boutique consulting firm focusing on a culture-based approach to diversity, equity and inclusion, and ethics and compliance.
I spent most of 2022 re-evaluating who I am at this chapter in my life and what I really wanted to achieve with my business. After a significant brand refresh and identifying and creating a new foundation more aligned with my core values, 2023 is focused on externally showing up in different formats that increase the reach and impact of my messaging. For example, Ethintegrity is all about creative solutions to complex problems. Therefore, I am moving away from traditional messaging formats to connect with my audience more effectively. Not only will I be launching Season 2 of The Ethintegrity Podcast, but I am excited to be rolling out my new online course series, The Conscious ChangeMaker Academy. Its purpose is to share knowledge globally about the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion and ethics, and what those things truly mean in a thoughtful and engaging way.
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Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been a challenging road. But no successful business has traveled a smooth journey. The bumps along the way forced me to decide whether or not I would roll back to what is safe and give up or push forward and through the struggle to grow. Over the past 4.5 years, I have had to learn how to run a business (including understanding the legal and financial filings & obligations both in the US and the UK), understand branding and how to create a strategy to effectively engage with my ideal client, figuring just who my ideal client is (because everyone isn’t going to be a great fit), and just believing in myself even when I fail.
I have found that as long as you believe in yourself, you can manifest the help & tools you need. My entrepreneurial journey has blessed me with meeting many entrepreneurs who helped me with strategy, branding, networking, and a listening ear to share their journeys, so I didn’t feel so alone. Each year has allowed me to build upon the prior year’s successes and failures, which in turn has pushed me closer to my ultimate goal. Entrepreneurship truly is a marathon, not a sprint.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I feel the key to my success is that I am an active & empathetic listener. People want to feel seen & heard. Especially when dealing with sensitive and uncomfortable topics. I create a safe space for those uncomfortable conversations and deconstruct overly detailed conversations to get to the root of the issue. Ethics & DEI are unique to each person, so by actively listening, I can figure out how to connect to each person and empower them to constructively share, listen and hold space for others.
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Branding and storytelling can help create an inclusive, engaging compliance program that emphasizes core values and inclusivity—particularly if they’re paired with market research that accounts for views from throughout the organization, according to a diversity, ethics and compliance strategist.
“Embrace branding to increase visibility and cut through the noise,” advised Nichole Pitts, founder and CEO of Ethintegrity, and a former vice president of ethics and compliance.
It’s possible to “use [branding] for great storytelling, and to do it in an innovative and inclusive way, utilizing different departments and modalities to ensure that there’s synergy across your organization, and then having that go into your clear policies and then looking at ways that you can measure the success of your program,” she said at a Dec. 6 webinar sponsored by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.
Branding is defined as “delivering an intentional experience to make your audience feel something and have them choose you as their top choice,” Pitts said. Branding a compliance program can increase department and program recognition, creates consistency in messaging, increases employee engagement and helps to develop credibility, she said.
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Founder and CEO of Ethintegrity LLC, a boutique consulting firm focusing on a culture-based approach to diversity, equity and inclusion, and ethics and compliance.
How to future-proof your business: I found the key to future-proofing my business was staying on top of the news and the conversations on social media. Ethics and DEI are a constantly changing landscape, which requires listening to understand new points of view and how to incorporate those into the services I offer to businesses to help them operate in an ethical and diverse manner.
My advice: Understand your ideal client and stay on the journey with them. As they evolve, so should your business. Also, ensure that you are operating as your authentic self. People gravitate to those who show up as themselves because they feel a sense of kinship and connection like they can trust you to solve their problem because you are open and honest with them.
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