We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lasheena Williams, MNM, CNP a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Lasheena thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
I am a native of South Florida and a dedicated community advocate with over 15 years in program development and nonprofit management. With a passion for service and a desire to create thriving communities, I continually support my community by contributing my expertise to various local and nationally-recognized organizations. I played a strategic role in the growth and maintenance for a national youth development organization in which I developed, delivered, and evaluated various youth programs. My dedication to youth development led to the founding of L.O.V.E Our Youth in 2012, a nonprofit organization providing youth programs meant to encourage confidence and connect local partners with program services to provide greater impact in the community. As a result of my accomplishments and advocacy for youth, I have received recognition nationally.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My repertoire of professional skills includes program planning, event planning, grant writing, facilitation, fund management, public speaking, strategic planning, program evaluation, and public relations. In addition, I have experience managing over 30 million in grant funds that go to youth-based programs and services throughout Orange County, FL. The culmination of my professional and philanthropic endeavors provides a depth of understanding used to leverage
the services I offer my clients at Nonprofit Enthusiast. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master of Nonprofit Management (MNM), both from the University of Central Florida. I am a certified nonprofit professional (CNP) and certified youth mental health first aider. My consistent action toward youth development has fueled my desire to empower organizations that will provide services for our communities to flourish.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
If I had to sum up what I learned in growing my clientele and the strategy I found to be most effective, it would be:
Be consistent. Be bold. Be you. Be consistent. There will be plenty of times on your entrepreneurial journey where you may host an event and, at times, you will be the only one in attendance or make a post and you are the only one that has liked or viewed that post. Don’t get discouraged. Instead, reassess what worked and what did not work and try all over again, implementing the lessons you’ve learned.
Be bold. Your entrepreneurial brain is going to come up with some amazing ideas and some of those ideas will not be understood by others because the ideas are so unique. Be bold and step outside of your comfort zone. For me that has been posting videos on social media. In the beginning this was definitely uncomfortable, but my desire to share this information with others spurred me forward. I wanted to help others looking to help their community; pay it forward. I
started using social media as one way to reach this group. Be you. No matter what strategy you use to grow your clientele, remember to stay true to you! Your prospective clientele can sense when you are not being your true authentic self, and being anyone else other than yourself can chase them away.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Despite how much I encourage other entrepreneurs to let go of their duties and invest in building the people, processes, and technology within their company,
I found myself not taking my own advice. I lost valuable time with friends, missed opportunities to create memories with my family and didn’t take time for myself to care for my needs. I finally said enough is enough, and I had to take a break from doing the things within the business that were taking most of my time and backing up to spend a few months on building the business instead of working in it. Now I enjoy looking at how much taking this time out of the business has allowed us to grow.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nonprofitenthusiast.com
- Instagram: @nonprofitenthusiast
- Other: 833-959-7446 ext 702 [email protected]
Image Credits
Kossina Creative Photography