We recently connected with Aleasa Word and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Aleasa, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Several years ago I was going through a tough divorce. I had two young children at home and a teenager. Finances were tough but I was tougher. I woke up on a monumental birthday and made a choice. I didn’t want to wallow in self-pity or fear so I decided I was going to enroll in a certified coaching school. Now, I was BROKE!!! I mean I was so broke I couldn’t afford lint in my pockets. Somehow the lights were still on and we had a roof over our heads, food and transportation. I knew something had to change and I had to go from the blame game to the hustle game. I had to regain what I call my “financial gangsta.”
I found a coaching school that seemed just right but again I did not have money. I applied anyway. Once I did, I found out they had an alumni scholarship program. Hot diggity dog, I qualifed for the scholarship and was awarded the help. Even with that, there was still some money I had to pay. I explained my plight to the sales leader/director who was very understanding. He offered to put me on a payment plan for the rest and I told him I could not really afford it but would try. Somehow for 6 months I was able to make my payment and on time.
Once complete, I graduated as a Success Conversion Coach specializing in emotional intelligence and emotional intelligence strategies. I felt this was my niche. I wanted to help peple like me who did not have an accountabilty partner or any other support they could readily name.
I took the risk because I wanted to do better for myself and my children. I wanted to lave a legacy of resilience and never giving up.
Aleasa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I help people become smarter with their emotions and use them as power tools to improve relationships, quality of life, wellbeing and effectivenss in both their professional and personal life. I am also a Certified Trauma Support Specialist and Diversity consultant so I look at things differently than some others which allows me to build trust with my clients.
I provide emotional intelligence assessments validated and performed in over 150 countries worldwide. The range of assessments includes leadership reports, development reports, brain talent profiles and 360 Multi-rater feedbacks. Most of all I provide clients with a safe space to brainstorm, strategize, be vulnerable, all while improving comunication skills and showing them how to embrace vulnerability without losing their power.
The work I do is not just fluff. When you grow your EI your ability to have better relationships grows as well as your awareness about improving your career and financial bottom line. We often work on communication skills for today’s world, motivation strategies, decision making strategies, how you recognize you own patterns of behavior and creating new memories to out weigh those from the past that may be holding you back. I help people lean into ther real them, be intentional and still enocurge growth.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn judging situations from my own lens. People have different lives and different capacities to deal or not deal with them. I had to unlearn the tendency to be in the authority seat because people were coming to me for help. It took a while for me to learn about conscious humility in the face of knowledge.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
Besides training/knowledge one of the biggest things in my field is creating trust and safe spaces. When you create trust, you open the door for people to be more open with you because they don’t feel judgement.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.awordandcompany.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/iammzword
- Facebook: www.facefook.com/iammzword
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/iammzword
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/iammzword
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rebrandyourmind1093
- Other: www.awordacademy.com
Image Credits
Credit: A. Word & Company