Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alyceson-Grace Eke. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Alyceson-Grace, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

Even if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t change a thing. I am a firm believer in God’s timing above all else. The ECON Queen started in August of 2021. I was a recent graduate of the University of North Texas with a B.B.A. in Economics, and I was a part-time worker for a community bank. I loved my program and I loved my job, but there was still emptiness in my heart.

At the time, my life felt unfulfilled and purposeless. I spent my entire childhood looking forward to college – it was really all I had to hope for – and in my four years of university, my dad died, I had to step up as the head of my family, I spiraled into severely unhealthy coping mechanisms, I mutated into a version of myself I couldn’t recognize, and ultimately lost my final college years to COVID-19. I made the most of my time, but these challenges still are stabs to my spirit and salt in my wounds. I became isolated, depressed, and distant from my faith.

I believe The ECON Queen is God’s gift of life to me, a reminder of His unconditional love. The ECON Queen became the only thing I had in my life that made me feel like my existence mattered, the only environment where I knew my value and efforts were known, recognized, and appreciated. If this loving space was enough to keep me from welcoming defeat in the most “permanent” of ways, perhaps I could help others at every stage in life by showing them the kindness and care that is required of my work.

I would not have been able to articulate the importance of self-love, forgiveness, and grace even in times of challenge and error had I not endured every blow that came from my earlier life. The ECON Queen allows me to tell everyone I meet, “Regardless of your grades, your finances, or your knowledge level, you deserve to love yourself at every phase. And if you’re not at that point of self-love yet, that’s okay…we’ll get there. In the meantime, just know that someone loves you as you are.”

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The ECON Queen provides educational services in the realms of academics, personal finance, and life skills development. We offer tutoring sessions for a variety of subjects (not just Economics!), budget coaching sessions, money management workshops, and much more.

Economics is the study of choice. Since we have limited resources (time, money. etc.), we have to make choices every day. Economics is not limited to the classroom with a supply and demand graph. It appears in our lifestyle, our finances, and our priorities.

What separates The ECON Queen from any other educational service is our focus on every learner’s sense of self. It is our belief that success comes not from the educator’s faith in the learner, but the learner’s faith in themselves. Our job is to help our learners exhume the self-love that lies within. It may be buried underneath the actions of our parents, the words of our peers, or the expectations of our society, but that self-love is there, and we’re going to unearth it together.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

My personal brand is the greatest asset I have in building my reputation within the educational services industry. The messages of love and kindness would be in vain if I did not practice those actions. I do not have the capital that large-scale businesses have, and I am still working on getting to know more people and getting my name out there, but the name “Alyceson-Grace Eke” must evoke feelings of safety, patience, and love in order for The ECON Queen to grow in the right direction.

To do this, I have to lean deeper into my faith in God for guidance and continuously focus on actively listening to people’s words and actions. It has taken years of prayer, therapy, and reflection to develop and maintain my personal brand in this dimension. I am not perfect, by any means, but I strive to do better than I did the day before.

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 my affection for Hammurabi’s Code. What I mean is…I had to learn that you can achieve order and success without having to be cruel and ruthless.

Consider my life two sides of the same coin: I was raised by undoubtedly loving parents with sharp tongues and tactical aggression. It can be confusing when the people who love you the most (and whom you love the most) are poisoned by their iniquity and deference, resulting in you drinking venom as a substitute for water. I assure you that there is love in our home, and I wouldn’t have any other parents in any other lifetime for any other reason. Nonetheless, my parents could say things in a way that sticks with you for the rest of your life. To that end, I often avoid confrontation and aggression. The other side is that in periodic times when I do engage the perceived hostility, I’ve had a history of being needlessly cruel and vindictive in my words and actions. I would use a person’s slight offense to justify downright malicious behavior. I held grudges shamelessly and found my rare wrongdoings pleasant. I was, at a time, simultaneously beloved for my affection and notorious for my rage.

I saw it in my home, I received it, I hated it, and yet I still delivered it. Once I realized that both extremes of this unhealthy behavior could not co-exist with The ECON Queen, I started making active efforts to reverse these behaviors. I would rather lose my old behaviors than lose The ECON Queen or anyone we have the blessing to serve.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.econqueen.com/
• Instagram: @econ_queen
• Facebook: TheECONQueen
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyceson-grace-eke/
• Twitter: @TheECONQueen
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheECONQueen/

Image Credits
Dasia Smith (@dsmith_creative)