We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Audrey Burks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Audrey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
Empowered Aspirations was birthed from God revealing this particular gift to serve through my own personal career journey. I wore a few hats in my career path to my present destination. I was a retail manager for quite a few years, a recruiter, a Workforce Employment Consultant, helping job seekers connect with local businesses and a Learning and Development Consultant. While these roles may have different responsibilities, they all provided me with experiences and skills needed to fulfill my God given purpose to empower others to be their best selves at work and in life.
I have always been interested in individual career choices and if someone loved their job. “Did you choose your career? Or did it choose you?” As a retail manager, I wanted my team to enjoy their work and help them plan career paths if they had an interest in retail. If they didn’t, I encouraged them to find their passion and helped them to find resources to guide them. Opportunities to help others with their careers manifested in my other job roles, at church, even on personal trips. I could be sitting on a park bench and someone would sit near and share a part of their life with me. God would give me a seed to share in return, though I did not know what would grow. I had no idea that this would become my passion. My ministry. God made it my business to help others aspire to reach their goals. That’s how Empowered Aspirations formed.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
At Empowered Aspirations, I help clients reach their career goals by offering personalized online and in person coaching and professional development training for individuals, teams and organizations. I can facilitate training on a variety of topics. I am also an instructional designer. I can create customized training courses assisting organizations with their employee and organization development strategies.
I have a Master of Human Resource Management degree and began volunteering as a career coach for Charlotte Works in 2015. I was hired on as a Workforce Employment Consultant when I earned my Global Career Development Facilitator Certification. I volunteered as a career coach at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. I also served as a coach at my various places of employment. Fast forward to today, I enjoy coaching and consulting for my business.
What makes my coaching services and the experience different is that I have been an employee, a store manager and employer, a leader, a workforce consultant, a recruiter and a DEI champion. These experiences allow me to serve clients from every walk of life, helping them create feasible action plans to reach their goals.
One of my proudest moments as a career coach was working with a senior gentleman who was an immigrant from Panama. He moved to the United States with his wife who was battling cancer. He was her caregiver and had not worked in his field in the U.S. After a long battle, his wife went into remission and her health began to improve. Now he was able to devote time to finding work in his field.
When we met, he had no experience writing resumes or utilizing an online application system. Together, we were able to create his resume. He learned how to apply online, performed mock interviews and reviewed potential behavioral questions to prepare for interview opportunities. We created a LinkedIn profile, connected with experts in his field and subscribed to articles and organizations specializing in his industry. He found an awesome job, with great benefits allowing him to manage his household and his wife’s medical needs. Empowered Aspirations is more than a business. It truly is a ministry.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
Most of my services are conducted virtually. I foster brand loyalty by providing a free 3o-minute consultation to help potential clients learn more about the coaching process and determine if my services will fit their needs. That time is a safe space to have a confidential conversation and build relationships. Once a client, we will work together as a team towards a common goal. Because we are both committed to my client’s success, we will celebrate benchmarks, adjust to life events and stay the course to the finish line together. It is this experience that has clients sharing their successes and reconnecting to plan their next move.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Having been a store manager for quite a few years, I made the decision that my next move was to become a corporate Buyer Assistant. It was not easy transitioning from the stores to a corporate role, but I did it. Only to find out that I did not enjoy it. At that time, I was unaware of strategies to learn about a role prior to investing your time, energy and perhaps money. In my new role, I missed people engagement and helping others. I learned that role was not a good fit for me. But while I was there, I connected with the trainers and learned about their roles. I began to transition from finding a job, to seeking a career. I gathered the information they provided, read a lot of books on training and acquired my first role as a full-cycle recruiter and trainer for Best Buy.
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