We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carline Beaubrun a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Carline, appreciate you joining us today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.
Single motherhood has grown so common in America that today 80 percent of single-parent families are headed by single mothers — nearly a third live in poverty.
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?
Highly dedicated, innovative, and goal-driven, I am an accredited, award-winning, multi-business owner with an impressive professional background in the beauty, hospitality, entertainment, and non-profit sectors. I am the Founder and Creative Director of Events by Carline, a 20+ year internationally operated, full-service event production company based in Garden City, New York. The co-owner of Classic Beauty Salon, located in Queens, New York. The Founder and Executive Director of a non-profit organization called Pajamas & A Purpose, Inc. The founder of a national award program, Flying Solo Awards. I am a best-selling author of the book series, Flying Solo. My blog, FlyingSoloBlog.com, is ranked by Google in the top one-half percent of all blogs.
Born and raised in Valley Stream, New York, by an entrepreneurial family, I fostered the desire to become an entrepreneur myself. At just five years old, I began leveraging my natural-born designing skills to develop wow-factor events for my family members, which became the catalyst for me to pursue this as a career. Turning my passion into profit, I launched an event design business in 2010.
I am an award-winning event designer that offers my clients luxury designs for every type of event. Though I am based in Garden City, New York I take my out-of-the-box ideas and inspiring visions to places all throughout the world!
My business has been thriving for nearly two decades, and I simultaneously launched two more organizations, Pajamas & A Purpose Inc, and the Flying Solo Awards. all with a sole mission to make a positive impact in others lives.
Pajamas and a Purpose Inc. is a nonprofit 501(C) 3 organization, a network of amazing professional women representing several diverse backgrounds. Our purpose is to empower women and girls through positive support, and increase interest in self-development & community involvement; one pajama party at a time!
I took my love of wearing my pajamas, dancing, having fun, entertaining, and giving back to my community, and I created an experience for women; where we can celebrate friendship, womanhood, motherhood, sisterhood, provide support and love to those who are going through difficult life changes or celebrating an accomplishment.
The pajama party happened one night a year. It started with a small group of friends and every year it kept on growing. Women came in their pajamas and enjoyed all the favorite things from girlhood memories of slumber parties like: dress up, a photo bed, games & prizes, dancing, laughing, food & cocktails. It became the ultimate girls-night-out experience as new friendships and bonds were made.
Over the past years, that single successful event has been transformed into a powerful organization of women helping and supporting each other and helping young girls grow into brave resilient women. Every pajama party event is with the purpose of giving back to our community in a special way. This organization provides the experience that I created for women to give them an excuse to let their hair down, laugh together, and create new memories all while finding and sharing their life purpose.
Flying Solo is a national recognition program, dedicated to acknowledging honoring, and uplifting single parents that are making strides in parenthood and life, despite their situation. Single parenting is a very difficult journey. As an organization, we help support their effort of being the best parent they can be. Through various partnerships, we are able to provide resources such as mentorship, financial aid, scholarships, family counseling, and entrepreneurial training.
In honor of National Single Parent Day on March 21st – The Flying Solo Awards Program honors 20 moms and dads with an annual gala. These honorees are nominated by their family, friends, or community. We believe single parents need and deserve recognition for their hard work, tenacity, and accomplishments. Making these moms and dads feel special by providing recognition on this day, is our passion. Why? Because they deserve it!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Thirteen years ago, I hit rock bottom due to a traumatic divorce – raising three children alone and bankrupt, I had to figure out a healthy way of living and working so I could re-launch my life.
After filing for a divorce in 2008, I took a leap of faith, I started my first business, E New York Events. A few months later the market crashed and the divorce wiped out my finances. I lost everything, my home my business, including several friends in the process.
After going through a much-needed woo-sa moment, I had to do some soul searching about what was important to me. I refused to let the obstacles in life defeat me, define my future, or let anyone tear me down for the difficult decisions I had to make. It was time to make new memories and define a new future.
As a first-generation college graduate who comes from very humble beginnings, I was no stranger to hard work, faith, perseverance, and big dreams. As an entrepreneur and single mom, there was no end to my workdays as I worked tirelessly to accomplish my big dreams. When things became hard and I became frustrated, I would take a deep breath, and say— you know what, I’ll try again tomorrow.
I always found a place of solace when I would get home, take a long shower, throw my PJs on and cuddle up with my babies reading them bedtime stories after a long day. That time was so important to me and to them. That is when I embraced the power of being an entrepreneur. Despite the many hurdles I had to face as an entrepreneur, I knew what I was doing had a purpose. Every time I looked at my babies and was able to spend time with them at my discretion, I was reminded that giving up was not an option.
My entrepreneurial brain is always working with refreshing new ideas that turn into dreams to accomplish. After putting the kids to bed, and I have a woo-sa moment, I would write down my ideas, thoughts, and dreams, say a prayer, and go to bed. After trying to get a good night’s rest, I would wake up at the crack of dawn to start my day all over again— a new day to try again, is what I would remind myself. That gave me the courage to get out of bed during some of the toughest times of my life. Then I would challenge myself—Ok Carline, what are you going to do today to get yourself one step closer to your dream? That would be the start of my day. Writing down my dreams, and putting a date on them gave me goals. Breaking down my goals into steps gave me a plan. Backing up those plans with actions gave me purpose.
Writing became an act of healing for me. I knew one day I would want to share my story with the world and help others get through what I was going through. In 2020 when the world shut down due to COVID, I used this time to pursue my passion for writing and became the author of a four-part self-help book series, Flying Solo.
As a single mom who raised three AMAZING children, my mission has always been to help empower other single mothers on this journey. The Flying Solo Series brings hope and inspiration to those going through difficult life challenges. In my soul-wrenching story of survival, recovery, and transformation, I expose the deep, dark, and devastating effects of my experiences with domestic violence, divorce, single motherhood, depression, bankruptcy, and self-discovery. Refusing to let life’s challenges defeat me, I decided to fight back, turning my trauma into triumph. I take readers through my journey at different stages of my life while providing them with actionable steps to help empower them to turn their trauma into triumph.
I am intentional and am not afraid to speak my mind. When I write, my stories often have less to do with their subject than their significance — not what I did in a particular situation, but how that situation affected me and helped shape the person I became. My writing is full of love and lessons learned. In my writing, I tell my readers I am not a victim. I have survived without resentment and am living my best life. I take all of my experiences and talents as far as I can. I believe in myself, take risks, dare to be different, and push myself to excel. I am an author, blogger, and contributor who uses my writing to impact thousands of readers. The first book of the Flying Solo Series, Passion to Profit, is now available in all major bookstores.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I have been through the wringer as an entrepreneur and a single mother of three. I understand first-hand how women often have to juggle life challenges and the demands of being a mother and businesswoman. Over the last ten years, I have coached girls, and women on how to turn their trauma into triumph, and aspiring business leaders on how to turn their creative passions into scalable profits.
My message of personal development, productivity, and leadership peaks levels of success, performance, profitability, and fulfillment. I have empowered over 4,000 women and girls with diverse backgrounds and over 50,000 business professionals internationally. Nothing makes me happier than being a valuable resource to help others reach their goals to succeed and make a genuine, positive difference within my community. But most importantly, after all the life challenges my children and I have been through, I hope to leave a legacy they will be proud of.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://flyingsoloblog.com | https://flyingsoloblog.com/book/ | https://flyingsoloawards.com/ | https://pajamasandapurpose.org/ | https://carlinebeaubrun.com/
- Instagram: @flyingsoloblog | https://www.instagram.com/flyingsoloblog/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cbflyingsolo/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7RkOu6mP7g4MWy5LG9yrUQ
- Other: FLYING SOLO – CLUBHOUSE: https://bit.ly/3tHq1rX PINTEREST: https://bit.ly/3NbfWfo
Image Credits
Jason Jaboin Michael Scott