We recently connected with Destini Harrell and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Destini thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
Let’s just start by saying my goal wasn’t to start a business. In fact, for the longest time I swore I could never be an entrepreneur yet that’s the very thing I became. I just had a conviction, a belief, that somehow being myself was enough- for my family, for my friends, for my community- and I could, well, live and make a living doing that!
My nature is to connect- whether that’s words, people, ideas, resources, missions or visions – and strategize through those connections for impact. No matter the medium, I kept finding that many times the answer or the missing piece that would lead to innovation, renewal and impact existed right next door- beyond the usual, the contextually familiar, the day-to-day, the silos. That became my favorite space to create in! Ultimately, this lead to the realization that I had a knack for this kind of “cross-pollination” and that it could, and in fact did, result in economics. The biggest challenge would be to go from what people knew me for in nature, to them seeing economic value and seeing the ability and reasonability to compensate for it.
I did all the immediate things I could do to officially become a business on paper- all the fun filing and “administrivia”- and created business cards and a website. Even with that, I struggled to go from “brand” to “business”. I knew the philosophy behind what I was doing but there was the work of translating an abstract way of living and seeing the world into words the everyday person could grasp and thus interpret its economic weight. With that, Year 1 was the year of spreading the idea and the heart behind it with my networks. Year 2, this year, would become the grand re-unveiling that put more process, proof, and direction into the business.
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 name is Destini Harrell and I am a creative strategist, artist, advocate, connector and what I call a “street-level economic and cultural developer.” Bridging and crossing-over worlds of thought, people, and resources- and strategizing with good people and organizations on how to realize their vision of impact brings me so much JOY and is a big part of my calling! I wanted to figure out how to make a life and living being myself and because of that, I started The Blessed Rogue LLC (TBR).
The Blessed Rogue is an interdisciplinary, strategic-creative consultancy and impact vehicle that partners with organizations and individuals to realize transformational impact through inspired work- in the many ways and avenues that work can take shape. Through coaching, consulting, collaborating and co-creating with these visionary individuals and orgs (from startups to pre DAOs to small businesses and nonprofits), we get to partner in these greater world-changing missions.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
“Success looks like security.”
From the moment we are born into the world, the definition of success begins to be engrained in us and the roles we are supposed to assume- our alignment to these predetermined images as a gauge of social success. Along my journey of life, one of the biggest areas where that image became enlarged was in my career. Part of what enabled me to take the leap to invest in my community- my networks- also in some ways was a factor I needed to overcome. These people who knew me from college years and younger saw me in different forms and shapes and had opinions on who I should be- a mathematician, an engineer, a broker, a developer, a politician. No matter the suggestion, many of the main points of why I should be those things had to do with retirement, money, and safety- security. Of course, I wanted those things, but I also wanted to risk unconventional, lesser charted paths. I shrugged off the traditional roles I was optioned and dared to wade in the abstract. Instead of finding a role that I could fit, I sought to create a path of a new kind from different pieces, parts and philosophies I encountered throughout life that shaped me and the impact I wanted to have. I wanted my life to be a work of art. And the funny thing is this choice came with two popular, reoccurring looks from the outside: “you’re so incredibly brave (I would never do that)” and “you’re so incredibly naive”. But my life and work as it has been and as it will be is successful, because I refused to opt for security and chose purpose, love, and creativity.
How did you build your audience on social media?
The beginning chunk of my audience on social media came from my real life networks. I was about 19 when I started to become conscious of the diverse people from all different walks of life I was meeting, but then became more intentional about not just amassing a network, but learning how to connect and activate them. I built relationships with everyone from artists to business owners, students to CEOs, nonprofits to startups- and remained sincere cultivating those. I built the community that would one day (without me realizing it at the time) become my audience. I also had to explore what platforms they were on- in my case, a large majority of them were on LinkedIn, not Instagram which I was originally planning to spending most of my time on. I used LinkedIn as a means to grow my community by sharing ideas, engaging hashtags, and getting outside of my vast yet immediate bubbles. A lot of the people I knew in real life were the people I wanted to impact, but I also always knew I need to open my horizons and form new virtual, global connections.
My instance may be different than most when it comes to building a social media audience. Regardless, if you’re building largely from IRL connections or if you’re starting to build following in the virtual social media landscape from scratch, I will say authenticity – humanity – goes a long way. Be a person online- share ideas, lessons, thoughts, what you’re curious about- let them get to know what you and your business is about rather than purely taking a stance of selling or trying to get clients. In a world where connectivity is at an all-time high, connection is suffering. Resonation- whether intellectually, spiritually, or philosophically- can play a huge role in your ability to grow your audience and it also takes the limits off of how far that reach can go.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.destiniharrell.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dmav17/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/destini-harrell/