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

Hi Imani, thanks for joining us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

Good question! If I could start over there are a thousand things I would have done differently. There are two major things I would have done differently with the first one being JUST DO IT. Don’t second guess yourself, do not overthink the process. by doing these things you are slowing down your progress. In addition, holding off on doing something for your business could mean you leave the door open for someone else to act on the vision that you have.

The second major thing I would have to say is to stop being so concerned with what you “think” other people will say and self-sabotaging yourself. Alot of times as entrepreneurs we are our own worst critics. Alot of times we assume people won’t buy or like a product we put out so instead of doing it we just won’t until we think it’s perfect. We have to not be afraid of critic and a lot of times what we think consumers won’t like actually turns out to be a hit.

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?

Absolutely! Before I discuss about business, I feel it is important for readers to know me as a person. Behind being a serial entrepreneur, I am a mother to three beautiful girls, a wife, in my free time I love playing the violin and writing poetry.

Now to business, when it comes to how I got in the nonprofit world with “Brown Girls of Tomorrow” I can really say it kind of just happened. The idea initially came to me in college, I reflected over my own personal journey and challenges and felt God laid it on my heart to do. While in college I met with other nonprofits to get a better understanding as to what the nonprofit world was all about. At that point in my life, I just wasn’t ready to pursue it because ultimately at that time life was just whew lol! But later on in 2020 it was laid on my heart again. At this point I was a mom to my own little girl and the timing felt right, so I went for it. The problems we solve through Brown Girls of Tomorrow, a youth mentoring program, is to expose our students to opportunities beyond middle and high school and to empower our future leaders of tomorrow through sisterhood. What I believe set us apart is our focus points and how we conduct our meets. Our meets are informal to create a comfortable and safe space for our youth feel free to express themselves. In addition, we think beyond our youth, meaning we believe it’s important that our families are whole so that are students are whole. To ensure this we make sure to provide resources outside of our program such as counseling services, housing resources, resources for families, facing homelessness, and the list goes on. I am most proud of the growth of our program and where the program is headed in 2024.

When it comes to how I go into life coaching with “Unleashing Her Purpose”, well that’s easy. I have always been that person people comes to for advice about life and my own personal experiences has helped me, help others. Plus, it was something I was already doing with our youth. I have always loved helping others see their own potential. The problems we solve is to unleash and empower women of all ages from the barriers of fear and uncertainty so that they are able to walk in purpose, on purpose. I am so proud of what’s to come 2024 as we will be introducing our Big Boss Mom the Movement. designed for all moms of all ages.

The main things that I want readers to know if that my biggest thing in business no matter what business it is, is to always improve the lives of others in some capacity,

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Very good question! When it comes to Brown Girls of Tomorrow what I think helped build my reputation within my market would be number one getting out and meeting people offline. Meeting people offline whether it was at community events, community forums, or so forth I felt is extremely important because it creates a deeper connection with your peers in the community you serve. This is important because when you know your peers in the community it makes it easier to serve and refer people in areas you may not cover in your organization. The second thing I think helped was to also get to know people outside of business because a lot of times as business owners we get so wrapped up in business we forget to see business owners as people outside of their business. This is also another way I was able to build genuine and lifelong connections and friendships.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When it comes to how I built my audience on social media, well its simple I was myself. To be transparent, when I first started trying to build my audience online, it was a failure. I struggled with imposter syndrome really badly. I was trying to be what I felt like people expected me to be like instead of just being me. Once I truly and wholeheartedly found myself and being myself online it brought in the clients that were for me and the rest is truly history. In addition, I was also very consistent with the content I posted online, and I found my “niche”. So ultimately, the advice I would give to anyone starting out with building their social media presence is to first just BE YOU. There is literally NO ONE that can do you like you. Being unapologetically and authentically you will drive those costumers and supporters to you that are for you. Lastly, be consistent, consistency is literally currency no matter the industry you’re in, it builds trust with your online connection’s.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/browngirlsoftomorrow ; https://www.instagram.com/uhpcoaching
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/browngirlsoftomorrow
• Linkedin: https://www.instagram.com/browngirlsoftomorrow
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/browngirls2020 ; https://www.twitter.com/uhpcoaching
• Other: Unleashing Her Purpose (Life Coaching Email): [email protected] Brown Girls of Tomorrow (Email): [email protected]

Image Credits
Headshot: CMetro Jones