We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jasmine Hawthorne. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jasmine below.

Jasmine, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Unofficially I have been career coaching and advising leaders and aspiring leaders how to lead well throughout my entire corporate career. When I left my Vice President role, I had a clients from other business units requesting my help to navigate the corporate landscape.

The first question most of my clients would ask me is “how did you go from being a telemarketer to breaking into HR as a recruiter and getting 9 promotions in 15 years?” I realized that many talented people were skilled at the requirements of their job, but they lacked the strategy to grow a fruitful and fulfilling career.

My company The Valley Pearl, A Learning Company started because I was knew I could no longer run from what God was calling me to do. I was a corporate through and through. I mean I am the product and beneficiary of the original “Bring Your Daughter to Work Day” back in 1991. I kind of always knew I was going to grow up in the corporate ladder, because I actually love the nuances, the strategy, the people… it all fascinated me from a young age. So scaling my corporate career the way I had was familiar, somewhat comfortable and predictable. So I have to be clear, I had no desire to own my own company, though I had been very comfortable leading global teams to accomplish one goal.

But that confirmation from God that said “Hey Jas, there are more women to be served outside of the box”. I truly laughed and said that’s cute God, but I’m good here. If you are a person of faith, you know that God’s whisper will eventually grow into a roar. He roared, I opened my business.

What I was clear about what that, there are super talent women in corporate spaces who look good on paper, who have all the boxes checked but yet on the inside they are struggling. Because they look put together, because they are usually first generation, because they are Black they feel they can’t ask for help in how to get to the next level. That’s where my company comes in… I tell all of my clients they are a pearl.

Pearls are the only gemstone on earth that does not require human intervention to “per-fect” it. Rather a pearl just needs some guidance on how to get out of a gritty situation. I help them do that.

My coaching clients come to me with their wall up, that wall is typically built with bricks of imposter syndrome, workplace trauma, salary negotiation nerves, uncertainty and fear. I coach alongside my clients to scale that wall and know how to articulate their value, how to market themselves, how to negotiate their salaries with confidence, how to position themselves for promotion.

I feel lit up when I am invited to keynote for corporations and transform the hearts and minds of their colleagues at all levels. Recently my keynote with Comcast really allowed for colleagues to see the value in “Amplifying their Voice” and “How to Build Their Brand”.

In between being a speaker and coach, I provide consultation to several private equity firms and tech companies on their diversity, equity and inclusion plans so they actually have the intended impact.

I know my talent is in knowing what conversations and questions need to be asked in the boardroom and what coaching and support needs to be provided for the talent seeking to get into the boardroom. I am comfortable causing good trouble.

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

After years of keeping my head down and doing “the work” in hopes that it will speak for itself… only to be passed over for promotions… I knew I deserved to do work that matters, with the confidence, credibility, and cash to match.

When I realized that I was not the only woman in corporate America who felt like there was an entirely different game that was being played, and that I was not equipped with the winning playbook…. I quickly took action. I built out the frameworks that repeatedly helped me to secure 9 promotions over 15 years.

I took note on what worked, what didn’t work and why.
Slowly but surely, my process helped colleagues secure 5-figure increases, promotions and confidence to pursue the career roadmap I helped them to design.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the myths I had about salary negotiations. I was always taught to be grateful, humble and trust that my hard work would pay off. But that just was not the case. I remember the first time I renegotiated my salary after I had been with a company for 3 years and had taken on an incredible amount of responsibility with my peer and boss recently having left the organization. I recall the feelings, the nerves… but I also recall that if I didn’t speak up and say yes to what I know is mine, I would ultimately be saying no to my daughters. They deserve the best from my hardwork, so with that I prepared all my documents and requested time to speak with my new manager to have a “conversation about my career”. That conversation led to a salary increase and a promotion 6 months later.

It’s unfortunate, but true that 70% of women have never negotiated their salaries. Ever.
Through my own experiences, I love coaching aspiring vice presidents, how to lead conversations around money, with confidence and expectation. Nothing fills my heart faster than receiving a call or text from a client that she has successfully negotiated her new salary!

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I can talk to you all day about leading teams…. leadership is my love language. I have had the pleasure of seeing amazing leadership and not so great people try to lead.
Leading Well is fundamental to me and how I coach.

For folks who are managing a team, here are a few things to keep in mind:
– each person on your team is unique, so how you coach/lead one, is not how you can lead them all. Instead of a “this is how I lead” mentality… take time asking and learning from your people how they like to be coached/led/rewarded/critiqued. etc.

-just because you are the manager/leader does not mean you know all the things. Instead of faking it until you make it, be vulnerable with your team. Tell them the things you are DARN good at…tell them how you plan to have their backs… tell them your vision and goal for the them and the team. Likewise be humble and tell them the things you are not the best at and why you value their expertise in a particular area on our team. Once your team sees a clear lane for them to add value in, alongside you… skies the limit with performance and high morale!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.TheValleyPearl.com
• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheValleyPearl
• Linkedin: www.Linkedin/in/jasminehawthorne
• Twitter: @TheValleyPearl
• Other: TikTok: @TheValleyPearl_Jasmine

Image Credits
Brittany Woods IG: @edengracephotos