We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kayla Dawn Gladney a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kayla Dawn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

In the summer of 2018, my family went on our favorite vacation: a cruise. I couldn’t wait to be back out on that big blanket of blue – to watch the sun drop into oblivion and see the moonlight shine so bright you’d think there’s no way it doesn’t produce its own light.

I was especially looking forward to getting a break from my job. I was working as a digital content producer at a local news station, and although it sounded like the coolest job in the world to people who didn’t know any better, I was miserable. News is a difficult profession anyway, but our work environment could’ve won an AP Award for making us more miserable than any of the news we reported.

A few months earlier, I started doing photography work on the side. I felt a little guilty because my parents had bought me a Macbook Pro and a DSLR camera while I was in film school, but there I was years later, not making good on their investment. After starting my side hustle, it didn’t take long to confirm what I already knew about myself: I’m not good at multitasking.

#RiseAndGrind Twitter said I should work my shift at the news station from 4 a.m. to 1 p.m., work on my business from 1 p.m. to midnight, and sleep when I die. Though I tried to balance my full-time job and freelance work and got close to that permanent nap, I knew I would never be one of those people who grew their side hustle so big that they could quit their full-time job. I would have to go all in to do my best work and put forth an honest effort at running a business.

At the end of our cruise, I felt a sense of dread that I didn’t even think was possible outside of the beginning of a new school year. The blanket of blue was slipping off, and it felt like I was now driving straight into a fire. Then I got a notification on my phone.

One of the buildings on my high school campus had burned down. We were all in disbelief, sharing memories and wondering what it meant for the upcoming school year. The idea of the phoenix quickly started to circulate. My alma mater would bounce back and rise from the ashes better than before. That felt poetic to me.

I told my parents I was interested in doing photography and videography full-time, but the way my energy and attention span was set up, I would have to go all in. I was 24 years old, meaning I had 2 more years on their health insurance. The way I saw it, I was young enough to try, fail, then get back into the workforce and build a successful career. I knew if I didn’t go for it, then I never would.

I needed to burn it down to see if I would rise from the ashes.

I quit my job in August 2018 and got my paperwork for DawnG Media LLC, my digital marketing agency, back on September 5th, 2018.

My parents supported my decision to quit my job and start my business. By January 2019, I had run out of money. I remember my mom sliding me some money when my parents came to visit because she had gotten one of my overdraft notices in the mail (and, of course, she opened it because that’s what parents do).

Around this time, my mom started having pain in her side. After weeks of nudging her, she finally went to the doctor. In an ultrasound, they saw something that looked like a mass and wanted to do a biopsy. She’d had a major heart attack a few years earlier and was on blood thinners, but they needed her to come off them for about two weeks before they could perform the procedure.

During that time, she had a T.I.A. (mini-stroke) and ended up in the hospital. The hospital decided to look into the mass for her since she was already there. Over the next two weeks, things went from the TIA to an actual stroke, pancreatic cancer that had spread to her liver, a possible mass on her brain, and heart failure. She never made it out of the hospital.

I stayed every night with her in the hospital, and it wasn’t lost on me that I could only do that because I worked for myself. That would’ve been impossible if I’d had a 9-5.

I was heartbroken to lose my mom, but being there for her during that time solidified that I was on the right path. I knew entrepreneurship was going to give me more than money, it was going to give me freedom and flexibility. It would allow me to be there for my friends and family in ways that most couldn’t.

As a full-time business owner, I take risks often now, and they’re always a little nerve-wracking. When things start to look questionable, like the sun sinking into oblivion, I think of all the confirmation I received after taking a leap and quitting my job to start my business. I’m reminded that this is what I’m supposed to do, to keep holding on.

And that confirmation, amid all the darkness, kind of feels like moonlight.

Kayla Dawn, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Kayla Gladney, and I am the owner and CEO of DawnG Media.

I’ve always been a storyteller. My parents said the way used to talk to them about my day, even before I could talk, had people saying, “That girl been here before.”

Early in school, that manifested in writing. I went to an arts high school where I majored in creative writing, but by the time I graduated, I realized I was more interested in telling stories on screen. So, when I got to college, I majored in Film Production.

It was through that major, particularly the documentary work we did, that I realized I could tell purposeful stories that made a difference. Using people’s narratives could spread the word about nonprofits and small businesses.

DGM is a digital marketing agency that works with purpose-driven companies to create a digital presence that reflects their real-world impact. We work with clients that are frustrated because they know they’re leaving money on the table or know they’re missing out on opportunities because they aren’t using digital marketing tools to amplify their messaging. We come in alongside them to flesh out their brand narrative, put together a digital marketing strategy, and help them execute on things like social media management, content creation, and website design.

What sets us apart from other agencies is our ability to deeply connect to our client’s missions. This allows us to ask better questions to help them identify and articulate key elements of their story they never knew to prioritize. Then we use this new understanding to develop a digital marketing strategy with messaging that connects.

I think the care and respect we have for the work they do shows up in our process and our work product, and it positively impacts their experience with us.

I’m proud of the work we’ve been able to do, and what our clients have been able to accomplish because of the work we’ve done. I’m proud of the all-female team we’ve built.

We show up for black folks and we best serve folks who serve black folks.

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

We deliver a great work product, but I believe our customer service experience is what has built our reputation in the marketplace. People enjoy working with us because we connect with them on a human level and meet them where they are. No matter their level of understanding of digital marketing, we can explain everything they need to know in terms they understand.

We recognize that we’re usually brought in to expand capacity, so we try to tailor our processes to best support our clients and not add more work to their full plate. I think it’s these small things, outside of the work product, that show clients we truly care about them and the work they do.

Any advice for managing a team?

I think managing a team and keeping the morale high comes down to empathy. When you understand that people think differently and that doesn’t make them wrong, it allows you to engage with them differently.

Also, giving your team the right amount of responsibility and agency is key. I’ve found that when I identify a problem and provide structure for a solution, my team thrives. They can exercise their agency in determining the solution without the guesswork of wondering if it’s what I was looking for or not.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dawngmedia.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dawngmedia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DawnGMedia
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-gladney/