I’m the founder and CEO of Single & Saved in the City, a life group and community for Christian single women. The idea really dates back to when I became pregnant with my son, and I was journeying through single motherhood while desiring to find a community of single women I can do life with. I found pockets of community here or there over the years, but the groups either leaned too much into the business networking side, they didn’t have enough events, or it was difficult to find genuine connections.

When my family and I relocated to Atlanta in 2019, the desire to find community grew incredibly stronger. The transition to Atlanta was extremely rough for my family and I as we experienced homelessness, and then shortly thereafter the pandemic hit. All of those life circumstances made making new and genuine connections that much harder. Once we got on our feet, I was able to make connections through my work as a Content Creator, and many of those connections I still have to this day. However, majority of them still are not fellow single women or single moms such as myself. There’s just something extra special about doing life with people in a similar season as you.

In June 2020 I began feeling the unction to start the community I was looking for, but I had my reservations because I’m the type of person that’s okay being in the background and just helping out where needed. I really did not want to have the responsibility of running a whole community group. In the same month I had an interview recording with a nonprofit organization in Florida through my content creation brand, Daily Delle. During a break in recording the nonprofit owner turned to me and said, “I don’t know why, but I feel the Holy Spirit telling me that you need to start a community for Christian single women like yourself. You’re going to try to run from it, but it’s going to be big no matter how much you try to keep it contained.” Mind you, I did not know this woman from a can of paint so I know that was nothing but God speaking through her.

Like she said, I ran for two years from the idea. I continued doing my content creation work as a YouTuber and even consulting others in starting or strengthening their brands. Fast forward to June 2022, and the unction came back even stronger than before. I just felt this overwhelming sense of loneliness, but also wanting to find the tribe I was desiring for so many years. It seemed like I just couldn’t fit in no matter where I would go and how hard I tried. One day in June I made a TikTok explaining how relocating to Atlanta started the loneliest season of my life, how I’ve never had a problem making friends, and never had to put out much effort to do so. I continued on to express my feelings and how the loneliness has drawn me closer to God and made me realize I’m set apart for a reason. Within 1 hour that TikTok went viral. Hundreds of women commented saying they resonated with what I was saying, and how much they desired a community that they could build genuine connections through. That’s when I knew for sure that it was time to start the life group and build the community around it.

I knew I wanted to start a community that curated outings and events, provided business networking and exposure, was rooted in faith, and offered life advice and support. From there I started brainstorming names, and eventually the name “Single & Saved in the City” hit me. There are plenty of groups out there, but I truly wanted a group that covered the pillars of business, faith, and life so the women in the group can have a holistic experience.

I’m a native of the Washington, DC area, and I grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland. I grew up in a Caribbean household, and from a young age my parents encouraged me to explore my interests. I can say I’m truly a creative at heart, and ever since I was a young girl I enjoyed experimenting in creative arts. I knew from an early age that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and I wanted to do something in the creative industry. However, back then content creation wasn’t a thing. There was no social media. No online business. None of that. So my parents gave me two choices: get a job and professional certifications right out of high school, or go to college and then get a career job.

Like most people in the Washington, DC area, I started my career in the Federal government. I was fortunate to get a paid internship through the now retired STEP Program for students, which allowed me to earn a good salary in college while having a work schedule that was centered around my school schedule. Upon graduating college in 2010, I was hired as a full-time Federal employee and over the next 5 years I would work my way up quickly to a GS-13 being the Records Officer at the National Park Service. I was 26 making just over $90,000 per year, but deep down I knew that wasn’t it for me. I had no peace in that position no matter how much money and glory it came with.

So in May 2015 I took the leap of faith, put in my resignation letter, and on June 1, 2015 I officially started my self-employment and entrepreneurship journey. From 2015-2019 I would obtain my real estate license in Virginia, start an online boutique, do gig work, and pretty much explore anything that was an interest of mine. In 2019, I decided to do content creation without even knowing that’s what it was called. I just saw people on Instagram taking pretty pictures with the hashtag #sponsored, and I figured I could do the same thing. Once I started doing it I realized it was a whole industry and I was intrigued to keep going.

While doing content creation I realized that I really had a gift for building up community. People would always comment on my YouTube videos and Instagram content saying whenever they came to my page it felt like they were hanging out with their “cousins at auntie’s house.” Couple that with the desire to find genuine connections that I mentioned earlier and I made it my mission to become a community builder.

I’m proud that I finally started Single & Saved in the City despite the fact that I was scared to do it at first. I really want to provide a warm, welcoming, and familial atmosphere to every single woman who joins the community. So many single women are living life feeling lonely, unseen, and unworthy. Single & Saved in the City is not just a meetup group, it’s a sisterhood and community.

I truly desire to be a resource for all the members whether it be in their business, helping them grow in their faith walk, or providing support in various areas of life. I want to help each woman build friendships through the group, and be all that God created them to be. I also want each woman to see her single season as a blessing, and take full advantage of it. There is purpose in our singleness, and we don’t have to spend all our time waiting for marriage and loathing our single season. This is the time to make the memories, have the experiences, try new things, and make connections along the way. It’s not to say you can’t do all those things when you aren’t single, but being single allows us a level of freedom and flexibility you no longer have when you’re married. So we might as well enjoy the season God has us in now!

I can’t stress enough the power of an email list. Social media is great, and a free way to build your audience, customer relationships and more. However, we don’t own social media. There is no telling if your page may be hacked one day, if the platform may decide to delete your page, if social media may crash, or anything along those lines. Having a website is important as well, and it does help with building brand loyalty, but you may not have a website yet depending on how far along you are in your entrepreneurship journey.

An email list is something that you own. It also allows you to nurture your audience and customers in between launches and releases, and gives you the opportunity to provide them with value and not just sell to them. It allows you to have more intimate conversations with your audience so they can feel a bond with you which will strengthen their loyalty to your brand–because people don’t buy what you’re selling, they buy because of you. An email list is also an affordable way to get certain functions that a website may have without having to pay the upfront costs of obtaining a website if you’re not ready to do that yet. Email service providers have come a far way and they offer so many features that can help you sell right from your email list. I personally use Flodesk because the email templates are simple to use, aesthetically pleasing, and they offer the ability to input landing pages and checkouts through your email.

The best part about it, too, is that an email list allows you to filter out the people in your audience who are more serious about what you have to offer, and are more likely to buy from you. They also allow you to personalize your communication through creating segments of your audience. There’s most likely already a level of brand loyalty there if they are opting into your email list. Email is still the strongest channel for communication with just around 70% of consumers checking their email first during the day. Not to mention email marketing is still very effective, and is likely to convert your audience into customers. The more you nurture your audience, provide valuable content, and quality products/services, the more likely your brand loyalty will grow.

Being that I started my creative entrepreneurship journey as a content creator and influencer I thought that what we call “vanity metrics” were so important across the board. Vanity metrics are how many followers you have, and likes and comments you get. In the influencer world those things matter because brands often want to see how large your platform is, and what percentage of your audience is engaging with your content. So there’s always this looming concern about your numbers. However, once I started transitioning to doing different types of business I realized vanity metrics really don’t mean you’re making a profit.

When I started creative consulting, I had less than 200 followers on Instagram when I booked my first 4-figure client during my program launch. Many people would think you need to have thousands of followers to accomplish that but you don’t. The reality is a lot of high-earning entrepreneurs don’t have a super large social media presence when it comes to vanity metrics, but they are making 6-figure and 7-figure income. Even if they have several thousand followers, they may not always have a ton of engagement, but money is being made. It truly boils down to knowing your target audience, knowing which platforms they’re frequently on, and mastering your message to reach them.