We were lucky to catch up with Tiffani Knowles recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tiffani, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with inspirations and heroes. Are there any historical figures you look up to?

Nelson Mandela.

I had the great fortune to study abroad in South Africa while in graduate school at NYU. My time there was both breathtaking and life-changing. What I can say is this – anyone who can spend 27 years in prison then come out to be the leader of his nation is someone I should learn from, How do you lead without bitterness? How do you leave behind the injustices that were done to you and inspire others to do the same? How do you develop empathy for all members of society, even your former oppressor?

These are the lessons that Nelson Mandela taught me. One’s mind can transcend their past and their pain to achieve greatness for themselves and for the world around us.

Every educator must believe this truth about even their most troubled student.
Every entrepreneur must model this value for their company’s employees to see.

Tiffani, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a native of Miami, Florida, a journalist, author, editor and a leader in higher education.

Voiceover Services

I am a voiceover artist who produces commercials, audiobooks and promos with a fresh, friendly and sexy sound, including dialects like Urban American, Caribbean American and African. My client roster includes CNN, Merriam-Webster, LifeZone Television, CROCS and Discovery Channel. I started in this business at the age of 13 when my immigrant-populated church in Miami needed a neutral North American voice for their answering machine. I got my first break as the voice on their internal phone system and moved into oral storytelling. I won the National Youth Storytelling Olympics in the 8th grade and went on to appear as one of the first youth storytellers at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee — storytelling capital of the world.

In 2016, my father and I gave voice to an issue in today’s political landscape. Our book HOLA AMERICA: Guts, Grit, Grind and Further Traits in the Successful American Immigrant, chronicles 10 stories of ordinary immigrants of color who – against all odds – pushed past the limits of their humanity to become great successes in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Subsequently, we have helped dozens of immigrants through the grueling documentation process of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Writing and Editing

I am also a star freelance writer for numerous publications, including the award-winning, Black-founded publication, The Miami Times. For 12 years, I’ve taught courses in multimedia communication, public speaking, oral interpretation, media publishing and journalism. My great pride has been serving as the faculty adviser to the award-winning college newspaper of my alma mater, Barry University — The Barry Buccaneer.

My experience in writing and editing has afforded me the opportunity to nurture young writers and first-time authors through the process of publishing. My editing services take independent authors through the content editing, proofreading, copy editing and book formatting process all the while providing the necessary encouragement and recommendations in what can be a very intimidating process.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

While in NY as a struggling grad student then starving artist, I lived with other artists in low-income housing and practically below the poverty line. Surprisingly, the actresses I have roomed with have all gone on to be successes in Hollywood, TV and musical theater. I guess we knew how to pick each other. If it weren’t for the love of my Brooklyn church and my family, I would have been lying in a ditch somewhere. To make ends meet, I worked as a tutor with Kaplan, which was only a few hours per week. I was hungry a lot! This went on for about 5 years.

I applied for so many jobs and the doors kept closing… even ones that I was perfect for. I remember deciding that I wanted to work in the U.S. Foreign Service because “clearly I had to get out of the U.S. to find any sort of success.” I passed the test but did not get further than the second round before the interview. Finally, I surrendered my situation to God and he opened the door to allow me to begin lecturing at my first university. It was there that I found my calling — teaching the next generation of scholars in higher education.

How’d you meet your business partner?

My brother and I own a business together. We own a boutique lending firm called Global Business Lending. We both were influenced by our dad, a Bahamian immigrant, who kept our family afloat by running his own travel and transportation company while we were growing up. We learned so much from him. I will never forget the day that we had a violent tropical storm come through our city of Miami Shores and, by morning, our front lawn had flooded up to about 3 feet of water. That morning, my dad pulled up his pant legs and waded through the water to get to work. He knew his customers would need him. This, of course, was before the era of remote work. You had to go into the office if you wanted to stay in business.

Today, my brother and I have innovated but we remember every lesson he taught us. There is no substitute for hard work.

I am most proud of the work that my brother and I have been doing with Kevin Harrington, the original shark from ABC’s Shark Tank. As partners in his new “10 Figure Mastermind” initiative, we have been able to get hundreds of new and seasoned business owners in front of Kevin Harrington who has consulted, trained and invested in their business models.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tiffaniknowles.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/tiffaniknowles
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/newdradio
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/tiffaniknowles
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/newdmag

Image Credits
Headshot – Johnny Pena of Keoni Images