We were lucky to catch up with Tracy Rowe recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tracy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

If you’re looking for a rags-to-riches story, keep going because this isn’t it. What this is is a real-deal life experience that will hopefully inspire you to tap into your own drive and grit. My journey to becoming a business owner started in college. I went to college because my older sister went to college. In fact, I even went to the same  college she attended. I’m certain I’m not the first younger sister to follow an older siblings’ footsteps. The issue with that, well for me, was that I had an older brother and an older sister that were both stand-outs.  They were dang superstars – smart, singer, cheerleader oldest sister and handsome, charismatic, football player brother…I know! 

Between the two of them they had just about everything covered, so what was a girl to do? Follow the leaders! I was in constant academic competition with my peers, sang in the choir, and made the homecoming court. That follow-the-leader mentality worked until I got to my second semester in college and realized I didn’t know why I was there. 

There were three things I loved most growing up: talking, dancing, and nails. Before you think I’m going down a rabbit hole, stay with me, this is important to the story. While I was supported in my desire to be the next Oprah, my heart’s desire for dance and nails were never affirmed or supported. I remember watching a dance program with my family and replicating a ballerina’s move. My mother and grandmother laughed and jokingly likened me to the dancing elephant in a tutu cartoon character. Crushed, that was the end of my passion to dance. 

It only takes one negative comment or what feels like a thunderstorm, to rain on a parade and quash a dream. The other dream of being in the nail business was still on the table though, I took a brave stance to take time off from college to attend cosmetology school to become a nail technician. Okay, not so much brave and more like I secretly took off time from school, but hey, I did it! I knew if I told my parents, they might try to talk me out of it. I told them AFTER I enrolled. 

I loved those three months on nail school and was ready to shift from college to a career in the beauty industry. I was like a fish in water and was building a loyal client list with the school’s patrons. All I needed to transition to my wonderful salon life was to complete my state board exam. 

To be eligible to take the state board exam to get my nail technician license, the cosmetology school balance of $384.32 had to be paid. I had managed to pay for everything else, but needed help to get over this last hurdle, so I called my parents. My mom said there was no future in doing nails and I needed my degree. My dad said, “Nails? That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I’m not giving you money for that!” $384.32 may as well have been 3.8 million dollars because that balance was never paid. 

Not feeling seen and not being affirmed was a literal life changer for me. My parents may have thought they were helping me, but their lack of support hurt and are emotional pains I endured. Interestingly, or maybe because of my experience, I’ve always been a cheerleader for others to pursue their passions. 

In that capacity, I moved from cheerleading to coaching and took the steps to get trained to become a certified master coach. I started my business with the intention of ensuring people feel seen, affirmed, and loved. Investing my energy now to empower others to affirm themselves and understand they have everything they need to succeed is amazingly rewarding for me.

I wholeheartedly knew that starting my coaching business was a worthwhile endeavor because I knew I wasn’t the only person who’d had their hopes frowned upon. I also knew that I wasn’t the only person that could benefit from having support, encouragement, and tools to accomplish goals. Life coaches are a dime-a-dozen nowadays. What I think makes my coaching business different is what moved me to establish it – my own need to be seen, affirmed, and loved. For me, I get to make increasing affirmation my business through coaching rather that focusing on financial gain. My coaching business enables me to let people know they can be everyday amazing! Having the opportunity to make a connection and help others shift their mindsets to understand they have a gift and they are a gift, thrills me! 

At the beginning of the pandemic, I started “Live at Lunch” on Facebook Live to connect my lonely, quarantined clients with my friends to ensure they would feel a sense of community. Those online sessions grew and elevated the connection I’d made in 2018 with Red Table Talk on Facebook Watch. I loved that Jada Pinkett Smith offered a platform to remove taboos, spread awareness, and affirm others. In 2021, I became a host of the official Red Table Talk podcast, ‘Let’s Red Table That’ providing deep dives and real talk about the full-spectrum episodes with other Red Table Talk fans at our virtual red table. The ‘Let’s Red Table That’ podcast is distributed through iHeartRadio, which allows a global community to connect and grow with everyday people just like them. I consider being included with such a positive enterprise like Red Table Talk an honor!

I never forgot about dancing and nails. I affirm myself too – I honor my other passions by viewing dance performances regularly, staying current with nail trends through social media, and keeping my own nails right! How will you affirm yourself?

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Tracy T. Rowe  Mindset Expert | Certified Master Life Coach | Speaker | Podcast Host | Certified Moderator | Author | Voice Actor | Certified Change Practitioner

In my capacity as a Certified Master Life Coach and Certified Change Management Practitioner Consultant working with CEOs, executives and companies focusing primarily on unlocking patterns to create mindset shifts. After more than two decades at a Fortune 500 company, I know adaptation and identifying unconscious (and sometimes conscious) patterns are vital to cultivate growth. My gift is how well I connect with people to help them get their “S.H.I.F.T.” together to embrace being what I  coined ‘Everyday Amazing’.

I believe children, parents, and community members deserve to be seen, affirmed, and loved. I created Everyday Amazing Mindset affirmation journals and Everyday Amazing Mindset affirmation cards to foster the practice of seeing, affirming, and loving ourselves first.

While I have a degree in business and decades as a communicator, I pride herself most on honoring the moniker “human whisperer” empowering others to tap into their own self-development. To enable enhanced relationships with family and community, I use various interactive and engaging exercises of self-assessment, mindfulness, communications, wellness, growth, vulnerability, inclusion, and adaptation with my clients.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Having a business without being able to take care of business is bad for business. When I started my coaching business, I knew the answer to why I wanted to start the business but honestly knew nothing about the business part of owning a coaching business. Despite the fact that I was married with a full-time, permanent job, had a full-time commitment to producing my church’s online praise and worship experience and other service responsibilities, I went back to school and earned a business degree. It was by far one of the most difficult things I’ve done – there were more late nights and early mornings than I care to remember, but it was well worth it! The investment of a formal business education yields returns regularly for my business.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I started my business officially in 2019. I relied on face-to-face engagements to conduct my coaching sessions. When the Coronavirus pandemic hit, I didn’t know what to do. I’d heard of video platforms and had used some in the past for my job but didn’t know how effective it would be to lose the energy you feel in the room with someone while using a virtual tool. Some of my clients were reluctant to have coaching sessions online because they weren’t technologically savvy enough to navigate the virtual application. 

I took the pivot from in-person sessions to virtual sessions as an opportunity. For those that wanted to learn, I provided complimentary training sessions with my clients to show them how to use online platforms and conducted some sessions with other clients by phone. Being adaptable to meet my clients’ needs and stretch to offer additional options helped my business grow. I now conduct the lion share of my sessions virtually and it works wonderfully!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tracytrowe.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracytrowe/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/troweandco/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracytrowe/

Image Credits
Angie and Ike Singleton