We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Trudy Joseph a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Trudy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

If anyone ever told me that I would have become an author, I never would have believed them! I was no more than a B-average writer throughout high school and college. My first book was born of pain and disappointment. How did I, a beautiful, educated, hard-working young woman, find myself in the position I was in 2019? After working for more than twenty years as a teacher in the public school system, I craved a change of careers. In 2018 I enrolled and was accepted into one of the top architectural programs in Canada. However, before I the course started, I found out that I was pregnant. I was not the type of person to let something so small as a baby deter me from pursuing a dream. I began classes in the fall of that year, but before long I had to withdraw from the program and return home. The devastation I felt was too much. I didn’t have any fight left in me. For too many years I had tried to rise above my circumstances, but I was failing miserably each time. And so I returned to my teaching job dejected, defeated and confused. Why was I failing over and over in life? What was I doing wrong all these years? What was I really trying to achieve? These questions turned out to be the most important one I’ve ever asked myself, and the answers became my first published work, “Forty Plus and Failing: Challenging Societal Norms and Redefining Success in Midlife.”

Trudy, 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 was born and raised on a tiny island in the Caribbean. Tobago was home until I went to the big island of Trinidad to pursue my first degree. I was sixteen years old. My teaching career began shortly after I graduated in 2002. I teach kids the art and science of nutrition and food preparation. I love baking, and have certifications in bread, cake and pastry-making. Fitness is another one of my passions, and I’m also a certified personal trainer. Both these specializations work well together, and have given me the foundation for personal and professional success. But these successes pale in comparison to the work I’ve done with, and since writing my book. This book gave me something neither my teaching nor fitness careers did, and that is purpose. I have made it my life’s work to help people, especially those over forty, to realize and work towards a vision of success that is more personal and complete than the traditional milestone achievements of getting a college education, or landing that dream job, the mansion with the nice whip in the garage, and the wedding of the century.

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 always believed, as most people do, that success was a checklist of must-have accomplishments, and that these had to be achieve by a certain age. We have been conditioned to believe that the path to success has to look a certain way: you must be educated in a traditional school system because that is the only way to present yourself as “qualified” for a job. That job will be your ticket to making lots of money so that you can have the house, car and trips you see on tv. Somewhere along the way you will meet your soulmate and get married, have kids and live happily ever after. It took me forty-plus years to learn that this is a completely manufactured and outdated narrative, and that it certainly does not represent what true success looks like. The years spent in school can only do so much to prepare young people for the harsh realities of life. Many of those years are wasted years, especially if one’s goal is to become wealthy. That dream job eventually becomes a trap that most never break free from, and before long the salary cannot compensate for the resentment that builds up from having to wake up every morning, spend hours in traffic, work overtime for something that has lost its meaning, while having 0-2 days on the weekend to recover, only to begin the cycle again on Monday. I’ve had to learn that true success lies in discovering one’s true purpose in life, that a job will never make me wealthy, and that freedom is the most valuable asset one can have in our modern society. I’ve learned that my ideas are worth more than my skills, and that the best investment I will ever make is in myself.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

If like me, you are in the business of transformation, nothing builds your reputation more than your personal success story. People are more inclined to buy into YOU, when your story is told well. When they see your success, they can see themselves in it. If your story is relatable, it will evoke an emotional response from your audience. Once you can move people this way, it becomes easier to make them your client. Your journey not only gives you credibility, it also gives you a template that your clients can follow. Your business framework can be built from your pain points and how you overcame them. You are providing solutions from your own experience, so you know they work. Your audience wants to see receipts before they purchase what you’re selling, and you are the perfect example of such. The world’s fastest growing brands today are more than just a logo on a product; they are personal brands built by real people with real stories. People buy into me because my personal story resonates with them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.trudydanajoseph.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trudydjoseph/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dana.joseph.733
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trudy-joseph-a04b59352/

Image Credits

Islandvision Creative