We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vera Ezimora a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Vera thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?
If I were starting over, I would get up faster after a fall, and I would learn about discipline, diligence, consistency, and time management. Falling is inevitable. Sometimes, the fall is caused by a professional stumble, and other times, it’s personal. I think that a personal hit hits harder, and it’s more difficult to show up because you can never be the person you were before the fall.
I would also learn about the business of creativity sooner. So many of us know how to be creative, but we do not know how to manage our creativity as a business. We don’t know how to charge for our services, how to run LLCs, or how to pay ourselves. If I were starting over today, these are the things I would learn sooner and do differently.
Vera, 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 Vera Ezimora, and I am the voice of Verastic. I’d describe Verastic as being recklessly authentic. I wear a lot of creative hats: writer, speaker, podcaster, conversationalist, content creator, and MC, but writing is my first love. Writing was the first hat I wore before I wore the other hats. Verastic started off as my attempt at connecting with people by asking them random questions via email (like who should pay for the date?) After that journey ended – thanks to Yahoo mail cancelling my account because I was allegedly spamming people – I started writing articles online. I segwayed into blogging, live talk radio, MCing, and podcasting, and the rest, as they say, is history.
I am currently recording episodes for my podcast, which is not published yet, but my podcast will highlight and celebrate the journeys of people who are thriving professionally and personally. We all have dreams, and we all see people who are already living those dreams, but what would it be like if those people could tell us how they got to where they are right now?
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish I knew about the business of creativity. I have always known how to be creative. I know how to write, how to draft a story, how to give it a catchy, creative name, etc. But I am only now learning the business of creativity. Years ago, I started monetizing my content, but I did it through third-party apps, and I did not make as much money as I had the potential to because I did not know how to run my business as an actual business. I am now in the process of learning how to run a creative business while wearing all the hats in the business.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I stopped writing when I lost my mom in 2022. Five years earlier (2017), I had walked away from my marriage. At the time, I thought getting a divorce was the worst pain. When I lost my mom, I laughed at my divorce because it suddenly felt like a gentle tap on the cheek. Losing my mom, however, shattered me, and I am still in the process of healing. I wanted to be in bed all day and do nothing. I did not know how to start life again after losing my mom. Yes, I knew that death was inevitable, and one day, we will all die, but I did not think it was time for my mom to go, nor was I ready to let her go. Her death was unexpected, so I did not even get to say goodbye.
I do not know how I’m doing it now, but I am back up, taking it one day at a time. Against all odds, I am also picking up the pieces of my business and even starting a new project. The grace of God is the only thing that has held me up. Otherwise, I do not know how this is happening.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://verastic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/verastic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vera.ezimora/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/verastic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/verastic
