We recently connected with Yetunde Shorters and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Yetunde thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.
I got my first client working for free. In 2006 I was on a plane and while listening to the plane’s music channel. I heard the voice of an Artist and they said her name, and I thought “ouuu I would like to work with her. She sounds like Sade and depeche mode had a baby”. At the time I hadn’t launched my business full time or officially it was still a side hustle. By faith alone, they contacted me months later via email when I had launch my pr company. She was a new independent artist and they were on a budget. So I told the manager ” I will work for you for free for 90-days and I will get her on the cover of a magazine and more. If I can do that you would have to back pay me for these 3 months and sign a one -year contract. Deal?” Deal he said.
That simple strategy kicked off 17 years of referral business.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I began my career in Communications and Branding as an intern at CBS Chicago. I feel in love with PR in college and now, My passion is helping female entrepreneurs become go-to Thought Leaders, whether they’re in music, fashion or medicine. With over two decades of global PR experience and a certified Neuro-Linguistics Programming Master practitioner, I empower my clients to gain radical clarity on their purpose while boosting their visibility and profits.
The Problems my clients experience:
* Desire for Purpose Clarity: I guide entrepreneurs to discover and connect to their true purpose and align it with their personal brand, leading to a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
* Personal Branding: I guide my clients in building authentic and impactful personal brands that resonate with their audience, boosting their influence and opportunities.
* Identifying their ideal clients: I assist my clients in defining a clear and profitable target audience, making it easier for them to connect with the right people.
* Content Overwhelm: I provide strategies to manage and create content effectively, avoiding burnout and maintaining quality and beauty of their content.
* Stagnation in Personal Growth: Using my skills in NLP and brain-centric design, I offer solutions for personal and professional development, empowering my clients to continually evolve and progress.
I’ve had the privilege of working with Grammy, Tony, and MTV Award-winning artists. Through my PR efforts, they’ve reached over 40 million people (that’s being conservative) through 1,500+ segments and features on platforms like Good Morning America, Entrepreneur, Essence, and more. I’m proud to have supported fourteen clients in becoming Amazon bestselling authors.
I’ve been joyfully featured on media outlets worldwide, including Forbes, CBS News, Essence, and Elle. Additionally, I’ve been honored to speak at virtual and in-person events, sharing insights with thousands of attendees at platforms like Thinkific, the Global Startup Ecosystem Summit, She Leads Africa, and many others.
I am most proud of the support my team and I have provided to the thousands of leaders we’ve supported over the years.
Have you ever been fascinated by watching someone who you know is living purposeful and with intention?
I have always been so much so, I started a company to support people like this and now, 17 years later trademarked Purposeful Personal Branding® and we are the disruptor to reset our way of BEING in the direction it needs to be in for the next century.
We take a wholistic view on Personal Branding. It’s about your mind your body and your full self. From tools to trainings, we focus on purpose, we share insights on anything that could be in the way of you living through purpose, and we share resources that will propel you further into your purpose journey.
If it will come in the way of you living through your purpose, we share it. If it will help quantum leap your purpose, we share it. You’re a whole Human BEING, you deserve to be seen, taught and experienced for you BEING you.
Our goal is clear- connecting the dots between purpose, impact and profits.
Have you ever had to pivot?
It was July 2019. I secured a cover story for a client and I had a lukewarm reaction to it. That was the day I decided it was time to transition from Public Relations to full-time coaching. Securing a cover story for any client is a big deal and the fact that I did not have the feeling of excitement for it, that was my cue to exit gracefully.
Before then, I was always coaching but I decided at this moment, It was time to go in full-time as a Purpose Branding Coach. I decided I would get the certifications I needed, so I would learn and have the tools to support my clients. This decision has single handedly transformed the trajectory of my life, family and clients. I understand the subconcsious in a deeper way. I get how the brain learns and I get to use my 20+ years in pr, branding and marketing to support my clients.
Many times your pivots help you connect the dots from your past to your future.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
In 2009 I ended up in the hospital from Adrenal Fatigue.
One day, I was laying down to take a nap on my sectional sofa, I woke up about 45 minutes later and I could NOT get up…I couldn’t move my legs. I was scared. My heart was racing, I could literally taste my anxiety. and I started crying… and at some point my brain signaled for me to get my phone.
Luckily it was right next to me and I called one of my Pharmaceutical Dr. friends. And she heard the panic in my voice just from saying hello. I told her I couldn’t move my legs, I started crying again and she told me to calm down, “try wiggling your toes, she said, pinch your legs”. I did all of that, still stressed and anxious and then the feelings in my legs came back.
I got off the phone cried some more, then went back to work.
You would think I would have seen that as a warning.
Months later, I ended up in the hospital from Adrenal Fatigue and my best friend was with me and as I lay in the hospital bed at the time, I thought to myself, “if I died today, none of these things would matter. And I thought “hmmmm, my family would cry, eat some rice, have a party and they would move on.”
In that moment, after all the blood work, recommendations and everything else from the doctor, when I got home, I made a decision to change my life in 30 days. I stopped watching TV that month, I read a lot of books, I meditated more.
I was present in my life and I can tell you, the level of clarity that came to me once I decided to step FULLY into my purpose was divine.
It took me almost 7 years to get through the consequences of Adrenal Fatigue. My subconscious translated that experience to “if you work that hard again, you might end up dying” so I chilled out on working that way. My husband is the one who helped me with a different perspective. He said “you can still do all the things and in a new way”. It gave me a new lease on how to live through purpose without burning out or fatigue.
Our lives are incredible stories. Be the main character, take note of your lessons learned, be kind, be purposeful and keep your self actualization as an anchor to fully manifesting into your full self.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.icyconsulting.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yetundeshorters/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yetundeshorters/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yetundeshorters
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Yetunde
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/yetundetaiwoshorters
- Other: https://www.radicalclaritypodcast.com
Image Credits
Photos by Neil Lee