Welcome. I'm so happy to have you on the show. Love. I am doing great today. I'm super, super excited to be on here. How are you? Even better. I feel like Shirley is looking kind of cute today. So cute, and I'm loving it because I had a shoved in the drawer. I don't do it right. I need to love, oh, Shirley A.

Little better. And it was sticking up. I said we can add a cute little bow here, but it's such a blessing in honor to have you here. Please introduce yourself. Yes. My name is Karina. I am from Montreal, Canada. I'm also a mom of two, two boys, and I own the business girls Empower a brand and business that empowers women instead of tearing each other down.

And I help female entrepreneurs grow their brands and businesses on Instagram. I love it. Oh my gosh. It is so needed because as you mentioned earlier, before we started recording, that the black women owned. Business industry is really, really blooming right now, and we definitely need a strong platform and support system to help us enable, and most importantly, not tearing each other down.

Please tell us about your business, meaning how did it all start? Yes, so the business meaning honestly, when I started Girls Empower, I had no means to really have a business. It was more just a brand. I wanted to create a community of women empowering each other instead of tearing each other down. That was my mission, and I was the mom, so I became a mom too.

I was speaking with like a lot of my. Girlfriend, they were all still becoming moms. We would just speak about different struggles that we were experiencing, different goals that we wanted, our aspirations, and I was thinking to myself, I'm like, if we all came together, we shared each other's stories and we really just showed each other that like we all have the same goals, the same lives.

We could only be each other at the end of the day. Who knows where we can go or what we can overcome. Or maybe some people might have needed that connection, that support that, just that relatability. I was at my nine to five and I was like, I just wanted more. I have 10 years experience in business development with sales and customer service, helping business owners get additional financing for their business to expand.

So that really empowered me. I was like, if I can do this for this amount of time, For other business owners, then I can do it for myself. I can try to, do something for myself. So I started the brand at my nine to five. I grew, I started growing it on Instagram. As I started growing organically, a lot of entrepreneurs and women, they come to me and say, how did you do this?

Like, how did you grow this amount of followers this quick? Like, teach me? So then that gave me the idea to start my own coaching, my own digital courses ebook to help other entrepreneurs. How easy was it for you to make the transition? Honestly, it was easy only because I really wanted it in that time.

Like I knew I wanted a change. I was in business development doing sales, doing a nine to five for so long that I was like, I wanted a different environment, a different experience. I wanted to put myself into something new. So as I transitioned, I got a lot of good feedback. That part was also easy because it was empowering, it was motivating to keep going, and then as I stayed consistent, the the growth was coming organically.

So I don't think it was easier than I expected just because, like I said, my mindset. I knew that I wanted to be in that new place and that new era in my life. Mindset is pretty much the driver in the foundation to any transition in life, especially entrepreneurship. What is something that you want to call out that others may not even be aware of when it comes to being an entrepreneur and a business owner?

I know we make it look so easy. Some others, it doesn't feel easy to us. But what is something in the background that you would like to call out that most may not even realize that as an entrepreneur you have to do, manage, or deal with it? Definitely the ups and downs. Because I feel like, at the same time, we do have a reality check.

Like we do have life. Like some of us, our moms, some of us go to school, some of them have the work life, like there's so many things in the background. So I feel like people think it is so easy. Like before I said, oh, it was so easy to transition because Alex in that mindset, but a lot of people, they don't come from a background of speaking to business owners every day for 10 years, where they have that mindset of, okay, that's where I wanna be.

Some of them, they have the vision in their mind, but it's not like, They don't know where to start. They don't know where to go. Maybe they don't even know what to to call it. They just know they want that. , I think that, yeah, it's just the ups and downs. It's very easy to fall off track because like I said, reality kicks in, right?

Like we do have a real life that we need to check into. As easy as the results may seem like a come or the sales or the growth, like there is a life behind the scenes, right? That can be very, very easy to fall off track if you don't have that plan or that consistency. And how do you get back on track when you experience, I'm falling behind on this, a certain schedule that you've set for yourself or you may have, like a challenging moment or kind of a low moment.

How do you recalibrate? Yeah. I would say honestly, because I didn't have a. Stopped having 2022 for the first time and like not the first time, but like it was the first time I had to take a break and actually force myself to take a break. So I would say when I am feeling burnt out or I feel like it's too much, I just disconnect from my phone.

I. Literally take a break. If my body or my mind is telling me like I don't feel like posting or I don't feel like doing something that might not be as important as my mental health, then honestly I just take a step back. If I need to take two days off, three days off, a week off, then I will. I make sure that I have a plan already to come back with.

I know that, okay, I'm going to be working on this. I need to implement this. This is what I'm trying to achieve. So I really just make sure that I have a plan, I have a backup plan that I can come back to. That's what keeps me up back on track. Working in the business development field for 10 years and working with business owners, what are three things that you would advise?

Great question. I would say number one is invest investing doesn't only need to be investing your money. Like that could be literally investing in your education, in your learning, and just learning new ways that you can be better within business. A lot of the business owners that I spoke with, they'd always be going to different kind of like business events, like the ones that were doing really well, they didn't invest their time in.

These business events, or there was some type of new, let's say expansion or update within their business. They were there, they were the ones going to all of those presentations or events that they could learn something, let's say. So I'd say definitely in the best. Having a concrete plan is really, really key.

Whether it's a quarterly plan, a yearly plan, I see that a lot of the business owners, there's like the first quarter, the second quarter, the third quarter, like they would know for this quarter, I need my inventory for this second quarter. I need to invest into an expansion, or I need to hire someone new.

So I think that just having that plan. Key. And number third, I would say is expansion. That's one of the biggest things, like when I would ask business owners, what do they want to invest in? Or if I gave them $50,000, what would they do with it? A lot of them would say expansion. They want to open up an new location, or they'd wanna open up a new kind of business.

So I think that gives you different kind of opportunities and yeah, different kind of growth as well. To recap, invest, plan, and expansion. Been best plan and expansion. Yes. Expansion. To flip that, what are some of the major mistakes that you've seen business owners do? Some of the biggest mistakes I've seen them do is my notes.

It's going back into the same kind of thing, but investing in the wrong kind of thing. So not knowing like what to invest in. Or for example, they want, let's say a hundred thousand and they already have enough inventory. They already have enough amount of team. So just knowing what to invest into, because it's very easy to open up a new location, but do you have the marketing?

Is it the right place? Do you know exactly what you're doing? Because it's very easy to get shut down, let's say, for example. So just knowing what to invest in. Which ties back to the plan, right? Yeah. Not planning it. Like I said, if you could take $50,000 and use your own invest into the right thing, then you might have to end up paying six it.

It's alternative financing, so 60,000 back and it's like you lose all that within your business. A lot of it was really just not investing the right way, not planning the right way. Not having the right kind of marketing is a big one, and some of them might not have the right kind of marketing.

They don't know about social media. So those things I find were make mistakes that you can make social media in itself, the common thread across my interviewees, just the podcast shows. That I've done with the entrepreneurs as of late has been the pain point of social media, myself included. But like I shared with you before, that we recorded was delegation.

Now we can hire offshore resources and this assistance and social media. What piece of advice would you give that would help course correct someone who has made mistakes within marketing? Take the course. There's so many resources out there that you can do, really understand the platform that you're using because before I started growing on Instagram and making sales or having a business, I didn't understand the marketing concept of it all.

On my personal account, I wouldn't really post, I wouldn't really do much until I realized the steps and the marketing strategies that I was doing with my girls in Power account. I was like, oh, wow. I can make growth with this. I can grow a community, I can grow a brand. I would say really understand the platform you're using.

So, like I said, there's so many free resources out there. You can take a course, you could take a class,  get a coach just to understand what you need to do to market correctly on that platform you're using instead of just posting and not getting results or. At least you understand, okay, this is what I need to be doing, so that you can at least try to get on the right track and get those results because it's very easy to lose your insights, go down, or you might have a decrease in engagement, but it's very, very easy to get it back up if you do use the right strategy.

So I would just say understand the platform. Make sure that you do have marketing strategies that are going to help you. And honestly, stay consistent To get those results, for people to find you and for people to come across your brand, your business, you need to put yourself out there. So really make sure you're staying consistent with implementing strategies.

My strategy was to do the old school way and cold call. Send me cold call. I called dm, so that's why I just. Straight up dmd, you like, Hey sis, you know I quit. I would love to interview you and feature you on my podcast. And that got the conversation going. I've made a lot of great connections on Instagram.

Just simply doing more than just liking someone post. If there is an influencer or a business owner that. I really resonate with and enjoy their content, their conversation, their intent. I'm a lot more engaging and I have built a lot of sincere and great relationships with business owners. What has been your experience and your relationship building and network through social media?

I would say it's been amazing. It's one of the. Vegas, I would say results. I've had success because having 10,000 followers on Instagram, I've been able to help at least collaborate work with a hundred plus FEMA entrepreneurs all across the world. I never would've thought it'd be possible. I've been able to speak and host a lot of different platforms online, in person.

I've got 10. Multiple, collaborations and just honestly connecting and speaking with different women, different women that have different stories, that have different passions, that have different experiences, and just seeing their, like having an insight into their entrepreneur life into. Their results, their strategies, what they're doing, their successes.

It really helps you just have a better mindset. It helps you have a better understanding. It helps you be more empowering, more determined. Yeah, it's been really, really, really good. I've been able to, like I said, connect with so many people across the world that have impacted me, that I've been able to impact and.

It's great because I'm from Canada, so I know that like, when I do, I really want to travel soon and I start to travel and go and get, I have all these different empowering women and entrepreneurs or clients that I can connect with, so that's really cool. Isn't it amazing how technology has allowed me being in Queens, New York and you being in Canada to have this virtual face-to-face podcast interview, it would not have been able to.

Yeah, I'm just, it's crazy to me cuz like I said, if I didn't start this brand, if I didn't, because on my personal page, I barely post, I'm not really that passionate about it. So I'd still be connected with the same kind of people. So because of this brand and me putting it on this platform, Instagram, I've been able to, like I said, just build a community of women.

I have a, a group chat right now of up to 50 women all across the world. Once again, female entrepreneurs empowering women. We connect, we do challenges. I wouldn't have had that community if it wasn't for this platform and me having the brand and them having their brand and you, so I think it's empowering.

I love it. Well, when I saw your page, I came across a post and I was like, wow, I love what she's doing. I would love to have her. Part of my tribe. She's healing, she's teaching, she's empowering. I'm like, yes, I definitely have to share you. With that being said, what inspires you and thank you as well, just for having bad.

It's nice when someone else is like, I've seen your brand. I've seen the impact though. It's great. But what inspired me mainly was the older sister, and my mom is a single mom, so I've always been around women empowering women. My grandmother was a single mom, so I've always been around strong, empowering women that made it work.

They didn't have the opportunities to have businesses, they didn't have the opportunities for social media because that's not what it was. But they were still strong, willing women that made it work. They showed us how to live, like how to be the right kind of women living life and morals of values, which led me to have the kind of mindset that I have and want more.

And so I think that was my inspiration. Mainly just seeing my mother and she was a single mother of three. She didn't have any of the resources or the support that we have or I have today. Because I do. I'm like, well, let me utilize my passion. Like this is the vision that I have. I have the experience.

Let me make something of that. And I think that was my main inspiration. Having empowering women around me always. It helped me also see how much it's needed, how you can have a community. And I love Sister. She is a makeup artist. She's an entrepreneur. Now, my mom. She also has a baking business. She's an entrepreneur now.

She never would've thought, ever. Yeah, that was my main inspiration, just being around strong, empowering women that didn't have the chance or the resources, but could have been so powerful. Isn't it amazing how we are able to, Easily, and I say that respectfully easily because it's not easy. But it is easy in comparison to our mother's generation and our grandmother's generation to start their own business.

The fact that we can live in our joy, make our passions and our dreams come true. It's a true blessing and I'm sure it has to be. Amazing for our mothers and our grandmothers to see us do what they thought was impossible or they knew it was possible, but their circumstances around them made it so where it was impossible for them.

Kudos to your mom and congrats to her for her own baking business. That's awesome. She's been doing it now, I would say for, I believe it's three years. Yeah, it's going on three years. And she loves it. She's super happy. It really helped get her out of her shell and make her just so much more happier. Like she's never been able to be the woman that she wanted to be, because she had so many struggles, so many challenges while still being a mother, right? So it was her time, it was her time. She's always, as a kid, I remember her always baking, she's always loved making her little treats and baking. So it's obviously something that was in her. It was a passion.

And now she's the happiest when she's doing her baking, when she's creating, when she's doing her auditors, that's when she's like in her glory. So yeah, it's been about three years now. What helped her to transition into entrepreneurship and aligning with her joy of baking? I would say, I think it's inspiration as well.

She just wanted more. My brother, he had turned 18, so he was like, not an adult, but he was more on his all. He was covid, so she was seeing everyone. She was seeing a lot of baking stuff online, getting inspired by the DIYs or whatnot. And then I think that she also seen that I had a business as well.

She was understanding my brand. It was really at a stage where my business and my brand was starting to boom. So  she was saying, okay, this is what it is, entrepreneur life. And she honestly really just wanted something for herself. She wanted something to call her own. She wanted something that she could work for herself for, and she was just ready for that.

And I kept motivating her. I said, mommy, you can do this. Go do it. So I think that having us surround her family around her to say like, Do it. You can do this, you're going to do it. That was a lot of her inspiration. Having that support and the empowerment definitely. Definitely, I think inspired her.

What's the name of her business? So that we can send love and shout out and promote Mama's business. Yes, she would love that. It is Sweet Treats by China, so C H A N A. I'm gonna put Mama's Business in the show notes. Of course listeners, please. Let's all support Mama. Congrats to her. I'm sure you were an inspiration that you helped to blaze a, a new trail.

You forged a trail that had never been blazed before by you being the first, you swung the door wide open and open enough for your mom to easily walk through. So shout out to you. Congrats to mom. That's the thing. Look at you building generational wealth and generational. Generational freedom. Speaking of that is the goal, if anything, freedom.

Yeah. That's where you find peace. Yeah. That's where you find peace. I agree. That's where I found my peace was my freedom and this is where I was able to start my brand, my business, leave toxic relationships, find myself, leave jobs I did at like, and that's where I was at the most pre peace when I felt that freedom.

So yes, I agree with that. What is your mission? My mission is to mainly, build a community of women empowering. Instead of tearing each other down. That was my main mission for Girls in Empower and now it's really to help entrepreneurs start or grow their brands or businesses on Instagram. I really want to leave an impact globally with my brand.

I really want people to know girls in power. She either empowers a woman or she empowers a community through personal relatability or through business growths. My main mission right now is to leave an impact. Awesome. Well, is there anything new up and coming for your business that you would like to share?

Any events, any services, sales discount, any goodies out there that you would like to share? Yes, so I do actually have an event upcoming. I do a pop-up shop events and an empowerment events. So I'll actually be collaborating with a brand Nova Scotia. He's actually my cousin, but he started a brand called Family Over Fame.

He went completely global. He started with music, he does clothing. He literally got his mom on a live with LL Cool J like, it's come to a point where he has taken over his community and he's really, he leaves a very, very big impact, especially in the black community. He sticks to his roots, even though he is going viral and he's been able to work with many famous artists and celebrities.

He sticks to his roots, he sticks back to himself, and it's really just to empower a community. We're collaborating and it's crazy because about, I would say, Six years ago, we would be on the phone talking about what we wanted. We were like, we're gonna go far. He was at the start of his branding business.

I hadn't even had started my brand or business, but we just had this vision and we were talking about it, and now literally six years down the line, we're here collaborating on an event that's going to be crazy. We are going to be having artists and entrepreneurs connecting. We're gonna be having a showcase of vendors.

A late night connect it's called, so it's basically a networking event. So that will be the start of many more upcoming events and virtual events. In closing, is there anything that you would like to leave us with? I would say mainly to any female entrepreneur listening or any aspiring female entrepreneur.

You know the vision that you have in your mind, it's there for a reason that thought if it keeps for playing and it's something that you keep thinking about, it's for reasons. So start or continue. Don't give up. As long as you're consistent, you have a plan, a strategy. If it's meant to be, the results will come.

Thank you. Please share your contact information with us. Yes, so once again, my name is Karina Oliver. You can find me on Instagram at Girls Empower mtl, and you can always send me an email directly at Girls Empower at hotmail. Well, thank you Miss Carita. It has been fun, love. Thank you so much for having me, joy.

It was such a pleasure. Our most welcome. Love.