My Journey from Corporate to Creative

An introduction to my new series

People often comment that I am “living the dream.”

Six years ago, after twenty-five years, I left my corporate career to follow a creative path. There were many things that triggered that decision, including the longevity that runs in my family.

I’m blessed to be surrounded by septuagenarians, octogenarians, nonagenarians and centenarians — superannuated family members in their 70s, 80s, 90s and 100s — who are vibrant, lucid and active.

It occurred to me that if (touch wood) I am blessed to live as long as some of my family members, I should work as hard for myself as I have for big companies. So, I decided that for the second half of my career I would pursue a creative path.

I always found ways to incorporate my creativity into my corporate life, and now my life as a creator includes developing, writing and producing content about people who look like me.

There is still a dearth of stories about the African-American experience and I have chosen to find and tell those stories. My goal is to elevate marginalized voices, including my own, by creating and sourcing content about people of color that is intended for everyone.

I want to break down barriers and increase understanding through storytelling, and my projects include a documentary film, animation, children’s books and non-fiction books.

While I’m building my new career, I still consult to pay the bills. This gives me the freedom to work as a creator and also allows me to stay connected to my corporate past since my expertise there is known.

But, entrepreneurship isn’t easy.

I work for several companies at the same time, which requires being super organized to get everything accomplished. I often joke that I am “overemployed,” but in reality, managing multiple projects at the same time comes with the territory of working for big companies and it’s nothing new.

Now, I’m simply working for many companies instead of just one.

The biggest difference between working for large veteran companies versus smaller companies is that when you work for big companies, you typically don’t have to think about whether or not you’re going to get paid.

As an entrepreneur, you’re likely to find yourself frequently chasing income. Not only in the sense that you have to find work; I learned early on that if you don’t kill it, you don’t eat it, but you also have to make sure you get paid.

People don’t always pay on time and smaller companies are notorious for having cash flow issues. This is an important consideration when you’re developing business and deciding with whom you want to work.

When people tell me how perfect my life seems and espouse that they want to emulate the path I have followed, I am quick to say, “the operative word is seems.”

It is not easy, and entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. If I make it look easy, that is a fallacy.

I spent my career making a way when a path to success wasn’t obvious and, as an African-American woman working in a white male dominated paradigm, I learned early on how to look as cool as a cucumber under pressure — even during the worst of times.

In this new iteration of my life and career, the grass isn’t greener on my side of the street; it’s just different grass. And, the path isn’t paved with gold. In fact, at times it’s quite speckled.

The internet paints entrepreneurship as the ideal, the dream, but I haven’t seen enough people talking online about the difficulties.

I left the corporate world to tell stories. Stories of people who can’t tell their own stories, stories of people whose voices aren’t the loudest in the room and stories of people who don’t have a platform to share their words.

And, while figuring out that I wanted to tell stories about people who look like me, I realized I haven’t seen stories like mine being told.

So, I decided to write this series to dive into my transition from one career to a new one. I hope it helps others who are interested in a significant life change by unpacking what the decision entails.

I want my story to inspire those people who are ready to make a change, and also help others realize whether a new path is right for them.

Through this series I’ll explore the challenges women, particularly African-American women, face. I’ll also touch on subjects like planning your exit, diversifying your income streams and letting go of things you can’t control.

I appreciate everyone who has supported me on this journey, and I’m excited to share my lessons with you through this series.

Thanks for reading. :) I’m Sonya Jackson, Founder of Mantra for Good and Managing Director at Anonymous.

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