#5: From Fashion Stylist to Tech, to Business Owner: Evolve, Adapt and Monetize Your Expertise

Inside the Episode

Welcome to the fifth episode of the Career Hackers Secrets Podcast. Today we welcome Lisa Francoeur, entrepreneur, female leader, and world-renowned motivational speaker. Lisa is the CEO at Fancyfied and a consultant devoted to scaling empowerment globally. She is also the co-founder of Crypto Tutors, an educational platform that simplifies cryptocurrencies through eLearning and one-on-one tutoring.

After 10+ years of experience as a business development executive in tech, working for companies like LinkedIn, brokering partnerships with Twitter, Airbnb, Amazon, Microsoft, and consulting brands like McKinsey, Lisa shifted to full-time entrepreneurship as the founder of Fancyfied. Through her empowerment consultancy, she teaches strategies on how to operationalize motivation and inspiration.

Today Lisa will be sharing her whole story, from fashion stylist to tech to business owner. We will talk about the importance of being aligned with your purpose and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. We will also touch on leveraging your experience and monetizing your expertise to navigate through different opportunities.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 - Introducing Lisa Francoeur
• 02:56 - Lisa’s background: of Haitian descent, born and raised in New York / Coming from a disruptive and revolutionary culture
• 05:23 - Pivoting from fashion stylist to tech, to business owner / What pivotal moments inspired you to make those changes?
• 08:31 - If the career direction that you choose is not aligned with your purpose, you're going to question whether or not this is right for you
• 09:50 - A great question to ask yourself: Think about your natural skills and what you can do / How being able to get into clubs led to a career change
• 11:47 - If you want better answers, ask better questions /  If you are looking for monetary gains, what can you do to generate that result with your skills?
• 14:41 - Jobs as a mean to a financial end vs. Jobs as a form of education: Strive always to be learning new things
• 16:45 - Breaking into tech: To go where you've never gone, you've got to be willing to do what you've never done
• 19:30 - Taking a chance and stretching yourself: Learning and growing
• 20:21 - From cutting your teeth in a startup to working at Linkedin, and becoming the only black person on the account executive team
• 22:59 - The ability to see opportunity
• 25:05 - What was it like preparing for interviews? Why your network is your net worth /  Standing out during an interview / Negotiating your salary / Asking questions
• 30:34 - Struggling with impostor syndrome: Objectivity vs. subjectivity / Rising to the occasion / You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take
• 33:32 - Creating an inclusive culture and increasing representation of people of color / The next pivot: From Linkedin to leaving everything behind
• 37:37 - What’s next? From startup to a 7-figure business in 12 months
• 40:27 - Keep on moving: Resigning, becoming a motivational speaker, and diversifying / Fancyfied
• 44:10 - Crypto Tutors, Lisa’s newest endeavor: Simplifying cryptocurrencies
• 45:07 - What advice would you give to someone who wants to pivot? You are the company you keep
• 46:38 - Sometimes you have to lose everything to gain everything / Having a solid support structure
• 47:56 - What would you do if you knew you could not fail? The value of your imagination and metacognition
• 50:34 - Where to find out more about Lisa

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