Meet Mia
From the time I was born, my parents knew that I was … different. They just didn’t know what exactly that meant.
I was born in Orangeburg, SC and lived there until mid-way through my 6th grade year and I then lived both Ridgeway and Martinsville, VA. I was introduced to sports at an early age in the form of gymnastics where I discovered that not only was I a good gymnast, but I was a great athlete and became a competitive gymnast who won many medals in both individual and overall categories. I was also introduced to Jesus through reading the Bible with my mother at a young age and was baptized for the first time shortly after.
After moving to Virginia, I quickly adapted and went on to graduate as #2 in my high school class while also being pretty popular and a student athlete who participated in track, basketball, and cheerleading. After graduation, most people said that they didn’t know I was “that smart”, so my ability to excel in academics, sports, relationships as a young adult taught me early on that you can be Great At Everything™ without sacrificing who you are, relationships, or the things that you want to achieve.
Living The Traditional Life
I continued to excel in life during college where I received my B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering. I finished my undergraduate degree one semester early and as a Top 5 Graduate in the College of Engineering. I maintained a 4.0 GPA in my graduate studies, and joined Cisco Systems in 2008 as an engineer. In 2009, I celebrated two major achievements, one being that I became debt free and the other being that I started to get serious about my walk as a Believer due to a series of events that drew me closer to God with a hunger for more of Him.
I met my husband, Will, in late 2010, got married in the early part of 2011, and bought our home in 2012. In 2013, I started volunteering more in the community through the Distinguished Young Women scholarship program for high school senior young women by judging local programs and as chair of the Guilford County program. Also in 2013, and I was given an opportunity of a lifetime to transition into a role where on paper I was not qualified or even a considerable candidate. Nevertheless, I transitioned into a Project Manager (PM) role within Cisco, earned my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, and became a high performing employee who was highly recognized and sought out for my skills and abilities.
The Transition
2015 became another year of great opportunities for me when I was asked to become the Director of Ministries in the church I was in at the time, and I was also asked to become one of the Project Managers for the 2016 U.S. National Conventions. Both of these roles and opportunities allowed me to perfect my leadership. I became pregnant during the last few months of the conventions project with my son, Chase, and I was pregnant during the actual conventions, but continued leading my team without sharing the news widely until a few months after during the team’s celebration event.
In 2017, I gave birth to Chase, was asked to join the Council of the church I was in at the time, and I became a certified professional coach (CPC). I decided to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming an entrepreneur and started my first business in early 2018 and transitioned to full time entrepreneurship in the same year. My faith leap into full time entrepreneurship was a pivotal point that taught me a lot about myself, entrepreneurship, ministry, and a host of other unexpected things.
Although it may seem that I have had many great experiences, there have also been times where I found myself in the not so favorable life situations including being falsely arrested and convicted at age 15, being mistakenly blamed as the reason behind a senseless murder in my junior year of high school, being raped, cheated out of earned positions, overlooked for opportunities, mistreated by many in authority, and misunderstood by many. Multiple times I have had physical conditions and medical conditions where I sought out various doctors, only to be misdiagnosed, undiagnosed, told I was depressed and it was all in my head, and in some cases eventually being diagnosed and healed after years of pain and mystery. However, I knew in these and every situation I have faced that God remained in control and that I would also have to be great at forgiving, loving, navigating adversity, and helping others thrive during life’s unfortunate circumstances. After all, we are called to love, forgive, fight the good fight of faith, and more regardless of the circumstances.
The Defining Moment
Near the end of my corporate career and early in my business career, I learned about a term called multipotentiality: an educational and psychological term referring to the ability and preference of a person, particularly one of strong intellectual or artistic curiosity, to excel in two or more different fields. One article describes it as being excellent at many things. It was late one night, and I was trying to figure out why I couldn’t seem to choose just one thing when it came to my business focus. I came across a Ted Talk by Emilie Wapnick speaking on the subject of “Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling”. In her talk, she shared about multipotentiality, and it was as if my entire life all of a sudden made sense.
I finally understood why I would apply for about 15 different roles (yes, all at one time) and none of them were in my traditional career path or roles where I had direct experience. This also made sense why I wanted to start a tech company and be a coach, dancer, CrossFit champion, natural hair stylist, and other things. Just about anything that sounded interesting, provided a challenge, and I knew I could excel at, I wanted to do it, and I knew I would be great at it. I also knew the things I never wanted to be or try, and I was and am great at avoiding those things. This discovery and doing the work to fully understand multipotentialy (especially from a spiritual perspective) lead to the birth of Great At Everything™ ... because you don’t have to just be great, you can be Great At Everything™. Everything you are called to be, and nothing you aren’t!