“Just what the internet needed; another basic female blogger.”

That’s what the imposter syndrome inside of me is saying. I could easily convince myself that my contribution to the world wide web isn’t all that important, other people are far ahead of me and doing it way better — you name it. But, the motivated part of me has a passion and ambition to help others that might be one or two steps behind me. My goal is that this blog could empower and encourage women to take the next step towards their biggest goals. I want a space that can nurture style and creativity. And lastly, a place that welcomes success as well as failures, good times and hard times. That my life may be a testament of hardships that can be overcome and specific goals can be attained.

In order to build a relationship with you, I must first gain your trust. I hope this post finds you at a place where you’d like to stick around for a while, reach out and come along for this crazy ride. Rather than giving you a simple “about me” introduction, let’s take a look at my credibility; where I’ve been, where I am, and where I want to be.

Where I’ve Been

2012 – 2015

2012 – Graduated high school and completed my first year of college as a dual enrollment student, started a new part-time job closer to college

2013 – Very skeptically changed my college major from pre-pharmacy to business management, also got engaged to Justin!

2014 – Completed my senior internship with businesses in the UK

2015 – In March, started Harp & Turner Construction Company with Justin as we finished our final semester of college (21 hour class load – sheesh!!), planned a wedding, went full time with the same company I worked with through college, got married in September, found out we were pregnant two short months later… talk about a crazy year. Looking back, I don’t know how we did it.

2016 – Struggled our way through our first year in business, cash flow was an issue, dealt with a disgruntled customer who sued us, fought with customers who did not want to pay us for change orders, had our son, Judah, in July, tried to figure out my balance between being a wife, mom, business owner and having a full time job, eventually made sacrifices and quit my job to focus on being a mother and growing our business

2017 – Received approvals for government contracts with our construction business (which was our main goal and opened a lot of doors for us!), started a travel agency business as a way to supplement our income, decided to quit this venture the very same year just because it was so much more time consuming than I anticipated, also, Justin and I were in three weddings within one year, watching love blossom as our closest friends and family get married

2018 – Finally figuring out the business owner/mom routine, Judah started preschool which really allowed me more time to focus on business numbers and finding new job assignments, started journaling and dreaming of what we wanted to do next in life

2019 – Jumped on the opportunity to purchase a historic building downtown near our home, in turn, creating The Golden Exchange Project that would soon be the home of many new ventures including our cafe (Wild Goose Cafe) and Authenticity, a women’s clothing store co-owned with a close friend, also went on an awesome family vacation to Maine, Justin and I took on co-leadership of our church youth and children’s ministries

Where I Am

2020

2020 has been a strange year to say the least, but I will say this is the year that has fueled me most with a feeling of purpose and ambition. We welcomed our daughter, Joanna, in July of this year all in the middle of a global pandemic. Schools and businesses were closed for some time, the economy became shaky, my eyes were opened to racism factors, I saw small business owners tremble in fear of losing everything they’ve worked for hoping they wouldn’t have to close their doors for good, and spent a lot more time at home and with family avoiding any chance that we might catch or spread COVID-19.

During a time that many people have feared what might be right around the corner, many people have taken the time to evaluate life and determine what is most important to them in the midst of the global pause, if you will.

For me, this has been a time to sit an collectively map out goals I have for myself and our family. Many times I questioned, “is where I am at now getting me to where I want to be in the future?” For the most part, the answer to that question is yes, but a new goal that I have established during this time is to work towards creating at least seven streams of income for our family.

Where I Want to Be

For us, building income is about creating a better life and future for ourselves as well as our children, being able to give to the church and community, as well as establish wealth so that we can travel more and show our children different cultures and experiences this world has to offer. I dream of having a network of women around the world that can look to one another for help, hope, purpose, and empowerment. Creating this blog is a way of holding myself accountable to setting goals, working to attain them, as well as keeping a record of the things I’ve seen along the way.

I’m a full believer that, in this day, what we leave on the internet will be our legacy. We don’t live in a world of the surprises of printing pictures from film or watching old home videos. We live in a place where most of our life, our milestones, our travels, and more are documented online. We have the ability to have reminders sent of where we were or what we said on this day years past. The reality is, what we document online now might be a biography of what we leave to generations after us.

So here I am; just another basic female bogger hoping to make a difference and leave a legacy.

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