Networking through Collaborations

          When it comes to growing a new business that is not yet well known, networking can be your best friend. There are many ways one can network with other businesses and entrepreneurs. One of the best ways to network is by collaborating with people who are in the same business field(s) as you and share similar goals you have. Recently, I have started to network more than usual and as a result, my fan base is growing on my social media pages. through networking I have also gained some meaningful friendships and I just so happen to collaborate with one of them on their recently released podcast episodes. In this article, I will discuss how my first collaboration experience went and how you too can grow your fanbase through networking.

         It was in the winter of 2018 when I shared my article from my current blog for the month in a writing group on Facebook. The group is called, "Writer's Group," which you can still network on today. When I first shared the article, my only goal was to gain more viewers. Little did I know now, I would meet a guy whose name is Nate from the group and we would later become friends. After checking out my article, he sent me a message on messenger. We soon learned that we had more things in common besides being apart of the writer's group. Me and Nate have goals to become public speakers, has participated in public speaking, and has connections with Prince George's Community College. We met in person a couple months later when he came out to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County campus to support me at an event I was hosting. From that point to now, our friendship has grown and we have been in the frontlines to seeing our personal challenges and wins as we navigate the entrepreneurial world. Last year in November, he would ask me if I would be interested in appearing on his podcast when I returned back from Spain. I of course said yes.

         Nate's podcast is called Life Tips. On his podcast, he talks about his experiences with how he broke into his career and how his immediate circle and life changed just by finding his calling for public speaking. These days, he collaborates with other podcasters and entrepreneurs who shares similar experiences as him and discuss their take on life. Just by reading the summary I gave Nate about his podcast, you can already tell that he has a lot of interesting people featured on his show so it was a huge honor for him to ask me if I would like to be apart of his movement as a featured guest speaker. We recorded the episode on Sunday, May 24th, and would air publicly on the 8th of June.

         During the recording, Nate and I used a couple of video chat apps since we had to social distance ourselves because of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. The topic discussion for the episode was on my life as an entrepreneur, writer, and teacher. We even talked about how we've been while remaining on Maryland, U.S.A's  lockdown; both sides of the story on how we met and became friends; and a sneak peek on what's happening in my romantic life. It felt like we were just having one of our regular conversations over the phone. I had a very good time and I am very grateful to have Nate as my first collaboration when it comes to the Dear Ms. Aphrodite organization. Before the episode ended, I shared my advice to future writers and people actively dating during the pandemic. You can check out the episode by clicking on this link:

 https://anchor.fm/lifetips/episodes/Lifetips-3--E-10-Commitment-to-your-Calling-ft--Miss-Aphrodite-eebaig

          Now that I have shared my experience on my first collaboration and how it went, I'm now going to share you ways you to can network with like minded people in order to create future collaborations.

1. Share you talent (ex. article blogs and YouTube videos) on all your social media accounts

2. Join Facebook or any other type of online groups that relates to the field of your business and business goals relate too

3.  Add relatable hashtags to your posts then like, comment, and follow on posts that share the same hashtags as yours

4.  Look for local events to attend that focus relates to your business and entrepreneur goals 

5.  Looking within your circle of friends who has a starter businesses or just businesses in general and see if there are ways you two can collaborate with one another (This might be the best choice for your first collaborations before you start getting noticed by others)

 

The very first day me and Nate and I met in person

Bringing Out the Caution Tape

In Front of the Trump Hotel after the Clean Up in 2016

          It has been three weeks since the death of George Floyd took place. If you don't know who he is, he was the guy who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. This death was one of the reasons for the uproar amongst a lot of citizens in America for the demand of fair treatment and respect among people of color and the awareness of police brutality. Two days after Floyd's death, protesting grew all over the United States demanding changes to the current police style of policing. Many of the protests were peaceful and still are today, but rioting over cities in different states started to take place around the same time usually during late hours of the night and caused mayors to create curfews and added police forces to block streets. Within the week, protests about police brutality took place overseas in several countries. Those countries also have current problems with police brutality amongst their colored citizens and those citizens were inspired by the United States to have their voices heard as well.

         These protests are similar to the protests that took place during the Civil War movement and others that took place in the 1960s, but looks very different at the same time. People of all races and backgrounds are showing up to shout out #BlackLivesMatter standing beside people of color as support. During the first two weeks of protesting: official state leaders started to recognize the citizens shout for change; old cases reopened relating to deaths caused by police brutality; new charges has been made against the four police officers involved with the death of George Floyd; Confederate related statues has either been destroyed by protesters or removed through vote; some of the members of the police union has protested along with the protesters while others in the union has been fighting back as though they are the victims; laws has been made in some states to ban polices to include the choke hold method when policing; police departments has view their style of policing to make changes for the better; Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members and racist people has been exposed and receiving a lot of negative consequences and backlash; and the current President Trump has been adding oil to an already fired situation while trying to campaign for a second term.

Mayor of D.C got "Black Lives Matter" paint on the streets 

          Whoever says protesting and rioting has never solved problems lied. As what we saw during the 1960s and what's taking place now has shown that protesting and making your voice heard creates an impact and get things done. But what happens when all the protesting stop completely? Will state representatives stop creating changes on how police departments in their states police? Will old cases relating to police brutality remain unsolved? Will people stop caring about Black lives and the equal rights for all citizens regardless of their backgrounds? Will people forget that they have important decisions to make this coming November for election day? My guess is that a lot of people will stop the uproar for change and focus on the next big topic. My fear is that a lot of people will not show up to the polls to vote in November. I believe that we need to continue the fight when protesting completely ends.

          It is important that when the protesting stops, we don't stop demanding for the end of police brutality amongst all, especially people of color. There are a few ways that we can accomplish this goal. One way is to keep your local police departments accountable for the way they choose their police officers, the training that is being provided, taking away policing techniques that harms citizens to the point of death, and charging police officers for wrong doing while on duty and when off. You can get in contact with the officers in the departments by going to the police department offices in person and or writing emails and letters to them to let them know your concerns on the state the police officers do their jobs.  The second way is by emailing your state representatives your concerns and what you would like to take place in your state to create a safer and fair environment for all. I mean that is the reason why you voted for them right? And lastly, make sure you make your voice heard by placing your votes during every election with some consideration on why you are voting for them. It's good to go to the polls to vote, but you don't want to just put anybody in charge because at the end of the day, these individuals are going to be your representatives until the next election for their positions.   

          If you've witnessed some of my posts on my social media pages, you'll know my hatred for Trump is real. I've been against him running for presidency since 2016. I don't understand how people can vote for someone who has shown multiple times that they have no care for anyone who don't fit the descriptions of being rich, white, male, and heterosexual. Not only has Donald Trump showed that he has little care for majority of citizens in the United States, he has zero experience working in law or with government in a representative stands. This man just don't care unless it personally effects him.

          During Trump's whole presidency, his actions has proven to me that all my concerns about having him as a president were legit. For four years, it has felt like I didn't have a president. None of his actions has benefitted me what so ever. I know there is no such thing as a "prefect president", but being a decent human being who cares about humanity should be top on the list and someone who knows some knowledge about law or willing to learn while on the job should be second on the list when it comes to qualifying as a possible presidential candidate. This year alone has shown how unquantifiable he is as president. In the beginning of the year, he had a problem with North Korea and almost caused a war. In late February, he didn't realize how serious the spread of Covid-19 was and didn't listen to the experts until he was forced too. Trump gave unauthorized advise to the public on how to survive from the Coronavirus and it caused a lot of people to become sick. Now he's being ruthless during the witnessing of protests taking place all over the country by threating mayors to control protesters and add more police officers to block the street or else he would personally fix the problem while he hides into a secret location making clashing statements on his Twitter account. With all these actions taking place in six months, do Donald Trump seem like the best fit to run a country? My answer is no. You would think majority of people would agree, but unfornately that's not the case and they will be voting for Trump once again in November. I will not be and I feel the same way as  I felt in 2016 when I wrote my poem on the situation. You can check out the video clip of me performing my poem, " In Government We Trust," by clicking the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDadoO3ouDk  

The President had police throw smoke gas so he could walk to 

the church

Protesters trying to move back in place

once the president walked back to the White House

          Right before I was getting ready to release this article, President Trump came on live national news to give a speech on the executive order on police reform and signing the document for everyone present and watching could see. A lot of things Trumped mentioned in his speech was very contradicting to one another. In just about all the speeches Trump has done this year was him always mentioning China's involvement in spreading Covid-19 and how the economy is doing "so well". Below, you can see the images from the event and just by reading the captions, you can get an idea of how the speech went. The only thing you will not be able to read is his statements on China and about the economy.

While it's great that President Trump finally signed a law to help solve police brutality in America, I feel as though people in his corner only told him that by signing the law, people will vote for him in November. I say this because during the start of the protesting and weeks in, he would call participants "thugs" and gave empty threats to bring out more policemen and the military if the mayors were not able to stop protesters from protesting and rioting in cities. 

How to Build Your Resume while in Quarantine

          As a teacher and mentor, I believe it's important to stay relevant in the areas you are teaching others about and in most cases that means you have to continuously return back to the student position. If you've been keeping up with my articles and read, " Seven Straight Years of College: What's the Move Now!, " I mentioned my long higher educational journey before receiving my bachelor degrees in English and Psychology with a concentration in Developmental Psychology. When I applied myself to complete these degrees and many certificates; my overall goal was too get enough certifications and three degrees under my name so I can stop having to stay up long hours of the night studying and completing assignments for school. By the time I entered my final year of college my views started to change especially when my life calling and career choice started to become stable. In this article, I will discuss how my experience of wearing the student hat once again is going so far and ways you can continue to grow mentally without having to enroll in a class per say that requires you to complete assignments for grades.

          On May 23rd this year, it had become a year since I graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and I've been in the student seat a couple of times since the time I walked across the stage. Currently as you read this article, I am enrolled in a course to become an English teacher to speakers of other languages while traveling and living overseas. The course was apart of a program I signed up months ago around the Fall season. Originally, I was suppose to attend the class in China during the month of August this year, but then the Coronavirus pandemic took place. I wondered if I could get the money back that I paid for in order to be apart of the program or if it was possible to choose a different month to take the class. When I emailed the American representative for the company to learn what my options were, the representative told me that the schools in China were going to open up soon and the only way I could get my money back was if the pandemic worsen. It would be April when the company would tell me about the option to participate in a virtual course that would be available in the middle of month and in May, but there was a catch. Only the classroom sessions would take place online, but would still have to spend two weeks in China to complete the in-person teaching practices portion of the program . I signed up for the May session. I would figure out which month I would complete my in-person teaching sessions later in the coming months.

         The first day of class was on Sunday, May 17th, at 8pm Eastern time U.S.A; whereas it was Monday, May 18th, at 8am for the teachers who are currently living in China. During the first session, me and the other students learned that it would no longer be a requirement for us to do the in-person teaching practices in China because of the lack of ability to enter certain borders at the moment while we are currently in a pandemic. The teachers made it possible for us to complete our three teaching practices online along with the other requirements. So far we are currently we have done our second round of teaching practices. 

Poster and Game created for 2nd teaching practice

Images I drew to teach the new vocabulary words

          The requirements me and the other students need to complete in order for us to pass the course and receive our TEFL certificates were to read seven chapters and complete the quizzes that goes along with those chapters; watching expert teacher teaching videos and completing observation videos about those teachers; two projects; complete three teaching practice sessions and a self-evaluation for each one; a mid-term; and a final exam. All of these assignments have to be completed by June 11th, U.S. date. 

By being apart of this class, I am reminded why I couldn't wait to graduate from University last year for the simple fact that I'm up late to attend class and staying up to complete homework assignments. At the same time, I'm learning a lot on how to become a more effective teacher. I now know activities I can use to teach grammar that are both effective and fun. I'm improving how I create my lesson plans by making them more detailed thanks to all the feedback I receive from both my teachers and the other students. Lastly, I'm learning the common mistakes students usually make when they are learning English for the first time. With each teaching practice I have done, I have improved my teaching techniques greatly. My last teaching practice will take place this coming Sunday. I'm hoping for a greater performance than my last.

        While I know I can do a lot of things with the degrees and the concentration certificate I have; I know I wouldn't have been aware of the many challenges learners have when it comes to learning the English language nor how I could teach the language to them effectively. My teaching experience in Spain and this virtual class has taught me how I can accomplish these goal. These experiences, has shown me that there are so many things I need to be aware of when it comes to teaching the English language and just teaching in general. I didn't learn or understand these concepts while I was in working on my degrees. With that being said, I want to let others know how important learning new skills are to their personal callings as well.

         Learning new skills don't always have to involve enrolling into a course where you have to complete homework assignments daily. You can gain knowledge from reading self-help books; working and living in a different country as I mentioned about my experience working in Spain; participating in an organization; and entering a skill building program which you can gain access too by going on your local library's website and using your library card to sign in. By learning new skills, you simply become someone with many talents and are able to use those skills within your career life. These new talents may also cause you to see the world differently than you once saw life as. 

         I hope this article encouraged you to further your knowledge on things in your career field or personal callings in life. Let me know what you been during to build new skills while in quarantine.