Photo Credits: George Pagan III from Unsplash
This series is all about diverse entrepreneurship, but Jelly Social has a different and broader definition of diversity, one that highlights the uniqueness of individuals. To us, there are two forms of diversity to us: inherit diversity (age, gender, race) and acquired diversity (education, knowledge, skills, experience, values). Using inherited and acquired diversity can help us to realize all the different ways we are diverse. This week, we are talking to expert Paige Johnson-Serjue on her journey as a diverse entrepreneur!
What makes Paige Diverse?
As a diverse entrepreneur, shed some light on yourself, the work you’re doing and maybe some of the things that make you diverse!
I am a Jamaican and Irish mother that works as a social media strategist and public speaker, based in Mississauga. I am fast to fail and knows how to fail properly.
Everyone in my core group of friends has a hobby, a talent and, in most cases, a business or side hustle. I felt like everybody was good at something except me; I don’t have a hobby, can’t sing, can’t dance I can’t do anything like that. the one thing everyone would say is “Paige, you’re so good at talking! You’re such a great talker.” I thought that no one would want to pay me to do what I do all the time, the same things my teachers told me were bad on my report card. I created an Instagram account called Paige1ofSome which stemmed from doing all the “adult things” like working in corporate, becoming a mom, getting married. I really went on to social media to b*tch about all the stuff that millennials weren’t taught in high school, like purchasing a home, taxes, how expensive it is to get married, and what it’s like being a first-time parent. I thought that I would get a home like my parents but when I entered the housing market, I’m in a shoebox. I was online sharing my experiences with an extremely blunt approach to just do it for something to do while getting my identity back after immersing myself into my child. Creating that social media account allowed me to find myself again, bring myself back, communicate in a different way, and unintentionally allowed me to become an entrepreneur.
Road to Entrepreneurship
What was your journey like to becoming an entrepreneur? How has your experience been and who have you worked with?
The first place to contact me was Humber college and they said “Paige, I love what you’re doing. how much do you charge speak?” I swear 5,000,000 times on my posts, yet I have this school asking me my fees?! This snowballed and built that confidence in me to become a speaker, so I remained consistent on Instagram and ended up becoming a motivational speaker with a focus on starting the conversation and changing the narrative surrounding topics that primarily affect millennials. Since then, I have spoken at a lot of places like Humber College, Brock University, Puma, and Telus.
I’d have people that would tell me after I spoke saying things like “I wish I could just bring you with me,” or “I wish I could have you in the back of my head!” Since my demographic of millennials wouldn’t want to spend a lot of money on 1-on-1 sessions just to discuss their future, my business manager recommended that I write a book on the same content I was creating on my Instagram! I titled it “Break Free of The Bullsh*t, A Millennial Empowerment Guide” which is broken down into 10 different chapters called “phases” that touch on everything. Rather than the typical motivational book holding your hand by telling you that you can do it, it is a workbook that holds you accountable by bluntly telling you to get it together. This book led me to becoming a bestselling author on Amazon Canada, Amazon U.S while I currently work as a social media strategist for a company in Silicon Valley.
Obstacles on her Journey
Thinking back on your journey to becoming the person that you are today, what would you say was the biggest obstacle to overcome? Could be a professional obstacle, a personal obstacle, a mental obstacle, an emotional obstacle.
It sounds extremely cliche but growing up I had this perceived notion of perfection; follow these rules, live that really cookie cutter life. When I went away to Brock University, I initially went to school for a major in psychology. Long story short, I ended up getting a probation letter for academic suspension after getting caught for plagiarism. It went downhill quickly which was a monumental moment for becoming who I am because I would never speak on my struggles, I opted to hide it so everyone would think I made it. I felt like I was in the wrong major with my pride, ego, and fear of not becoming perfect digging my hole deeper. In that final letter of academic intervention, I reached out to an academic advisor to change majors to media communications which brought me from potential academic suspension to graduating with honors. Being able to pull myself out of such a dark space as someone who wouldn’t talk about that failure, that skyrocketed me into the path that I went on. It showed me that work stress is not comparable to being on the verge of losing all your parents’ money and get kicked out of university. I realized I wasn’t perfect, and it taught me a lot about myself while proving that I could handle anything that came my way.
Another obstacle was entering the social media world and changing the narrative surrounding it. On social media, they display the same notion of perfection I had because there is no struggle since those conversations of growth are not normalized. When I started my account, discussed my experience of failing university, and normalized that conversation of life not being a walk through the park for everyone. I began over-thinking once I started posting about how I should present myself like if I should be dressed up online, if I should wear makeup and have my hair done every day, if I should limit how much I swear. These stemmed from a fear of being judged by people online which I got over by realizing that I can excel just being myself, which was tough in the beginning.
Tools for Social Media Influencing
When it comes to successfully influencing on media, are there any helpful tools, techniques, or resources that you think might be helpful for that?
Reflection. I’ve done a lot of work on multi-generational communication; how different generations communicate and connect. Being a millennial myself as well as a mother, I realized the impact that we have on the future. Millennials are the last generation that has balance between normalcy and technology. When I was going to these “Mommy and Me” classes while my son was an infant, I saw that some of the other mothers were so caught up in discussing things that didn’t matter like the materialism or the looks rather than talking about their kids.
I said to my husband: “We’re going to have all these birthday parties and I’m going to be trapped with these annoying moms that care about dumb sh*t” and realized that my son will be around people with the same mindset. This generation was being corrupted by this idea of perfection that I just had to keep pushing for him and his future since most of the people that I’m speaking to are millennials. If I can adjust their mindset, they might do some B.S. on social media but still can have those real conversations and not have their child think what is happening on social media is normal. My mindset changed for him and the people I am surrounded by because by 2025, millennials will take over the workforce through their own businesses or not. We as millennials are going to be making these decisions to change the world so if our mindset has gone left, what is going to happen to people like my son? We need to do better to fix what has been implanted in our minds and achieve balance to shake the stigma around social media.
Paige's Advice: Fail Fast and Fail Properly
As if you were to have a conversation with your younger self, what type of advice would you give your younger self?
My best piece of advice is to fail fast and fail properly. We are so scared of the idea of failure or that what we create will not be liked, but the only way to learn is by doing. You need to keep trying and when sh*t doesn’t work out, you need to find out why and what you can learn from it. Don’t just sit in a hole and think that it I cannot do it because failure is a part of the journey. I have seen a lot more failures than successes in my journey, but that makes the success story so much more real and relatable. Regarding the journey to become successful on social media, make sure you give a sh*t! Don’t create just for the Internet; having that passion and purpose will grant you be success.
Speaker's Specifics
Paige Johnson-Serjue is a public speaker, skilled Social Media Strategist, and an award-winning with an expertise in the Millennial Mindset. Her practice of failing fast and properly has helped her reach successes she never thought was possible, which she teaches and preaches when speaking at events. Learn more about Paige’s teachings by checking out her book “Break Free of The Bullsh*t, A Millennial Empowerment Guide” today!
Don’t forget to follow her on Instagram to stay up to date with what she is doing and don’t be afraid to reach out and talk to her!
