"Twenty-twenty was a year that I believed would be the end of Shea Yeleen, a social-impact business I started in my 20s after serving in the Peace Corps. Almost overnight, my beauty brand lost key retail accounts due to shutdowns and travel bans. I went into overdrive trying to secure PPP loan funding, grants, and any resources that would help me stay afloat. This was in addition to trying to support cooperative members in Ghana, which closed its borders in an attempt to curtail widespread infection.
Managing these business challenges was against the backdrop of the anger and sadness of racial violence in the US. It's safe to say that 2020 gave me more tears than cheers. However, the lessons I learned could have only come from the stresses of a global pandemic and racial reckoning.
I learned that the true secrets to success are making a commitment to never give up; surrounding myself with the right group of people, especially those I can be vulnerable with; and developing an intentional practice of healing. The healing lesson was particularly important to me because the hustle and bustle of running a business prevented me from dealing with emotional wounds. With the mandatory shelter-in-place, I was spending a lot of time in silence, something I had never done. The quiet spaces allowed for deep reflection that revealed leadership shortcomings and the reasons behind these shortcomings.
The blessing of an incredibly tough year was that I became more in tune with my emotions, which in turn has helped me become a better business leader."
