Inside the Office with Stacy Pierce

Inside the Office with

Stacy Pierce WWW.CSUITECHICKS.COM

INTERVIEW WITH STACY PIERCE 2

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CONNECT . REFLECT . INSPIRE .

What is your day job?

I’m a fulltime lifestyle, personal and business branding photographer. When I started photography, I literally didn’t own a camera or know how to use the camera, and so I was shooting everything. I mean literally begging people to allow me to shoot. It was just so I could learn, and so I was shooting anything and everything. After a couple of years, I realized I was getting more weddings. Of course, that was the work I hated the most, but it was making the money. I started to realize the thing that I love the most, that really didn’t feel like work at all, was

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those shoots where clients wanted a headshot session - “I need a headshot”- for whatever reason and I would say, “Hey, at the end when we are done getting all the shots, the traditional stuff that you want to do, can you give me just an extra 10 minutes to do just what I want to do?”

Of course, they would ask, “What do you want to do?” I would say, “These images don’t have to be boring. They can be badass and fierce!” It was always really weird for everybody because everybody is used to the same old traditional things, and it turned out I was able to have fun with them. A lot of clients had fun and really showed who they were, and not only were they the images that I liked the most but they were the ones that the client liked the most. I realized, okay, this is what doesn’t feel like work. If I can leave a corporate job and launch into photography without knowing how to use a camera and start from zero, then I can do that again in photography. Now, I have niched into business branding and personal branding for entrepreneurs who want unapologetically badass images that attract their ideal clients while allowing them to be who they really are.

Love, love, love. Let’s talk about your heroes or mentors growing up and now. Who were they? Who are they?

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See, now I’m getting emotional, because everybody will always say “Oprah,” but it was my dad, which is a part of why I’ve been so “meh” lately. It’s because it’s summer. Springtime is when we lost him. It was his favorite time of the year, and he was the guy in the neighborhood who … I mean in fact, there were very few homes in the neighborhood that I grew up in that had a dad, so I was living this anomaly because we had a dad who came home every day. In fact, he would love on everyone. He was the guy who would run a community center, the type of person who you would see movies made about. He was very much different than a lot of people in our town, which is very Christian. You go to church no matter what, every Sunday without fail, all day, and then you come back. That is the environment that I grew up in and my dad was so anti that.

So, I grew up thinking that my dad was going to hell. I remember telling my grandma like, “Daddy is so cool.” I remember the conversation. “Daddy is so cool but they told us in church, in Sunday school, that he’s not going to make it to heaven because he doesn’t go to church.” It was one of the best conversations, and I didn’t understand a lot, but she talked about how people are, just the way that you grew up, and just the stuff people say that they know. Who is to check them to know that they are right? It’s about being a good person and he was. My dad was the only person ever who made it a point that you didn’t get to get bonus stuff until you did your chores. One of the things that we did together as a family, which literally got me bullied in the neighborhood because people made fun of it, is we would go to the library. People would say, “You all are so square,” but I loved it. I remember saying, “No. I like it because I like to read anyway,” but that was my dad.

One of the things that I learned from him was there are going to be times that you have a choice to do what people expect you to do or, in his exact words, “Tell them to kiss your black ass,” literally. My dad was a curser. I thought something was wrong if he wasn’t and he gave me permission to be myself, even if it meant standing alone.

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I didn’t realize how so many of the things that have

and pay attention. We’d be going down the road,

defined my life are the things that I’ve had to stand

singing. I mean I’m talking belting it out. Truly,

alone in.

some of my favorite memories are just riding in

Ooh, that’s some good stuff.

That is good. Even I can recognize that that is good.

It’s actually a blessing and this is just another way

the car because we always sung in a three-part harmony. Who got alto? Who’s got soprano? Me, I can sing whatever somebody else is not singing, so I was just good like that.

that I get to experience my dad even after he is

I know how to sing, but we would just belt it out

gone. So, thank you.

and one of the things that he would do if there

What’s your best childhood memory?

was a new song that was just being introduced, he would say, “Whose voice do you hear? Who is this?” “How I’m I supposed to know who is

I have so many. Oh my gosh. If my sister knew I

singing this song? I don’t know the song.” He’s

was going to tell this story she’d be like, “Wait.” My

like, “You don’t know the song but you know the

dad, he was very much serious but he could also

voice. Listen.” It started to be this game that we

be an absolute goofball, and often when we went

would play. It gave me this appreciation for music,

outside of the house, you’d get the speech. “Don’t

and it has been this thing that I’ve done with all

be an embarrassment. You are going to behave.” We

my nieces and nephews. We crank up the music

knew how to act and how to behave and so that was

while we are in the middle of traffic and just cut

something that even as a kid I didn’t understand all

up. To learn that those are actually some of their

the way. Say you ran into somebody he hadn’t seen in

fondest memories of being with Auntie Stacy over

a year or whatever, he’d be like, “Oh, hey man” at the

the years is priceless. It was not going to Disney,

grocery store. “Hey, good to see you” and we’d just

or going to something that we had to pay a whole

be standing there. Everybody, whether it was a man,

bunch of money for. It’s the car rides.

whether it was a woman, whether it was a passersby in the grocery store, would always stop him and say,

What traits did you possess as a child that

“Your kids are so well behaved” and for the most part

resembles the traits of a leader and do you have a

we were, but we argued and we got into it while we

funny story?

were out and about.

I got in trouble a lot. I always questioned

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All we had to do was get that look, but that’s okay.

authority, and as a kid I had two schools of

One of the things that I love about my dad was

thought, where most of the adults were like, “You

he loved music, all types of music and it would

do whatever the adult says. You don’t question

shock me that I would go to school singing songs

God so when you are in church whatever Sister So

that people in my class didn’t know. They’d be

and So says, that’s how it is. You do what they tell

like, “What are you singing?” I was like, “Oh, that’s

you to do,” blah, blah, blah, blah. It was confusing

Queen” and they are like, “Queen?” I’m like, “Yeah.”

to me as a kid to learn about these things that

A New Journey and all these different songs, and we

we are supposed to do as good Christians and

grew up with music every single day. And, one of the

to be good people but then I was like, “But Sister

things that I love is our dad wanted us just to listen

Cynthia, you were just talking about Sister So and

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and such and such and such and such because we have these quizzes. “What’s Isaiah, this and that?” “What Psalm this is that?” Just spit them all out and everybody is clapping but there is no understanding so how does that help us? How does that literally help us go out in life and live this life of happiness and joy that we can’t even contain? Because I’m not feeling any of that.

And so, just even how I was as a kid is how I have shown up in my own business. Honestly, the only reason I push myself to even show up online is because I know that there are people who want things to be real basic and simple without being dumbed down. But, if it’s so deep and so spiritual, are you really reaching the people? I literally had to make what I do super simple.

When did you decide that you would be a personal branding photographer? What made you pick up the camera and start taking pictures?

So.” It wasn’t to call anybody out, but you can’t tell me that because that’s not what you did. I ended up

I don’t share this with a lot of people. They get the

getting a whooping that day because my mom was

website version. “I had a life altering event that

embarrassed.

caused me to follow my passion for photography,” and that’s what the people get. But, the full

I was the kid who needed things to make sense.

story is that I was in corporate and was pushing

I remember getting another whooping. It wasn’t

myself…just pushing and pushing and pushing and

to be combative but I just said, “I know we are

by numbers, I was doing really, really well. I was

supposed to be reading the Bible and talking the

ranked top in the nation. In fact, top three when I

way people talk.” This is actually when I got older. In

actually left the corporate world. Out of over 300

fact, it was my very last whooping. My dad was like,

reps, I was in the top three. The top performer

“Nope. They are too old to be getting a whooping.”

ranked in the nation doing a great job.

He’s like, “They are who they are.” I was very clear about the fact that nobody is really thriving. I

No matter what I did, it just was never enough

didn’t have that vocabulary at the time but how

to get the type of project I wanted or to get the

we were supposed to be changed and set free and

validation that I was thinking I should have,

living this life? How can we live that when we can’t

which wasn’t a corner office. My manager was

even explain the basic scripture in terms of we

highlighting other people who weren’t even on

know what the Bible says but we don’t know the

the map really, on the radar. They were tapped

principle?

and given these great projects and exposure.

None of those things were happening for me,

You are more impressed that I can quote such 8

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though, so I kept pushing. I just kept thinking, “I CONNECT . REFLECT . INSPIRE .

just got to work harder, got to work harder, got to work harder.” I was doing that and just pushed to the point that my body completely gave out and I started having seizures.

In fact, of the two that I had, one just changed my life. I couldn’t drive for a year. I mean it changed everything, but luckily I had a great job and was financially responsible and I had great insurance. No bill had to go unpaid while I was out the entire time because I had such great insurance, but while I was out I kept thinking that when I get better I’ve just got to maybe do a little bit more. Even though I said, “I’m going to work smarter, not harder,” I went back to the same exact routine thinking that I was. My body knew and the same thing happened but just twice as bad. I didn’t know who I was. I actually I didn’t know who I was.

The medical team asked me, “What year?” I couldn’t tell them what year. They asked who the president was and I was like, “Bush” and I could see they looked at each other and so then the doctor said, “Well which Bush?” He said, “Do you know that there has been more than one Bush?” I was like, “Oh yeah, yeah, yeah” and I said, “Yeah, it’s the younger one.” I was reading a book so I could give details and I was like, “What?” He was like, “Don’t worry but that’s not the president. He used to be the president” and I said, “There’s another president?” He said, “There’s another president” and they were just looking and I went, “Obama” and he was like, “Yes.” I just burst out crying because I’m a black girl.

How do you forget the first black president? You really had to quit!

Honestly, that was the thing that made me decide, okay, this is not working. Those episodes were so bad because I had the worst category of seizures. I had them back to back to back to back, so my body was worn out. I knew that there was no way I was going to

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go back to the job, not having a clue of what I was

Oh yes. Let me tell you. There were words I didn’t

going to do. I just kept getting worse and worse

even realize. There’s a goal in my head. I was just

and worse and I made a pact. It’s a really long

coming from such a place of despair. I was like, “You

story but things were so bad. I literally couldn’t

are the one who is supposed to be the answer. This is

get dressed.

what I’ve been taught all of my life. I’ve been a good

Somebody would just come in around the clock to help me get my clothes on every day, making my meals, making sure I took my medication. Fast forward. I was just in a really, really bad way and I remember I had a conversation with God and it wasn’t like, “Dear God” where my hands were folded. It wasn’t like that at all. It was like I was

person, financially responsible. I did this. I did that.

The same seed that I have put in the ground, you are going to have to bring it forth to me by morning.” I made that demand and woke up and was honestly really surprised to actually open my eyes. I laid there a little bit and I remember thinking, well I’m not in hell.

talking to the girlfriend who had done me wrong

Literally, I woke up and I hadn’t been able to do

and I needed to let her know, with all the hand

anything on my own in over a month. This doesn’t

movements, with all the curse words. I mean

seem significant but I was never able to make it

everything came out. In fact, honestly when I

even to my restroom but I went to the restroom on

woke up, I was shocked that God actually kept me

my own this particular morning and I didn’t even

through the night. I’m not kidding, because He

realize it because I went right back into my old

had every reason to strike me down. I was like, “I

habits, without even thinking. It wasn’t until I went

really don’t care if you are upset. If you want to

to the refrigerator, grabbed a glass and the water

take me out, so be it. That’s fine because that’s

was coming out into the glass and I had the glass

better than this life.”

in my hand that I realized, “I haven’t had a glass of

“This is not what you promised. This, what’s happening right now is not at what you promised me.” I’m getting emotional. I said, “If there is not

anything, standing up.” It had been so long that that actually was unfamiliar, and it was the thing that made me go, “Holy crap.”

some evidence, not next week, not another year

Now, a part of the promise that I made to God was

and a half - I’m not waiting a year and a half so I

that if He showed up, that it was going to be my

can sit up in church and have a testimony about

confirmation that going back to that job is not what I

how God healed me. When I wake up tomorrow,

was supposed to do and I was willing to hang around

there’d better be some sign that I’m better so

to figure out what that was. Then I mandated that he

I know that you are real and that you hear me

was going to have to show me what to do. Literally,

and that when I call your name, you hear me and

as I’m standing with the glass in my hand, my aunt

say, ‘There goes Stacy.’” “If I don’t feel that in the

walks through the door. Mind you, she didn’t expect

morning, I’m out of here. I have a whole drawer of

me to be standing. I’m in bed. I’ve been in bed every

medication to make it all go away.” I literally was

single day. She’s the one who gets me dressed every

like, “You got a choice if I’m purposed to be here,”

day. We had to go through a whole conversation

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean I went on and

about me being okay with her seeing my underwear.

on and on and on and on and-

That was just the worst, her having to take my

With some of your daddy’s curse words sprinkled in.

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panties and have me step in and get a hold of her shoulder. It startled her. It scared her to just walk in CONNECT . REFLECT . INSPIRE .

the kitchen and there I’m standing. Literally, she just screams, drops her bag. Imagine The Color Purple “God is Trying to Tell You”? Literally, she took off running. I mean literally, I was so tickled and was so tired from just me going, “Yes.” I was exhausted and she had to physically take me back to the room and the whole time it was just “Praise God,” the whole time. Once we got settled and thanked God for that, I got into my clothes for the day. She fixed my food and she left.

I’m like, “Okay. Now what I’m I supposed to do?” Literally out of nowhere, Lydia, I mean completely out of nowhere, I start obsessing about an old camera, an old film camera. In high school, other kids were getting money from their parents or allowances. We didn’t get allowances. We got money based on our grades and it was the best motivator for me. Then my dad realized that for me it was food, and I’m not kidding. My motivation was food, so he promised to go to a certain restaurant or to get me Arby’s sandwiches. If I got an A that meant I got certain …My sisters joke with me about this to this very day. That was my incentive because I wanted two sauce packets. I mean Arby’s was my jam, and I ended up getting good grades because I wanted food..

My dad, he was the one that gave me a camera when I was young that he bought but didn’t use, and I couldn’t afford to get the film processed.

So, I was like, “Dad, can you give me some money?” He was like, “No. Go get a job, then you can get as much film as you want and get it processed as much as you want.”

So, I had it, but this camera was so beat up and so old. I hadn’t used it in, gosh, I mean many, many, many years, but I started obsessing about it. My aunt had gone home. I called her and

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asked her to come back over. She asked if I was okay, and I told her I was fine and I just needed to find my camera. She promised to come over the next day and look for it with me.

I was like, “I’m not waiting till tomorrow.” It took me forever to get to the garage, but I was determined to find that camera. I found it, and it was actually busted up a little bit and it didn’t work. I was literally too tired and unable to get myself back to the bed, so I had to call my aunt saying, “I’m in the garage. There is no way I can get back to the room” and she was like, “Why are you in the garage?” I was like, “Because I really wanted to find the camera.” It was so weird, and felt like such a little small thing to be sitting in the garage literally waiting. When she opened the door she just went, “Mm, mm, mm.” I was sitting there with the camera and I was like, “Aunt Mary, it doesn’t work,” and so she got me to bed.

Fast forward. Aunt Mary knew I was not going to let the camera go, so she gave me something else to focus on. She told me she would believe with me that if I worked on getting better, I would be able to get my license back faster than the doctors had said.

She promised me that when I needed my camera, she would go with me to have it fixed or to buy me a new one. That became the thing that had me holding on. The research I had done because I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything, couldn’t drive, was just me obsessing and learning about this stuff online.

In fact, I found a camera online that said, “DSLR.” I didn’t know what DSLR was so I googled and googled and googled DSLR. I googled photography store, Orlando, found the closest one, gave it to my auntie and literally the day that my license was reinstated, I made it a point that the both of us went down to the camera store. I met the salesperson, who now happens to be a really good friend, and asked him to sell me the best camera they had in the store.

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What an amazing experience! If you weren’t doing photography, what would your life look like right now?

Honestly, I can’t even say it because I battle with this all the time. I quit photography about three or four times every year (laughing) and then I go, “Oh, okay. Well what else am I going to do? Let’s start with what do I want to do?” I always start with, “I want to do something that doesn’t require me to thrive via social media.” I don’t know what that is.

I think about just all the properties and stuff that goes up in real estate, and they don’t even have to be on social media and it just gets under my skin because that’s not the life that I had at all. Honestly, if I could do everything all over again, I don’t know.

I mean I didn’t know enough to know about social

If I had to do it all over again, I would disregard the

media and what the impact of social media would

advice of people who haven’t been where I’m trying

be. I just knew years ago. In fact, it’s so funny. My

to go. Now, that’s Jesus approved right there. Jesus

nephew brought that up the other day. He goes,

approved that.

“Auntie, I remember the day when we told you about Facebook and Instagram and you were just like no.” We were like, “You should be” and I was like, “No. I would never” and I remember that day.

I still have very strong feelings about my love-hate

Someone told me this ... You don’t have to make the mistake to learn from it. What’s the toughest lesson you’ve learned that you hope another woman can learn from you?

relationship with social media and so I don’t know what that thing is like. I know you can be a teacher.

You don’t have to be on social media but I don’t like kids (laughing). So, my answer is something that doesn’t allow me to thrive via social media and still have the life that I want.

There are many, but the one that I share that doesn’t make me popular is that you are going to lose some people along the way. Trying to get to where you are going to go will require you to let some of your old friendships go, because they are just not able to see where you are trying to go. In

If you had it all to do over again, would you do

fact, to answer that, the thing that even to this very

anything differently?

day I struggle with that has kept me from going to the next level is trying to bring other people up with

Oh gosh. Yeah, I would, but then there is no way

me, to build with me, who actually aren’t ready. It’s

to do it all over again at this point because all this

made my load heavy, so that I can’t even get my

stuff has happened. If I just believed in myself more.

wings up off the ground, because I’m trying to pull

Yeah, if I could do it all over again I absolutely would

somebody else along with me who is just not ready

do it.

to fly.

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I have lost friendships and shed tears and stood still, lost lots of money trying to buy programs for other people because they can’t afford it and then they do nothing with it. You give them free advice, free time, free pictures, just trying to help build other people. Because I really do believe in collaboration, and just the people that you can connect with.

Sometimes there are things that are so much easier to do if there are two heads and two people trying to literally take the boulder and push it up the hill.

And, so many times while the person is standing next to me, I didn’t realize their hand’s not on the boulder and I’m burdening all of it.

Reflect on your first major challenge as an entrepreneur. What resources did you have or need and not have to overcome it?

My biggest challenge was determining my worth, setting my prices and getting over feeling guilty when people want you to do things for free. And, saying, “No.” That was very, very difficult, and I could be so much further along had I known that it’s okay to say no.

I didn’t have any of the resources readily available to me, and so I was the one who was willing to pay.

I realized you have to pay. When I was at the James Whitmore conference, I was very, very honest. I knew that what I needed I was not going to get within the four walls of the church or the prayer line, when that’s all that we had been taught, aside from my dad. Everybody else I knew was just, “We are having a revival on Sunday. So and so, they are going to bring the heavens down.” In fact honestly, Nicole Walters doesn’t even know this story actually, but the very first course I ever bought and the very first consultation and coaching I ever bought was from Nicole Walters. I learned so much, not just from the coaching session but how she did it. Two of the things I was struggling with, I got answers to through her. One was being asked for

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stuff for free.

Nicole was asked for stuff for free, all the time.

Since her whole thing was Naptural, she called it Nicole and nappy hair or whatever. I don’t know their names but I think three black guys were doing, what do I feel about the black hair journey and black women and the hair? They reached out with a

you. If God has given you a gift, you don’t charge for it. That’s the mentality that I’d heard day in and day out - you don’t take the gift that God has given you and then ask somebody to pay you for it. No. You freely give it. Nicole was like, “Actually, I know who God is. I talk to Him every single day and He said, ‘No. You don’t have to do that.’”

general letter type of thing, “Hey, can you support

My call with her was supposed to be 30 minutes,

this project?” Blah, blah, blah and it was actually

and it was one of the best calls. Everything Nicole

a project that she wanted to support. She told

Walters said five years ago, literally had I just done

them she wouldn’t just write a check, though. She

what she said, I would probably be a Nicole Walters

said, “Just because it’s my calling, something that I

right now. But, I just knew so little and then I told

believe in, I don’t have to just send them a check,” I

myself that she had things I didn’t have. Had I just

will never forget it, because I was thinking, “What?

done even a few of the things, I would be so further

You got all this money!” Nicole said, “You give in a

along. One of the things that I needed was someone

way that it can serve somebody else but don’t forget

who really wasn’t just doing the whole naming and

giving should serve you, too.” No one had ever said

claiming.

that to me, ever.

Everything I knew was give and it shall be given onto

That’s literally all we knew growing up. That you can sit in a corner and just shout and call down His name

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in tongues and then you can pray and fast and God was just going to bring it upon you and if you didn’t get it, that just meant it’s not for you. Whereas I needed to be coached and to hear someone say, “Actually no. You can do those things but He requires you to do something so you are going to have to do some work.” I was like, “Oh, okay. Oh, for real? Oh, okay.” You hate posting on social media, Instagram? Okay, got it, but don’t be complaining the means aren’t there when you weren’t taking advantage of resources that are literally at your fingertips. For me, I needed to invest in being around people who were not just believing God but they were actually doing and moving forward.

There is a lot of research demonstrating the value of diversity in leadership. Tell me about your experience as a female leader in your industry in what diversity has looked like in your work.

This is also going to make me not popular, because I am not going with the obvious ones. I’ve literally had to refund client money. In fact, I refuse to photograph black men in the stereotypical ways.

I’m not doing the prison pose. Unless your name is T-Pain and you are paying me T-Pain money, I’m not photographing you with a chain or necklace.

I’m not photographing you with your pants down. I just won’t, and I don’t care that you are paying me.

It’s my brand and I’m using my brand and showing diversity, not by having white people in my photographs and white people on my Instagram page, but showing that there’s diversity even in black people and black men.

The typical white people that I hang around, I’m the safe friend. I’m the safe black friend so to me, that doesn’t even count. You can say you got a black friend. Well I don’t count because I’m an easy black friend. I talk in a certain way that doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable. I look a certain way that doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable. I’m

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in the elevator with you. You will notice that there’s a black person there but you don’t feel threatened to where you got to totally clam up. I’ll be honest. I will say even Orlando, the south, people do not dress the same here in the south. When I go to DC, it’s starting to exist but it is not as prevalent as it is here, where what is considered to be cute is looking like you are about to do a rap video. You got to have long, long, super, super weave, really, really tight hair.

It is generic. There’s a look. There’s a certain look and I will use my platform to show that black people, just as white people, have all these different ways that they can show up and look and be trusted with just jeans and a polo. But black men, I won’t photograph you in a doo-rag.

That’s actually come up as an issue. I’m not even kidding, someone that I never even imagined, who actually has a following and is in the space as an African-American, as a sister, a trusted voice. I’m not photographing you or anyone that you are related to, with a doo-rag on because I want to use my platform so that when people come to my page, they can see black people as regular people and it doesn’t even have to be the extreme. No, you don’t have to be the guy in the dapper suit. Would I love to shoot that guy?

Oh my God. Yes, I would! But, not a single client ever in Orlando, not a single guy ever has come to me that had a dapper look that I could just shoot him all day, not once. I’m typically having to say, “Do you have some pants that aren’t actually from the 80s? Do you have an actual full pair of jeans that come below the knee, not just down to your ankles?” I’m not kidding.

In fact, one guy that I photographed, I had never seen him with a chain on so I was like, “What made you pick that for today?” I was like, “I’m not photographing you with that on,” and so there was a back and forth with him

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and the wife. I’m unapologetic in it. That that is

knows me from the dirty foot, Dirty Foot Stacy. This

how I choose to show diversity. Diversity shows

is funny, because my house is not even anything. Well,

up in so many different ways, but specifically in

it’s spectacular to me, but in my corporate world

photography for me showing diversity is to have

people felt sorry for me. There were some pictures of

standards about how I shoot and how I want to

my house, or someone had to come to my house for

show us, especially to people who don’t even

whatever reason, and they just said, “Oh, this is cute,”

have black people actually in their circles at all,

and then I got a chance to see why. I got to see and

that when they come to my page, they get to see

visit their homes. Not house, their homes.

black people that just look normal. Not diva, Real Housewives of Whoever. Just regular people. That way when they go to the Starbucks of the world, or to the Dunkin’ Donuts, and they see a black man just sitting, enjoying their coffee, they don’t feel like they got to call the cops because it’s regular.

My team is really small and honestly, the other people who give me advice are people like coaches that I pay for. One is a mindset coach, which I didn’t think was even a thing. I mean, I didn’t even see it as a real thing but it really, really is, and it’s really cool to have someone on your team who recognizes your excuses

I have so many questions I want to ask you now!

as just fear. Because to me, every excuse that I gave

Does that sound potentially, oh gosh, like too much

was not to do a thing. Not to do my live stream course

assimilation, or that your standard is a European

because live streaming is old. Anybody can go Google

standard versus being an African-American

it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All the reasons I gave

standard? I don’t want to talk about that now but I

have nothing to do with why I wasn’t moving forward.

think that’s a great conversation for Facebook Live

To me, they were legitimate, but they were all rooted

when we dig in to this interview more. For now,

in fear. It was all fear-based, and it’s really great to

I’ll go to my next question! Top businesses have

have somebody call you on that. You can be so close

a board of directors to help govern the business

to a thing but because it’s you, it’s often times hard to

effectively. Who is on your personal board of

see things beyond your limited view and scope.

directors?

I hire coaches for guidance. Everybody needs a Cousin Quita! She is not in business, but understands enough business as someone who is educated, as someone who has a doctorate but has chosen to not be in the entrepreneurial space because she’s just not built for it. She just can’t. She’s like, “I will catch a case.” She’s literally the person, I know it sounds funny but literally, everybody even calls her Cousin Quita, having not even met her. They are like, “Well I’m going to call her Cousin Quita.” But, she just knows me and so she’s the person who understands where I’ve been, knows the road I grew up on is still a dirt road,

What keeps you up at night?

This is actually a real thing, having had the experience of building a community with my badass branding boot camp. The thing that to this very day, as great as it was to have it be sold out and to learn all this stuff about myself - the thing that is keeping me from actually relaunching is feeling like I can’t help everybody. That even though people will sign up for your course and see the value of what you have, oh my God, just knowing that I gave you good information but still you are in the exact same place, really, really, really just eats at my soul.

I’m going to say two things, even though this is

still unpaved. It’s a term we use in the south. She

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an interview. One is that at the beginning of this interview, you were telling me that somebody named Nicole told you something five years ago and had you done it five years ago you would be in a different place. And even though you weren’t ready five years ago, you still needed to hear it then so that it could start percolating.

The other thing is that you told me that you had to memorize all the scriptures when you were growing up but you didn’t really see them as valuable and didn’t even really believe them all at the time. But then when you were sick, you knew what to say to God and what He promised because you did have all of that in you, and you were able to pull it out when you really needed it. Just be comforted that potentially what they heard from you today or last month, or whenever, was useful for them. They just have a longer incubation period than some other people.

Wow. That’s good.

Now back to our interview (laughing). What do you do for yourself that brings you absolute joy or peace?

Oh my God. That’s easy, easy, easy, easy because there are actually a lot of things. I love eating.

Really, it is instantaneous. I can be, for real, at my lowest low, having the worst day, the worst week, the worst month. If I have a friend that calls and says, “I really want some cheese biscuits from Red Lobster and I just don’t want to go by myself and I don’t want to order Uber Eats. You want to go?” They will never know, unless I told them, “Girl, I had a bad week, had a bad year, had a bad day.” They wouldn’t know. I’d be like, “Girl, give me 30 minutes,” and it instantaneously changes everything, just meeting in real life.

Sometimes the phone is a lifeline. To me, video is the next best thing, but meeting in real life over

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some good food with good people, it is everything,

one that I have flagged the most that I absolutely love,

everything, everything. It’s true. I mean it’s everything.

it’s Katie Couric. The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons

Tell me about your favorite book, any genre. And what are you reading right now?

from Extraordinary Lives. It’s literally just pieces from interviews that she’s done in all of her career, from Maya Angelou to Morgan Freeman and then Malcolm Gladwell, who’s one of my favorites, to Arianna

Oh my God. That’s tough, my favorite book. Oh, I can’t.

Huffington. It’s not the full interview. It is just her

Don’t make me. This is tough. I’ll give you two.

asking them, “What is the best advice you ever got?”

All right, so the one that I have in my hand that if it

She put it all in one book and oh, it’s good.

has to take the number one spot, I won’t lose any

I’ve got to share two because there’s so many. I buy

sleep over it, is The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I

cookbooks like people buy novels. This house that I

think it should be required reading for every human.

bought, a part of the decision to buy this house was

Number one, it’s a quick read. I don’t like thick books

the kitchen was actually open and I could see I could

at all because I look at them and I see no end in sight.

position the TV so I could watch TV as I prepare stuff.

And then I go, “That’s all right. I’ll wait for the movie.”

When I’m at home by myself, I could watch my TV

But Randy’s book, it’s a tiny book and you could

show and cook but when I had company over, that I

literally read it in a day. I did it in a weekend and I like

could be in the kitchen but still be right with them.

it because he actually was a really, really smart guy. He

I literally had visions of my family and my friends

was a professor and had this really, really cool job that

being over in the kitchen with me helping to cook

he loved and cherished, but he was also the guy that

and prepare, laughing and just literally sprawled all

loved his family. He got sick with pancreatic cancer

over the counter and just doubled over in laughter. I

and it’s not even me having a background in oncology

actually envisioned that and I’ve had years of those

and literally knowing people who have gone through

moments.

literally what he went through.

I collect southern cookbooks and just for fun I loved that he was actually able to put real stuff

sometimes right before we leave, from having people

that wasn’t deep. It wasn’t deep for him. It wasn’t

over, I will pick a book and then we’ll just skim and

just, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” It was his account

skim and then whatever it lands on, that will be the

of things. That just in the end all this stuff, it really

surprise, kind of. We don’t know if we are going to like

doesn’t matter. What actually are you leaving your

it, but we are going to make it and let’s just see. If it’s

children in terms of time that you spend with them if

good, we get to say, “Great” but if it isn’t, we get to

you are at the job every day, all day? They don’t want

laugh at it and go, “Girl, we are not doing that again!”

the house. They don’t want to say, “Oh, we grew up in

Actually, we’ve gotten a Patti LaBelle recipe that’s

this really nice house,” and so it’s literally a reminder

become a favorite. Literally, people call me begging for

that our time is limited and we could use it trying to

me to make her bread pudding recipe and I’ve altered

be somebody else and do other things that we see as

it because that’s really what I do. I alter it for my single

successful or we could just really, really be present

friends and I alter it based on my preferences.

with the people that we love.

As I’m looking at this book, you didn’t ask me for My number two is weird because it’s a white person.

three things but I’m just sharing. I just hate texting

I really like giving Oprah’s book as a gift and people

and stuff and I love handwritten notes and so when I

tell me how much they love it, her quote book. But the

get a handwritten note, I keep them and use them as

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somewhere, I don’t have to call a makeup artist and go through all the rigmarole. If I’m going to be going live for when Oprah and Gail call, I will call a makeup artist. But, if Jasmine Star calls and be like, “I want to have you on my …” Girl, no problem!”, without having to call someone. Something as simple as I want to be able to do my makeup because that can serve me. But honestly, if I really was serious, I could learn through Google or some YouTube videos. I mean let’s just be real. The thing that I know that I can’t just do from videos is I want to learn Krav Maga, which is like martial arts/selfdefense. That’s literally on my list of things to learn for 2019, is to start taking some Krav Maga classes and just learn.

Why did you pick that in particular?

One, I wanted something that requires movement, that requires me to not be behind a computer or sitting, that literally honors my body in movement.

It’s so easy to just stay on our digital devices and so it would be exercising without me joining a gym. bookmarks. Yes. The book that I took out, the Katie Couric book, I have a handwritten note from Tash (photographer), which is crazy to me that I even kept it but there’s a note from Tash. Oh my gosh.

And another where just somebody said, “You don’t know how much you blessed me,” and so I kept it and so it becomes a real bookmark that becomes a reminder of not just where I was in the book but where I was at a place in my life. It’s pretty freaking

I’ve tried the gym. I’ve tried the different stuff and it doesn’t work. I like feeling empowered in a way that doesn’t come from just speaking and saying, “I’m a badass.” That actually I can feel empowered by being able to, should I need to, be able to defend myself but also while I’m doing something good for my body that doesn’t feel like, oh, I’m going to work out today.

When do you feel the most confident?

amazing. There are two letters in here and I actually forgot. I’m getting quite emotional sharing all of my

In the presence of like-minded people. That really

life, which you, Lydia, my life.

is the truth. There’s the superficial stuff, like when

What’s a skill you would want to learn and why?

Where do I begin? Jeez. As simple and as vain as it sounds, I would love to be able to do my makeup.

To do my makeup in a way that if I’m speaking

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you get your hair done, your makeup done. There’s something that happens that makes you just stand up straight just a little bit more, just feel “Woot!”

But the real confidence, it happens when I’m surrounded by people with my energy.

CONNECT . REFLECT . INSPIRE .

If you had to describe yourself in five words, what

say, “I want to share something but you can’t

would they be?

tell anybody.” I love being the person that when someone tells me something, it is as if they never

That’s funny. Now, that is something I would want

said it. It’s not because I didn’t hear them. I was

to know, what five words other people would use.

totally present and was able to give feedback,

Now, that might be good.

but they trust me so much that they don’t have to worry. They have that freedom to just spill it all,

This is actually not even for branding purposes but

say it all, be totally who they are and know that

I would actually say badass. I’ve been badass for a

we have this protected thing. I don’t know the

really long time and just didn’t all the way know it.

word for that and how that would be tombstone-

Damn. Trustworthy. Unconventional. Non-fluffy.

ish but that is the general thing about me. That

That’s not a real word, but the first word that came

I’m that person.

to mind is non-syrupy. I’ve been using that word since I was a kid, “Dad, I like her because she’s

If your life were a movie, what would be your

non-syrupy” and he understood exactly what I

theme song?

meant when I said that. He got it, and he would go, “Okay. Now, what would be a better way?” I don’t

Oh, there would be several. Listen, it’s got to be

know. I’m not trying because I know that’s going

soundtrack. Ask me about the soundtrack, the

to be another project. Now I got to go look in the

whole compilation but literally, actually I have

dictionary (laughing).

for real a playlist of certain feelings but they are

I have so many words but when people read about them I want them to go, “Oh, yeah. That’s a great word.” Oh my gosh. I’m so many things. The one word that keeps coming up is multifaceted. I’m not just one thing.

Is that five? Badass. Trustworthy. Unconventional.

Non-fluffy. Multifaceted.

What would you like your epitaph to be?

I don’t have anything fluffy that my cousin Quita would actually put on my tombstone because she wouldn’t care what anybody else would think. Why

about feelings. The one that comes to mind first is Biggie’s Hypnotize, the instrumental. There will definitely be Notorious B.I.G. I’m a Biggie girl.

Oh my gosh. I wish you could see my playlist. It is hilarious. It’s absolutely hilarious.

Is there anything else you wish I had asked you?

I wish you would have asked me, “So, what’s next?”

What’s next for me is making my next project, my next offer, purely about what I want to share and not what I think will sell.

is this question bothering me and making me sad?

I could talk about James Whitmore day. I really

It’s making me sad.

could. A part of my training with him, even to

Well let’s talk about it in a different way. What do you want to be remembered for with your impacts?

What’s the impact you want to have?

think on this particular day, is already a win.

Just to even have that perspective, I’ve already won. I’ve already won because so much about everything that I’ve done is like what somebody else has already done or said that I should do, or

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this formula that you should follow, and we do what we see everybody else doing. That’s what we do in all our spaces.

I took that leap in terms of branding photography when people were saying, “That’s not a thing. That will never work.” I mean, I remember the day when Danielle Finney made the announcement that she was going to be doing branding (photography) and literally, it was easy and simple for everybody to just change the title (from headshots to branding). I don’t care what people say. “You can’t?” Okay, fine.

Then, there’s this whole thing now that people have followings. Literally, they can just decide tomorrow that they are moving into branding and start selling courses,

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where it’s taken me years to even get to the space to say, “I’m going to do this. Fail or not, there’s something for me to learn.” I wish that I was the person I am now with the training and the coaching - all the stuff - back then, so that way when I did decide to do the branding thing I would do all the things that would position me as the expert out of the gate, without having to need the years of having to educate people and get them to believe. Not have to do all the stuff to prove that branding photography is a real thing.

The next thing I do, I won’t wait for years until someone validates my efforts.

22. How can leaders connect with you?

I am on all social media platforms as @StacyPiercePhotography, and my website is www.stacypierce.com. .

Images by C-Suite Pics® Interview by Lydia Kearney Carlis, PhD Graphic design by Daniella Marooney

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