April 21, 2022 • 44 mins
Drive, focus and determination are core to Nakeya Bennett’s pursuit of excellence in life, even when things didn’t always turn out as she meticulously planned. In addition to being a seasoned and talented, digital marketing strategist, Nakeya Bennett is also the owner and CEO of TRM Designs & Co., a full service interior design firm currently focused on residential, commercial, and event design. In this episode, we journey with Nakeya from childhood through early career where she made her plans and worked those plans until circumstances left her as a solo mom with a toddler, up to the present where she’s successfully navigating a thriving corporate career in consulting with a burgeoning boutique business that merges her passion and love for design and project management.
In this episode we cover:
- The importance of having great mentors that believe in you and push your potential, even when you don’t see it yourself just yet
- The sacrifices and hard decisions that single mothers navigate between career and their children
- How you can successfully navigate two hustles that you are passionate about to fuel your technical and creative desires
Check out Nakeya’s interior design firm, TRM Designs & Co
About Nakeya Bennett
Nakeya Bennett is a digital marketing executive, and works as Senior Manager at Accenture. In her role, she partners with large, global companies around the world to help them understand the digital landscape, the strategic role of content and how they should leverage both to tell their product or service story. She’s also a passionate diversity, equity and inclusion advocate and ally. Nakeya also owns and operates The Riley Method Designs also known affectionately as TRM Designs & Co. The boutique firm currently focuses on residential, commercial, and event design. She is passionate about transforming houses into chic functional spaces her clients and their families will enjoy and love for years to come. She believes in clean, classic designs that won’t become outdated. She believes that design should add to the character and value of the home rather than take away from it. Nakeya also owns TRM Designs Home offering quality affordable furniture and décor direct to the consumer.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jessica Hartley (00:01):
Welcome to the hustle grind shine and reignite
podcast. I'm your host JessicaHartley. Join me on another
journey with amazing andtalented professionals of color,
laugh and cry and take notes.
But most of all be inspired allof this and more on our next
episode of hustles, grind,shine, and blisko Hello, and
(00:23):
welcome to another episode ofhustle grind, shine and
reignite. I am your host JessicaHartley, and it is my pleasure
to welcome you to anotherepisode. My guest today is Nikki
of Bennett. She is a longtimefriend of mine. She is a senior
(00:46):
manager in digital at Accenture.
She's also the co founder andall around badass sister kicking
butt and taking names when itcomes to interior design for
both residential commercial andevents. I am so excited to
welcome you to the show. Heygirl,
Nakeya Bennett (01:06):
having me. Hi, Lou. Ginger.
Jessica Hartley (01:11):
Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, no, I mean,listen, I know so many amazing
women that are just doing greatthings not only for themselves,
but also for their families andtheir communities. And it was
just really important for me inthe landscape of 1000s of
podcasts that launch every yearto not only share my voice, but
share the voices of amazingjourneys and fantastic just
(01:33):
stories as well. And so I'mexcited to dig in with you and a
little bit of your journeytoday. So we will start with the
first question of where we startwith everyone, which is give us
a little bit of insight and talka little bit about little Nicaea
growing up little Kia I think isa lot of your friends, friends
and family call you talk alittle bit about growing up.
(01:55):
What were some sort of catalystsor inspirational moments for
you? And what did you want to bewhen you were a little kid
growing up?
Nakeya Bennett (02:06):
It's funny because I feel like I've always
been this so little kid was atomboy for sure. I was all about
climbing trees and I was adaredevil and I've always, I
think been very headstrong, veryambitious. I mean, down to like
high school like I was, I knewwhat colleges I wanted to apply
(02:30):
for. I knew you know, in highschool, I was dual degree. So
I'm gonna get vocational pluscollege prep, because I want to
make sure I take all thebusiness classes, and I was a
student athlete because I knew Ineeded you know certain things
on my resume to get into theschools that I wanted to get
into it. I wanted to be earlyacceptance and
Jessica Hartley (02:47):
wow, you check boxes early girl.
Nakeya Bennett (02:51):
I was not like the high school girl that was
like into boys. I was like,Okay, I need to be a key club. I
need to do that show beta. Ineed to be in Spanish honor
society. So like I've alwaysjust been like, I don't know,
just like always knew that Iwanted to be successful. I
always knew that I wanted to bea businesswoman. I didn't for a
long time know what that meant.
And one day actually my aunt wasshe worked for at&t issue was an
(03:15):
executive. I don't necessarily Ican't tell you what she did. But
she was an executive. And shetook me and my sister to take
Your Daughter to Work Day.
Jessica Hartley (03:25):
Oh my god, can we just pause for a moment? Us?
Us Millennials are you know CUSPerrs? You know? Gen Xers like
Take Your Daughter to Work Daydoes not get the recognition is
good for the impact for so manyyoung girls at the time,
(03:49):
particularly young girls ofcolor. Same for me, my
godmother, same thing. She wasan executive at Avon and flew me
to New York, which was also abig deal. And did take Your
Daughter to Work Day. But justto your point of seeing women
and women like us in theseexecutive roles. I mean transfor
(04:12):
mation also shout out to takeYour Daughter to Work Day.
Nakeya Bennett (04:15):
And not only that just COVID it was like I
have it specifically as beinglike, and I will start taking 14
at the time. But for me it waslike the first time I had
remember being in like downtownAtlanta. So like going up being
in the city being present in thecity. The first time I remember
(04:35):
seeing, you know, like talloffice buildings and
headquarters the first time likewalking through and seeing
cubicles and like people busy atwork. And it really always stuck
with me. It was like wow, like Ijust had this moment of just
lightbulb and Epiphany of like,I want to be a businesswoman and
(04:57):
I always knew like from that dayI really wanted to be a bit This
this format again did not knowwhat that was going to look
like. But she was veryinstrumental in like, once we
did that, take your daughter towork day like we she would show
me what was it like OccupationalOutlook Handbook? Do you
remember that? So I was like thehigh schooler reading
(05:19):
Occupational Outlook Handbook,like, Okay, what career? What's
the salary? what degree do Ineed to get to do it. And I was
always looking for like programsand opportunities. And I don't
know that it stemmed from justlike not having as a child,
because what I'll say is, I hada really good childhood, I'm not
a rich or luxury childhood. But,you know, I had great family, my
(05:44):
mom was great, but we didn'thave a lot. So maybe it stemmed
from that or like, I want tolive a different life, or I want
to live like a life ofabundance. Like, I don't know
where it came from. I've alwaysknown that I wanted that. And I
think everything that I did froma very young age can be
attributed to that. Or that Iwant more, and I want more.
Jessica Hartley (06:07):
And it's okay to want more. I mean, this week,
I had this I think over theweekend, and earlier this week,
I had this epiphany, I was like,I want more. And that's Oh, K,
it's okay to recognize andacknowledge your desires, and
things that you want. And it'sokay to want more. Obviously,
(06:29):
there are all the other thingsthat come along with do you need
it in versus wanting? You know,can you afford it? Do Are you
never happy, right? We're notgonna go there's not a therapy
session. But right, it's okay towant. I think that's okay to
want more. And we've always Ifeel like carry a little bit of
guilt with wanting more. So tellme you're mapping out plans 14.
Nakeya Bennett (06:53):
Salary that I saw in the book had everything
to do with computers, right?
Yeah. So I'm going to be acomputer engineer, like, that's
what I'm going to do. So I wentdown the path of I'm going to be
a computer engineer, I tookevery single business class that
I could in high school, I was inall of the clubs, I learned how
to use all of the software. Withmy business teacher, she was
(07:15):
amazing. So like, you know, I'mgraduating, knowing, you know,
Word, PowerPoint, Excel, likeextensively all everything back
then. And I graduated in 99. Sowhen Microsoft was the thing,
yeah, everything. I knew how touse it when I graduated. And I
was in a work study program aswell. So my first jobs were
business related. Mostly Ididn't do like one retail job.
(07:38):
But like, when I joined workstudy as part of my senior year,
I worked for the travel exchangeand the airport and I worked for
Delta was doing data entry. Soalways something more basic. I
always knew like I was going tobe in this business field. So I
went to college. I majored incomputer engineering.
Jessica Hartley (08:01):
Okay, continuing that theme, computer
engineer. Yes, there.
Nakeya Bennett (08:05):
So graduated, got my first row. It was Compaq,
computers and Alpharetta. I wasworking as a help desk analyst.
Wow. I think I was probablyworking while I was going to
school. Because for many of usand our families like we are
having to support ourselves orlike pay for our own degrees or
(08:26):
like, you know, help augment ourparents salaries. A lot of us
have, you know, our firstgeneration I wasn't first
generation but you know, well,in my immediate family I was
first generation my mom isn'tcollege educated my dad, neither
is my dad. But yeah, so I workedfull time to pay for school. And
I was always doing work study aswell to help pay for school. So
(08:49):
just I've always just been verydriven and very career focused.
So I got that job hated it.
Jessica Hartley (08:59):
What did you hate about it? Because you know,
when I am advising particularlyyoung people, but even folks
where it you know, I've beendoing this 1520 years, sometimes
I tell people sometimes a job isalso a good lesson to learn what
you don't want to Alright, sotalk to us a little bit about
you know, maybe even just likeyour expectations going in and
(09:22):
whether or not it sort of metthat and realizing that you
didn't like that job. How wasthat the catalyst and deciding
of where to go next?
Nakeya Bennett (09:30):
I think that one it just didn't feel like I
didn't feel like at home in therow. And this is still probably
true for many of us as you climbthe ladder but like I was always
the youngest. A lot of times theonly woman of course the only
black woman many times almost98% of the time and working with
(09:50):
you know mostly men mostly, youknow, other nationalities and
just felt lonely. It's verylonely. And then like your I
wasn't able to really becreative. And you know, this
wish you guys will learn. Likethis. You know, I like creating
things. I like talking topeople. I like relationships,
(10:11):
and I wasn't able to like graspthat. And I seen technology can
be like very black and white,much more serious. Yeah, that's
just how it felt. I didn't likeit. I didn't feel like it was
you know where I was supposed tobe?
Jessica Hartley (10:26):
Got it. So then you knew that wasn't it? What
did you decide after that?
Nakeya Bennett (10:32):
Oh, man, I got I actually my best boss ever. To
this day, I got a job at theArthritis Foundation. And I was
this executive assistant GroupVice President of Marketing. So
he ran marketing on allchannels. So digital mail
(10:52):
program, so like events,experiential stuff, across the
board, so everything for thefoundation, he ran, and he,
like, manage the budgets that hehad 14. And so that's really
what I didn't take any marketingclasses in school. So I didn't
really know, you know, whatmarketing was, I had never
gotten any exposure to theindustry. And the first time
that I got that exposure, and Ilove data, he loves me, he
(11:14):
really, really did. This is thetime where I was like, 23.
Living my best life, living thebest life yet setting, I was
like, Yeah, I will call him frommy Hawaii, because like, my
boyfriend would took me on atrip. And I would be like, I'm
not going to be in today. Helike treated me like a daughter,
(11:36):
he really would be like, youknow, I understand that you're
young here. But like, this isyour career, like you have
responsible, I needed you today,you have to show up. And he was
very, like, tough love, for mereally understand, like
accountability. And like, youknow, I can't just blow this off
to do this. You're young, youmake dumb decisions. So he
(11:57):
started to like, give me moreresponsibility. And let me run
like marketing programs, like helet me be over the arthritis
walk, which was one of the big,you know, large walks that we
did every single year, and themarketing for it. He let me help
and sit in on meetings to like,make decisions about our email
marketing program or our printcampaign. You know, how were we
(12:19):
sending too many? It was thefirst time that I got to be a
part of like, marketingstrategy. Yeah, yeah. And so
that never left me and I reallyloved it. Right. I held on to
that. But me being my Busybodyself, like I'm still always
looking for like, what's thenext thing? What's the next
industry? What's the so I got Istarted studying for PMP
certification. I startedstudying for LSAT, because then
(12:43):
okay, I'm going to law school.
Oh, my goodness. And I miss myLSAT twice. Don't ask
Jessica Hartley (12:55):
me living your best life, right? Like I was
like, girl, why No.
Nakeya Bennett (13:00):
Nice. But I did ended up end up getting my
project management certificationfor us. PMP certified pretty
young. Yeah, I was about 26.
When I got that. And that reallyopened up a lot of doors. I took
that certification date more forme than my master's, I
eventually did get my master's.
But my project managementcertification like by way of it
(13:22):
really like put a stamp on beingable to build top dollar being
like people that and it wasduring the time when people like
really started paying attentionto certifications, me in the
door for a lot of roles. So Iended up leaving the Arthritis
Foundation because I was offereda row at Blue Cross Blue Shield.
I had to move to Jacksonvillefor it. But I was at a time
(13:45):
where like, I was like, I'm allin like I'm young, to get my
career going. I'm willing to doyou know, whatever profession to
get myself to where I want to beprofessionally. Yeah, so I
picked the role, beautifulcampus, but coming from Atlanta
at 2526 to Jacksonville, likedifferent slow homes. Yeah. And
(14:08):
this is the time where I'm like,and this isn't everybody, but
like I was very social. So likeI'm out every night, but then
I'm still at work in themorning. And so like I was away
from like, all of my familyisn't Atlanta where I am now.
But all of my friends, like awayfrom everyone, like I had
serious FOMO like I'm missingeverything I'm missing. But
(14:30):
again, like it's a strugglebecause you want to be
responsible and you know, likeyou want more you want to go
next level. So you got to do thethings to get to the next level.
And everybody was sometimes andthat requires sacrifice, right?
Yeah. Bullying, so I sacrificeto and I moved and like my
family because nobody's everlike moved away for work for
real. So it was yeah, thatscared and I'm like, I'm like at
(14:52):
a fearless time. We're like, oh,yeah, I'll do what I need to do
because to do somethingdifferent to get something
different, right? Absolutely.
But I was there for threemonths.
Jessica Hartley (15:03):
Not three years, y'all three months.
Nakeya Bennett (15:08):
On Valentine's Day, I would leave work on
Friday 5pm on the dot drive toAtlanta get to Atlanta and
Jessica Hartley (15:18):
I and that's a word for our five hour drive.
For five hour drive, dependingon the traffic, yes,
Nakeya Bennett (15:26):
I would get home party have an amazing power. My
family. See everybody allweekend. Get up at 5am on Monday
morning Nicaea and drive back toJacksonville. NBA goes straight
to work. After that, mostweekends. Wow.
Jessica Hartley (15:45):
That's burden a lot of candidates. No Candler,
not even both.
Nakeya Bennett (15:49):
Thank God, I was young and I still had this
energy. I just was reallyhomesick. Oh, it has side, I
maybe didn't give it a fairchance. But I ended up looking
for another role. And findinganother project management role
in Atlanta.
Jessica Hartley (16:06):
So you went into project management, which
then got you you started workingat advertising and marketing
agencies. And that eventually
Nakeya Bennett (16:15):
got so big. So how I got into the marketing
agencies, I went and got my MBA,I went to night school, got my
MBA with a concentration inmarketing. Honestly, the PMP
helped me get my firstadvertising agency role. Wow,
the director, it was at digithouse, Atlanta, they were
(16:35):
opening the Atlanta office, andmy manager was a he was VP of
project management, and deliveryin Boston. And he himself was
PMP certified. He everyone whohad been sending in their
resumes weren't. And he waslike, I was so like, impressed
that you were already PMPcertified, because I'm trying to
get the people in the ad agencyto like understand project
(16:57):
management. You know, like, ifyou work in advertising, like a
traditional does not work?
Jessica Hartley (17:04):
No, it's hard.
It's hard. So many twists andturns and changes. And then we
layer on trying to manage theresources and the budgets and
timelines. Oh, god bless project
Nakeya Bennett (17:15):
managers. So I was used to IT projects. I see
projects are very, the date isthe date. Yeah. If you don't
deliver it, then the date getspushed. I got my first role. So
he hired me. So I was like thesenior most delivery person in
the Atlanta office. It did notgo well. And here's why. I knew
(17:37):
that this was the environmentthat I wanted to be in, like, I
came in an advertising agency,like it was young people, and
everyone was creative. And Ididn't have to like, you know,
dress a certain way I could likecome in and be myself. And we
had fun every day. And everybodywas it was just great. Like I
(17:59):
love. I love the work that I wasdoing. Yeah, but I had in my
mind project management isproject management. I was taught
from the PIM Bock, and the stepsare the steps, the dependencies
are the dependencies. If youdon't do this, you can't get
that not really understandingthe advertising world and the
(18:19):
marketing. And understandingthat if this banner ad doesn't
run, our client is using 1000sLosing 1000s of dollars. And
yes,
Jessica Hartley (18:30):
it's very different bank account a
different form of responsibilityand accountability, right in a
service capacity.
Nakeya Bennett (18:36):
So I had no idea. Yeah, he tried to coach me
and help me through it. But itdidn't go well. Yeah. And I
eventually absolutely got it.
And and of course, because I'mstill in marketing and in
advertising, but that was like alearning curve for me. Yeah,
yeah. And yeah, so that's how Igot into it. I got that role
that digital house, and then Inever left the digital ad
Jessica Hartley (19:00):
world.
Nevertheless, nevertheless. Sothen let's talk about how you
got to Accenture because you'vespent a while now at Accenture
there and sort of working yourway through projects and that is
a shift that I've I'lltransparency worked at Accenture
as well, coming from advertisingand going into that world and
there are absolutelysimilarities around customer
(19:22):
service client service, thatsort of thing. Definitely a
little bit more rigor when itcomes to project management and
accountability responsibility.
But let's talk about just alittle bit of the work that
you've done with clients whileyou've been at Accenture
Nakeya Bennett (19:39):
yeah so leaving dishes house so I left it just
house they kind of likerestructured and we need it what
do you just ask me that we had alot of like work work, work,
work work, they brought in andhired more. So I was more senior
level right? So more stress andless doing so they brought in
more doers, but I continued onto like go to other areas.
(20:00):
agencies, I started my own likeboutique consulting firm. So I
would go and work for like workon a campaign or work on a
project and I would move on. Andat that time, I was really
chasing like salary like I wantto be at a certain salary. I
want to be at a certain billrate. So I would get that
experience and then charge thenext project. Yes, more. No,
(20:22):
you're worth Yes. So I was doingthat for quite some time. And I
was recruited by so sapient justbecause you were at safety and
as well, I was nitro Atlanta. Ithink his safety and Razorfish
are now or maybe fully raisedofficially
Jessica Hartley (20:36):
listed, I can make mixes and remixes and
remixes to the remixes. I can't,I can't even
Nakeya Bennett (20:43):
Yeah, I went there. And I was there for three
years. And honestly, like thatwas the longest. This is me
coming from like, I wouldn't sayanywhere for more than six
months. So when I went tosapient, they recruited me from
LinkedIn, I believe I wentthere, and I was there for three
years. And it was the first timethat I had and life changes,
(21:04):
right, I got married I had. Iwas in a space where I was still
28 I think at the time 2027 28,something like that. But my life
had changed. So I need moresecurity. And I needed, you
know, to slow down. So when theyoffered me a full time role, I
accepted it. And that was thefirst time where I had been
(21:25):
anywhere for more than six moremonths for years. Yeah, years
and years and years a hugetransition. That was a huge
transition. But what I learnedwas the value of being steel in
a company, the value of buildingrelationships and people knowing
who you are and getting involvedwith like things that matter
(21:47):
like diversity and inclusionwithin the organization and
women's empowerment and buildingthose relationships and having
co workers and work husbands andyou know that you're going to
lunch with and you know that youknow you guys love each other
and you're going to each other'sbirthdays, and missing that
hopping from from agency toagency to agency. So that was
(22:09):
just a great thing for me. I wasso happy and essential actually
recruited me.
Jessica Hartley (22:15):
They were doing some heavy recruiting. They were
so excited to poach people fromsafety. And it was an
interesting time. Yeah.
Nakeya Bennett (22:24):
So at that time, and here's how that happened. I
was on the board for NationalBlack MBA Association, like I
was, you know, doing all thesephilanthropic things, and I was
more settled, and I was reallyhappy. And I went I like on a
whim just uploaded my resume,because I'm like, I'm going to
the conference. Like why not?
Let me just see what's outthere. Yeah, these interviews
like big companies likeMicrosoft, Nike, L'Oreal,
(22:46):
Samsung target, like I had allthese interviews and never heard
anything back from anybody onthat point where I was manager
slash senior manager, so andthey were looking for more, you
know, like, fresh out ofcollege. Right, right. But
essentially, I was looking for,you know, more seasoned people.
And they caught me, I think,maybe a month after the
(23:08):
conference, this is what Imeant, just because you guys are
not my recruiter, but sheinterviewed me.
Jessica Hartley (23:16):
And my goodness, I forgot about that. I
did. I did Nicaea, you justreminded me.
Nakeya Bennett (23:25):
I think you are my second interview. So Jessica
was like my only in personinterview. This was the second
time a central recruited mebefore like, I was like, I'm not
going anywhere. Like I love mycompany. But I went to an event.
This was a turning point, I wentto an event as part of like me
being a part of like boards, andlike my board service, I went to
(23:45):
an event. And at that event, Imet Chloe bars a and Tracy Dunn,
and they were these amazingblack.
Jessica Hartley (23:56):
They amazing women that will hopefully join
us at some point on thisconversation. But yes, they are
tremendous.
Nakeya Bennett (24:03):
Lee, like they spoke so highly of the
organization. And they you know,both had had very, very long and
successful careers at theorganization. And this was at a
time where I was trying to getto the next level at my company.
I was three years in I wastrying to get to the next level.
And I started to notice, youknow some things around just
(24:25):
like culture and lack ofdiversity. And I tried to have
like conversations about my youknow, how I was feeling and they
didn't necessarily gooverwhelming. I didn't
necessarily feel supported. Andso, at the time, where I
essentially started reachingout, it was oh, like I just went
to this event and these two, youknow, black women have very
(24:45):
senior positions at the companyand where I am I'm not seeing
any black women that you know,that look like me that are
directors or that are anywherepast, you know, manager level
and senior manager and thendirect During could that even
happen because I'm not seeingyou here. But I went to this
event and they spoke so highlyof it. And so my actual career
(25:08):
counselor now like Yolanda wasone of my, the first people to
interview me. And then justbecause so it continued the
theme, right of me saying, like,these amazing women of color,
and like, everyone was just sogreat and so smart and like, a
personalities are great. Andthat's when I started to be
like, okay, like, I'm open to bethem. Yeah. But it was still
(25:30):
very hard. And it was hard.
Because essentially, when youthink about consulting, right,
so I'm going from an agencyworld to like, young, vibrant,
fun, like I'm wearing jeans, andI'm ready for happy hour. As
soon as I leave work, like I'm,you know, you dress you have fun
to like, Oh, this is aconsulting firm.
Jessica Hartley (25:50):
Yes. He hasn't used
Nakeya Bennett (25:56):
to be but three years since I'm like, Yeah, so I
went and bought all these suits.
So I made the decision to moveover. And it was very hard like
I was, it was a very emotionaldecision. Because if you think
about it, like, it was the firstplace that I had been for, for a
long period of time, so I hadthese, you know, just really
great relationships. So it wasvery hard to leave those. But
(26:16):
yeah, came over to a censurebest career decision, hands
down. And it was hard to makethat decision, not only because
of the shift and culture, butalso consulting was heavy
travel. And when I'm when I'minterviewing, it was always at
percent travel. I was newlydivorced. My son was three or
four at the time. Yeah. It'slike, how the heck and yes, I
(26:39):
sat my mom down. I had aconversation with her. And at
first, you know, old schoolmama. She's like, No, you can't
accept that role. Like, yeah,not a role for a single mother,
like your son is young. And, andthen like, so you know, I was
going back and forth. I'mstalling the recruiter. Like, I
(27:00):
don't know what to do. But Iknew like, I was at a point
where I was starting to becomeunhappy with where I was, yeah.
And not seeing, like, Where elsecan I grow from here. And so she
came back maybe a week later.
Because I was like, I don't knowwhat I'm gonna do. And she said,
(27:24):
you know, you're like, Mydaughter, who has always, like,
done the right thing, like, haveworked hard. Use, like sacrifice
to get where you are. And youknow, I help everybody else do
pull out of like holes or likefrom wrong things that they've
done. And you're coming to mebecause you want to do
something, right? You're tryingto change your career, and
(27:44):
you're trying to, you know, makemore money. And so she was like,
I'll support you.
Jessica Hartley (27:48):
So shout out, Mom, we love you. We love our
moms and parentals who are whoshow up for us, you know, when
you talked about the village,without you went too extensive.
But I want to make sure we don'tlose time to talk about, yes,
this sort of rise in corporatecareer in the decisions that you
(28:09):
make. But you also made adecision pretty early on with
all of that 20s energy to starta design company as well, you
obviously were doing theconsulting from a business side,
but talk to me a little bitabout the inspiration to say
hey, I have this corporatecareer, which we know sucks. It
takes a lot of time just sort ofsucks a lot of our lives into
(28:31):
you know, mental space, healthspace, all of the things just
committed to corporate career. Alot of that to your point is
about stability, and wealthbuilding and laying a solid
foundation for our children andthe generations to come. But we
always still like to do somemaking can never make it easy.
Talk to you about that too.
Nakeya Bennett (28:50):
I have always or something else. I don't think
there's ever been a time where Ididn't in high school. I was
going to pick her up on saleslike for for many for prom,
always always always donesomething else. And now we call
it multiple streams of incomebut I just knew I wanted more
money. I didn't know I didn'tknow what streams of income I
(29:12):
didn't know that that's what itwas called. But I just knew that
I wanted more money right? Yeah,yeah. And I've always been
willing to work for you know thelife I want the lifestyle that I
want. And I feel like even outI'll tell myself No, which is I
don't know if that's good orbad. For myself, No, I just
figure out like, okay, what areyou going to do Nikki? Like,
what extra Are you going to doto get it? So yeah, so high
(29:36):
school, pick her ponytails,makeup for prom. that
entrepreneurial spirit hasalways been a thing. It's always
been there. I started the Reillymethod LLC in 2007. And I've
held on to it I've always youknow, filed my taxes I've always
made sure you know I was in goodstanding with the state of
(29:57):
Georgia. I'd like written off Ithink I have my EIN. So I've
always done that. And I'veallowed it to be whatever I
needed it to be right. It's gonefrom being. So I worked for mac
cosmetics. I was a freelancemakeup artists for them. So like
(30:17):
that, then I like funnel thatinto being like freelance makeup
artists for other people. So Idid that for a while. I was
1099. So courts the court withwhen I was doing freelance work,
so yeah, I've always justallowed it to just flow out the
PR. For a while that was more solike fashion PR. But it was more
(30:42):
so like taking my the marketingand the content skills that I
had from corporate and usingthat for offices, like helping,
you know, I've had it for quitesome time I've allowed it to
like, be and grow and evolvewith my interest. Yeah, I so
well, when was this till 2016?
When I was at sapient. I was Ithink really pretty much focused
(31:04):
on sapient. And then, when I wasat Accenture my first couple of
years I was 100% focused atAccenture because you it's a
lot. It's a lot of work. Yes.
And I think once I kind of gotcomfortable enough to feel like
okay, I have some free time tomove around. And, you know, I
know that I'm still theentrepreneur at heart. So what
(31:27):
can I do with it? What do I wantto do next? And it kind of just
fell into my lap. Honestly, Ibought a new house. My first
house post divorce. I wasdecorating it. And somebody on
Instagram was like, Oh, can youhelp me decorate my house.
Jessica Hartley (31:43):
And I was just like that power of influence on
social media. Wow.
Nakeya Bennett (31:48):
And I was literally just like sharing,
just like, oh, I bought thispiece of art or I got this couch
and like just sharing like just,you know, me decorating my own
home. And they asked and I endedup decorating five spaces in her
home. It was it was a couplewith two boys. Yeah. And they
had just bought this beautifulnew house in Covington. And I
(32:10):
decorated five spaces in theirhome. And it was literally
myself. And one contractor. Thewife had scheduled a
housewarming party.
Jessica Hartley (32:23):
So you had a deadline. Talk about that. PMP
went into overdrive.
Nakeya Bennett (32:29):
I was at her house from 9am One day to 11am
the next day. Yeah, we'll workthrough like four hours of work.
Yeah, but I finished. I have ofcourse since gotten smaller, out
smarter. And I of course havebuilt a bigger team now. But it
(32:50):
was then that I was like, Oh,like this could really be a big
I didn't know I didn't know. Ihad no idea like about the
industry. I'm new. And I'm selftaught right? I've always had a
knack for interior design. Andhow that happened is my mom used
to work actually at Home Depot.
So our house when I was in highschool she we were always doing
(33:11):
something to it. home rentalprojects, big about like making
the house a home. So our homehas always been like beautifully
decorated. But we like did a lotof stuff ourselves. Like we hung
our own wallpaper. The likechair railing. I remember in the
dining room, we upgraded one ofthe bathrooms and put like new
(33:31):
vanity new toilet wallpaper inthere changed our lighting and
mirrors. Every season she wouldlike take us to like Sears or JC
Penney and let us like pick newbedding, new drapes, so
nostalgic, like paying ourfurniture like she would be like
y'all need to refresh but wecan't afford to buy new
furniture. So like let's justpaint this. So we would like
(33:52):
paying our furniture and it willbe getting new bedding and they
are wrong. Like looks brand new.
So I attribute the skills tothat. And it has grown out since
2016. So over five years nowwow. Yes, five years, five
years. Four a long time, I wasstill just working by myself.
(34:19):
And what started to happen isthat I didn't have because I
never started my business toexit corporate like I love my
corporate career. I lovemarketing. I love digital. So I
wanted to do both like it waslike a side hustle like
something I was really good atand like a passion project. But
yeah, now it's to the pointwhere like, I'm gonna have to
(34:40):
make a decision probably soon.
But what I've been trying to dois hire more people so that I
can like do the clientrelationship piece. And the okay
I'm gonna onboard you and liketell you how we do this, this
and how I want you to interactwith clients and like our Randy
and you know how we design andlike teach you how to do what
(35:02):
needs to be done, but allow youto execute, so that I can still
have this corporate career. Idon't know how it's gonna play
out. But that's what I've beentrying to be able to honestly,
for now. I started hiring lastyear. So a lot of my people are
celebrating like one yearanniversaries. Eight now, yeah,
Jessica Hartley (35:26):
that's a big thing.
Nakeya Bennett (35:27):
I have an operations person gonna be my
CEO, oh, I have a PM, helping toget like our tools and systems
that I'm set up to where like,our project management software,
if you will, so that like I canassign tasks to the team and
like, full accountability andtimelines and get better and
more efficient. I have oneintern she graduated now I think
(35:51):
so. Congratulations. Like, stayon. I have one design assistant
who's amazing. And then I haveone junior designer, and then
one senior designer. Wow. Yeah,so I'm looking for more interior
design assistants that can, youknow, I've done this design, I
(36:12):
put it to paper, the client hasapproved it. Now. Can I hand it
over you to like do the ordersand like, so that's what I'm
doing now. So I'm likeinterviewing and hiring people
to do that. But yeah, andbusiness as you can imagine,
like with everyone staying homeduring COVID business, yeah.
Yeah. Are in their homes. Andthey, you know, are noticed and
(36:35):
like I don't like I actuallyhave to spend time here now,
right
Jessica Hartley (36:40):
around you looking around saying is this
place, reflective of what Iwant. So as we wrap up, talk to
me about how you take care ofmakiya, now you have a son, he's
preteen our children sort ofhave that. So parallel lives
there in terms of age, or myoldest at least, and you have
(37:02):
this full year, you've got twojobs. You know, the corporate
career as well as theentrepreneurial and your
entrepreneurial is not oneperson plus a hot dog on a
shoestring. As I like to say, Imean, you have a full blown
team. So how do you rest indisconnect? And what advice do
(37:23):
you have for others? I shoot?
What advice do you have for me,other women out here who, you
know, have obviously personalresponsibilities, family,
children, parents, pets, thatthey have to take care of, they
are have a corporate career andsort of track and that
foundation and stability andwealth building, but also have
another literally another careerin Job, you know, that sort of
(37:48):
fills the cup when it comes topassion and purpose? How do you
refill your your cup?
Nakeya Bennett (37:54):
So I think one is just perspective, right? Like
my attitude every day, like, Iwake up every day and feel so
blessed to be low, right? Tolive in, like both my corporate
career and have that besuccessful, and be able to
mentor and be an example, butalso be you know, entrepreneur,
(38:17):
and live in that as well andshow people that you can do
both, you can't have both, youknow, it's hard. Sometimes I
have sleepless nights, but youcan do it if you want to do it.
And I wake up every day, justlike, you know, wow, like, in
gratitude, like, I get to dothis, versus I have to get this
done. And like, you know, I dohave those days, and I'm like,
(38:42):
I'm so tired, but I'm gonna laydown for five minutes, and then
I'm gonna get up and I'm gonnaattack today. Yeah, yeah. So
that's how I approach it. Iapproach it as like, you know,
this is what I prayed for, thisis what I've wanted. This is
what I've worked so hard for andI'm seeing the success and I'm
seeing the money come in, I'mnot only changing my own life, I
have this whole team that I'mable to pay, you know, and
(39:04):
change their lives and they'reable to eat and feed their
families. And I take a lot ofpride in that. And so I think
for me, it was one to true toambitious perfectionist type a
women all across the world,
Jessica Hartley (39:21):
calling me out calling us all out.
Nakeya Bennett (39:24):
To learn to like, I don't have to do it all
and I had to learn to like trustother people that get it done.
And to hand stuff over. I hiredthis person for a reason. Is
this a good use of Nikias time?
No, it's not. Okay, I can assignit to this person. I also just
if it's not a good use of mytime, I do not do it. Yeah, I
(39:46):
started to have to likerelinquish, like you know, we
can't kill ourselves. There'slike moms and housewives and
thank God I don't have thehusband so I don't have like
that. It's like I'm sure but Idon't have that extra layer. So
that's a form of myself.
Jessica Hartley (40:08):
No, not an episode. Metaphor.
Nakeya Bennett (40:16):
My ex husband and I have a really great co
parenting relationship for sure.
So as my son gets older, he'sspending more time with dad. And
you know, it can be sad becausehe's my only child, but like,
he's getting older, he needs tospend more time with his dad. So
when the time with his dad, I,you know, really learn to
appreciate and enjoy that timeand take that time for me and
(40:37):
for myself to do something thatI enjoy, or, you know, get a
massage or go on a trip. Ireally embrace that time. And I
really appreciate it, you know,things around the house, I
started hiring people. I don'thave time, like, yeah, I
started, what is it normalizingluxury? And yes, I have my
cleaning service coming toclean, you know, they come they
(41:02):
clean the house, but I'm doingsomething that's making money.
So that, but it frees them doingthat and coming home to a clean
home was like, that was one ofthe biggest things for me. And I
used to feel guilty, like I'msitting here at the desk like
working on while they'recleaning my house, but no, I'm
able to pay them. It's, youknow, they're a family owned
(41:25):
business. And then, you know,I'm hoping to keep them in
business and also takingsomething off my plate, you
know, yes. And one big thingalso was just learning to ask
for help, like the other day, Ihad been traveling, and like I
just couldn't get a handle onlike laundry and like just
cleaning up my closet and likeorganizing, and I call the
(41:48):
cleaning service. And I saidhey, like you guys do organize
and like, I just really needsome help. Yeah. And she said,
Yeah, I'll be there in an hour.
And she looked at that. And shelike and it Yeah, it took her
three hours because like that'show much like stuff I needed to
do. It was like, you know howyou like say, Oh, I'm just gonna
save it for Sunday. And thenSunday comes in you're so
(42:09):
exhausted like
Jessica Hartley (42:10):
UK recovering from the week and all the hard
work that you put in yeah, like
Nakeya Bennett (42:15):
I didn't have it me to do more work or to do
housework. I literally want tojust lay here and watch my
favorite TV show. And you know,like, yes. So those types of
things, asking for helpwelcoming to help being
delegating, more or less. Yeah,kind of do every single thing
myself really relying on myteam. Yeah.
Jessica Hartley (42:36):
I love that.
Thank you. Nikia. I appreciatethat so much. And I am receiving
and imbibing that message frommyself as well. It takes a
village to raise children but italso takes a village to survive
and, and be successful and youcan support and impact the lives
of others by delegating andgetting help. So thank you
(42:58):
Nikias, so much for thisconversation. You and I, and so
many of my guests, we could talkfor three hours. I'm so excited
to continue to watch you growand shine, corporate career
entrepreneurial career, and Ilook forward to having you back
on the show soon. It's on allthe great things. So thank you
(43:20):
for the time to hear. All right,see you soon. And that wraps
another episode of hustle grind,shine and reignite. Thank you
for listening to another episodeof hustle, grind, shine and
reignite. If you liked thisepisode, like, subscribe and
(43:40):
share on all your favoritepodcasts. I hope you'll tune in
to the next episode featuringanother amazing and talented
professional. In the meantime,Chiang Rai
Welcome to the hustle grind shine and reignite
podcast. I'm your host JessicaHartley. Join me on another
journey with amazing andtalented professionals of color,
laugh and cry and take notes.
But most of all be inspired allof this and more on our next
episode of hustles, grind,shine, and blisko Hello, and
(00:23):
welcome to another episode ofhustle grind, shine and
reignite. I am your host JessicaHartley, and it is my pleasure
to welcome you to anotherepisode. My guest today is Nikki
of Bennett. She is a longtimefriend of mine. She is a senior
(00:46):
manager in digital at Accenture.
She's also the co founder andall around badass sister kicking
butt and taking names when itcomes to interior design for
both residential commercial andevents. I am so excited to
welcome you to the show. Heygirl,
Nakeya Bennett (01:06):
having me. Hi, Lou. Ginger.
Jessica Hartley (01:11):
Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, no, I mean,listen, I know so many amazing
women that are just doing greatthings not only for themselves,
but also for their families andtheir communities. And it was
just really important for me inthe landscape of 1000s of
podcasts that launch every yearto not only share my voice, but
share the voices of amazingjourneys and fantastic just
(01:33):
stories as well. And so I'mexcited to dig in with you and a
little bit of your journeytoday. So we will start with the
first question of where we startwith everyone, which is give us
a little bit of insight and talka little bit about little Nicaea
growing up little Kia I think isa lot of your friends, friends
and family call you talk alittle bit about growing up.
(01:55):
What were some sort of catalystsor inspirational moments for
you? And what did you want to bewhen you were a little kid
growing up?
Nakeya Bennett (02:06):
It's funny because I feel like I've always
been this so little kid was atomboy for sure. I was all about
climbing trees and I was adaredevil and I've always, I
think been very headstrong, veryambitious. I mean, down to like
high school like I was, I knewwhat colleges I wanted to apply
(02:30):
for. I knew you know, in highschool, I was dual degree. So
I'm gonna get vocational pluscollege prep, because I want to
make sure I take all thebusiness classes, and I was a
student athlete because I knew Ineeded you know certain things
on my resume to get into theschools that I wanted to get
into it. I wanted to be earlyacceptance and
Jessica Hartley (02:47):
wow, you check boxes early girl.
Nakeya Bennett (02:51):
I was not like the high school girl that was
like into boys. I was like,Okay, I need to be a key club. I
need to do that show beta. Ineed to be in Spanish honor
society. So like I've alwaysjust been like, I don't know,
just like always knew that Iwanted to be successful. I
always knew that I wanted to bea businesswoman. I didn't for a
long time know what that meant.
And one day actually my aunt wasshe worked for at&t issue was an
(03:15):
executive. I don't necessarily Ican't tell you what she did. But
she was an executive. And shetook me and my sister to take
Your Daughter to Work Day.
Jessica Hartley (03:25):
Oh my god, can we just pause for a moment? Us?
Us Millennials are you know CUSPerrs? You know? Gen Xers like
Take Your Daughter to Work Daydoes not get the recognition is
good for the impact for so manyyoung girls at the time,
(03:49):
particularly young girls ofcolor. Same for me, my
godmother, same thing. She wasan executive at Avon and flew me
to New York, which was also abig deal. And did take Your
Daughter to Work Day. But justto your point of seeing women
and women like us in theseexecutive roles. I mean transfor
(04:12):
mation also shout out to takeYour Daughter to Work Day.
Nakeya Bennett (04:15):
And not only that just COVID it was like I
have it specifically as beinglike, and I will start taking 14
at the time. But for me it waslike the first time I had
remember being in like downtownAtlanta. So like going up being
in the city being present in thecity. The first time I remember
(04:35):
seeing, you know, like talloffice buildings and
headquarters the first time likewalking through and seeing
cubicles and like people busy atwork. And it really always stuck
with me. It was like wow, like Ijust had this moment of just
lightbulb and Epiphany of like,I want to be a businesswoman and
(04:57):
I always knew like from that dayI really wanted to be a bit This
this format again did not knowwhat that was going to look
like. But she was veryinstrumental in like, once we
did that, take your daughter towork day like we she would show
me what was it like OccupationalOutlook Handbook? Do you
remember that? So I was like thehigh schooler reading
(05:19):
Occupational Outlook Handbook,like, Okay, what career? What's
the salary? what degree do Ineed to get to do it. And I was
always looking for like programsand opportunities. And I don't
know that it stemmed from justlike not having as a child,
because what I'll say is, I hada really good childhood, I'm not
a rich or luxury childhood. But,you know, I had great family, my
(05:44):
mom was great, but we didn'thave a lot. So maybe it stemmed
from that or like, I want tolive a different life, or I want
to live like a life ofabundance. Like, I don't know
where it came from. I've alwaysknown that I wanted that. And I
think everything that I did froma very young age can be
attributed to that. Or that Iwant more, and I want more.
Jessica Hartley (06:07):
And it's okay to want more. I mean, this week,
I had this I think over theweekend, and earlier this week,
I had this epiphany, I was like,I want more. And that's Oh, K,
it's okay to recognize andacknowledge your desires, and
things that you want. And it'sokay to want more. Obviously,
(06:29):
there are all the other thingsthat come along with do you need
it in versus wanting? You know,can you afford it? Do Are you
never happy, right? We're notgonna go there's not a therapy
session. But right, it's okay towant. I think that's okay to
want more. And we've always Ifeel like carry a little bit of
guilt with wanting more. So tellme you're mapping out plans 14.
Nakeya Bennett (06:53):
Salary that I saw in the book had everything
to do with computers, right?
Yeah. So I'm going to be acomputer engineer, like, that's
what I'm going to do. So I wentdown the path of I'm going to be
a computer engineer, I tookevery single business class that
I could in high school, I was inall of the clubs, I learned how
to use all of the software. Withmy business teacher, she was
(07:15):
amazing. So like, you know, I'mgraduating, knowing, you know,
Word, PowerPoint, Excel, likeextensively all everything back
then. And I graduated in 99. Sowhen Microsoft was the thing,
yeah, everything. I knew how touse it when I graduated. And I
was in a work study program aswell. So my first jobs were
business related. Mostly Ididn't do like one retail job.
(07:38):
But like, when I joined workstudy as part of my senior year,
I worked for the travel exchangeand the airport and I worked for
Delta was doing data entry. Soalways something more basic. I
always knew like I was going tobe in this business field. So I
went to college. I majored incomputer engineering.
Jessica Hartley (08:01):
Okay, continuing that theme, computer
engineer. Yes, there.
Nakeya Bennett (08:05):
So graduated, got my first row. It was Compaq,
computers and Alpharetta. I wasworking as a help desk analyst.
Wow. I think I was probablyworking while I was going to
school. Because for many of usand our families like we are
having to support ourselves orlike pay for our own degrees or
(08:26):
like, you know, help augment ourparents salaries. A lot of us
have, you know, our firstgeneration I wasn't first
generation but you know, well,in my immediate family I was
first generation my mom isn'tcollege educated my dad, neither
is my dad. But yeah, so I workedfull time to pay for school. And
I was always doing work study aswell to help pay for school. So
(08:49):
just I've always just been verydriven and very career focused.
So I got that job hated it.
Jessica Hartley (08:59):
What did you hate about it? Because you know,
when I am advising particularlyyoung people, but even folks
where it you know, I've beendoing this 1520 years, sometimes
I tell people sometimes a job isalso a good lesson to learn what
you don't want to Alright, sotalk to us a little bit about
you know, maybe even just likeyour expectations going in and
(09:22):
whether or not it sort of metthat and realizing that you
didn't like that job. How wasthat the catalyst and deciding
of where to go next?
Nakeya Bennett (09:30):
I think that one it just didn't feel like I
didn't feel like at home in therow. And this is still probably
true for many of us as you climbthe ladder but like I was always
the youngest. A lot of times theonly woman of course the only
black woman many times almost98% of the time and working with
(09:50):
you know mostly men mostly, youknow, other nationalities and
just felt lonely. It's verylonely. And then like your I
wasn't able to really becreative. And you know, this
wish you guys will learn. Likethis. You know, I like creating
things. I like talking topeople. I like relationships,
(10:11):
and I wasn't able to like graspthat. And I seen technology can
be like very black and white,much more serious. Yeah, that's
just how it felt. I didn't likeit. I didn't feel like it was
you know where I was supposed tobe?
Jessica Hartley (10:26):
Got it. So then you knew that wasn't it? What
did you decide after that?
Nakeya Bennett (10:32):
Oh, man, I got I actually my best boss ever. To
this day, I got a job at theArthritis Foundation. And I was
this executive assistant GroupVice President of Marketing. So
he ran marketing on allchannels. So digital mail
(10:52):
program, so like events,experiential stuff, across the
board, so everything for thefoundation, he ran, and he,
like, manage the budgets that hehad 14. And so that's really
what I didn't take any marketingclasses in school. So I didn't
really know, you know, whatmarketing was, I had never
gotten any exposure to theindustry. And the first time
that I got that exposure, and Ilove data, he loves me, he
(11:14):
really, really did. This is thetime where I was like, 23.
Living my best life, living thebest life yet setting, I was
like, Yeah, I will call him frommy Hawaii, because like, my
boyfriend would took me on atrip. And I would be like, I'm
not going to be in today. Helike treated me like a daughter,
(11:36):
he really would be like, youknow, I understand that you're
young here. But like, this isyour career, like you have
responsible, I needed you today,you have to show up. And he was
very, like, tough love, for mereally understand, like
accountability. And like, youknow, I can't just blow this off
to do this. You're young, youmake dumb decisions. So he
(11:57):
started to like, give me moreresponsibility. And let me run
like marketing programs, like helet me be over the arthritis
walk, which was one of the big,you know, large walks that we
did every single year, and themarketing for it. He let me help
and sit in on meetings to like,make decisions about our email
marketing program or our printcampaign. You know, how were we
(12:19):
sending too many? It was thefirst time that I got to be a
part of like, marketingstrategy. Yeah, yeah. And so
that never left me and I reallyloved it. Right. I held on to
that. But me being my Busybodyself, like I'm still always
looking for like, what's thenext thing? What's the next
industry? What's the so I got Istarted studying for PMP
certification. I startedstudying for LSAT, because then
(12:43):
okay, I'm going to law school.
Oh, my goodness. And I miss myLSAT twice. Don't ask
Jessica Hartley (12:55):
me living your best life, right? Like I was
like, girl, why No.
Nakeya Bennett (13:00):
Nice. But I did ended up end up getting my
project management certificationfor us. PMP certified pretty
young. Yeah, I was about 26.
When I got that. And that reallyopened up a lot of doors. I took
that certification date more forme than my master's, I
eventually did get my master's.
But my project managementcertification like by way of it
(13:22):
really like put a stamp on beingable to build top dollar being
like people that and it wasduring the time when people like
really started paying attentionto certifications, me in the
door for a lot of roles. So Iended up leaving the Arthritis
Foundation because I was offereda row at Blue Cross Blue Shield.
I had to move to Jacksonvillefor it. But I was at a time
(13:45):
where like, I was like, I'm allin like I'm young, to get my
career going. I'm willing to doyou know, whatever profession to
get myself to where I want to beprofessionally. Yeah, so I
picked the role, beautifulcampus, but coming from Atlanta
at 2526 to Jacksonville, likedifferent slow homes. Yeah. And
(14:08):
this is the time where I'm like,and this isn't everybody, but
like I was very social. So likeI'm out every night, but then
I'm still at work in themorning. And so like I was away
from like, all of my familyisn't Atlanta where I am now.
But all of my friends, like awayfrom everyone, like I had
serious FOMO like I'm missingeverything I'm missing. But
(14:30):
again, like it's a strugglebecause you want to be
responsible and you know, likeyou want more you want to go
next level. So you got to do thethings to get to the next level.
And everybody was sometimes andthat requires sacrifice, right?
Yeah. Bullying, so I sacrificeto and I moved and like my
family because nobody's everlike moved away for work for
real. So it was yeah, thatscared and I'm like, I'm like at
(14:52):
a fearless time. We're like, oh,yeah, I'll do what I need to do
because to do somethingdifferent to get something
different, right? Absolutely.
But I was there for threemonths.
Jessica Hartley (15:03):
Not three years, y'all three months.
Nakeya Bennett (15:08):
On Valentine's Day, I would leave work on
Friday 5pm on the dot drive toAtlanta get to Atlanta and
Jessica Hartley (15:18):
I and that's a word for our five hour drive.
For five hour drive, dependingon the traffic, yes,
Nakeya Bennett (15:26):
I would get home party have an amazing power. My
family. See everybody allweekend. Get up at 5am on Monday
morning Nicaea and drive back toJacksonville. NBA goes straight
to work. After that, mostweekends. Wow.
Jessica Hartley (15:45):
That's burden a lot of candidates. No Candler,
not even both.
Nakeya Bennett (15:49):
Thank God, I was young and I still had this
energy. I just was reallyhomesick. Oh, it has side, I
maybe didn't give it a fairchance. But I ended up looking
for another role. And findinganother project management role
in Atlanta.
Jessica Hartley (16:06):
So you went into project management, which
then got you you started workingat advertising and marketing
agencies. And that eventually
Nakeya Bennett (16:15):
got so big. So how I got into the marketing
agencies, I went and got my MBA,I went to night school, got my
MBA with a concentration inmarketing. Honestly, the PMP
helped me get my firstadvertising agency role. Wow,
the director, it was at digithouse, Atlanta, they were
(16:35):
opening the Atlanta office, andmy manager was a he was VP of
project management, and deliveryin Boston. And he himself was
PMP certified. He everyone whohad been sending in their
resumes weren't. And he waslike, I was so like, impressed
that you were already PMPcertified, because I'm trying to
get the people in the ad agencyto like understand project
(16:57):
management. You know, like, ifyou work in advertising, like a
traditional does not work?
Jessica Hartley (17:04):
No, it's hard.
It's hard. So many twists andturns and changes. And then we
layer on trying to manage theresources and the budgets and
timelines. Oh, god bless project
Nakeya Bennett (17:15):
managers. So I was used to IT projects. I see
projects are very, the date isthe date. Yeah. If you don't
deliver it, then the date getspushed. I got my first role. So
he hired me. So I was like thesenior most delivery person in
the Atlanta office. It did notgo well. And here's why. I knew
(17:37):
that this was the environmentthat I wanted to be in, like, I
came in an advertising agency,like it was young people, and
everyone was creative. And Ididn't have to like, you know,
dress a certain way I could likecome in and be myself. And we
had fun every day. And everybodywas it was just great. Like I
(17:59):
love. I love the work that I wasdoing. Yeah, but I had in my
mind project management isproject management. I was taught
from the PIM Bock, and the stepsare the steps, the dependencies
are the dependencies. If youdon't do this, you can't get
that not really understandingthe advertising world and the
(18:19):
marketing. And understandingthat if this banner ad doesn't
run, our client is using 1000sLosing 1000s of dollars. And
yes,
Jessica Hartley (18:30):
it's very different bank account a
different form of responsibilityand accountability, right in a
service capacity.
Nakeya Bennett (18:36):
So I had no idea. Yeah, he tried to coach me
and help me through it. But itdidn't go well. Yeah. And I
eventually absolutely got it.
And and of course, because I'mstill in marketing and in
advertising, but that was like alearning curve for me. Yeah,
yeah. And yeah, so that's how Igot into it. I got that role
that digital house, and then Inever left the digital ad
Jessica Hartley (19:00):
world.
Nevertheless, nevertheless. Sothen let's talk about how you
got to Accenture because you'vespent a while now at Accenture
there and sort of working yourway through projects and that is
a shift that I've I'lltransparency worked at Accenture
as well, coming from advertisingand going into that world and
there are absolutelysimilarities around customer
(19:22):
service client service, thatsort of thing. Definitely a
little bit more rigor when itcomes to project management and
accountability responsibility.
But let's talk about just alittle bit of the work that
you've done with clients whileyou've been at Accenture
Nakeya Bennett (19:39):
yeah so leaving dishes house so I left it just
house they kind of likerestructured and we need it what
do you just ask me that we had alot of like work work, work,
work work, they brought in andhired more. So I was more senior
level right? So more stress andless doing so they brought in
more doers, but I continued onto like go to other areas.
(20:00):
agencies, I started my own likeboutique consulting firm. So I
would go and work for like workon a campaign or work on a
project and I would move on. Andat that time, I was really
chasing like salary like I wantto be at a certain salary. I
want to be at a certain billrate. So I would get that
experience and then charge thenext project. Yes, more. No,
(20:22):
you're worth Yes. So I was doingthat for quite some time. And I
was recruited by so sapient justbecause you were at safety and
as well, I was nitro Atlanta. Ithink his safety and Razorfish
are now or maybe fully raisedofficially
Jessica Hartley (20:36):
listed, I can make mixes and remixes and
remixes to the remixes. I can't,I can't even
Nakeya Bennett (20:43):
Yeah, I went there. And I was there for three
years. And honestly, like thatwas the longest. This is me
coming from like, I wouldn't sayanywhere for more than six
months. So when I went tosapient, they recruited me from
LinkedIn, I believe I wentthere, and I was there for three
years. And it was the first timethat I had and life changes,
(21:04):
right, I got married I had. Iwas in a space where I was still
28 I think at the time 2027 28,something like that. But my life
had changed. So I need moresecurity. And I needed, you
know, to slow down. So when theyoffered me a full time role, I
accepted it. And that was thefirst time where I had been
(21:25):
anywhere for more than six moremonths for years. Yeah, years
and years and years a hugetransition. That was a huge
transition. But what I learnedwas the value of being steel in
a company, the value of buildingrelationships and people knowing
who you are and getting involvedwith like things that matter
(21:47):
like diversity and inclusionwithin the organization and
women's empowerment and buildingthose relationships and having
co workers and work husbands andyou know that you're going to
lunch with and you know that youknow you guys love each other
and you're going to each other'sbirthdays, and missing that
hopping from from agency toagency to agency. So that was
(22:09):
just a great thing for me. I wasso happy and essential actually
recruited me.
Jessica Hartley (22:15):
They were doing some heavy recruiting. They were
so excited to poach people fromsafety. And it was an
interesting time. Yeah.
Nakeya Bennett (22:24):
So at that time, and here's how that happened. I
was on the board for NationalBlack MBA Association, like I
was, you know, doing all thesephilanthropic things, and I was
more settled, and I was reallyhappy. And I went I like on a
whim just uploaded my resume,because I'm like, I'm going to
the conference. Like why not?
Let me just see what's outthere. Yeah, these interviews
like big companies likeMicrosoft, Nike, L'Oreal,
(22:46):
Samsung target, like I had allthese interviews and never heard
anything back from anybody onthat point where I was manager
slash senior manager, so andthey were looking for more, you
know, like, fresh out ofcollege. Right, right. But
essentially, I was looking for,you know, more seasoned people.
And they caught me, I think,maybe a month after the
(23:08):
conference, this is what Imeant, just because you guys are
not my recruiter, but sheinterviewed me.
Jessica Hartley (23:16):
And my goodness, I forgot about that. I
did. I did Nicaea, you justreminded me.
Nakeya Bennett (23:25):
I think you are my second interview. So Jessica
was like my only in personinterview. This was the second
time a central recruited mebefore like, I was like, I'm not
going anywhere. Like I love mycompany. But I went to an event.
This was a turning point, I wentto an event as part of like me
being a part of like boards, andlike my board service, I went to
(23:45):
an event. And at that event, Imet Chloe bars a and Tracy Dunn,
and they were these amazingblack.
Jessica Hartley (23:56):
They amazing women that will hopefully join
us at some point on thisconversation. But yes, they are
tremendous.
Nakeya Bennett (24:03):
Lee, like they spoke so highly of the
organization. And they you know,both had had very, very long and
successful careers at theorganization. And this was at a
time where I was trying to getto the next level at my company.
I was three years in I wastrying to get to the next level.
And I started to notice, youknow some things around just
(24:25):
like culture and lack ofdiversity. And I tried to have
like conversations about my youknow, how I was feeling and they
didn't necessarily gooverwhelming. I didn't
necessarily feel supported. Andso, at the time, where I
essentially started reachingout, it was oh, like I just went
to this event and these two, youknow, black women have very
(24:45):
senior positions at the companyand where I am I'm not seeing
any black women that you know,that look like me that are
directors or that are anywherepast, you know, manager level
and senior manager and thendirect During could that even
happen because I'm not seeingyou here. But I went to this
event and they spoke so highlyof it. And so my actual career
(25:08):
counselor now like Yolanda wasone of my, the first people to
interview me. And then justbecause so it continued the
theme, right of me saying, like,these amazing women of color,
and like, everyone was just sogreat and so smart and like, a
personalities are great. Andthat's when I started to be
like, okay, like, I'm open to bethem. Yeah. But it was still
(25:30):
very hard. And it was hard.
Because essentially, when youthink about consulting, right,
so I'm going from an agencyworld to like, young, vibrant,
fun, like I'm wearing jeans, andI'm ready for happy hour. As
soon as I leave work, like I'm,you know, you dress you have fun
to like, Oh, this is aconsulting firm.
Jessica Hartley (25:50):
Yes. He hasn't used
Nakeya Bennett (25:56):
to be but three years since I'm like, Yeah, so I
went and bought all these suits.
So I made the decision to moveover. And it was very hard like
I was, it was a very emotionaldecision. Because if you think
about it, like, it was the firstplace that I had been for, for a
long period of time, so I hadthese, you know, just really
great relationships. So it wasvery hard to leave those. But
(26:16):
yeah, came over to a censurebest career decision, hands
down. And it was hard to makethat decision, not only because
of the shift and culture, butalso consulting was heavy
travel. And when I'm when I'minterviewing, it was always at
percent travel. I was newlydivorced. My son was three or
four at the time. Yeah. It'slike, how the heck and yes, I
(26:39):
sat my mom down. I had aconversation with her. And at
first, you know, old schoolmama. She's like, No, you can't
accept that role. Like, yeah,not a role for a single mother,
like your son is young. And, andthen like, so you know, I was
going back and forth. I'mstalling the recruiter. Like, I
(27:00):
don't know what to do. But Iknew like, I was at a point
where I was starting to becomeunhappy with where I was, yeah.
And not seeing, like, Where elsecan I grow from here. And so she
came back maybe a week later.
Because I was like, I don't knowwhat I'm gonna do. And she said,
(27:24):
you know, you're like, Mydaughter, who has always, like,
done the right thing, like, haveworked hard. Use, like sacrifice
to get where you are. And youknow, I help everybody else do
pull out of like holes or likefrom wrong things that they've
done. And you're coming to mebecause you want to do
something, right? You're tryingto change your career, and
(27:44):
you're trying to, you know, makemore money. And so she was like,
I'll support you.
Jessica Hartley (27:48):
So shout out, Mom, we love you. We love our
moms and parentals who are whoshow up for us, you know, when
you talked about the village,without you went too extensive.
But I want to make sure we don'tlose time to talk about, yes,
this sort of rise in corporatecareer in the decisions that you
(28:09):
make. But you also made adecision pretty early on with
all of that 20s energy to starta design company as well, you
obviously were doing theconsulting from a business side,
but talk to me a little bitabout the inspiration to say
hey, I have this corporatecareer, which we know sucks. It
takes a lot of time just sort ofsucks a lot of our lives into
(28:31):
you know, mental space, healthspace, all of the things just
committed to corporate career. Alot of that to your point is
about stability, and wealthbuilding and laying a solid
foundation for our children andthe generations to come. But we
always still like to do somemaking can never make it easy.
Talk to you about that too.
Nakeya Bennett (28:50):
I have always or something else. I don't think
there's ever been a time where Ididn't in high school. I was
going to pick her up on saleslike for for many for prom,
always always always donesomething else. And now we call
it multiple streams of incomebut I just knew I wanted more
money. I didn't know I didn'tknow what streams of income I
(29:12):
didn't know that that's what itwas called. But I just knew that
I wanted more money right? Yeah,yeah. And I've always been
willing to work for you know thelife I want the lifestyle that I
want. And I feel like even outI'll tell myself No, which is I
don't know if that's good orbad. For myself, No, I just
figure out like, okay, what areyou going to do Nikki? Like,
what extra Are you going to doto get it? So yeah, so high
(29:36):
school, pick her ponytails,makeup for prom. that
entrepreneurial spirit hasalways been a thing. It's always
been there. I started the Reillymethod LLC in 2007. And I've
held on to it I've always youknow, filed my taxes I've always
made sure you know I was in goodstanding with the state of
(29:57):
Georgia. I'd like written off Ithink I have my EIN. So I've
always done that. And I'veallowed it to be whatever I
needed it to be right. It's gonefrom being. So I worked for mac
cosmetics. I was a freelancemakeup artists for them. So like
(30:17):
that, then I like funnel thatinto being like freelance makeup
artists for other people. So Idid that for a while. I was
1099. So courts the court withwhen I was doing freelance work,
so yeah, I've always justallowed it to just flow out the
PR. For a while that was more solike fashion PR. But it was more
(30:42):
so like taking my the marketingand the content skills that I
had from corporate and usingthat for offices, like helping,
you know, I've had it for quitesome time I've allowed it to
like, be and grow and evolvewith my interest. Yeah, I so
well, when was this till 2016?
When I was at sapient. I was Ithink really pretty much focused
(31:04):
on sapient. And then, when I wasat Accenture my first couple of
years I was 100% focused atAccenture because you it's a
lot. It's a lot of work. Yes.
And I think once I kind of gotcomfortable enough to feel like
okay, I have some free time tomove around. And, you know, I
know that I'm still theentrepreneur at heart. So what
(31:27):
can I do with it? What do I wantto do next? And it kind of just
fell into my lap. Honestly, Ibought a new house. My first
house post divorce. I wasdecorating it. And somebody on
Instagram was like, Oh, can youhelp me decorate my house.
Jessica Hartley (31:43):
And I was just like that power of influence on
social media. Wow.
Nakeya Bennett (31:48):
And I was literally just like sharing,
just like, oh, I bought thispiece of art or I got this couch
and like just sharing like just,you know, me decorating my own
home. And they asked and I endedup decorating five spaces in her
home. It was it was a couplewith two boys. Yeah. And they
had just bought this beautifulnew house in Covington. And I
(32:10):
decorated five spaces in theirhome. And it was literally
myself. And one contractor. Thewife had scheduled a
housewarming party.
Jessica Hartley (32:23):
So you had a deadline. Talk about that. PMP
went into overdrive.
Nakeya Bennett (32:29):
I was at her house from 9am One day to 11am
the next day. Yeah, we'll workthrough like four hours of work.
Yeah, but I finished. I have ofcourse since gotten smaller, out
smarter. And I of course havebuilt a bigger team now. But it
(32:50):
was then that I was like, Oh,like this could really be a big
I didn't know I didn't know. Ihad no idea like about the
industry. I'm new. And I'm selftaught right? I've always had a
knack for interior design. Andhow that happened is my mom used
to work actually at Home Depot.
So our house when I was in highschool she we were always doing
(33:11):
something to it. home rentalprojects, big about like making
the house a home. So our homehas always been like beautifully
decorated. But we like did a lotof stuff ourselves. Like we hung
our own wallpaper. The likechair railing. I remember in the
dining room, we upgraded one ofthe bathrooms and put like new
(33:31):
vanity new toilet wallpaper inthere changed our lighting and
mirrors. Every season she wouldlike take us to like Sears or JC
Penney and let us like pick newbedding, new drapes, so
nostalgic, like paying ourfurniture like she would be like
y'all need to refresh but wecan't afford to buy new
furniture. So like let's justpaint this. So we would like
(33:52):
paying our furniture and it willbe getting new bedding and they
are wrong. Like looks brand new.
So I attribute the skills tothat. And it has grown out since
2016. So over five years nowwow. Yes, five years, five
years. Four a long time, I wasstill just working by myself.
(34:19):
And what started to happen isthat I didn't have because I
never started my business toexit corporate like I love my
corporate career. I lovemarketing. I love digital. So I
wanted to do both like it waslike a side hustle like
something I was really good atand like a passion project. But
yeah, now it's to the pointwhere like, I'm gonna have to
(34:40):
make a decision probably soon.
But what I've been trying to dois hire more people so that I
can like do the clientrelationship piece. And the okay
I'm gonna onboard you and liketell you how we do this, this
and how I want you to interactwith clients and like our Randy
and you know how we design andlike teach you how to do what
(35:02):
needs to be done, but allow youto execute, so that I can still
have this corporate career. Idon't know how it's gonna play
out. But that's what I've beentrying to be able to honestly,
for now. I started hiring lastyear. So a lot of my people are
celebrating like one yearanniversaries. Eight now, yeah,
Jessica Hartley (35:26):
that's a big thing.
Nakeya Bennett (35:27):
I have an operations person gonna be my
CEO, oh, I have a PM, helping toget like our tools and systems
that I'm set up to where like,our project management software,
if you will, so that like I canassign tasks to the team and
like, full accountability andtimelines and get better and
more efficient. I have oneintern she graduated now I think
(35:51):
so. Congratulations. Like, stayon. I have one design assistant
who's amazing. And then I haveone junior designer, and then
one senior designer. Wow. Yeah,so I'm looking for more interior
design assistants that can, youknow, I've done this design, I
(36:12):
put it to paper, the client hasapproved it. Now. Can I hand it
over you to like do the ordersand like, so that's what I'm
doing now. So I'm likeinterviewing and hiring people
to do that. But yeah, andbusiness as you can imagine,
like with everyone staying homeduring COVID business, yeah.
Yeah. Are in their homes. Andthey, you know, are noticed and
(36:35):
like I don't like I actuallyhave to spend time here now,
right
Jessica Hartley (36:40):
around you looking around saying is this
place, reflective of what Iwant. So as we wrap up, talk to
me about how you take care ofmakiya, now you have a son, he's
preteen our children sort ofhave that. So parallel lives
there in terms of age, or myoldest at least, and you have
(37:02):
this full year, you've got twojobs. You know, the corporate
career as well as theentrepreneurial and your
entrepreneurial is not oneperson plus a hot dog on a
shoestring. As I like to say, Imean, you have a full blown
team. So how do you rest indisconnect? And what advice do
(37:23):
you have for others? I shoot?
What advice do you have for me,other women out here who, you
know, have obviously personalresponsibilities, family,
children, parents, pets, thatthey have to take care of, they
are have a corporate career andsort of track and that
foundation and stability andwealth building, but also have
another literally another careerin Job, you know, that sort of
(37:48):
fills the cup when it comes topassion and purpose? How do you
refill your your cup?
Nakeya Bennett (37:54):
So I think one is just perspective, right? Like
my attitude every day, like, Iwake up every day and feel so
blessed to be low, right? Tolive in, like both my corporate
career and have that besuccessful, and be able to
mentor and be an example, butalso be you know, entrepreneur,
(38:17):
and live in that as well andshow people that you can do
both, you can't have both, youknow, it's hard. Sometimes I
have sleepless nights, but youcan do it if you want to do it.
And I wake up every day, justlike, you know, wow, like, in
gratitude, like, I get to dothis, versus I have to get this
done. And like, you know, I dohave those days, and I'm like,
(38:42):
I'm so tired, but I'm gonna laydown for five minutes, and then
I'm gonna get up and I'm gonnaattack today. Yeah, yeah. So
that's how I approach it. Iapproach it as like, you know,
this is what I prayed for, thisis what I've wanted. This is
what I've worked so hard for andI'm seeing the success and I'm
seeing the money come in, I'mnot only changing my own life, I
have this whole team that I'mable to pay, you know, and
(39:04):
change their lives and they'reable to eat and feed their
families. And I take a lot ofpride in that. And so I think
for me, it was one to true toambitious perfectionist type a
women all across the world,
Jessica Hartley (39:21):
calling me out calling us all out.
Nakeya Bennett (39:24):
To learn to like, I don't have to do it all
and I had to learn to like trustother people that get it done.
And to hand stuff over. I hiredthis person for a reason. Is
this a good use of Nikias time?
No, it's not. Okay, I can assignit to this person. I also just
if it's not a good use of mytime, I do not do it. Yeah, I
(39:46):
started to have to likerelinquish, like you know, we
can't kill ourselves. There'slike moms and housewives and
thank God I don't have thehusband so I don't have like
that. It's like I'm sure but Idon't have that extra layer. So
that's a form of myself.
Jessica Hartley (40:08):
No, not an episode. Metaphor.
Nakeya Bennett (40:16):
My ex husband and I have a really great co
parenting relationship for sure.
So as my son gets older, he'sspending more time with dad. And
you know, it can be sad becausehe's my only child, but like,
he's getting older, he needs tospend more time with his dad. So
when the time with his dad, I,you know, really learn to
appreciate and enjoy that timeand take that time for me and
(40:37):
for myself to do something thatI enjoy, or, you know, get a
massage or go on a trip. Ireally embrace that time. And I
really appreciate it, you know,things around the house, I
started hiring people. I don'thave time, like, yeah, I
started, what is it normalizingluxury? And yes, I have my
cleaning service coming toclean, you know, they come they
(41:02):
clean the house, but I'm doingsomething that's making money.
So that, but it frees them doingthat and coming home to a clean
home was like, that was one ofthe biggest things for me. And I
used to feel guilty, like I'msitting here at the desk like
working on while they'recleaning my house, but no, I'm
able to pay them. It's, youknow, they're a family owned
(41:25):
business. And then, you know,I'm hoping to keep them in
business and also takingsomething off my plate, you
know, yes. And one big thingalso was just learning to ask
for help, like the other day, Ihad been traveling, and like I
just couldn't get a handle onlike laundry and like just
cleaning up my closet and likeorganizing, and I call the
(41:48):
cleaning service. And I saidhey, like you guys do organize
and like, I just really needsome help. Yeah. And she said,
Yeah, I'll be there in an hour.
And she looked at that. And shelike and it Yeah, it took her
three hours because like that'show much like stuff I needed to
do. It was like, you know howyou like say, Oh, I'm just gonna
save it for Sunday. And thenSunday comes in you're so
(42:09):
exhausted like
Jessica Hartley (42:10):
UK recovering from the week and all the hard
work that you put in yeah, like
Nakeya Bennett (42:15):
I didn't have it me to do more work or to do
housework. I literally want tojust lay here and watch my
favorite TV show. And you know,like, yes. So those types of
things, asking for helpwelcoming to help being
delegating, more or less. Yeah,kind of do every single thing
myself really relying on myteam. Yeah.
Jessica Hartley (42:36):
I love that.
Thank you. Nikia. I appreciatethat so much. And I am receiving
and imbibing that message frommyself as well. It takes a
village to raise children but italso takes a village to survive
and, and be successful and youcan support and impact the lives
of others by delegating andgetting help. So thank you
(42:58):
Nikias, so much for thisconversation. You and I, and so
many of my guests, we could talkfor three hours. I'm so excited
to continue to watch you growand shine, corporate career
entrepreneurial career, and Ilook forward to having you back
on the show soon. It's on allthe great things. So thank you
(43:20):
for the time to hear. All right,see you soon. And that wraps
another episode of hustle grind,shine and reignite. Thank you
for listening to another episodeof hustle, grind, shine and
reignite. If you liked thisepisode, like, subscribe and
(43:40):
share on all your favoritepodcasts. I hope you'll tune in
to the next episode featuringanother amazing and talented
professional. In the meantime,Chiang Rai
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