Community Highlights: Meet Yumiko Sturdivant of French Dream Team

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yumiko Sturdivant.

Yumiko, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Everything started when I realized that I could no longer pursue my Law Enforcement career due to being a French citizen. Since I was a former Jr. Tennis Pro which is what brought me to the U.S., I had the opportunity to work with a French Tennis Academy in Aliso Viejo, CA. I enjoyed coaching kids and adults but I didn’t want this to be my career when I got a B.A in Sociology and an M.S. in Applied Criminology.

So moving forward, I got a job as a Marketing Director for a luxury brokerage firm (my studies back home were focused on Marketing and Communication), this is when everything started clicking for my future. This was back in 2016, I saw the potential of social media marketing and I really started diving into it. After three months, I decided to quit my job, started my own adventure, and created the French Dream Team known as FDT, a Social Media Agency based in Newport Beach, CA.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I started from zero so the beginning was definitely not smooth, it was scary but exciting! I’m thankful for my husband who worked 3 jobs including being a U.S. Marines Corps Reserve to be able to help me start my company. We all have this realization moment at some point in our lives that we must have a change, and sometimes no matter what the consequences can be, we jump and make it happen! This was my situation. I don’t recommend starting a company without slowly working on it prior to quitting your full-time job… but I’m very proud of where I’m at today and couldn’t have done it without my husband and my family’s support.

As you know, we’re big fans of French Dream Team. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
My company started as a Social Media Management company, which is now expanding into a full-service Marketing Agency. We specialize in social media management and social media marketing but we are also now offering web design, email campaigns, content creation, branding, SEO, and more. Many of our clients want the one-stop-shop and I understood that I had to expand the company to be able to provide them everything they needed for their own companies.

Another exciting change happened in 2020. Web3 and NFTs!!! That’s right, I have been working with an incredible artist named Ali Sabet. In 2020, his career and life changed when he entered the NFT space. NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, it’s pretty much digital objects that are verified on the blockchain and hold features such as uniqueness and non-interchangeability. We switched his whole social media marketing strategy to focusing on NFTs and that was my entry point to this new wild world! I started being familiar with this space, learning the language, getting to work with more artists, and truly experiencing what “community” really means! I’m known as NFT Cheers in this department, and I’m proud that I developed an excellent reputation and can’t wait for the world to catch on to this because this is the future. Technology & Art!

This new world pushed me to restructure my company with a Web3 department because it’s very different than doing marketing for any other industry. I’m simply proud of how far I’ve come. This journey isn’t easy, many business owners would say the same thing, it has many challenges but I’m embracing them because this is how we are evolving as a person and as a company.

Luckily, my background is very unique compared to most Marketing companies, a background with various studies, experiences, cultures, etc. It took me a while to find the right people to fit in, but today I’m proud to have a team who is as passionate as I am, this makes a big difference! We work hard for our clients, and we believe in quality over quantity, and this will always remain my company’s number one priority. They succeed, We succeed!

Lastly, the best for the end… I’m currently working on something VERY exciting!!! A few partners and I are building a Talent Agency to help our artists thrive! There are so many opportunities out there for artists! You will hear soon about “BlockShimi”, stay tuned!!!

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
My biggest advice for finding a mentor or for networking, in general, is to get out there! You know who you want as your clients, find where they are, what events they go to, what platforms they are on, etc. Use Linkedin and learn from others who have more experience than you do. This is how you will grow faster AND listen more than you speak.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fdtvision.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/fdt_vision
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fdtvision
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nftcheers
• Other: www.blockshimi.com