Today we’d like to introduce you to Olivia Christian.
Olivia, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In the fall of 2017, I was asked by one of my clients to share Own Your Story at their first-ever produced conference for women. While I had been sharing it for years with clients when they’d get new board members, interns or volunteers, I had never shared it with women from all different professional backgrounds and at various stages of their career. At the end of my three-hour session, many if not most of the women in attendance lined-up to talk to me and said,’ you should be doing this (the workshop) for a living.’ And in that moment, on that day I decided to not talk myself out of those compliments. Instead, I spent 2018 focused on creating opportunities for women to come together, gain this personal + professional development skill, and through the power of storytelling, become allies and advocates of one another. Own Your Story has since evolved to include opportunities inter-sectional engagements so these conversations are not had in silos.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Growing this community via corporate partners, conferences, and co-worker spaces has been an unequivocal joy and honor. It has definitely taken work, commitment, and persistence but I am fueled by the response this workshop receives and the bonds that are created by those in attendance.
Please tell us about Own Your Story.
As humans, we connect and are motivated to act when something or someone makes us feel a certain kind of way. Therefore, being able to concisely convey who we are, what we do, and why it is important and/or unique is necessary in order for us to differentiate ourselves and create the opportunity for our audience of 1 or 1 million to understand us on an emotional level if we ever hope to act on our behalf. So, if for example, one is job hunting, looking for a co-founder, pitching investors, leading a team, or hoping to become or be mentored, Own Your Story will help them create an emotionally impactful personal brand story that will galvanize their target audience into action. People don’t remember job titles or degrees. What they’ll remember is your story–learn to tell it!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would not change one thing about this journey. The hard times make the good times that much sweeter.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.oliviachristian.co/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oliviachristian.co/
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviachristian1/
Image Credit:
Photos 1 and 3 (I’m wearing “Own Your Story t-shirt, Eileen Roche Photography http://eileen-roche.com/); Photo 4 Girlboss (https://www.girlboss.com/)
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
