Shereese Floyd was taught to get a good job, not to become an entrepreneur, so spent 20 years in non-profit marketing before even considering going out on her own.
“Entrepreneur isn’t a word I heard until my early 20s, so I didn’t realize it was an option,” she says. Still, she never felt like she was a great employee. “I always knew that something about me doesn’t quite fit with the status quo.”
As digital marketing took off over the last decade, Shereese began to follow a woman who was very successful in digital marketing and building her business as an entrepreneur. Shereese was inspired to start offering storytelling services to non-profits, but wasn’t ready to go all in.
“I spent a good amount of time getting a job, hitting a wall, going back into entrepreneurship and hitting another wall,” Shereese shares. “When Amanda Brinkman was in Charlotte for NAWBO’s Leadership Academy, she said that nobody prepares you for the emotional piece of entrepreneurship and that in order to be a success, you have to know who you are.”
During this time of back and forth between jobs and entrepreneurship, Shereese was in a marriage that wasn’t quite working. When the marriage ended, she sold her home and most of her belongings, packed her SUV and moved from Norfolk, Virginia to Charlotte, North Carolina.
That was two years ago, and while Shereese was excited to be in a new city, she found that her old story was still running. She was grateful to land a stable job with a great company and then four or so months in, knew this still wasn’t “it.”
After a year with the company, she began sending out resumes for jobs she was qualified for, but no one responded. “That’s when I truly started doing the work to move out of this survival place I was in and realize my happiness was internal. Once I started doing this work, the connections and opportunities opened up for me.”
Now a sought-after consultant, speaker and trainer, Shereese says she’s the happiest she’s ever been. She revived one of her previous companies, Witness My Life, where she coached women to tell their stories so that no one has to feel like they live in a world where they are invisible. Since being in Charlotte, Shereese found she has a real passion for helping women.
“The way women have been positioned in this society, being invisible is their default,” she shares. “That’s the angle I wanted to take—allowing women to be their own heroes and thought leaders so they can be paid for their ideas, not their labor.”
Shereese is also author of the book Become the Greatest Story Ever Told, which features questions to help people write their memoir or document stories they can share with friends, family or in a presentation. “I really believe we all have a story and yours truly is the greatest story ever told,” she says.
Last summer, Shereese expanded to also share her expertise in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) space as a consultant to non-profits. “Once I landed here, that’s when the phone really started to ring.” While she initially questioned if all these things go together, she now sees herself like Amanda also shared at NAWBO’s Leadership Academy—as a “portfolio entrepreneur.”
Today, seven women work with Shereese on the AI consulting side of her business, making it completely women led. Recently, she also began to offer what she believes is the first certification for AI experts in the non-profit field.
“We’re helping women to be thought leaders and take control of their own destinies,” she says.
Her NAWBO Destiny
After moving to Charlotte, Shereese was invited to speak at a local NAWBO event, so she was aware of the organization, but still floundering to find her way as an entrepreneur. Last year, she participated in the NAWBO-AARP Established and Ready to Grow program. “I met Lynda Bishop and some other fantastic women going through the program,” she shares. “I realized then that yes, this is where I need to be. Leadership Academy was a reminder of that.”