Hey Reader,
​
THANK YOU for all the love y'all showed after my announcement about making the Inc 500 Female Founders list! 🥹😭 Your messages, comments, and shares have had me emotional that I was overwhelmed in the best way (I even cried on the internet, which omg).

THANK YOU for celebrating with me. 🙏🏾
​
Now, let's get into what's on my mind this week...

RANT

I don't know who told y'all that the goal was to be "relatable."
​
​So Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex' new Netflix series just dropped, and the internet is being raggedy again. Folks are criticizing her for being "unrelatable" and I'm over here like... SO WHAT?! 🙄
​
We have an odd obsession with being "relatable" and I’m like WHY?!? Who told us that being relatable is the goal? Yes, you CAN be relatable, but it shouldn't be what you're striving for.
​
​Have you met people? Like, ACTUAL PEOPLE out in the world? WHY would you want relatability to be your goal when at least 40% of folks are straight-up RAGGEDY?! 🤦🏾‍♀️

Also, remember when folks said they voted for George W. Bush because they’d have a beer with him? I DO NOT WANT MY PRESIDENT TO REMIND ME OF THE SAME KNUCKLEHEADS I WENT TO COLLEGE WITH. And our current president is relatable because he is a total dumbass and we know so many of them.
​
Relatability is not the flex folks think it is. The most impactful people aren't relatable. They're REMARKABLE. They stand out precisely because they aren't like everyone else. Their lives are proof of things we don’t see often. Proof of what’s possible. Meghan, a woman with a Black mama who has locs, met an ACTUAL prince, married him, and then he chose HER over his royalty. That is a REAL LIFE FAIRY TALE! 👑 TF is she gon be relatable for? RELATE DEEZ.
​
If you're fortunate enough to be exceptional in any way, whether through talent, opportunity, or just plain good luck, don't apologize for it. Don't minimize it. OWN IT.

I don’t need to be relatable if I’m real.
​
So Meghan, keep doing you. And to everyone else chasing relatability: aim higher.

REFLECTION

What you do is NOT who you are.
​
​It's ironic that I'm writing this reflection in the same week I was named to the Inc 500 Female Founders list. This recognition comes after a year of rebuilding, and while I'm grateful for it, the timing offers the perfect backdrop for a truth I've been sitting with: titles and accolades are NOT who we are. 🙏🏾
​
We live in a world that's quick to define us by our jobs, titles, and accomplishments. 💼 At events, the first question is often "So, what do you do?" as if that's the quickest route to knowing who someone truly is.
​
But the truth is if I had been waiting for awards and recognition all these years to validate my work, I probably would've quit back in 2014. The trophies are nice, but they can't sustain you when the storms come.
​
​My professional titles matter to me, but in the moments of strife or in the seasons when the awards aren't coming in and the revenue is drying up, we can't let those titles define our worth.

In this shallow world, we gotta remember that WHAT YOU DO IS NOT WHO YOU ARE. When the spotlight dims and the applause fades, what remains is your essence, not your resume.
​
My big sis Thasunda Brown Duckett says it perfectly: "I rent my title, but I own my character." A word!
​
​Awards are great in the up seasons. I'm certainly not turning mine down! But they're not the only thing affirming your existence. When the titles change or disappear, when you get fired, lose that position, or face a rebuilding year like my 2023, you are STILL a whole person that matters.
​
Reader, your worth exists independent of your productivity. The world might value you for what you create, produce, or achieve, but your inherent value was present long before you ever earned a paycheck or received an award.

The quiet moments when there's no audience, no recognition, no external validation. Who are you then? That's the person worth knowing.
​
​Plant your roots in who you are, not what you achieve, and you won’t be uprooted by failure or success. Celebrate your achievements without letting them define you. Because long after the world has forgotten your titles and credentials, they'll remember your character. That's what truly counts.

RECOMMENDATION

Get some Leopards Merch from Franchesca Ramsey!
​
​I’ve known Franchesca Ramsey (aka Chescaleigh) for like 15 years and she’s one of those OG creators who has been able to sustain because she’s just that dope!
​
So when the MAGAts started seeing their FA leading to FO, she made a song called "I Never Thought the Leopards Would Eat My Face” and it went viral.
​
If you're wondering about this "leopards eating faces" business, it came from this 2015 tweet by UK writer Adrian Bott that was basically dragging regretful Brexit voters: "'I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party." 🤣

Since then, it's become THE perfect way to describe folks who vote for something obviously harmful then act shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, when that harmful thing actually affects them personally. The leopards are currently feasting on faces right now! They are on 600 Pound Life with all the faces they've been eating, especially since January 20. These leopards are FULL. 🐆🍽️
​
Franchesca is now known as the “Leopard Lady” as she’s done remixes of her song for some of the folks who are now crashing out when they get exactly what they voted for.
​
Now she has a whole merch line for it! Cuz the leopards have been FEASTING. Them things are full, full.

There are mugs, stickers, tote bags too. It’s lit! 🔥

So tap in and grab a few items from Franchesca. 🛒

​If you use the code LUVVIE, you get 15% off items in her shop! ​

Check it out here:

What moment in your life made you realize that WHO you are matters more than WHAT you do? Share your story with me!

​

P.S. Last week in my Patreon, I dropped a post called Give/Get: What do you need right now? What can you give? - Community Assignment. Allowing members of the community to ask for what they need and serve someone else, and the way it makes my heart smile. Like I’ve been saying (and will continue to), COMMUNITY WILL SAVE US. If you’re looking for a safe space in this dumpster fire world, I invite you inside there. To connect, find dope people and do work/life better. JOIN US.