IAM1638 – Founder Creates a Community Service for Young Girls

Shantay Carter 00:00

To see those young girls come in and be able to find dresses that they need for the prom, the looks on their faces, and the smiles are priceless. Like that's something like you know that okay, I'm here, I'm fulfilling my purpose and I did my job.

Intro 00:15 Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:41

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and we're doing something a little bit different this year with some of our episodes we're repurposing some of our favorite episodes around specific topics related to entrepreneurship.

This month we're focusing on entrepreneurship and community. Us. We, our together and we're gonna look at entrepreneurship and industries and different types of entrepreneurship and ultimately what that really means. But we're also gonna delve deeper into the importance of community networking niche communities and how that supports being a CEO entrepreneur and business owner.

So sit back and enjoy these special episodes around entrepreneurship and community.

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I, Shantay Carter of Women of Integrity Inc. Shantay, it's great to have you on the show.

Shantay Carter 01:28

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Gresham Harkless 01:29

Yes, super excited to have you on and hear about all the awesome things that you're doing. But before we do that, I wanted to read a little bit more about Shantay so you can hear about some of those awesome things. And Shantay better known as the Nurse Philanthropist has been a registered nurse for over the past 21 years.

She is the founder of Women of Integrity Inc., Men of Integrity, Inc., And co-founder of Nurses of Integrity. She's an award-winning Empowerment Leader and Public Speaker, and she is also the best-selling author of Destined for Greatness. Shantay is a proud member of the NAACP, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. The Nassau County Medical Reserve Corp, the NY chapter of the American Nurse Association, and the Greater NYC Black Nurses Association.

And her passion and purpose is to educate, empower, and inspire the youth and her fellow nurses. Shantay believes that being of service is one of the greatest rewards in life. Shantay, super excited to have you on here about all the awesome things that you're doing.

Are you ready to speak to the I am CEO community?

Shantay Carter 02:27

Yes, I am. Thank you. Thank you.

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Gresham Harkless 02:29

Absolutely. Thank you so much. And so to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit, and hear a little bit more on how you got started with all the awesome work that you're doing.

Shantay Carter 02:37

Okay. So I started Woman of Integrity back on November 30th, 2010.

During that time I was actually going through a very bad breakup. I fell into depression and was just spiraling downwards. It was affecting me with my family at work, with my colleagues, my friends and I've been blessed to have some amazing women in my life that are my support system and my best friend stage and intervention, they called my mom and was just like, we think she's depressed and something's going on.

Cause I was still functioning, going to work, but, go to my room and kind of just stayed in my room and didn't come out. So my mom talked to me. My dad, may he rest in peace, cause he just passed away recently, he talked to me. Thank you. And they were like, you gotta get out of this, you gotta snap out of this.

So I realized that I wanted to take that negative energy and channel it into something positive. So I always wanted to, or like I should say, I enjoyed working with the youth when I was in college. I was an RA when I came home from college, I volunteered with a nonprofit that my girlfriend started to it's called, it was called Save Our Young Black Men based out of Brooklyn to help mentor young boys.

And then I just felt we needed something for the girls. And in Long Island where I live is kind of the suburb of New York City. People tend to think, if you live in the suburbs, everybody has money. We're in a house in a white picket fence and everything's all good. And that is not true.

We have many underserved communities in Long Island, believe it or not. And I just decided that I wanted to be able to do something to help those communities. I wanted to also, be able to create a support system that could benefit our young women. As I said, I was blessed to come from a strong support system of women and I wanted to create women of integrity to be that resource for the women and young women in our community.

Gresham Harkless 04:27

Nice. I appreciate you so much and in, in terms of like being able to kind of create the organization and everything. And so I wanted to drill down a little bit more. Can I hear more about what you've been able to kind of build with the organization and how you're making that impact in serving.

Shantay Carter 04:40

Sure, definitely. So we start out just like an idea I came up with, in my basement, I reached out to my friends, like, ‘what do you guys like to be a part of this?' And what was the common goals that we wanted to achieve? And so from there we started to build just a small Facebook group.

And then we grew into this organization. We're a 501c3 nonprofit. And our signature events that we're known for is our prom. Just Drive. Our free prom dress giveaway. I mean, because when we host that event, especially our prom dress giveaway, to see those young girls come in and be able to find dresses that they need for the prom, the looks on their faces, the smiles, are priceless.

Like that's something you know that okay, I'm here, I'm fulfilling my purpose and I did my job. Because that's something that's ingrained and embedded into your mind when you see those smiles on those young girls' faces to know that you don't have to worry about getting a prom dress because now I have this and we also do a prom makeover.

Just a remarkable experience. And then we expanded into doing women in business brunch. Networking brunch. So this is for our aspiring entrepreneurs, or already entrepreneurs, or like-minded positive women who wanted to come out for a day and we would have brunch. We would have some amazing guest panelists to talk about different areas of business, whether it's contracts and grants, nonprofits for-profits.

So just a whole array of different backgrounds and specialties in the business sector, all women entrepreneurs, and we just would have an amazing time. The women would leave educated, empowered, inspired, enlightened, and would just be an amazing event. And that event would usually be our fundraising event.

We've been able to achieve those things through those community outreach events and also partnering up with other community organizations to do the work as well. But I will tell you when the book opportunity came about, honestly, I was scared. I kind of shut it down. Initially and I was like, no, I'm a nurse.

I'm working full-time. I don't have time to write a book and I remember the young lady that approached me. She approached me on social media first, who was the visionary of the whole anthology cuz it's an anthology of myself and nine other nurses. And then when I thought about that, I said, you know what?

You're right. What do I have to lose? So, honestly, it has been one of the best decisions ever in my life. And then destined for Greatness went on To become a best seller on Amazon two years later definitely has been a God send. It's opened so many doors for me to do other things and to highlight the work that Women of Integrity is doing and led me to be able to create the other organizations, men of Integrity and Co-founder Nurses of Integrity.

So it's definitely been a blessing.

Gresham Harkless 07:25

Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that so much, and especially talking about the apprehension of wanting to do that initially because I think so many times we have those blessings, those opportunities that are basically waiting to blossom and we just need to take that step and a lot of times, like I talked about building those ditches before you need them you were doing really great work.

You've met somebody and she was planting a seed, to have that opportunity for you to blossom me even more. But not only are we kind of affecting ourselves, we're also affecting all the potential opportunities that we have down the line when we don't take that step. So I love that you were able to do that and share that.

Shantay Carter 07:57

Thank you. No problem. Yes, and like I said, I don't regret it. Looking back, I'm so glad I decided to kind of confront my fear then apprehension and move forward. It's been one of the best decisions ever. And coming from creating Destined for Greatness, it led to Destined for Greatness Journal.

Then this year I came out with the Destined for Greatness, Planner for Success. So now it's a whole little series where we have the book, the journal, and now we have a planner. So all ways to create multiple streams of income, stay relevant, promote the brands and the organization as well.

Gresham Harkless 08:36

Absolutely you get to continue to make that impact in so many different ways. So I absolutely love that. And, so what would you consider to be, what I like to call your secret sauce? And this could be for yourself individually. The brands are a combination of both, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Shantay Carter 08:52

I'm a Libra, we are kind of trying to balance those scales. But I'm pretty transparent. I'm your friend and I am loyal to the end, and I'm gonna rock out with you. I'm gonna promote you. That's just kind of who I am. Right? And I think that what I've learned is. Not everyone is like that.

So I think what has set me apart in starting this nonprofit and really starting it from scratch with no knowledge of how to start a nonprofit, I just decided like this is what I wanted to do. I put in the work to research, research a lot of late nights, and I researched to figure out, how do I do this?

How do I create this? You have to understand, learn people and understand to meet them where they are. I understand that where they are, you have to be able to adjust to that. You can't necessarily change someone. But I also realize in this, in growing the organization and just even growing to myself, instead of trying to hog up all the potential opportunities or if it's cash money, because I don't wanna share.

So I definitely believe in sharing. That's not to say you can't have to still use discernment. Not everybody you can put on, right? But you gotta know people that's gonna be genuine and who's worthy of that. So I definitely say yes, you wanna invest in your business, but invest in yourself as the leader, as a CEO as well.

Gresham Harkless 10:10

Absolutely appreciate that. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And you might have already touched on this, but this could be an app, a book, or something from your book or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Shantay Carter 10:25

Well, I can tell you, I'm a Covid survivor. I had Covid last year. I was sick for about two months. And thankful to God I'm still here today. And that really has changed my mindset, it's all in the mindset. So definitely I would say one of the hacks is that your mindset is going to determine your trajectory in which you're going to do and having a positive mindset is definitely key.

But understanding that your health is your wealth. Like I said, I'm a nurse first, so I'll be remiss if I didn't throw something in about taking care of yourself. You know, your health is your wealth. And after I got sick with Covid, I had to really start taking charge of my health.

I thought I was fairly healthy, but clearly, I wasn't. And I had to make changes. So changing my diet, and working out have now become my routine. And practice in the mornings which helped me to kind of start my day. So I start off with meditation, write in my journal, and then I go and work out.

I work out every morning to kind of clear my head and so I can be focused for when I start my day. . And it could start out with just 30 minutes at a time. And you build your way up, work your way up. But we really have to stress the importance of taking care of ourselves. If we're not taking care of ourself, we cannot take care of others.

So that's definitely kind of like my morning routine. When you're building your business, you also need to build a solid team, and teamwork makes the dream work. You have to be able to understand who's on your team so you know their personalities so you can know how to deal with them and understand. You have to appreciate them and value them, but also then use their talents to make them feel more vested.

Gresham Harkless 12:01

Nice, I love that. And I think like you said, it takes teamwork to make the dream work. I almost wonder is that kind of like some of the CEO nuggets that you are kind of like more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice to be able to, to kind of lean into that mindset and that understanding that once you see and have that vision of success, you need to do whatever you have to do to get there? Do you think that's part of the nugget?

Shantay Carter 12:21

Absolutely. You have to do the work. You have to put in the work, and you have to also understand self-promotion at times is the best promotion, right? People have to feel that you believe in your product and your service and your business before they can wanna invest in it.

If you're saying, oh, I, I own a business, but then you talk half-ass about your business, why would I support your business if you don't even believe in your own business? Right? So you have to believe in yourself and your business and your vision and your. So people then can buy in and understand, okay, why should I support this organization?

People have to also feel that they can relate to you. So you have to make yourself relatable to whatever your target audience is. You know, do your research for your target audience and make yourself relatable to them.

Gresham Harkless 13:03

Nice. I absolutely love that, and I appreciate you sharing that. So, I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO.

We're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So, Shantay what does being a CEO mean to you?

Shantay Carter 13:16

So I would say being a CEO means that you have the opportunity to create your own destiny. You have the opportunity to create change and have an impact. You're setting your standards, you're setting your rules but that also gives you the opportunity.

To reach back and help the next person. That's very important. I think to be able to help your business to be successful and to grow.

CEO doesn't just mean like I and everything is me. There's the e in there for everyone, everyone to be a part of your team, and that you need to incorporate them and you need to build a strong one.

Your foundation has to be strong. So to be an effective leader, you have to also know. When to follow, right? Not just leading. Gotta know when to follow. You are in control of your destiny. The power to also reinvent yourself to be better, and to do things for the greater good. So CEO is really just taking control of your own destiny and creating your path.

Gresham Harkless 14:11

Truly appreciate that holistic definition, and I of course appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now was just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course how best they can get ahold of you. Get a copy of the books and find out about all the awesome things you're working on with your brands.

Shantay Carter 14:29

Thank you. So you could definitely catch me on social media. I'm on Facebook, and Instagram is at S.Carter Rn, for my personal. For Women of Integrity, we're at WOIINC on Instagram, and Facebook. It's Women of Integrity Inc. You can find us. We're on Twitter. LinkedIn, I mean, we're pretty much everywhere the same for men of Integrity.

The books are all available on Amazon, so you can get them, or you can reach out to me personally and get them as well. I can sell them directly to you. And yeah, thank you for having me. This has been amazing. I truly appreciate you, considering me to have me on and to be able to share my insight.

So thank you so much.

Gresham Harkless 15:08

Absolutely. It's definitely our pleasure. I truly appreciate you for the awesome work that you're doing. We're definitely gonna have links and information in the show notes as well too, just to make it even easier so that everybody can get ahold of you. But definitely wanna wish you a happy three years, three years, and 12 years for all the awesome work that you're doing.

Appreciate it, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of day.

Shantay Carter 15:25 You too. Thank you.

Outro 15:27

Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast, powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 media. Tune in next time and visit us iamceo.co. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Want to level up your business even more? Read blogs, listen to podcasts, and watch videos at cbnation.co.

Also, Check out our I am CEO Facebook group. This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harless, Jr. Thank you for listening.

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