Welcome to THIS edition of GOOD QUESTION, brought to you exclusively by THISent.com! I’m your host Mr. Joe Walker.
Throughout my illustrious career as an entertainment writer and journalist, I’ve been blessed with opportunities to speak with many notable and famous persons. One of those is entrepreneur Najeema Iman, owner of CURLITUDE and Project Coordinator/Lead Market Curator of The Block Market which supports Black entrepreneurs and small business owners.
During our conversation I asked Najeema THIS good question: Why did you become a business owner?
She answered, “You want the long of it or the short of it?
It’s in my blood! Recently I found out that my great grandfather was an entrepreneur and there are countless people in my family who own and operate small businesses.
Curlitude started off as a passion project over nine years ago. It allowed me to heal through the creation process. It speaks artistically on embracing authentic self, hugging every flaw, curve, curl, attitude and roadblock along the journey to self-awareness expressed through mixed media art. That’s a whole lot of words, but Curlitude is a whole lot, and it is a whole lot of me!
My business carries the weight of all the words. Curlitude is a portmanteau word that combines the words curly and attitude. Curly meaning made, growing, or arranged in curls. Attitude meaning a way of thinking. Curly + Attitude = Curlitude, making and growing my way of thinking. As a small business owner I am growing and learning every day.
The short of it, is that I became a business owner as a creative outlet. The long of it is that I want to leave a legacy for my daughters. I want to leave a spiritual, emotional and financial legacy for my children. I am a game changer, raising game changers. I want my daughters to be better than me in all the things that they do.
I became a small business owner so that I can teach them that there is absolutely nothing that you can not accomplish if you put your mind to it. My grandmother used to tell me every day before I exited her car to go to school, “Black girls must be the best that they can be at all time.” That is exactly what I want for my girls.
It’s not that they won’t fail. The falling down is what makes getting up more impactful, but I pray that they will consistently strive to be the best version of themselves. They one day may not choose entrepreneurship, but I know that I have done my job well when they are successful, generous humans who change the world by being their authentic self 100% of the time. The sky is truly limitless for them.” |THIS.
