E9 Inclusivity, Freedom and Changing your Career with Crystal Whiteaker 🤝💥

If you're not feeling like you in your job, it may be time to change careers. Take the leap: unlock your potential, experience growth, and come into the goodness of life. Stay true and be the best version of yourself. Be you, and people will love you for who you are!

In this episode of The Pollen Podcast, I bring on Crystal Whiteaker, founder and CEO of Crystal Lily Creative, to talk about her transition from a wedding photographer to a successful brand inclusivity consultant. We also dive deep into adding a personal touch to your branding and showing up as genuine as possible on social media. Listen as we share how to empower others by empowering yourself through your brand!

Listen to this episode to learn when it's time to follow your heart and change careers! We all have a journey to walk, so let's make it the best we can.

Create your own creative entrepreneurship story of clarity, professional confidence, and profit. Join Diana's 90-day group course Camp Clarity and learn everything you wish you already knew, like how to land dream clients, harness the power of social media, and make the money you deserve. Learn more here.

🔥Here are three reasons why you should listen to this episode:

1. Discover how to change your career to one that you truly love.
2. Understand the importance of your core values as you establish your brand.
3. Learn to be fearless as you take leaps in your career.

📘Resources

• Achieve the life, career, and clients you've always wanted (and fully deserve!). Sign up for Diana's Camp Clarity Course now!
• If you're an entrepreneur looking to fine-tune your business, hit us up at Ascend: the Elevated Entrepreneur Mastermind!
• Access other courses from Diana Davis Creative
• Access Brand Statement Guide and Core Values Guide by Crystal Lily Creative.
• Access the following Introductory offers by Crystal Lily Creative: Core Values Challenge, Empowered Environments Workbook (Guided Workbook for Inclusive Leaders), and Inclusive Masterclass Bundle.
• Get various free guides from Crystal Lily Creative!
• Connect with me: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

🎧Episode Highlights [10:13] Introducing Crystal

• Crystal is a biracial Black woman and is passionate about her work. Relationships and a sense of belonging are two important things for her.

• She only works with leaders who profoundly care about diversity, equity, and inclusion and with people across various industries, from creatives to consultants.

[14:57] Crystal: "My role is to help them get deeply rooted in their core values so that they can ensure that everything that they are doing as leaders is clear, connected, and that the experience that they provide is streamlined for the people that they are inviting into the environments they're creating."

• Younger Crystal was a very girly and free-spirited child.

[23:58] Starting A Photography Company

• Crystal has always been curious about photography but didn't realize it could be a career.
• She left her corporate job in 2016 and got a corporate contract to travel with her partner.
• Her photography business began to grow and snowball.
• Crystal later built an inclusive photography brand with a broad, diverse representation of humans in her portfolio.

[27:15] Crystal: "I would really want people to feel like they could be themselves. Yeah. And you know, like, they don't have to be a model in order to be in front of the camera."

[29:51] Follow Your Beliefs, Change Careers

• Crystal wants to work with people and brands who want to use their businesses for good.
• Crystal later decided to change careers from wedding to brand photography. She later became a consultant.
• People started reaching out to consult her regarding inclusivity — something important to Crystal.
• One of the biggest drivers of Crystal's network was word of mouth, but she also got contacts from social media.

[36:56] Incorporating Core Values into Business

• Crystal likes to revisit her core values to see how they evolve annually. She invites her clients to do the same.
• Her values are freedom, empowerment, self-care, community, and trust.
• She makes sure her clients align with and understand the values and mission of her business.
• If someone comes in genuinely from your core values alone, the product you put out in the world won't matter, as people will be there for it if they resonate with the core values.

[40:58] Defining Success

• She never imagined herself being a business owner.
• Crystal found that she could do things she never expected, believing she lacked the skills to do it.

[42:37] Crystal: "I'm not worried about how I'm going to pay my bills. I'm not worried about where my meals are coming from, I'm not worried about whether or not the environment that I'm in is safe. I'm not worried about the people around me, you know, causing harm. I feel peace. And that, to me, is success."

[58:53] What's Next for Crystal

• Crystal is looking to get her work into more college classrooms.
• She wants to venture into thought leadership and public speaking.
• She wants to be more creative and defines creativity as freedom of expression, resourcefulness, and experimentation.
• She wants to incorporate supporting nonprofit organizations into her consulting business.

About the Guest

Crystal Whiteaker is a Leadership Development and DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) Consultant specializing in inclusive coaching and consulting for brands and leaders that care deeply about diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

She is from Los Angeles, California, and brings over 15 years of creative, relational, process-driven experience across multiple industries. Crystal is a known advocate for leaders and organizations that provide resources and support for trauma and sexual assault survivors, as she previously served on the Board of Survivor Lit. She launched Crystal Lily Creative in 2015 to offer inclusive brand consulting and coaching for leaders and businesses who want to disrupt the status quo to create inclusively empowered brands and social environments that are rooted in core values.

Fun fact: Crystal LOVES animals and will stop to show them affection any chance she gets. She is that person who will always ask to pet your fur-baby.

When you choose to work with Crystal Lily Creative, you're helping to support organizations that provide resources for women and the LGBTQ+ community, as a portion of profits and services are donated annually.

Connect with Crystal: Instagram │ Website │ LinkedIn | Crystal Lily Business

Enjoyed this Podcast on Changing Careers?

There's nothing wrong with thinking you need to change careers — sometimes, that's just the best course of action, especially if it means being true to yourself!

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Connect with me on Linkedin: Diana Davis Creative.

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