Meet Courtney Baker | Business Professional, Doctoral Student & Mental Health Advocate

We had the good fortune of connecting with Courtney Baker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Courtney, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” ―Ralph Waldo Emerson.

My brand Sit In Your Truth was created to build a community of people that can leverage one another’s experiences to develop self-coping and problem resolution tools. Sit In Your Truth cultivates a space where people feel vulnerable enough to share their experiences. This was and continues to be extremely important to me. Often, we find ourselves on a journey we think is ours alone. However, none of us walks down a path that someone else hasn’t experienced in some capacity. Sharing our truth empowers us to heal and use our voices to help someone else.

In my opinion, the beneficial aspect of self-reflection consists of a conscious review of your actions for the purpose of learning. Self-Reflection gives us the opportunity to untangle and sort through our experiences, consider potential interpretations, and create meaning for our behavior. This meaning becomes learning, which can then inform future actions. Additionally, the beneficial aspect of Accountability consists of the success or lack thereof for the things you want to gain in this life. Accountability comes from within; it is not something you are given, you have to choose it to own it.

I always knew that I wanted to be a resource for others to leverage on their journey. The Sit In Your Truth blog focuses on my own self-reflection and accountability journey in an effort to bring light to alternative perspectives. In reading my posts, I am certain you will be able to identify with one or more of my experiences. If you cannot, you will definitely learn what to do differently if you are faced with such an experience.

To help aid in others’ development and awareness, I created a Sit In Your Truth Self-Reflection & Accountability Journal! It is an undated, 42 day, daily self-reflection & accountability Journal that makes it easy for you to gain an understanding of how you are showing up in the world. You can build your daily reflection & accountability habit in as little as ten minutes in the morning or ten minutes before bed.

24 of 28 Truth of the day pages feature scripture and a quote from myself to encourage your daily prayer and help you reflect on how your actions align with God’s word. I encourage you to grab a copy and let’s get intentional about self-reflection & accountability together.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I began my career straight out of college. I always knew I wanted to teach and help others; thus, naturally I gravitated toward a career in people operations. I am a Human Resources professional, and I can say proudly say that I do what I love. However, working in corporate America has been an experience to say the least. Being young, educated, African American, and a woman has presented a few challenges on my professional journey. However, the most valuable lesson I have learned is to find and remember your WHY.

Lines are easily blurred when working in corporate America. Connecting your WHY enables you to remain grounded. To stay true to myself, I have had to turn down opportunities and be an advocate for myself. Not everyone has the best intentions for your career. You must take ownership and decide how you want to grow, develop, and advance. Never, wait on someone to do it for you.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My best girls and I never get tired of brunch and activities. Bestie time is all about relaxing and pausing all of our competing priorities. Hidden Brunch gems in the greater Detroit area would include Jagged Fork, Apparatus Room, Cliff Bell’s and Parc. We would follow brunch up with a shopping trip, bowling, skating, painting with a twist or a movie at one of our houses. We truly enjoy each others company so whatever we do, it’s always a good time!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Emotional Intelligence is a powerful self-awareness tool. A book that inspired me is Permission to Feel, Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive by Marc Brackett. Permission to Feel is a thought provoking guide to recognizing our own emotions and those of others. It details many real-life examples of utilizing social and emotional learning skills.

There are five key areas in which the Marc depicts how emotions make our lives better or worse if not regulated correctly:

1. Emotions help us with learning and figuring out what to pay attention to.
2. Emotions help with decision-making skills, as strong emotions provoke decisive actions.
3. Emotions have a profound health effect on the human body, especially if they are chronic and stress-related.
4. Emotions are critical in strengthening social relations between humans because they provoke us to be more willing to work together and cooperate.
5.Emotions help us with creativity, efficiency, and performance.

There are a ton of emotional intelligence books, seminars and trainings available to the public. I encourage you to grow and develop in this area.

Website: www.sitinyourtruth.com

Instagram: mycourtmyrules / SitInYourTruth

Linkedin: Courtney Baker

Twitter: mycourtmyrules

Facebook: Courtney Baker

Youtube: Sit In Your Truth