Meet Mia Dunlap | Self-Development Coach & Writer

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

Hi Mia, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
The idea for this business came out of my pain. It came from my life. I remember saying aloud to myself at twelve years old, “My life feels like a movie and I don’t know if I make it in the end.” And while this is not the end, I certainly have made it out of the tragic cycle of poverty and homelessness and violence. So my business came as a result of using my adversity as a bridge to the curating a life that felt safe and whole and worth living. AYA: Adversity Yields Audacity is a company where we support folks in doing just that… to have the audacity to use their adversity as a bridge to their personal success. This is done through 1-1 coaching, self development workshops, and healing art experiences.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am most proud of the way I listen to my intuitional nudges and just go for it, whatever the “it” is. For example, I am currently traveling to at least one state a month. From the outside looking in, it didn’t make sense to end my lease after 16 months in a “luxury apartment” in Atlanta or to return my leased “luxury vehicle” to the dealer, or to pack my life up in 1.5 suitcases and travel. But, I couldn’t shake the urge to seek a different version of luxury. So I did… well, I am doing it now. That’s the way I live my life as a Creative– I see my life as the canvas. I recently started a healing arts project where we’ll use art to express and explore our inner life– this is me betting on an incredible idea that has been blooming inside me. By trade, I am an educator– worked as a teacher, school leader, and education consultant. Because I’ve been in a traditional 9-5 and mentally needed the financial security that 9-5s provided, it has not been easy to always express my most creative self in business. The lessons I’m learning are, what I needed then is not necessarily what I need now and who I am now is always becoming. I experienced so much complex trauma in my childhood and healing has been an incredible part of releasing the narratives that stayed with me long after the trauma ended.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh this is a good one, I would start the day with getting our make up done by Charlene Autumn. Then, we’d get dressed, dressed and go to Breakfast at Barney’s. After that, we’d slide on some flats and head to Atlanta’s Ponce City Market– that’s my favorite place to hang. I’d hire TK Consulting to give us a mini photo shoot during our art walk on the Betline. We’d grab lunch at Bar Vegan or one of taco spots on the main floor. After that– ICE CREAM. Ice cream must always be on the list of things to do. We’re going to Sweet-Stack Creamery and to people watch at Piedmont Park as we eat it. To cap the night, we’re going to bar hop at the Battery at the Ballpark and maybe watch a few minutes of a Braves game. Then we’d change and have our dinner at Old Lady Gang on Peter’s Street.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I love this. This question reminds me of the Anna Julia Cooper quote, “When and where I enter… then and there the whole negro race enters with me.” I am undoubtedly standing on the shoulders of my ancestors whose resistance and joy and brilliance has lit the way for me. Ase. I was raised in the projects on the Southside of Chicago by parents who were impacted by the crack epidemic in the 80s and 90s and as a result, were too ill in their addiction to nourish me in my most formative years. There were people, programs, books, and songs that carried me through….Those incredible people have held me, fed me, clothed me, and seen me in my best and worst times. I call them my guardian earth angels. They took me under their wings and protected me as fiercely and as lovingly as possible. My fifth grade teacher, Ms. Straight, who has been present at every major event in my life since fifth grade. My church mothers, including my dear Aunt Barbara, who has always been my confidant and soul mother. The mentors at the OSP Upward Bound Program and Charles Hayes Center who slipped bus fare in my hands and drove me ten hours to college and everything in between. My adopted Spelman mothers who made space for me to bring my whole self to an illustrious institution. Mama O, who took me under her wings throughout Spelman and my own parents who did the best they could with what they had at the time. My high school social worker, my current therapist of eight years, and my closest friends (nod to Chicago and SpelHouse) who share in my healing journey. Tupac’s “Dear Momma,” Mary J. Blige’s “Father in You,” and Dr. Renita J. Weems’ book, “I Asked for Intimacy” all reminded me that I was not alone.

Website: www.miadunlap.com

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Image Credits
Spencer Charles Greene Phil Makini