To persevere or to pivot is a question that do-ers have been asking themselves since the beginning of time.  It’s never a straight road when you are doing something new, blazing a trail, breaking a ceiling, or pushing boundaries, so it’s only natural to wonder whether to give up midway.  How do you know whether to keep going or to give up?

Raven Johnson | Chief Mixologist, Pour Up Atlanta

I was terminated from my full time employment back in September of 2019, due to discrimination in the workplace, in which I am still seeking justice. I loved my job. I am a Student Affairs professional. That’s my calling. Pour Up Atlanta is very important to me as the company provides job to young people, including some of my former students. It allows me to give back to the community and activate my creative passion of mixology. When I lost my job (and my access to my calling), I contemplated giving up on Pour Up Atlanta because I felt inadequate as a Black woman and professional, and I didn’t feel that I could run a business if I couldn’t even keep a job. The next 4 months were filled with intense anxiety, panic, stress, and overwhelm with life. In addition, the financial constraint that I was introduced to was oftentimes unbearable to the point of complete isolation. Read more>>

Polly Craig | Author/Actor

It is said that Actors and Authors are in the rejection business, and I can attest to the truth of that statement. As an actor, I have been on countless auditions. well prepared and enthusiastic. Do you recall the expression, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you?” That is the casting director’s mantra. Okay, so I don’t give up; I keep on keepin’ on. Some you win, some you lose, but the next one could be the big break. Publishing a book is similar in a way. A polished manuscript is ready, but a publisher won’t look at it unless a literary agent submits it. Problem is, agents are harder to reach than the crown jewels. Most queries to them are submitted via email. Darn few reply, but those who do have a standard refusal, “Sorry this is not for us.” I finally formed a publishing company and self published. Read more>>

Michelle Cox | Construction Builds, CEO

What is giving up? Sometimes it is a choice because it is too hard, too costly, too much of something. Giving up is not an expression I have used during the last decade of my life lessons. I make a choice to move on or pivot from an idea that doesn’t work and keep trying until it works. As the famous rapper Eminem raps ‘success is my only m….f…. option, failure is not’. I have learned failure is viewed differently by everyone. Pitbull quotes, ‘there is no failure, only opportunities’. It is easy to feel like a failure no matter what or where you are in life… as a mother, entrepreneur, spouse, friend, leader, follower. We have all failed at something. ‘It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously, you might have not lived at all, in which case you fail by default’. Read more>>