#Newsmaker: Tamiko Cuellar to host South African tour for women entrepreneurs

We found out what motivated her to write the book and why she decided to share her learnings with the South African audience.

What led you to start Pursue Your Purpose LLC, and now the ‘Own Your Brilliance!’ tour?

I started Pursue Your Purpose LLC to equip high-performing, purpose-driven women to launch and grow their businesses. When I left Corporate America to start my first business, I had no one to coach me to success, so I made a lot of mistakes. I understand exactly what aspiring and emerging entrepreneur women need on their journey to the next level in business ownership and so I started Pursue Your Purpose LLC to coach women in their process.

Why did you decide to bring this to South Africa?

South Africa has some of the most amazing raw talent of professional women that I've seen. The entrepreneur coaching industry is still in its infancy stage in South Africa despite the growing market of untapped talent. I saw the need and I want to help. As a woman of the African diaspora who is based in the US, I have a natural affinity and passion to see women like me succeed. I know it is a big part of my purpose to come to Africa and impart all the wisdom I have gained through the 12 years of experience as an entrepreneur to help others achieve their goals in business.

What do you hope to achieve?

My ultimate goal is building long-term relationships with the women that I meet while on my tour in South Africa and Namibia in August to develop them into successful entrepreneurs. I hope to have sold-out events to my masterclasses and book discussions. I want to inspire and equip women with practical implementable steps that they can take to run a successful business, whether it's on a part-time or full-time basis. I would also like to build partnerships with professional women's organisations/associations, government authorities, and chambers of commerce during my visit there to help support their professional women, leaders and aspiring and emerging entrepreneurs.

Tell us a briefly about your business and book.

Pursue Your Purpose LLC provides coaching and training to aspiring and emerging women leaders and entrepreneurs globally. I also am requested to speak at events internationally. My book is titled, Own Your Brilliance! A Woman's Guide to Hiring Herself. It is my third published book that I wrote specifically to give high-performing women strategies on how to take ownership of their gifts, talents, and skill set to create their dream career in business on their terms. The book empowers and equips women to:

• Understand how the workplace imposes limitation on their brilliance and what they can do about it.
  
• Confidently take their brilliance beyond the corporate environment to prosper on their terms.
  
• Shift their mindset from that of an employee to an entrepreneur and hire themselves.
  
• Begin the journey to transition into doing what they were actually born to do.

What do you love most about what you do?

I love helping ambitious women to realise and actualise their potential. I enjoy seeing the transformation of women both internally within themselves and externally in their businesses when they achieve their goals.

What is your advice to aspiring women entrepreneurs?

My advice to aspiring women entrepreneurs is to not attempt to launch a business alone! The challenges are minimised when you have someone coaching you because you will shorten your learning curve and avoid costly mistakes with counsel and guidance from someone who is already where you are trying to go. Invest in yourself. Read books, attend conferences and webinars, and surround yourself with like-minded people. And lastly, I advise aspiring entrepreneurs to be patient in the process of building a sustainable business. It will take time.

What are you currently reading/watching/listening to for work; what inspires you?

To maximise my time, I read a lot of short articles in Forbes and watch webinars by various successful business leaders. I speak at a lot of business conferences where I also get to join as an audience member to hear other business leaders speak and impart their wisdom. I am inspired by anyone who has reached a level in business or life that I want to attain. Additionally, I am inspired by feeding my faith with Bible scriptures.

As the tour takes place during Women’s Month – what is your opinion on this; why do you think it’s important that women are recognised and celebrated and that they too start to own their brilliance?

Women globally have often been relegated to certain roles that society has placed upon them, such as motherhood, caretakers, domestic, subordinate, and sometimes even inferior.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with women who choose to be in a nurturing role, but we are those things and so much more. We have so much brilliance to offer this world and we need to empower each other to live our purpose and reach our fullest potential despite the setbacks and inequalities we’ve faced globally as women.

To learn more about Cuellar's tour to South Africa, register for the tour preview event on Thursday, 19 April 2018.