“BROKE DOESN’T SCARE ME”
Rise from fear! “My confidence walks me in doors, keeps me at the table, and opens up great opportunities.” – Arian Simone.
The strength of a man is tested in the face of life challenges.
Arian Simone sure knows what it’s like to feel like your whole world is crumbling, like many of us she felt a range of emotions but was able to pull strength from within and didn’t let it get to her sense of self-worth, needless to say, it’s paid off big!
Memory lane:
Getting laid off from work, her finances took a major dip with Arian resorting to living in her car and selling off her clothes. Her next line of action was to land another job, so she drove right in the job market, scouting and applying to a jaw-dropping total of 153 different jobs and yes, you could guess – landed no hire from any of them. Determined to turn her life around, she decided to take matters into her own hands and from scratch, built her own PR and Marketing firm in 2004, soon enough her brilliance shone through, she earned a reputation, and entertainment giants like SONY, Universal, and Walt Disney Pictures came on board as clients.
Today, Arian Simone is a serial entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, international speaker, and best-selling author, she is Co-Founder and General Partner Fearless Fund the first-ever venture capital fund led by women of color that invests in women of color.
Through her initiative, Fearless Fund, created in 2019 with partner Keisha Knight Pulliam, the pair help empower black entrepreneurs with resources needed to help their companies excel. It’s no news that the entrepreneurial world landscape isn’t as inclusive as should be, lack of funds, network, education, and opportunities have a major impact on black businesses. So yes it’s a welcome development for women entrepreneurs who fall at the none favourable end of the spectrum.
Simone who got business mindset from her lawyer dad who doubled as an entrepreneur had it smooth in the beginning, in 2003 she landed her MBA from Florida A&M and moved to LA in search of a job in fashion, she later began working at Nelly’s Apple Bottom but then the company got sold and that’s when her fiance went out, thankfully it’s all turned around today.
With over 17 years of entrepreneurial experience Simone has established herself as a guru in the business world, but not just that, she is inspiring millennial entrepreneurial women on her success journey because she’d promised herself, “One day you’ll be the business investor you’re looking for.”
She is author of the best selling, “The Fearless Money Mindset.”
Well done Arian!