Lisa Howze, speaker, career strategist, CPA, and author of “Candy Girl Mentality: Keys to Turning Bitter Moments into Sweet Success” recently joined the Downtown Detroit Partnership’s all-staff meeting presenting a career development seminar called Mastering the Ways to Bounce Back Better: Unlock your Career Potential.
She began the session by asking the DDP team:
- What is your North Star?
- What are your points of pride or accomplishments?
- What are your points of pain, what prevents you from reaching your North Star?
She challenged the team with the reminder that even if we believe we are living our best life, there is always room for improvement.
Lisa’s three core values have shaped her life, her career, and her beliefs:
- Everything happens for a reason.
- The is no lack of money, only a lack of creativity.
- If you want to be great in life, attach yourself to a cause that is greater than you.
She began her presentation by saying “with every success story, there is a back story,” and proceeded to share her childhood story of facing eviction in Detroit. Because of this hardship, her family moved in with her uncle in a new neighborhood. There she met a little girl, just like her, who was selling lemonade. In that moment, Lisa was able to visualize how to create her own lemonade stand and improve upon the offerings. This was a foundational moment, one in which she built upon for many years to come.
The Candy Girl Mentality is a mindset: when adversity stops your progress, the Candy Girl Mentality figures out a way forward. The theme across Lisa’s life story and her book is RESILIENCE.
The Bounce Back Better Framework includes:
- Strength – The power to move past limits.
- Courage – Audacity to do it anyway.
- Meantime – is the mezzanine level to wisdom, maximize the meantime.
- Wisdom – True wisdom is achieved when you realize it’s not all about you and you provide a service to others.
Downtown Detroit Partnership is proud to be a sponsor and bulk book order partner of “The Candy Girl Mentality.” This strategic partnership will help advance Lisa Howze’s mission which seeks to instill life-changing principles of financial empowerment, perseverance, and career and life readiness skills in today’s youth. Currently, nearly 2,000 books have been donated. All Downtown Detroit Partnership staff received a signed copy of her book. Learn more about Lisa Howze at IAmLisa Howze.com.
