An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Live your best life regardless of what the naysayers think or say: If I listened to all the things that naysayers say and have said about me, I would have never achieved half of the things I set out to do. No matter what push forward brush off the negative’s opinions and people and pessimistic philosophies and live your best life. Your best life is living a life without listening to judgement, toxic critic, smiling, being grateful and writing your own contract for your life.
As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rene Byrd.
Rene Byrd is a Singer-Songwriter, Ambassador for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund UK, Online Influence Awards Finalist 2020, International Women of Empowerment Finalist 2021 and Co-Founder of Online Who AM I Talk Show.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?
I come from humble origins raised and born in London, UK. I come from a creative background most of my family is in the entertainment industry. My father was signed to a major record label and my uncles and cousins were regularly on television either performing or hosting their own television show. Most of my childhood and early adulthood was listening to live studio sessions or moving and shaking with unassuming creatives who are now very high-profile international celebrities. I knew from a young age that singing was my first love, if there was a stage and a mic, I would be singing out loud to one of my favorite songs. The music industry is not for the faint hearted it costs money to create music, marketing, and promotion. I decided as I climbed the entertainment ladder to go to university and work in the corporate world working along side top executives in board rooms which helped to fund my musical career.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I created a talk show in the pandemic called the Who Am I Talk where I would invite experts, brands, public figures, and celebrities to share their journey and stories to help the masses at such a sensitive and delicate time. The feedback received was very positive as the audience said it helped them navigate such an unprecedented time listening to nutritionist, hairdressers, entrepreneurs and celebrities providing guidance, hope and inspiration at such a time as this.
In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?
I am true believer that your passion leads you to your purpose and when you can help, educate, and inspire others i.e., provide a service this is purpose fulfilled. The purpose must be authentic and from the heart and have a genuineness. At the start of the pandemic, I released my single and was about to push the button on the international marketing campaign. The lockdown for Covid was announced in the UK and other parts of world, as you can imagine this was a tough pill to swallow the money, time and resources that goes into launching a campaign had to be put on pause. I had to shift the focus and mindset and decided at this delicate time to do my best to use my platform for purpose. I sat down with a team member (my brother) and artist Tez-lee and we agreed that I must use my platform to help heal inspire and create change. The Instagram live talk show called Who Am I Talk was born, this gave viewers the opportunity to enjoy conversations with Experts, Brands, Public Figures and celebrities within Beauty, Lifestyle, Entertainment, Fashion and Luxury. I had conversations with people like; Chris Collins ex Ralph Lauren model and now luxury fragrance owner, Patrick Hutchinson activist and author whose humanitarian nature shot him to fame and Kimberley Davis lead singer of Chic Nile Rodgers. My social reach exploded in this season to over 1m engagement as my audience were keen to hear and learn more.
Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?
From very young age in high school and college I experienced prejudice and was often told by some teachers you would never amount to nothing. That stung like a bee, imagine a young person with all your hope and dreams to be told you are a Prima Donna, at first, I thought this was a compliment and they were referring to my constant vocal acrobatics then I realised it was an insult. It’s the worst feeling, teachers who are supposed to encourage you saying things to hurt you. Even when choosing my options of what I wished to study some of the teachers would push me to take vocational courses such as beauty and hairdressing (not that I have anything against those professions), but I wanted to study law and the teacher at the time gave a smug laugh to insinuate that this would never happen. I managed to navigate the terrain and used that experience whilst at college as a catalyst to succeed and successfully graduated with a degree. The naysayers didn’t stop, imagine a young black girl with the whole world at her feet. I decided that I needed to find a job and made an appointment with a recruitment consultancy in an affluent part of town. The recruiter told me point blank that people of my kind will never be employed within the legal and banking sector. I remember leaving the office feeling broken and disheartened but very quickly wiping away my tears and used that experience as a catalyst to push forward. I have heard ‘no you can’t’ so many times but as my father has always said, there is nothing you can’t do if you know how. That’s the mantra I have used throughout my whole life, ‘When someone says you can’t’ I use this as fire in my tummy to live my truth. The naysayers were silenced as even they told me ‘I can’t’ I guess what I did.
In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂
From humble beginnings to breaking glass ceilings, being one of the few women of color in the legal and banking sector rising to a senior position. Siting in board rooms amongst predominately male counterparts. Performing for the European Prime Minister and many other prestigious events, becoming the Ambassador for The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund created by the late Nelson Mandela himself. Building from scratch a successful musical journey and co creating an entertainment talk show called Who Am I Talk in the heart of the pandemic, resulted in being a finalist for The Online Influence Awards 2020 and International Women of Empowerment Finalist 2021.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
It will be unfair of me to just mention one person there are some many people who are and have been instrumental in my career corporate and entertainment, mentors who have handed down the baton and given nuggets of wisdom to help navigate me throughout my journey. My team in particular, family, loved one and friends who continuously support me. I am grateful to everyone who listened, streamed, and download my music. Everyone who gave me a platform to share my story, my guests on my show and those who joined my conversations real time or who have watched them back and a big thanks to you for this interview.
It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?
Growing up in East London and as a young black girl resilience is a must. I have faced numerous instances of prejudices and situations when I decided not to take things personal. It’s easy to reflect what people give to you with negativity and hostility but the key is to rise when people go low and lead by example. I wasn’t privileged but grafted for everything I have now. The naysayers are often projecting their fears and insecurities and in the case of prejudice lack of knowledge, education and understanding about culture.
Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)
- Follow your Intuition: we often ignore our inner voice which is our guiding light for our direction in life. I knew from a young age that I wanted to be in the entertainment industry. It’s important to cut out the noise around you and listen to your inner voice and follow your heart.
- Speak affirmations into your life: throughout my life I have spoken things out into existence, and they have come to pass. I made it a point to speak out what I want in life and then quickly realised a pattern that many of the things I asked for happened and continue to happen. I have even been able to manifest opportunities for others. I truly believe affirmations are a must to lead a fulfilled life.
- Be intentional: Choose to make decisions and take actions on what’s important to you. You will be told by others that you don’t have what it takes to achieve, when that happens stare people then in the eyes and say ‘watch me shine bright like a diamond’.
- Your passion leads you to your purpose: I am a strong believer that your passion leads you to your purpose. Everyone has a passion within them, something that sets their soul on fire. Your passion leads you to your true purpose and the reason we are here on this earth.
- Live your best life regardless of what the naysayers think or say: If I listened to all the things that naysayers say and have said about me, I would have never achieved half of the things I set out to do. No matter what push forward brush off the negative’s opinions and people and pessimistic philosophies and live your best life. Your best life is living a life without listening to judgement, toxic critic, smiling, being grateful and writing your own contract for your life.
What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?
“Don’t be afraid. Be focused. Be determined. Be hopeful. Be empowered”. Michelle Obama
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I was saddened to hear that many women around the world have period poverty, many do not have access to feminine products which is part of every woman’s evolution. I would start a movement that all world leaders and governments would provide these products free, to every woman in need.
Can our readers follow you on social media?
You can find me on all social media platforms:
Instagram — Renebyrdofficial
Twitter — Renebyrdworld
Facebook — Renebyrdofficialglobal
Linkedin — Rene Byrd
Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!
Rene Byrd Of The Online Who AM I Talk Show: They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.