Erica Williams Simon opened #BlogHer19 Biz by sharing with attendees the power of how changing the stories you choose to define you. "I'm Tom & Debbie's daughter," Erica said, by way of introducing herself. She went on to explain how both her parents were pastors and she grew up in a church focused around "how to pull from wisdom to lead better lives and feel like whole lives."
"That drives who I am today," she explained.
Erica said she used to be a workaholic, believing that "work was the key to building a big, beautiful, successful life." But by her twenties, she was burnt out. "I got to this point where I felt broken, and hopeless, and I stopped. I walked away, and I said, I gotta unpack how I got here, how I got to this point in my life, and what were the stories about work that had shaped me."
"Stories are the framework for the life that we live" Erica explained. "They are the walls of our society and our culture. Many of us have consumed powerful narratives about work. That in America, work is a virtue. That it is the way to get the life that you want. That ultimately, you are your work."
Erica cautioned against using the words "job" and "work" interchangeably. "Our job is our social contract in a materialistic word; it's how we make money. But the true definition of work is efforts that we put towards something, hoping to achieve a particular purpose or outcome. When I understood that, I started to really think, what are the purposes of my life that are worth my effort beyond my career? Where should I be applying more work beyond my career?"
Erica ended her talk with a powerful challenge to the audience: "Imagine what would happened if we all built our businesses from a place of wholeness first. We're gonna write that new story of work together, and then we're gonna build our businesses, build our brands, and change the world."
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Erica Williams Simon is a social critic, author, host and CEO of Sage House Media, a company that creates spaces and conversations to surface wisdom about “who we are and how we want to live”. Most recently the former Washington politico and lifelong civil and human rights activist was Head of The Creator's Lab at Snapchat, a first of its kind program that developed inspirational experiences for a global network of young storytellers and creators. The self described professional question asker is an accomplished moderator and interviewer: She is host of the popular podcast The Call with Erica, creator and host of the Rosario Dawson produced digital talk show The Assembly and author of the book "You Deserve the Truth”(Simon & Schuster). She has been featured on The Today Show, O Magazine, and Washington Post and is a frequent TV commentator.
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