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So you may be asking “What is a multipreneur”? Just listen to our guest, Anquida Adams, and find out. Anquida is an extremely multifaceted company that helps other companies and organizations grow, develop leaders and internal communities as well and create a sustainable model for the future. Anquida does all this and, as she will tell us, she has a neurodivergent brain. She has both dyslexia and dysgraphia. Not only does she have challenges in absorbing written material in the same way as we, but she also has challenges in communicating through her own writing. All the above aside, Anquida has built a successful company and as we learned today she is scaling and expanding it. Talk about unstoppable, that is by any standard Anquida Adams. About the Guest: Social Relations Coach, and Multipreneur, Anquida Adams is the Founder/ CEO of the A.L.A. Brand & Being Anquida Brand. She is a self-advocate and disability community advocate for creating a space of emotional and financial fulfillment to live a completely interdependent lifestyle. As a seasoned expert in her field with several years in education and personal hands experience behind her. She knows what truly drives self-awareness, confidence, trust, and communication intelligence that will promote outcome returns of more productive teams, better managers, confident direct reports towards management, a balanced workplace, interpersonal skill, growth in leadership, strategic strategy, analytical skills, and individual inner growth. Her passion for personal & professional empowerment ignited her current career path as the CEO and Founder of A.L.A. Brand and Being Anquida Brand.
The A.L.A. Brand is an enterprise that consists of three companies, A.L.A. Consulting Firm, A.L.A. Event Planning & Management, & A.L.A. World Foundation. All divisions & subdivisions play a key role in building foundations & sustainable aligned systems w/in the human & organizational structure of the workspace culture and the bottom line of the lifecycle of businesses. Our services range from coaching, consulting, development, & implementing transformation for Leadership/Teams, Equity/Inclusion/Diversity+ SJ Development, Disability/Inclusion, Entrepreneurship/ Startup, and The Individual aspect as Personal/ Professional/Family Development, to the Hiring, Development, & Retaining of employees through our signature career fair or private career we host. About our main brand A.L.A. Consulting Firm: Is a Global Boutique Firm with expertise in Social Relations with a holistic human-center approach to seeing, developing, and implementing systems such as human & or organizational systems. We have an organized transitional flow w/in and between systems, which creates a learning environment for Organizations' Socio-Emtional/Psychological Development(corporations/ government/ non-profits), Equity, Inclusion, & Diversity (EID), Entrepreneurship/Startups, & Individuals (personal, professional, & the family.) to explore a Holistic/Human-Centered approach to developing skills of creating a higher awareness of Identity intelligence™️, Human Energetic Systems™️ , Human Emotional-Setpoint System™️ & other internal/external environmental stimuli to address next-generation personal and business challenges. Simply put, we help navigate our clients through times of personal & professional unpredictable circumstances by focusing on our core foundation of Mental self-investigation, Emotional Intelligence, Conversational Intelligence, and Physical/Mental/ Spiritual wellness! To learn more about our A.L.A. Consulting Firm Specific Sevices go over to our page to learn about our other services.
Our Being Anquida Brand leading strategic boutique coaching and development practice in relationship systems. Our passion is empowering our clients to achieve a mindset of striving, thinking, and relating to how to navigate human relationships/experiences through transitions of success and failure across an individual's lifespan. Ways to connect with Anquida: A.L.A. Consulting Firm-https://linktr.ee/a.l.a.consultingfirm A.L.A. Entrepreneurship and Startup -https://linktr.ee/a.l.a.startup A.L.A. Event Planning and Management-https://linktr.ee/alaeventplanningandmanagement A.L.A. Disabilities Talent Recruiting/Consultancy Solutions-https://linktr.ee/aladisbilitiesrecruiting A.L.A. World Foundation-https://linktr.ee/a.l.a.worldfoundation ** Savvy Successful Black Business Women-https://linktr.ee/ssbbw Being Anquida Brand: Being Anquida -https://linktr.ee/beinganquida About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children’s Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association’s 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, readings once again and welcome to another edition of unstoppable mindset today, we get to visit with Anquida Adams and quita among other things, describes herself as a multi printer. I want to get more information on that it is amazing how we always create these new terms, but I think it probably makes sense. She has the ALA brand and under that are a lot of different things. And she's going to tell us about that. So I'm not going to spoil any of her fun. Please not yet. We may try later, just for grins but for right now. Anquida seriously, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here. Anquida Adams ** 02:01 Thank you so much. Thank you for having me, Michael. I am super excited about this actual interview today. I know that we've been talking for a little bit and I love your excitement. And I love what you're doing and what you're continuing to do for people with disabilities within our space. So I'm really excited to be here and I thank you for having me. And I guess going to the question that you had given me around like molto printer printer. Michael Hingson ** 02:30 Yeah, well, first, first, first of all, what is your disability? Anquida Adams ** 02:35 Okay, so yeah, so I am neurodivergent have a I'm dyslexic. And then I've, I have dysgraphia. So for me, it's more of like, how do I navigate the big role of like having a business and then having being dyslexic and having dysgraphia is kind of sorta like, that's a big thing to have, which owning all the businesses that only on the things that I do so it's kind of Michael Hingson ** 03:07 Yeah, discrepancy is what this graph Anquida Adams ** 03:09 yet it's more of writing. So like for me, with my dysgraphia, I really leave that articles when I'm writing. So yeah. That's how, so it's pretty much. So dyslexia is around reading, and then this graph is around writing. Michael Hingson ** 03:30 Uh huh. So you, you deal with writing challenges, and you deal with input challenges from reading with dyslexia? Anquida Adams ** 03:38 Yeah, so like, it's not like I cannot read, but it's like, my brain can go within spaces of different levels of it. So if I read something for me, okay, it can go several different ways that for my dyslexia, I don't know about everybody else. I think everybody else, everybody's different. So for me, like, it can go in many different ways for me, like, oh, they may be talking about this right here. Is that that or just depending on like, if everything I always have to how I put it, I always have to, like clarify. Like, hey, let me clarify the meaning of what this mean. What did you mean by XYZ? Michael Hingson ** 04:17 Uh huh. Well, so when did you learn that you had dyslexia and dysgraphia? Anquida Adams ** 04:24 Um, so I guess my story starts out with my mom and I and my brother, my younger brother, we moved to California, Oakland when I was younger, kindergarten pretty much and I did okay in school because I still have my report cards from when I was little. I got from my mom a long time ago, but I moved we moved back to California like our my second or third grade year, and moving from California to Mississippi. I'm the The learning styles are so totally different. Where I was, it was kind of hard for me to actually navigate it. So my teacher put me in special needs classes. And when I got into special needs classes, my, my new teacher said, you're not supposed to be in here. It's just you need help in other areas of teaching you how to actually navigate, I think, because I stayed in those. She didn't, she told me she was going to help me get out. And so I stayed in for a year and a half. And then I got out like, like, maybe two years. And so they usually put you a year a year behind. So I got finished with school, um, and was in regular classes, but until I got into college, that's how I learned that I had dysgraphia. dyslexia and dysgraphia. So yeah. Michael Hingson ** 05:50 Did you suspect there was something different ahead of time? I mean, so they put you in special needs classes, and they said, You didn't really belong there. But yeah, nobody was really diagnosing or figuring out what was going on with you or what Anquida Adams ** 06:04 I will, because I was a child, and that's why we'll talk about that later. That's why I want to advocate for parents, and making sure that kids understand the journey, because I think where I was because my mom, my mom used to surprise my mom all the time, she'd say, I was like a kid in an adult's body. And so it was kind of weird, because, but she did not explain, they didn't explain to me all the processes, some adults did, some of those didn't. But I think if along the way of if I would have been told the process, I could have taught them how to navigate me from that time. And I think that if I would have gotten a lot more help, I could have like an n plus Mississippi. I'm not not not to be funny, but like, their I guess, the way that we're taught, especially in public schools, because I went to a public school, I went to a private school in my college years. And public schools there. It's kind of sort of, I don't know, like most schools in United States, they prep you for to take the tests, and is always about testing. And so it wasn't really about like, how do you learn, but we were always prepped in my mind, remembering we're always prepped for the test. Michael Hingson ** 07:22 Yeah, and the result is that you really didn't get the education that you needed as such. Yeah. And no one diagnosed what was going on. And that happens. So often, I've talked to a number of people here on unstoppable mindset who said they were, for example, on the Autism Autism spectrum. And they didn't know it, or even people who said that they discovered they were dyslexic, or neurodivergent, in some other way. And they didn't discover it until their 30s and 40s. And some of them figured it out themselves. Anquida Adams ** 07:59 Yeah, yeah. So I mean, it takes a while. Because, again, when you're in a mode of like, exploring of who you are, it takes the time for you to like, kind of figure it out, like, Okay, well, you know, most of us, especially most people who are undiagnosed or just navigating through dyslexia, or whatever type of disabilities, most of the time, like, you're, you're working with it, and you're like, okay, you don't even think that it's a disability, because you're just pushing through. And so when you do get tested, you're like, Oh, I didn't know that. You know, I was I just thought it was a good thing that everyone else has. And I'm just learning how to, like, navigate through that, that that, that that thing that everyone I'm thinking in my head, my story that everyone else had? Michael Hingson ** 08:47 Yeah. And it really wasn't that way at all. But it took you a long time to discover that. Yes. But you at least you eventually did. That had to be some sort of a relief, or give you some satisfaction to figure out what was really going on that, in reality made you different. Anquida Adams ** 09:05 Yeah. So even even in college, what it was, it was more of like, how do I help you? How do we help you with navigating this space, so there was a lot of like, teaching me how to like, read it in a way where it's like, so my brain is how my brain work and reading. So I would have to go through because my brain works so fast. I had to go through with my hands once and then the next time highlight everything except the articles and then take an actual piece of paper and with like four and a half and then go go up my brain was scan the words really fast throughout the actual book or paper, whatever. And that's how I literally am able to retain some stuff. So that's how I began to learn how to read like to make sure that I comprehend or I got everything down because it was too much. It's like reading it. So I had to play Deus. It takes a long time. But it helps me out. And I can, you know, I can I get it there. Michael Hingson ** 10:09 Yeah. But as I said it had to certainly be a relief. And did you? Did you feel like once you figured all this out, you started to make a whole lot more progress in terms of being able to do things and moving forward with your life? Anquida Adams ** 10:24 Well, I mean, so I didn't. So in high school, I learned how to like, especially in our writing class, I had one teacher, I remember her she was like, if you don't know how to spell a word, and I think that's her, well, that's big to words worse. She's like, if you're not Asheville word, create a sentence that describe the word. And I think that's pretty much I've had teachers along the way, too. And that's to give kids like that, or other tips to kind of help out with, you know, writing or with, you know, our reading or whatever. So I think that we, people who have dyslexia, we've given we've given all these tips, but it does not help us when we're until we learn how to navigate ourselves. It doesn't help us until we're actually in the situation. And those tips, some sometimes don't work, because again, you have to learn how to navigate it. At that particular time. I think I had a conversation with a person a year ago, and I was trying to ask him to help me with a project that I'm doing. And he was like, Well, my child, I paid a lot for my child to go to a school. And they teach him a lot of how to like, learn through, you know, his disabilities. And I looked at my said, I'm a product of that. I was like, they can give us tricks and trades and stuff like that. But if, if the, if the spaces that I'm supposed to be in a workforce are not equipped to work with me, those tricks in whatever tricks and trades don't work. So I think that there's a deeper conversation when it comes to disabilities, and then also disability and inclusion within the workforce. Michael Hingson ** 12:07 It sounds like just the way you're describing it, that they sort of suspected that you happen to be a person with dyslexia, but they weren't talking to you about it, or really addressing the issue. Anquida Adams ** 12:19 Yes, all the help that I've gotten, they weren't addressing the issue, they were just given me things to get around it, or to just survive. Michael Hingson ** 12:30 So they kind of knew it was there, but they weren't telling you or helping you with it. Anquida Adams ** 12:36 They didn't give me the tools and resources that will that's particularly a mentors router problem. They just tried to like do the surface level, put a bandaid on it? And like, Okay, this is the best way I can teach you to survive in the world go out there to do your best. Michael Hingson ** 12:57 Do you think they actually figured out that you had that you were a person with dyslexia, though? Anquida Adams ** 13:04 I mean, again, I because I was a kid. And because I didn't, I knew certain parts, and I didn't know every part of it, I just I advocate Now, sure, it's abilities that parents make sure that their child has a pardon to it, even if they don't know the language, because the language is more more bigger. It's like a big vocabulary for them. At least they know like what it is. And then also like, unless they know a definition of like, what it is, and then they're able to make it applicable in their lives to like, be able to, like, you know, navigate it, like who say, difference if I have this word dyslexia, and I don't, and then and I know, that's what I am. So let me help me to figure out what type of other community people that um, that I can be a part of this like me, that can help me out. And then when you do have tests, you want to tell me everything about the test, let me know at my capacity of where I'm at as a child, where I'm at and then also where you guys are wanting to take me because I think I think they I think like the education institution and also the teachers and also the parents do not allow that child to have I don't want to executive like however this they don't allow the child to have like some type of executive like Michael Hingson ** 14:34 they don't want you to be your your own advocate or Yeah, but again, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but am I interpreting it right though that they probably really knew that you had dyslexia but they weren't okay. And and that's so unfortunate. You know, and I know and so many people with disabilities who get in involved in advocacy when we're talking about The end device Individualized Education Plan, the IEP and so on. Yeah, they don't want the kids to be involved in that. And the kids are the first ones who should be involved. Because if we don't learn to advocate for ourselves, then how are we going to truly learn and understand? And also recognize that we're okay. Yes. Anquida Adams ** 15:21 And that is why I do the work that I do and lead first with self advocacy in whatever manner that I'm connecting with. Because I want to make sure that most people, like understand like, hey, once you understand yourself and navigate yourself, it's easy to navigate yourself in the world around you. And that's why I am like this is it's very important for the parents to allow the kids to be a part of the process. I think with you, I know, like you, you, you have lived with your body and I have moved my body this whole time. So we kind of know what's going on. Oh, we probably don't know how to overpower didn't know how to articulate at that time, but at least we could, like, if we got hints to explain, we will probably be able to actually tell our parents like this is what I need it? Well, Michael Hingson ** 16:09 I think I was fortunate because my parents were very open and honest about me being blind. Anquida Adams ** 16:17 That's another story. That's another type of disability. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 16:19 it's a different issue. And I appreciate that. But I think they were very upfront. And they were perfectly willing for me to explore and, and sometimes take risks, and they took risk by letting me do that. But that is a different story than what you were having to address and deal with. And no one was really helping you and being upfront and so unfortunate that they didn't do that. But yeah, that happened. Anquida Adams ** 16:50 Yes, I got I got a chance to have other risk in my life where my parents allowed me to, because so I was dyslexic, or I had a decision, I have a disability. But at the same time, I was wise, you know, I told you earlier, my mom said that I was an adult in a kid's body. So they weren't helpful. It wasn't that much help on that side. But I was really wise. And I, I had I was I had wisdom, and then street smarts, both of you, if you would, like, put it together. So it kind of helped me out a lot. Michael Hingson ** 17:29 But it also sounds like your parents probably didn't know what to do. And they weren't getting help either. Which is so unfortunate. But I'm, I'm glad you turned out the way you did and that you really appreciate your parents, which is of course part of the whole process. Yes. So you moved by you were in California, then you move back to MIT or to Mississippi. And where did you go to college? Anquida Adams ** 17:55 So I actually went, this is this is this is that dyslexia and that mindset of like trying to find who I am or whatever. So my first year and a half I went to I went to Oakwood University, and that was a historically black school. And that's why I knew I had enough I had a space where they took their time and they helped me out with, you know, understanding enough for me to get it so I can actually move with my actual dyslexia. They gave me tools, similar to my my dyslexia, but that was a school where literally, I learned like all types of leadership skills there. While I was there, I was part of several choirs. I was a part of an ensemble, I was a a chaplains assistant, or we had to like during Chaplain time, do the whole program. And then also the different buildings were assigned to for like chapel for the different residents, presidential individuals that are on campus. So I got a chance to do a lot. I was a part of the actual president, Ambassador space where we were the first when emotional intelligence came out first came out our president for our ambassador space, like I made sure that we had, like, classes with I mean, we did classes on emotional intelligence. So I'm saying like that because it helped that later on some of the stuff that I do. So I learned a lot at that first school that I went to and then I stayed there for two years. It got really expensive. And so I went to you ah, for a semester because I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, which is University of Huntsville, Alabama. Okay, so the school Oakwood University is in Huntsville, Alabama. So historical black school for seventh Adventist. Got it? Yes. And so I went to UNH first semester ah, Um, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. And at that time, my, my major was, um, physical therapy because my high school year of college, I mean, high school, you have my high school, my senior year of high school, I worked at a PT clinic, and I was a PTA and then I was also a, that's what I told you. I was doing a lot of amazing stuff, and I didn't know it. So I was a PTA and I was a administrative assistant at the at the actual clinic. And then so I was like, Okay, well, I've liked this, let me go into to my school. So at my school, I was on the track of doing a year, a year and a half, two year no two years at Oakwood, and then finish off my PhD at Andrews University. And that's another school that was 78 minute school. And that was a mix School of everyone. So it also in Alabama. No, that was in Michigan. So you moved around. No, I didn't go there. But that was the plan. But I didn't go there. So it got too expensive for me. So I went to u h, and four semesters, kind of figure out what I was going to do. And then after you, ah, I kind of went to Chicago, and stayed there for six months, came back home, went to Michigan State six months, tech came back home. And then last time I came back home to Mississippi. And that's where I'm originally from. I graduated from a community college with honors and with 23 hours, and what I went there for, and I changed my major to psychology and elementary education. And so that summer, I went to Delta State University, and I was getting started with my elementary education degree. And that's when I found out during the summer school, that bush two that was president, then he was talking about inclusion, I was like, I can't do that, because I was like, it's too much, it will be too much for me. And so I left there, I finished off my semester there that summer, and I left Delta State that was in Delta Mississippi, and I went to Mississippi State. And that's where I finished up my degree and sociology, gender studies and leadership skills. So I found my niche. And when I went to, when I went to Mississippi State, I, I'm really good at understanding like society, like I can sit back and kind of figure out, like, what's going on. And so, for me, I've done it all my life, until I got into the classes of sociology, gender studies and leadership skills that took some psychology classes, and also behavior science classes while I was there, but I it felt like it felt like home. And so that's how I got into the work that I do now, because of the sociology, me pairing sociology and psychology together for socio psychology, for me to figure out how do I help help the world. And so for, for me, learning throughout the years, I'm about disabilities and what I did not know, until like a year or two ago, about the eight modalities of intelligence, and switch schools do not teach. And for me, within the eight modalities of intelligence, I possess two of the A modells of intelligence, intra and inter personal intelligence. So I'm good at going into spaces, understanding the culture, and then learning how to create create a better space within that space. So like, again, organizational development. So these are things that they don't teach in schools, and these are the things where, you know, with my understanding, even without disabilities, when I do our organizational development work, I make sure that when I'm doing leadership development, I ask the leader, like, what type of intelligence that they have, and I do an assessment to kind of figure it out. And then I helped to understand their actual client, the mean, not their client, but the employees, but direct reports, because you sometimes even in work, there's several different ways that people learn. And there's definitely different ways that they actually interact, but they don't teach us that in school, about the eight modalities of intelligence. So I'm doing it in a workplace and I'm trying to also do it within the actual school systems of teaching them like how to actually help the students learn through that throughout their, through their eight modalities, and hopefully the school systems that will catch on to it because if I would have known that even with my dyslexia, I would have done a whole lot better instead of going into physical therapy. You know that That's pretty much a part of my gift. But the main two areas, I'm really great at, like, seeing and developing systems. And if we got a modalities, everyone has a different modality that they can go into that that that they can figure out a field that is best for them per their modality. Michael Hingson ** 25:21 Tell me a little bit more about the modality. You said they're eight modalities. Can you can you talk a little bit about more? What that is? Anquida Adams ** 25:28 Yeah, sure, I can do that for you. Let me let me pull it up. So I know as inter and Trump are intelligent, those two different modalities, intra and inter, personal, intra and intra and inter intelligence, then there's Kunis kinesiology, then there's looking for, so it's eight of them, but I know my see. Michael Hingson ** 25:54 Well, and while you're doing that, so when did you actually graduate from college? Anquida Adams ** 26:03 So I graduated in 2010. Okay, Michael Hingson ** 26:06 and so you have a bachelor's? Did you go and get an advanced degree at all. Anquida Adams ** 26:11 So I, I literally, um, so like, um, for me, I. So after that, I left Mississippi State. And then I went to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where I started my clinical mental health counseling degree. And I was gonna, I thought I wanted to be a counselor. But now it's like, I told you, I find finance systems really quick to figure out what I want to do. If I don't want to do it, I don't want to do it. And what I found within the No disrespect for Counselors, and Therapists, it just wasn't for me. Like, it was a weird trick. It was a, how they set everything up. Like it's all about not being sued. And the second part is, it was all about, you know, not allowing the person to navigate their own situation like, like with the therapist, you're there. And you're asking all these questions, but it's just, it's a robust or like, robotic way of doing it. And so I rather I thought, if I did go into it, and like I'm doing right now I'm doing coaching. So I get to, like, do things that I want to do. And then within the space, so like, say, for instance, I have a client, like one person I did coaching with I, she, she dealt with a lot of internal things. And of like, I don't know if I can say it on here, but like, she don't realize her a lot of internal things. And so, for her, we went walking, and for me, I'm very intuitive, and with walking, and allow that person to like, walk and talk. As they're walking and talking, what most people don't connect with the different types of techniques that you can use, especially how I connect my techniques with them to have the way that I think and also connect with that person. I'm with her, we were doing three things. One, she had never out of all the therapist, she told me I have to offer our session. So out of all the therapists issue seen that they have never gotten out of her what I've gotten out of her at that moment, too. While we're walking, I think most people don't understand perception, and also how you connect. So our I call it the human, emotional, human, emotional, sorry, human emotional standpoints. We're walking. She was literally not being triggered, but being triggered a good way of bringing back those memories of what she was saying. But then, also she was metaphorically saying what she was expressing how she was expressing the actual thing or the trauma that she was going through. But then she was still it was like she was whatever burden she had, she was up on lifting and leaving it there as she walked every step she took. So it was like a lot of things going on at the same time. And so that and so as we were talking in m plus how I connect with the my client, I was able to like hold a container for her as we're walking as we're talking so allow her to like, elaborate on some of the things that that happened to her or to happen with her throughout her lifetime. And so she was like, you know, she wants to do more Do more sessions with me because there was a lot of things that were happening at the same time where she was able to release, and forgive. And also think of ways that she could, you know, be better because of the things that have happened. So I say all that to say like, so, going through the program, I realized that it wasn't for me, because I wasn't able to actually, um, go outside of the, the parameters of what psychiatrists, psychologists or therapists do. And so I did a whole year within that program. And I picked what I need to take, because I use again, both psychology and sociology within my therapeutic session. So after there, after Chattanooga, I left there and went to Texas stayed there for four years. And I thought, I want to go back into sociology, and I was gonna start my master's in sociology. And then I figured I was like, No, I don't want to do that again. So I stayed there for four years, going to one semester for that fruit to notice that I didn't want to do it. And within being there, I was like, Okay, well, I don't think this is places for me. So I moved again to Seattle, I've been here for going on 10 years now, this year. And as I got here, I got into corporate and I knew when I got into corporate, some of the things that are happening, when it came to leadership, when it came to culture, I was like, this is where I want to plant my seed. And like doing the work of making sure that we do better with our as leaders, we do better with our employees. And so I actually started my master's degree. And it was organizational psychological development. And as I went through that program, I don't want to be rude to them. But like, I knew that I wanted to do the work. But at the same time, there was a lot of things that were going on at work. And that was going on within that actual organization, or within the program that I could, I wasn't able to deal with the pasty of it. And so I finished that, but I started my I was only one out of the group that actually started my consulting firm. And with and with all the stuff that I've learned within that first year, I was able to kind of hone in to what part of organizational development that I want to go into. And they didn't help me with creating my business, I did everything on my own levels. But by being in that program, it allowed me to understand the different again, I tell you, I can just go into a space and learn a lot of stuff and learn a foundation of things because I see, I can see systems. And so like, as I as I went into that space, I kind of understood and I went out and created my own system, um, by seeing what they did. And so it kind of helped me out with building out my business. A long journey. So yeah, Michael Hingson ** 33:30 so you did get your master's degree. By the time it was all said and done. Anquida Adams ** 33:33 I did I did not finish. Finish it. Okay, good. But every time I went into a space, I guess, for me, Michael Hingson ** 33:43 school wasn't the right thing. Anquida Adams ** 33:45 Well, I mean, it's not it wasn't the right thing. It was the right thing for the moment that I got the foundation. Right, what I needed, I actually left, right, that makes sense. Michael Hingson ** 33:57 Yeah, it does with all the other stuff that was going on. So when did you actually start? Well, let me go back. You said you went into corporate? Did you go to work for a company? Or did you just start your business? Anquida Adams ** 34:08 I worked for several companies. And as well, I'll just be transparent. Like, within this space here, and the Pacific Pacific, or Pacific Northwest. When I first got here, there was less talk around diversity and inclusion. And this is pretty much white culture space. And me being here and me, I'm not getting a memo of like, hey, like, you know, just shrink yourself. And if I didn't get the memo, I didn't care about the memo. So like I learned very first, just first off and being in a corporate spaces that I if I did not take care of take up for myself or to have self advocacy around myself, that I would allow other people to actually bully me or actually be in a space where I felt so I could not breathe. And when I say when I cannot breathe, it's like, you know, me not being able to actually display my talents and my gifts, not in a shirt that show off the way. But like, for me, my my mindset is, um, I have what I need to do what I need to do, I will do it. And I know, I don't need micromanaging. And if you want to micromanage me, maybe you need to do the job yourself. And so that's not to be ugly about it. But it's like, if you hired me, and you know that I can do the job, like I, you know, please don't micromanage me. And so I had like those people who will try to micromanage me, or if they didn't try to micromanage me, they would, one person told me, I can make a foreign company, but not on her watch, he did a lot of stuff that was I told you, there was a lot of things that was happening. So I had to deal with that kind of sort of, in my program to where there was a young lady that in that program who did the same thing to me also where it's like she was bullying me. But at the same time, that's when I started to wake up and start to my, my self advocacy began much more after after those two situations, because I knew that, yes, I speak up for myself, but most people within my demographic group, they don't say anything, because they just want to get along play along so they can kind of like move along. But I knew if I didn't say anything, that's the next person that was younger than me, came in that position, or came in that organization, they will face the same situation that I faced, and I would not be able to, I don't want to cry, I would not be able to look at myself in the mirror, if I wouldn't have said nothing. Or if I wouldn't have said if I wouldn't have you know, did something about it. And most of the adults that were older that because i i When I came into those positions, I was in my early 30s I was 30 and I was just a baby kind of sorta. And so being in those positions, and having someone older than me that looked like me that was brown. You know, tell me don't rock the boat or enquete uh, you know, don't say anything about it, because you're gonna make it hard on everybody else. Like that, to me was that that wasn't that didn't tell what mean. And so for I got in trouble a lot because I spoke up and I spoke out because I was like, I could not leave I for my My motto is if you go into the place, make sure you leave it better than where you found it. Yeah. Michael Hingson ** 37:46 So when did you actually start your business? Well, I started my business in 16 2016. Okay. And so tell tell us a little bit about the business. You've got several brands and segments under it. That's pretty fascinating, which is, of course, why you describe yourself as a multi printer. So tell us about that. Right. Okay, cool. 38:10 So, um, within, like I told you before, like the origins of this of like, is making sure that organizations Well, let me back up. So ALA brand consists of three areas, ALA consultant, firm, ala event planning and management and aLa foundation. aLa World Foundation, sorry. So I'll go back to ALA consortium or ALA Consulting Firm is a boutique, a global boutique firm with expertise in social relations with a human centered approach to staying developing operating systems on a human side, also the organizational side. So what does that mean? So what that means is you might have a problem in three areas, the human, or the organization and the process are both right. So pretty much we make sure that within that space, we're helping you out with a culture that's the seeing, seeing, seeing the systems, helping out with the systems of your culture, developing that system within your culture, and then implementing what what is there, so like, that's what we do within those spaces, so and unpacking that. So for different divisions, organizational socio emotional psychological development and their services underneath there. Then this the second division is equity inclusion, diversity with the social justice lens. And then the third, division is entrepreneurship and startup coaching and development and the last division is the individual personal professional family Christian development. So all four areas, enter. Have an intersectionality together because of the person you as a pro Sin creates the subculture of the beggar culture, whether it's within any afford those areas. Michael Hingson ** 40:06 So what exactly do you do? How does it work? Anquida Adams ** 40:10 So, up underneath the organizational development sector, so there's four. So there's several services, but it's four main services. So there's our so they're a succession planning, always keep that first session planning. And underneath succession planning, there's millennial, multi millennial attention as a strategist, we go in and kind of figure out, you know, the next generation of who's gonna be in charge, that's millennials, right? So making sure that we know who was in your organization, who are the millennials, and then understanding like, okay, um, the second part of that is millennial leadership, development. So like, with that, when we figure out who's the millennials in the space, we're looking at the, the, the, the life, the life, the lifespan of the company. So when you think about the lifespan of the company, need to make sure within those millennials, how are you how you doing leadership development with them, and then also tracking them. So then, when you're able to bring them in the actual positions when the boomers leave, that you have people that are on a succession plan to actually fill those positions. And not only you have the tools to fill fulfill those positions, you have organization that will continue as life is as lifeforce because again, if you're not leading or developing your leaders on all levels, it's going to be hard for you to maintain a great company. So that's two of the actual first two, I secession planning for millennials. And then the second area of it is our ecosystem, Matic structure, leadership coaching and development. And that's for all generations, not just for millennials or generation. And then the second part of that is desk paired with that is ecosystem, Matic team, structure team coaching and development. So what happens is, is that most of the time the leadership get developed, what the team don't, and it's by different people. So we created a actual, a program to where you're, you're, you're doing both development, because if you develop the leader in a manner where they're understanding themselves, and then also understanding how do they lead as a leader, what leadership does they have, or understanding their actual direct reports, and then also understand themselves, because most of the time, most leaders don't have a full unfolding for understanding of how they impact it and print their actual direct reports. And that can lead to a lot of what was the retention, where, you know, people there, you know, lack of retention, because like, pretty much there, people are leaving as a rotating door in and out. So when, when a leader is like, have their actual space in the world and their space within that company, where they're, they're learning of what they do, because most leaders don't get leadership training, they literally are just pushed into a space because they're great at an actual subject, or they're great at actual department or whatever a trait, and they're not able to actually, you know, lead because of that. And I think most of the time, that's why you have people in spaces where they're great at what they do, but they don't know how to lead. And so that's why we help within that space. Now, when it comes to the teams, you have to feel like you're in a safe space to collaborate and to actually you have camaraderie with your peers. So with that of being in a safe space that you know that your leader is leading you and and in a way where they're helping growing the talent and the talent, feel safe, you're going to have a great department and a great culture within your whole organization. So that's the four main areas of coaching and consulting within that space of organizational social, emotional, psychological development. Michael Hingson ** 44:32 So how do you do how do you do leadership training? How does that work? Anquida Adams ** 44:37 So again, it's a lot of deep diving. First, creating awareness with them, of their I call it my cornea professional patterns are professional professional origins. It's kind of like our family of origins but is professional origins that I created, most individuals who are and a leadership position, they pretty much mimic the leaders that was before them. And sometimes they picked up good habits, and that's why they could pick up bad habits. And so when they're not developed, they tend to either lane with the patterns that they picked up from their parents, and then in the past, they picked up from the professions of, of, of who they worked for. And so when you think about that, that's a lot of think a lot of things to unpack, and mostly just don't unpack that. And that's why you have a lot of ineffective leaders. And so we work on that inner work of the person first. And then we then work on styles, helping them out with the different types of styles that they can they that they can use per their department of the people that are within our department, because you we teach them how to figure out the actual, the, their employees styles, because a style, you know, each person has a different style. So at least adapted three styles and, and doing a mixture of of one of those three styles to help out with the actual direct reports. Then, after that, we start going into other things that they need to learn that that could be helpful to them that that they have not learned, but then they want to learn around, um, leadership skills. And so especially when it comes to conversational intelligence, that's like embedded in our, our space of like, I'm doing leadership development. So conversational intelligence skills group, it helps the leader to understand how to articulate their thoughts and their feelings. And to be clear, and have clarity when they're actually giving their direct reports. A clear understanding of what they're asked to do as a task. Not only that, but it helps out with conflict, because most of the time, you're dealing with different personalities and different cultures and different ways of living. And so with that, it kind of help out with mediation, because there are cameras or the mediation, they're mediating between, of their self advocacy of how they lead and also between the actual person like of how they is accepting the actual tasks that they're given. Because most of the time, again, we all learn in different ways, and teaching them how to actually work with their their actual direct report around how they learn how they are wanting to be led, and in what styles that actually helped them into motivating them to do well, within the workspace. So all Michael Hingson ** 48:03 of this that we're talking about comes under the umbrella of ALA consulting. Yes. Okay. Now, do you have a number of people that work with you? Is it just you or how does that work? Anquida Adams ** 48:17 So, and this is what I have to explain to people, I'm, I'm in big, I'm in this in the space of scaling. So how I created my businesses. Each so by being an entrepreneur, you can have different types of services. Most people tell you to keep keep it at one space. But what happens is when you do one space, within different quarters, different organizations can now only bring you in, but if I have four divisions, and I have services underneath each one, it's easier for me to kind of get an actual get picked to like go into any organization, different in different cores, depending on what services they need, or if there's going to be someone doing it individually. So it helps me out to figure out like how did that work? So because I'm scaling right now I'm able to I'll be able to, like, bring in some more people to do the work with me and or I have some people that I have on the side, if they need to come in to help me out with it, they can help me out with it. Other than that, I'm the person until I began to scale and then so I'm starting to do so yeah, Michael Hingson ** 49:29 it's cool. Well, you know, the whole issue, of course, is that it's ala consulting, and there's nothing wrong with having more than one consultant or people that work with you. So that that makes sense. But what about I Anquida Adams ** 49:41 knew I wanted to create a bigger organization and so Michael Hingson ** 49:47 it makes sense to do that if you can do it in and as they would say with franchises, although this is not but you want to make sure you keep the same flavor and you keep the same process throughout Whoever you work with, needless to say, yes. So a la event planning minute and management. Anquida Adams ** 50:06 Yeah, so la event planning and management goes hand in hand with La consulting firm because it is event planning and management for organizations. So, we hire, retain, and then develop talent. And so we have four different layers for different divisions to that one too. So there's the career fair. So we have our signature career fair that we're going to start in 2020, but COVID hit, so we had were having to like, throw, you know, like, put it out, and we're gonna try and do it this year. Um, so but what we have been doing for since 2013, is that because we leave on the Astra peripher space, system 13, because we were the only woman event planning and management career management firm here in Seattle, we did over 48 career fairs for career choice, that was the company that chose us to work within their career fairs here in Seattle. And that's how we got started. So, um, by hearing from them, of the, the vendors that want more, more areas, that's when I was like, Okay, well, maybe I need to, to create our signature career fairs. And that's what happened when 2020 hit and I wasn't able to do it, but I started doing it now. And then the second layer of it is organizational events, pretty much we do, um, fun, employee fun day. And then if you don't do any work, just have fun to create commodity. And then camaraderie. And then the second area of that space is team building. And the third area within that space is retreats. And then so the next level of this and so screen of Metellus, showing up the org chart, but the next level, the third level, this is like events. So if you want a one day event to the event or a week event, we can we can help out with a small to medium events. And the last level is our disabilities and inclusion level where we where we do our ala disabilities, transition, transitioning resource summit and Expo. And then this year will be our first year doing it. And then we have our ala team, no ala L A disabilities is Community Connect. And it's like where we get to have people to come together. So whatever, what, whatever quarter it is, by his quarter after the actual Summit is put in place so that the organizations who are wanting to create a disability and inclusion affinity group, they're able to meet with other organizations around the city to work together to actually help out with their affinity groups. And then we coupled that with hiring and people who have disabilities to work with those companies so that we can kind of create jobs for people with disabilities. And then the third piece of that part because there's three initiatives within disabilities. It's our ala disabilities, talent recruiting and consultancy agency, where we do time recruiting and consultancy. So so that this for the wraparound summit there's two other things that will help out. So it's not just you just going to a summit and getting all this things and you're like, Oh, yay, we're happy. But no, we have two other things that will help out. So then you can actually stay on track, but haven't been being intentional about having a space of, you know, a disability and inclusion workspace. So if that makes sense. That's pretty much all of that. Michael Hingson ** 54:10 So what is ala World Foundation? Anquida Adams ** 54:14 Okay, so ALAFondation comes into play, where we're able to the foundation part is to work with other organizations, and spotlight nem of saying, Hey, we see you're doing good work. I feel like within the workspace, or within the workforce, we have a lot of people that is quick to say, this is what bad this company is doing. And there's no shining a light on the company that's doing well. And so a big part of our foundation is to partner with other companies to make sure that they other nonprofits, to make sure that they're seen within the actual workspace of doing whatever they need, will that they're doing what they're doing with The individuals that they're working with within the communities that we're working with, and then that's part of the foundation, and then another part of the foundation. And so it's two projects, a project for making sure that organization is being seen. And the other project is to human, the human project and this around homelessness, and we're bringing it bringing awareness around homelessness, um, and several different ways. So it's five phases of that. And this homeless, a lot of, I'm not gonna go into it, Michael Hingson ** 55:30 that's okay. Up. So what is being Anquida? Anquida Adams ** 55:34 Oh, that's, so that's like opposite. So I explained in the ss, so ala Brand, it creates foundations, and it helps out society with creative foundations, and getting started on the right feet on, you know, whatever, whatever, whatever area that you're working with, with us, it's just creating that foundation. So being Anquida, is actually a space of creating healthy relationships. So you have the foundations, but now you need to learn how to like, have an ongoing way of learning how to have those healthy relationships to continue the actual foundation that you have created. So that's what being enquete is about. So being Anquida is a small boutique firm, with expertise in relationships. And so within that space of learning about relationship, it starts with you first, not only does it start with you, it's about understanding, that's where the identity intelligence starts out with. So like, we created this formula for all of our work throughout our identity intelligence. And that's where identity intelligence for our consultant for our elite consulting firm came from. The root of it came from the actual being queasy to being quita is a space where you're able to, first have a relationship with yourself, first, understand who you are, and how to navigate yourself in the world around you. And having identity intelligence create a place where you can actually understand your shadow side and your light, or your fragmented shadow side in front of you in light. And what we're all that, all that is means is, is that we have different duality parts of us. And then if we suppress the parts that we think that, you know, if someone knew about us would make them run away, then we intentionally or unintentionally do things that will make people not like us, and we don't even know it, because we're we ignore the fact that this is part of our shadow side. Does that make sense? That is a lot of it's a lot of unpacking? Michael Hingson ** 57:53 It does make sense. I think I understand exactly what you're saying. And it does make sense. And you certainly pull a lot of things together, no doubt about it. And clearly you're you happen in person that getting a lot of things accomplished. And you're you're trying to bring a lot of things into the world. And and I hope that you are going to be very successful at scaling. Well, let me ask you, if people want to learn more about you, or reach out to you and maybe engage you or or in somehow become involved with you, how do they do that, Anquida Adams ** 58:29 um, they can go through our link tree, link to yours. You can say WWW link, and then t r dot e e and then slash a dot L dot a consulting firm. And it's unnecessary. I know it's a lot. But if you can look there, or like, the best way is LinkedIn, LinkedIn, you can get get in touch with me really quickly. And then all of what we do is underneath experiences, you can kind of go visit or go visits from LinkedIn from there. And I think that will be the best way. LinkedIn is a whole Michael Hingson ** 59:04 lot better. What's your LinkedIn handle? Anquida Adams ** 59:08 So it is Anquida, Adam. So that's pretty much it. Michael Hingson ** 59:12 A n q u i d a d a m s. Okay. Well, I hope people will reach out, I hope that we've been able to do some good and getting people more acquainted with you and what you do. You are fascinating, you are doing a lot. And that's cool. Anquida Adams ** 59:29 I write all the things I've done in my lifetime, like, oh, like I know, I talked about a lot but like there's a whole lot of things that I didn't talk about being a part of the Commission for people with disabilities, and then being the co chair of that and then being within that, that space for four years, being a part of the disabilities and inclusion. Well, the Kane county disabilities Developmental Disabilities board, so there's, I've done too, so there's a lot. Michael Hingson ** 59:58 Well, I think people will definitely Learn about that as they go seek you out and investigate you. And I hope they'll do that. And I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to learn some about what you do. And for you who are listening out there, I really appreciate you listening. Please give us a five star rating wherever you find unstoppable mindset, we are grateful for it. I know Anquida will be grateful for it. And also, if you'd like to reach out to me, please do so you can reach me at Michaelhi m i c h a e l h i at accessibe A C C E S S I B E .com. Or you can go to our podcast page which is www dot Michael hingson.com/podcast. And Michael hingson is m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. So Michael hingson.com/podcasts Love it. If you go there and in listen to some more podcasts and rate us there as well. We really appreciate it. But most of all, I hope that she'll reach out to Anquida I think that she has offered us a lot of interesting and useful information and a lot of insights and we should definitely feel free to engage her and use her talents and her skills. And clearly there's a lot of it there. So Anquida, one last time, I want to thank you for being with us today and coming on unstoppable mindset and telling us so much more. Thank Anquida Adams ** 1:01:19 you for having me. And I'm just grateful to be a part of this space. So thank you again, Michael. Michael Hingson ** 1:01:31 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. 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