I remember in 2010 when I moved to Baltimore. I had just graduated from the University at Buffalo, and I was eager and ready to start my career with the degree I worked so hard for. I landed an internship in Baltimore at Under Armour, and for someone with a business marketing degree, this was a dream opportunity! I packed up and moved to Baltimore in the summer of 2010 to start my internship and hopefully land a full-time job

I just turned 31 this past week, and every year I have a new word or theme that will describe my year. Last year, my theme was “BOSSed UP." I chose that theme because I wanted to really take hold of entrepreneurship for a full year and set myself up for success. I am thrilled to say I accomplished that, making 2018  my best year financially. I received many blessings and opportunities and I am so grateful for how I finished the year.

I remember the day I decided I was going to quit like it was yesterday. It was a Wednesday and I had just come back from shooting a national campaign in Atlanta where I had to request off Monday and Tuesday from my full-time job. I came back into the office and I was drained. I sat at my desk and I asked, why am I doing this?

I can't believe I am finally hosting my first BIG Event!! For the last few months, I have been hosting small #DinnerWithDayna meet-ups with 25-30 women and those have been widely successful, but I wanted to give MORE! I wanted to create an EXPERIENCE like no other that will connect like-minded women in one room. You may say "Oh it is just another women's empowerment event" But, no because no one has done it like I will do it.

I got up from my corporate desk with tears welling up in my eyes. I tried to hold them in as I walked swiftly to the bathroom. I pushed open the door and boom, just like that, the tears rushed down my face like I opened up the floodgates. I was so incredibly torn and sad. I walked over to the bathroom sink and looked into the mirror as I cried uncontrollably. “I can’t do this anymore,”

I can honestly say, it has been a great year for Women Of Color. I am so proud to see how Women of Color have excelled in their respective fields. Whether it's politically, at the corporate level, entertainment industry or entrepreneurship, we are killing it! I am so proud to be a black woman in 2018.

I am still on a high from this weekend! #DinnerWithDayna Baltimore edition was simply amazing. I started this dinner meet up for the first time last month when I had a quick impromptu business trip to Jacksonville, Florida. On my IG stories, I asked my community if anyone in the Jacksonville area wanted to meet up with me for dinner and I was surprised to get over 20 women to show up! The Jacksonville meet up was received so well and I started to receive hundreds of requests to do the meet up in other cities- and of course, my own city BALTIMORE was next up!

I hosted my very first meet and greet in Jacksonville a few weeks ago!! I do not know what took me so long to do this. But I was traveling to Jacksonville for work, and I had one whole Saturaday to myself, so I thought; why not meet up with some of my BOLD women!!

I can’t believe it has been a year since I left my corporate job to start my business. I am not going to lie, this year is flying by!! The main reason why this year is going by so fast is because I literally have been on the move. My business has been non-stop, in a great way! Running a business is not easy, and there’s days when I question myself and what I am doing, but I keep pushing and I stay motivated.  

This past weekend was incredible, I had the opportunity to attend and speak at the Momference, which is  the premiere, one-day conference for motivated, magical moms of color. I was so honored to be a part of this incredible event as a speaker!!

At 16, I specifically remember writing down my goals for where I would be by the time I turned 30. I wrote that I would be married with two kids, driving a Range Rover (my dream car) and a doctor!! Yes, a doctor. For some reason, I thought that being a doctor would mean that I was super successful and rich, boy has that “goals list” changed!! When I was between the ages of 16 up until about 24, 30 seemed like such the “real adult age”. The age that I gave myself a deadline to have everything done!!

I am so excited to share I am in a NATIONAL COMMERCIAL!!! It is seriously surreal to me. Watching TV and seeing my face pop up on the screen is soooo crazy!!!

This blog post is coming super highly requested. I get asked multiple times a day via DM: what apps do I use to edit my images, curate my Instagram stories, or to keep a cohesive brand; so I decided to share it all in one blog post to make it easier for me to share!

Here I am, six months into launching this blog! Boy, has it been one hell of a year. I still have to pinch myself when I realize I am my own boss and living out the dream that I set for myself. I have learned so much this year, about myself as a mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend.

Yesterday, I finally crossed some goals off of my Business Goals list and I finally feel like I have a legit business!

I feel like I am on a roll!! I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Latisha Carr of Where Do You Dream Podcast! We talked about my journey in my business and becoming my own boss!

Becoming my own boss was the scariest but most rewarding thing that I have done so far in my life. I have been my own boss for about 2 months now and it has been CRAZY AWESOME. It hasn't been all roses though. I have been the busiest ever.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending Claire Sulmers "Cocktails with Claire" event. This is my third time attending the event and fourth time meeting Claire! Let's take a stroll down memory lane shall we:

In August of 2016, I was invited to attend RISE Women Empowerment conference in DC. This is one of the top women empowerment events in the area, so I was thrilled to attend! I was able to sit in the audience and soak in so much knowledge from the presenters.

I am writing this blog post as I stress about the million things I have to do right now. Literally, I have a ton of stuff on my to-do list and I am questioning whether I will truly get it done by the deadline. Ahhh!

Seriously, dreams do come true and I experienced this first hand this past weekend at The World Natural Hair Show in Atlanta!! Ok so let’s rewind to two months ago.

Everyone has friends (I hope). Some of us have a ton of friends, and some of us may have a few friends. We may have friends that we have had for years or friends that we have had for months, but one thing I have learned about friendships...

So I DID IT! I changed my Instagram name! Seriously, this has been the hardest and biggest struggle for me for the last 3 months.

It’s amazing the things that will happen once you let go of…

Lately I have been having conversations with a number of women, from the networking events I attend, to the women who ask for my advice via phone call, text, or DM.