Be the CEO of your Confidence with Rebecca Black

Ever felt stuck in a cycle of self-doubt, unsure of your next move? Imagine juggling a full-time job while pursuing your passion, battling imposter syndrome every step of the way. That's exactly what Rebecca Black faced.

💪 But she didn't let that stop her.

Rebecca went from working early mornings and attending cosmetology school in the afternoons to owning a successful salon, creating innovative products, and empowering women in the wellness space. Her journey is a testament to the power of resilience, intuition, and taking bold steps—even when the path isn't clear.

Learn how she overcame her fears, embraced her inner CEO of confidence, and transformed her life. If you're ready to be inspired and take charge of your own journey, this episode is a must-listen!

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Transcript

Speaker 3: 0:01

You gotta be the CEO of your own confidence. Y'all, I am giving you that gold nugget right now because there are so many more inside this episode. Today's guest, Rebecca Black, is a fellow Floridian. She is a Southern girl at heart who loves her family hard and she is a dynamic entrepreneur enjoying the phases of her own personal evolution. From her roots in the traditional South to becoming a salon owner, turned product developer, turned advocate for women's wellness and empowerment, Rebecca has navigated numerous sticky floors while carving her own path. We will dive into her experiences, uncovering the valuable insights on overcoming imposter syndrome, following your intuition and evolving both personally and professionally. Oh, and let me tell you this, her last tip on how to be the CEO of your own confidence, y'all, it is pure gold. You are listening to the Glass Ceiling and Sticky Floor Podcast, The podcast that will empower you to shatter the many beliefs and toxic behaviors to uncover infinite possibilities so you can live your best life. I'm Erica Rooney and I'm on a mission to bring more women into positions of power and keep them there. I'm obsessed with all things growth and abundance and I'm here to talk you through the tried and true secrets to get you to level up your career and your life. We talk about the hard stuff here, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, fear and burnout. So pull up a seat. Pop in an earbud and let's dive in.

Speaker: 1:32

Rebecca, welcome to the glass ceilings and sticky floor podcast. What is up with you? How are you today?

Speaker 2: 1:39

Oh my gosh, Erica. I am so good. And I am so glad to be here oh

Speaker: 1:45

my gosh. I love it. My fellow Floridian in the house, but Rebecca, tell me, tell everybody listening, who is Rebecca Black? What are you doing in the world today?

Speaker 2: 1:56

Oh, okay, girl. So my whole come up story, like, yes, I am in Florida now. I've been in Florida. Full time, Erica, I think since like 1999 2000 somewhere right around in there. So I was actually originally born in Alabama. I am a southern girl and I spent my childhood between Alabama and Florida. So like, there's this saying, there's like flora Bama. So like, I kind of am like a flora Bama girl. Um, there's, Very much a huge part of me that is just super traditional, like super Southern, but then there's also like this other side of me that is very bougie. Like I've done everything from like the beauty pageants to shelling peas, to canning foods, to creating products, to being on TV, all kinds of different things. And I think that is because. The way that I did come up was, you know, I was raised in a very traditional home, you know, mother and father were there, we were in church, you know, all of the grandparents, we all, you know, went together. It was just like a very familial environment, very, very homebody environment. And so. It was really at at a young age. I really kind of always knew that I was like a creative person like that entrepreneur side of me. And when you consider my upbringing like that traditional side of that, you can probably imagine that as I began to spread my wings and you know, started growing, got a little bit of pushback from from the family. And it wasn't because they were not supportive because they were 100 percent supportive. It was just a scary thought for them because they had not, they had not done it. And so, you know, whenever we moved to florida full time, it was my junior year of high school and I graduated from Rockledge High class of 2000 and one Raider Pride. And, uh, after I graduated there, I ended up moving to Gainesville, you know, a thing or two about Gainesville. And, uh, and I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I, I didn't know what I wanted to go to school for. I wasn't a hundred percent certain of myself at that point. I don't think anybody at the age of 18 to honestly, like 24 can really be certain of themselves, but that's a whole other conversation. So, you know, Erica, I just really, um, I, I put myself through community college and I moved to Gainesville and Erica, when I moved to Gainesville, I didn't even have a car. Like, I told my parents, I'm like, I'm moving to Gainesville. I had already transferred my job. I had, um. I had already like planned my bus route where I was going to go so that I could get to work. I had, I had like all the things lined up. And so I finished my two year AA degree there. Still didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. And so I went to took some computer classes at the local community college here in Brevard County. And I ended up getting my AA degree from there. And I met my first, like, I would say like my real employer, cause that was my first like full time job with benefits and stuff like that. Yeah. So then Erica, as you can imagine, like that inner creative side, it's like, okay, is this it? Like, okay. Like I have a job, like I'm looking at people who have been in this job for, you know, many, many, many more years than I have. You know, I don't know that they're making that much more money than me. And like, I'm struggling to pay my car payment. I'm struggling to hold, pay my own rent. At this time, rent was only like 950 a month. And so I'm like, how am I going to do this? And I'm like, you know, I always wanted to go to hair school and I didn't go to hair school right out of high school because. I was dating someone who told me that I was too smart to go to hair school and I needed to get a college education. And so I'm like, now I have a little bit of a college education. I still don't know what the hell I want to do. So, where do we go from here? Anyway, I ended up making a, making a transition that was probably the longest year of my life, um, because I worked from Monday through Friday, from 5 30 AM to 11 30 AM, got in my car, ate food, ate my little protein bar in the car, changed my clothes, put my cosmetology school uniform on. Cause that's a year long program. And I went to school Monday through Thursday. From 12 30 to 8 p. m. Because I had to get my 1200 hours. And so I did that for that year. I was able to keep my benefits. And, um, because at that time, I really didn't know how I was gonna how I was gonna do the thing, you know, because, like, coming from where I come from, you got to keep the benefits. You know, you gotta have insurance and you know, it's going to heart Rebecca. You don't have like a full education, like you're not going to be management material, you're not going to be able to earn more, you know? And so a lot of, a lot of those things, um, held me back from making that decision to go to hair school, uh, for quite some time and then. Once I decided to do that and I graduated, I got my, um, my state board passed that licensed cosmetologist. I still hold that license to this day and probably always will, because I feel like that was like my first moment where I am like, you can take anything in this world away from me, but she will not take that cosmetology license away from me. You just won't do it. And so I'm so thankful for that because it has opened so many doors and I set a goal for myself. Uh, whenever I graduated hair school that within five years I wanted to become a salon owner. And I did that. I did that. Once I learned the system of building like my own book and getting customers to come back and, and to be rebooked for like a year in advance, I was like, okay, I finally, I finally got it. And then I went from Salon stylist to salon owner, to selling the salon, going into product development, and then helping other people create their own products. And, you know, most recently just like entering the women's wellness space and really just like, Bringing all of that information and all of that experience together to really have real and raw conversations with women and honestly, just people in general. But I have such a heart for women because one thing that I notice is that there is this lack of confidence that we all seem to have. And so I just, I really am so excited to be able to help other women, you know, on their come up, no matter what stage of it that they, that they are in. So that's a little bit about me. And that was like a whole tangent right there. I feel like

Speaker: 8:44

you left a lot of really great breadcrumbs though. And what I find so fascinating about your story. And this is what I would really encourage anybody to. hear when they're listening to this podcast is a lot of those breadcrumbs that you talked about, like not going to hair school right out of college because, or right out of school, because a boyfriend told you not to, right? Then finally doubling down and doing school and work, all of those little breadcrumbs, like you did not see, or probably even imagine that one day you would be in this product development wellness space. Like, That was probably never anywhere on your radar. So there's a lot of dislike just taking that next step forward. Even if you have no idea where it's going to go, when you look back by going to hair school and saying, okay, I'm going to buy this salon. Take me back to that time. What did you think you were going to do with the rest of your life at that time?

Speaker 2: 9:39

I thought I was just going to be a hairstylist the rest of my life. I was going to have this salon and I was just going to do the damn thing and just get on with life. That's exactly what I thought.

Speaker: 9:49

I had a woman on the podcast earlier last year, Diane Wingert, and she talked about continued personal evolution. And it's just this continual growth pattern and, and always going towards that next thing. Never being like, okay, this is final and this is it. But talk to me about what ignited that change within you to go from owning a salon to the next thing. What was that? indicator to kind of flip the switch for you.

Speaker 2: 10:21

So that's actually more of a personal story because in the salon world, um, you get to, you get to meet people and you don't just, you know, like your relationship with your hairdresser is one of the most valuable relationships in your life. Like you tell your hairdresser almost everything, because this is one of the things that I love to teach. People in the service industry, especially the beauty industry, is that you are one of five licensed professions in the world where your license gives you the ability To touch people, and when you touch people, you inherently build a sense of trust. You know, think about who else can touch you, your doctor. Well, what is your doctor doing? They're poking and they're prodding you. Your dentist can touch you. What are they doing? They're poking and they're prodding you. They're making your gums bleed. They're making you hold your tongue in weird positions, and you don't even want to talk to them at that point, okay? You have massage therapists, okay? So you're relaxing. You don't really want to talk during that point either, like that is a therapeutic thing that you are doing. You're nurses. You tend to have more more conversation with your, with your nurses, but still they are, they may be a little more compassionate. You may talk to them a little more than you do the doctor, but you don't talk to them nearly as much as that woman is that as touching your hair, she's blow drying it, massaging it, giving you all the shampoos and the conditioners and the styling products so that you can continue to look fabulous at home. And so in building those relationships throughout the years, you know, All of your clients become like family to you. And I felt like there was this like trend that almost kind of started happening, that I started noticing. And I noticed that almost all of my clients under the age of 40, who were trying to conceive, we're having some issues conceiving, you know? And so I'm like, Well, that's just weird. I'm like, Oh, you know, like switch over to organic foods, like that's going to help you. And it's like, you switch over to organic foods and that didn't necessarily help. And I have since realized that there's a lot more to it than, than that. But three of these ladies ended up having to do in vitro fertilization and some type of hormone. And two of those three of my clients are no longer on the face of this earth because they They ended up passing away from cancers and they left the little ones that they fought so hard to, to get. And so it's like, why does this happen? So I kind of started asking myself, like, how does this happen? Why does this happen? And I had a client say to me one day, she says, you know, Rebecca, she's like, you're a super clean eater and like organic, and you educate your clients about all of that stuff. She's like, have you ever thought about. What you're putting on us as your clients. And it was just like a moment for me. And so I started kind of realizing and. And doing a really deep dive into ingredients, learning what they are. How are these manufactured? Like, what is this ingredient and how does it get here? And it's like, do I want something that they had to use hexane to get it out? Do I want something that is, you know, like the oil rigs that go out there and drill for the petroleum? Do I want stuff that's made from the leftover, like super refined, like they burned it, lit it back up, set it on fire again. Put it through some, some harsh solvents and let's put it in your shampoo, you know? And so that's really what made me go into the product development side of things. And so at first it was just very small scale and creating stuff for myself. And then people started consulting with me and being like, Hey, like how can I clean my stuff up? And so then I started helping other people do it. And so that's really what, what switching that. Light on was for me like, Hey, there's opportunity here and I would like to be able to create some kind of bridge between a problem that I see and where I'm at as a professional.

Speaker: 14:37

That's a powerful story, but that also just goes to show you that your view on the world and life can change on a dime. Yeah. One con. Yes. Completely changed the trajectory of life.

Speaker 2: 14:53

Yes, just like you're as a lady said, it's a personal evolution. And, you know, I feel like I've always been a very open minded person. I don't ever feel like I've been like, this is what I want my life to be like in five years. Like I've never been like, it has to be on a list and it has to be done. I've never really had that perfectionism side of things, but on every single situation and every pivot that I have ever made, I have. Dern sure suffered from imposter syndrome because it's like, I'm not good enough to go from corporate America to being in the salon world. But it was like, like I gave myself that negative talk long enough. And then I was like, you know what, Rebecca? Like, yes, you are like, you pull those pants up, girl. Like you put on your big girl panties, you put your lipstick on and you go for it. You may fail, you may get into hair and you may absolutely hate it. I didn't think that I would because I had been doing like all of my friends hair for, for proms and homecoming, like the entire time through high school. Um, there was a lot more to learn about it, but you know, I didn't think that I would fail, but it was just like, I think God gives all of us a calling and he gives us all a purpose. And like, for me, it's always felt like a whisper. Okay. And so it's just like. You tried the thing like you did this, you, you're not able to live like it is that you want to live. So what are you going to do? Like, Hey, you hear that little knock, like, Hey, you have this creative side. And I really think that my entire life really has been divine design because each step has been a series of personal evolutions. And a lot of ways, completely unintentional.

Speaker: 16:42

So I was talking, I was jotting down my notes and the two things that I wrote down were intuition leads to evolution. So you actually got quiet enough to listen to that intuition. You also listen to those sticky floors a little bit, right? The imposter syndrome. And that's kind of what I want to dial in on and double tap on because a ton of women feel imposter syndrome. I feel imposter syndrome all the time. And I have found that a lot of women have different either strategies or tips or ways that they can convince themselves to take that next step to just kind of shut up imposter syndrome, if you will. Yes. Yes. How do you get imposter syndrome to shut up for you?

Speaker 2: 17:28

For me, it is a, it is a process that I actually like recently mapped out. And so I say, you have to become the CEO of your confidence. You have to change your mindset. You have to take different action steps and you have to measure the results that you are getting. You have to become a CEO of your own confidence. You got to put those big girl panties on, put your lipstick on, put your lip gloss on whatever it takes for you to say, Rebecca, you are putting your behind through hair school. You are doing this. And then once you do that, like Rebecca, You are going to get a job in the salon. I was still afraid to leave corporate America at that point, because again, that was my safety net. And it's like, you're not good enough. You're not good enough to do hair. Like you don't even know how to do this kind of cut and like, whatever it is like that imposter syndrome was still taking over. And so like, you have to change your number one is change your mindset. Number one, start telling yourself, yes, I can do this. And yes, I can fail at doing this, giving yourself the permission and really allowing your mind. I do this every day. Erica, there was a part of me today that was just like, I don't want to do the podcast. Like you're not good enough to teach people about the sticky floors and glass ceilings. Like you haven't, you haven't reached like the ultimate level. Like, who are you? And so I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. I had to go right back to my mindset. Rebecca, number one, you have been given. All of these situations, you have overcome them. You have learned something from each and every one of them. You know how to take action. It might be messy action. take that messy action. And then you start seeing different results and the results for me, I always measure in. Does my life feel more peaceful? Do I feel more fulfilled? Did I help someone else unlock something, achieve something, ignite something? And that's kind of how I always call it. It's the CEO of confidence, but it started with changing that mindset, taking different action steps, even if it's messy, and then measuring the results. It is that you get from that.

Speaker: 19:46

I'm a big fan of that last one measure results. And I feel like this is a step that a lot of people gloss over. Because we don't like to celebrate our damn selves. So when we get out there and we start the podcast, right? And I was like, even my own experience went through the same thing. I, who am I to have a podcast? Nobody's going to listen to me. Nobody's going to like it. I'm not even going to tell that many people that I'm doing. Yes. And I did it and I measured the numbers that came out of the podcast. I measured the number of amazing women that I talked to. Right. And I looked at the numbers and I was like, wow, that means I got to have X amount of conversations with people through your pod. I got impact out there, but what happens is. We brush it off. We're like, Oh, yeah, it's not a big deal. I only got 10, 000 episode downloads, or Oh, it's not a big deal. You know, I only have 50 episodes. Somebody else has like 150 episodes. And we have to remember that number one, measure those results, but recognize that that is at the beginning, right? Yes. Yes. Numbers compound. You know, my download numbers, they only get bigger. They don't get smaller. I can't exactly like, it's so important to measure both the quantitative and the qualitative, right? Because one of the things for me, which goes back to you talking about, does it make me feel more peaceful and more fulfilled when I did my podcast episodes, I could not ignore the feeling of how lit up inside I was. If I'm having a bad day and I know I'm coming to talk to you on the podcast, I know that after this hour, it's going to be so much better because I'm in a great mood. I'm doing something I'm passionate about. So just two snaps for measure your damn results, people. Because going one day you are going to wish you could look back to where you started and just. See how much you've grown 100%. And

Speaker 2: 21:45

you know what, Erica? I think that so many people get stuck in that comparison mode. Well, you know, I only have one download and they have 10 or maybe I only have 10 and they have 100, 000 just like you said. But you know what, if you would have never done it, you wouldn't have that one to measure. And that's the part that people always forget. And, and the measure part for me did not come until a few years ago when another limiting belief, um, another like super sticky floor for me was that like, I don't really, like, I'm not good enough to pay myself as the, as the CEO of a company, as the entrepreneur side, it's like doing three quarters of a million dollars in sales. And not paying yourself a damn dime because you felt like we haven't earned enough for me. We haven't been in business enough. I haven't created enough to be able to pay myself. And it's like, and I found myself like, as you can probably imagine, like in a cycle of. Major self doubt. Like it took that imposter syndrome to like a whole new level. And so I had to learn how to rebuild that. And it's like, how do you rebuild that? And so I started working with a business coach and it's like, Rebecca, you have to measure everything in life, even if it's not your business, you have to measure everything in life, because if you don't, you are not going to know what your cyclone of suck is. Whether it's sucking your energy, whether it's sucking your efforts, whether it's sucking your confidence, whatever it is that is that cyclone of suck, if you don't measure, you will never know what is sucking you in that vacuum.

Speaker: 23:43

So the CEO of your confidence, is this the work you were doing in the women empowerment space? Yes. It of ties into that and I didn't even really realize that it kind of tied into that because again, I think I have so many blind spots, Erica. It's just like when people ask me what I do and I don't know if that's part of my imposter syndrome or if it's my sticky floor or whatever it is. When people ask me what I do, I'm like, I'm just me, like, I just really love helping people, and it's like, I can share my stories with you, I can give you my experience, I can make some recommendations for you, I can guide you through the process, but it's like, what do I do, like, just help people, and I am just really unapologetically me. Can I point something out to you that I found fascinating that you probably don't even realize you do? Yes, please. Yes, please. All right here for it. So when I asked you, who are you? Please tell me the majority of the women on my show lead with their occupation. You told me you were Southern. You told me about your family. Yes. All of those things more in line with the core being of who you are, not what you do. And then when you talk about like, I'm just me. Like, Rebecca, I would go hard on this one because you are so in alignment with who you are at your core. Yeah. And yes, you experience the BS of these other sticky floors, like we all do, but you are living so authentically true to who you are that you could do anything,

Speaker 2: 25:21

anything. That almost makes me want to cry. You probably didn't even know you did it. Yeah. No, no. Because it's just like, you know, that's, that's one thing, like, I remember being in conversation with one of my friends one day and. You know, as girls often do, you know, the weight always comes up like body image issues. And you know, she's like, but Rebecca, you can't say anything because you're skinny. And I'm like, but you know what? Like I am skinny fat girl. Like, and she's like, what? I'm like, I am skinny fat. I'm like, you're comparing yourself to me because I have a naturally thin genetic build. And your, your, your genetic build is completely different than mine. And so you're comparing yourself to me and I feel fluffy because it's like, you know, like bingo arm. Hello. Like, she's, she there, like, look at her. It's like, let's be honest with each other. And so it's like, you know, like that comparison mode. And I, I find that, you know, oftentimes as women, we really do get, get into that. And I've just never been that person who's compared myself to other people, because I think I always have just. It's all I know how to be is just me. I don't wanna be anybody else. I'm not. I'm not in competition with anybody about anything. If I want blonde hair, I'll go get it. I want a different color eye. I'll go get it. I can work for it. I can do it. Because we all have that ability. Everybody has that ability.

Speaker: 26:52

And I always say like, it's never fair to compare yourself based on external. Right. What someone's highlight reel is what you see on the outside, because you don't know what's going on on the inside.

Speaker 2: 27:04

I don't believe a damn thing I see on social media about folks, because just like you said, you never know what the backstory is. You never know what the backstory is.

Speaker: 27:16

Rebecca, one question I always love to close with is if you could go back in time to the Rebecca who's trying to make that 942 rent in Gainesville, Florida, right? Yes. Trying to figure out life, how she's going to do it all. What piece of advice would you give her today?

Speaker 2: 27:32

Ask for help sooner. Ask for help because you know what? I, I think a lot of it has to do with the way that we were brought up and you do everything yourself. You don't ask for help and you damn sure don't air your dirty laundry. Ask for help sooner. Okay. So when you ask for help sooner, you can't do it all. You cannot do it all. And you have to learn from people. Who have been where it is that you want to go and pay attention that when you tell somebody, like, for instance, whenever I told my parents that I wanted to go to hair school, you know, they were like, are you sure about that? Because you're not going to find a job that has benefits and the 401k and health insurance. So you have to ask for help from people who have been where it is that you want to go that say, okay, Rebecca, if you want to go to hair school, here are the one or two things you must do. Okay. that can give you tangible takeaways because asking for help will get you. It won't be a straight line. It'll still be a little squiggly, but it won't be quite as up and down as often when you ask for help.

Speaker: 28:41

I love that. And Rebecca, where can people find you? If they want to check out your products, they want to listen to the beyond blonde podcast. Where are we going?

Speaker 2: 28:50

You can just go to my Instagram. I try to keep everything right there. I try not to drive myself crazy, and I try not to hire too many people to, to like, undercut the bottom line, to be honest. So just Becca underscore underscore black on Instagram. You'll see me posting in my stories, in my feed, Beyond Blonde podcast, all the things, my women's events. You can find it all right there.

Speaker: 29:14

Instagram. I will link it in the show notes. But, Rebecca, thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I absolutely had the best time ever.

Speaker 2: 29:24

Aw, me too. And here's lots of hearts for you.

29:28

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in today. I am so excited that you joined both me and Rebecca in our conversation. And I hope that you found her story as inspiring and empowering as I did. Now I want you to remember that every step forward, every single step, no matter how small, no matter if you can see the one you're going to take after that. And the next one and the next one, every step is progress. Embrace the journey, all trust your intuition. And according to Rebecca, and I think this is solid advice. Don't be afraid to ask for help early. And don't be afraid to ask for help often. Alright. I'll make sure that you follow both me and Rebecca on Instagram, where we are always there to support and you can find me on LinkedIn tic talk all of the other socials too. And please, please, please. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure that you rate review and subscribe. And until next time y'all remember the only ceilings that exist are the ones we place over ourselves. It's time. We've smashed them together.