Erin M Baker

Dante Clemons immediately inspired me when we met a few months ago. She’s a senior product manager at startup and is the founder of three businesses. Before product management, she studied architecture and served as a visiting Associate Professor at the Pratt Institute. The common denominator that underscores her wide range of experiences – from product management, design, and architectural planning – is her capacity for creative problem-solving. After not landing several jobs with notable companies due to “insufficient experience,” Dante created a job-hunting strategy that later led her to found a consultancy business: KICKINTHADOOR, a career services platform for job seekers in pursuit of fulfilling careers.

In this episode, Dante and I discuss what it means to trust in yourself and how we can weave joy into our careers by living more intentionally. We explore how we can bring curiosity in to move through adversity and overcome our fears. We describe how personal value comes from being self-reliant and being able to ask for help from other people. We examine the difficulties of being a woman of color in America and reveal what Oprah Winfrey taught Dante about authenticity. We also explain why there are curved roads in the U.S. and discuss how we can use the power of AND to realize what’s possible for us.

“The curve might look like a detour, but it keeps you awake. It keeps you alive. Lean into those curves and see where it goes.” – Dante Clemons

This week on Life in the AND:

Helping people unlock the career paths they want and Dante’s passion project
Using curiosity to move through roadblocks
Playing with possibilities and how journaling empowers Dante
The Queen of Pivot and the power of iterations
Letting go of control and opening up to the possibilities of the universe
Understanding how to live life and cultivating trust in yourself
The F.I.T.F.O. philosophy and how messing up means having opportunities to strengthen your resiliency muscles
Dante’s vision of being the next Oprah AND not being the next Oprah
Being forced into conformity to get a job and how Oprah’s authenticity inspired Dante
Approaching the idea of authenticity and how cultural diversity can encourage empathy
Encouraging others that anything is possible despite life’s real barriers
Trust, faith, and the power of intuition

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Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

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