Pretty Vee Opens Up About Finding Her Purpose After Getting Fired For Being Too Focused On Comedy
Pretty Vee is one of one. I know it, you know it. She has emerged as one of the funniest influencers on social media and has directly contributed to and driven the pioneering class of creators who have mastered their brands and pivoted from digital content, straight to opportunities that land them with the bag. One quick search of her Reels will leave you in tears, sending clips to friends and waiting to see what she does next.
And Pretty Vee, real name Vena Excell, has had quite the journey to get to where she is today, a comedian, host, actress, model, entertainer, and most importantly, an entrepreneur. She also scored a role on Issa Rae's Rap Sh!t, MTV’s Wild ‘N Out (alongside other comedians turned influencers (or vice versa), likeKarlous Miller, DC Young Fly, and Chico Bean), and much more. Her face is everywhere, with her approach to sketch comedy leading the way.
But according to Vee, although a long time coming, her journey in comedy is nothing but purposeful.
She went into detail while visiting The Pivot Podcast where everything was on the table, from her dating life to working with Nick Cannon. When asked how she got started, she explained, "[After college] I was working a 9-5 -- it was actually Arnold Taylor's admin assistant (South Coast Music Group), and I knew, so I was just trying to figure it out. But then I got fired, chile and..."
After the hosts asked her why she was fired, she continued:
"I think I was late and Arnold told me, 'Vena, this is not where you need to be.' He was like, 'You are so stuck in your world of comedy, you need to go and get that.' So I always tell Arnold when I see him, I say thank you. Thank you for firing me because it pushed me. It excelled me where I am right now."
And she hasn't looked back since. Talk about stepping into your purpose!
What's even better, is other celebs have shared similar stories about times they've been fired due to the same sentiments. Janelle Monae revealed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that she was fired from Office Depot after responding to a fan on a work computer. "Long story short: my boss said, ‘Listen, we’re gonna make this easy for you: You’re fired. Go do what you love. You don’t wanna be here’ … But luckily it led me to stay focused on what I loved.”
Nicki Minaj told Billboard:“I’d been fired like 15 times because I had a horrible attitude. The last job I had was as an office manager in a little, tiny room where I literally wanted to strangle this guy because he was so loud and obnoxious. I would go home with stress pains in my neck and my back. That’s when I went to my mother and said, ‘Look, I’m not going back to work.’" She focused on her music from that day forward.
Kerry Washington told the Hollywood Reporter that she was too fired from a pilot show, "Before Scandal, the only other two pilots I’d ever done were shows that got picked up, but I got fired. They recast my character on both shows … But if I had gotten picked up on one of them, I wouldn’t have been able to do Ray, you know what I mean? It seems at the time like a my-career-is-over moment, but it makes perfect sense in the end.”
And ladies, that's the beauty of purpose: it never makes sense to us at the time, but it always does in the end.
Pretty Vee is a living testimony, closing her interview by saying, "I think for me, when I left everything in God's hands, that's when it started moving for me. That was my moment. Instead of having the anxiety, the nervousness, the cringy moments, I think it was more of just leaving it into God's hands instead of trying to lean on me. 'Cause we don't got the answers."
We don't have them at all.
Pretty Vee: Getting Fired From Job Led to Finding Her Calling in Comedy, Film & Business | The Pivot
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Featured image by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for BET
Charmin Michelle is a southern native and creative spirit who works as a content marketer and events manager in Chicago. She enjoys traveling, #SummertimeChi, and the journey of mastering womanhood. Connect with her on Instagram @charminmichelle.
ItGirl 100 Honors Black Women Who Create Culture & Put On For Their Cities
As they say, create the change you want to see in this world, besties. That’s why xoNecole linked up with Hyundai for the inaugural ItGirl 100 List, a celebration of 100 Genzennial women who aren’t afraid to pull up their own seats to the table. Across regions and industries, these women embody the essence of discovering self-value through purpose, honey! They're fierce, they’re ultra-creative, and we know they make their cities proud.
VIEW THE FULL ITGIRL 100 LIST HERE.
Don’t forget to also check out the ItGirl Directory, featuring 50 Black-woman-owned marketing and branding agencies, photographers and videographers, publicists, and more.
THE ITGIRL MEMO
I. An ItGirl puts on for her city and masters her self-worth through purpose.
II. An ItGirl celebrates all the things that make her unique.
III. An ItGirl empowers others to become the best versions of themselves.
IV. An ItGirl leads by example, inspiring others through her actions and integrity.
V. An ItGirl paves the way for authenticity and diversity in all aspects of life.
VI. An ItGirl uses the power of her voice to advocate for positive change in the world.
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Stress Awareness Month: Sneaky Workplace Triggers Affecting Black Women, And How To Cope
We all know about the major stress triggers of everyday life, from relationship woes to monthly bills to unexpected emergencies, but there are small, subtle triggers that impact Black women in a big way, especially when it comes to work. It’s good to be aware of these sneaky stressors in order to maximize your day and find ways to incorporate solutions into your self-care routines.
Since it’s Stress Awareness Month, we caught up with Keanne Owens, LCSW, founder of Journey To Harmony Therapy Center, to talk about these triggers and what Black women can do to manage and cope.
Owens is an experienced South Florida-based counselor and social worker who offers her services via Grow Therapy, a therapy and medication management platform. She has worked with Black women professionals to unpack issues related to workplace stressors. “One is the pressure to perform–having to meet deadlines and deliverables. And a lot of times, these subtle stressors from performance are put upon ourselves as Black women. We want to make sure we’re doing our best. We don’t want to be critiqued in certain ways.”
Excessive micromanagement leading to fear of overly critical bosses is another subtle trigger that can negatively impact Black women in the workplace.
“Whenever something is done wrong, or we experience some type of injustice and have to report it, it’s the fear of retaliation–[fear that] we won’t be taken seriously or [our words] will be taken out of context because of being deemed as the ‘angry Black woman,’” she said.
Black Women And Workplace Stress Triggers
Her sentiments are backed by research. A recent report by Coqual found that 28% of Black women (compared to 17% of White men) say their supervisor uses “excessive control or attention to detail” when managing them. There’s more: A survey by the National Employment Law Project found that Black workers were “more likely to have concerns (80 percent) and twice as likely as white workers (18 percent) to have unresolved concerns at work, with 39 percent reporting they were “not satisfied with the employer’s response or did not raise concerns for fear of retaliation.”
The survey also found that 14 percent of Black respondents said they “avoided raising concerns to their employer for fear of retaliation—more than twice the average rate of 6 percent for all survey respondents.”
Owens pointed to the fact that these subtle stress triggers can negatively impact our physical health and our career advancement. “A lot of time it’ll affect our productivity,” Owens added. “We start to have negative thoughts of ourselves. The stressors can also cause fatigue. We’re no longer meeting or working up to our desired potential.” Other challenges as a result include insomnia and increased insolation, withdrawal, and lack of motivation to apply for jobs or promotions even when qualified.
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How To Manage Subtle Stress Triggers
While there are systemic issues at play for Black women at work that has less to do with us and more to do with major overhauls that must be addressed by the powers that be, there are steps we can take for the betterment of ourselves and our mental health. Owens offered the following tips:
Tap into a support system, whether it’s a coworker you trust, a family member, an organization, or an outlet like a hobby.
Create a good work-life balance before burnout even starts. “Having certain boundaries [is the goal] such as, for example, if you get off at 5, you get off at 5. If your job description is this, you don’t go above and beyond because that brings you to a lot of burnout,” Owens said.
Prioritize self-care, whatever that means for you. “If you don’t have a routine, create one. Practice mindfulness and even some meditation,” she added.
Create structure in your life outside of work. “Even if you have a family, applying some structure in your routine helps relieve stress,” she said.
Get into grounding techniques. “Do a real quick square breathing exercise, that’s literally 30 seconds, or you can do a grounding technique that’s less than two minutes, right there where you are. You don’t need any other materials. That’s something you can do with just yourself and your body.”
Ask for help. “As Black women, we don’t ask for help enough,” she said. “Find where you need to ask for help. A lot of times, people think that’s indicative of weakness, but we need to rewrite that narrative. It’s okay to ask for help where you see fit. [If] you’re a mom, [it could be] every Wednesday from 5 to 6, your children are with the dad. You have to carve out that time.”
For more information on Grow Therapy, visit their website. You can also find out more about Keanne Owens, LCSW, via BeginYourJourneyToHarmony.com.
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