Erica Knox, on Embodying The Mogul Mindset, Being Well, and Building Your Personal Brand

Many search for motivation and action to build meaningful lives in today's fast-paced, interconnected world. Yet, traditional motivational speaking often provides just short-term inspiration. However, transformational speaking is different— it motivates and reshapes the mindset, habits, and systems determining lasting success. Enter Erica Knox, founder of Made the Cut Collective, a corporate communication and social impact leader at BET Media Group, who is also a powerful transformational speaker. Knox's philosophy and strategies are rooted in a deep understanding of personal growth, community impact, and self-advocacy. Her work redefines how individuals can turn ambition into lasting results. Her unique journey has led her to a space where she inspires others to break past self-limiting beliefs.

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The core of Erica's approach is the understanding that motivation alone is insufficient. While traditional motivational speaking may spark short-lived excitement, transformational speaking creates long-term change. Erica emphasizes the importance of reshaping not just mindsets but entire systems, personal or professional, to achieve ambitious goals.

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As a transformational speaker, Erica built a framework that guides individuals to think big and follow through. It's about creating systems and habits that support a fulfilling and impactful life. Rather than relying on momentary bursts of motivation, Knox transforms how people see themselves and their potential three C's of Success: Courage, Collaboration, and Compassion.

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The Responsibility for Social Impact  

The Social Impact industry has grown and emerged over the last 5-10 years. Yet, many companies have yet to embrace social impact. Understanding the unique struggles of disproportionately marginalized groups, such as people of color, who are affected by many socioeconomic factors, is a company's responsibility, especially if these companies are selling to these groups of people. The impact of George Floyd's murder caused consumers to hold companies accountable and only invest their dollars in those who cared about social justice issues. 

Any company or brand selling products or services has one key issue: customer retention. Current consumers want to invest in lifestyles rather than just products and services. Companies need to be more socially responsible to have business longevity. Consumers need to feel like they care about the social justice issues they face. Setting up a grant program or any other means of giving back is highly recommended. It is more ethical and lucrative for companies to focus on serving others by caring about the systemic issues that affect them rather than their own pockets.

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As the founder of Made the Cut Collective, Erica has coined the term "mogul mindset." Made the Cut Collective is a community of moguls in the making, empowering individuals on their professional journeys and creating spaces where they can heal and show up authentically. She challenges individuals to think outside their limitations to succeed personally and professionally.

She developed a three-pronged strategy: Courage, Collaboration, and Compassion. These values are her approach to helping you climb the corporate climbing authentically. Career success in the corporate world isn't about stepping on others to get ahead. Instead, it involves claiming your space courageously and compassionately.

• Courage: Show up strategically. Identify opportunities where your strengths can shine by shadowing other staff at work and participating in projects you wouldn't normally take on

• Collaboration: Showcase your leadership skills by looking for ways to show up as a leader. This includes opportunities to manage a team and interpersonal relationships. Look for ways to place yourself in situations that empower others and allow their skills to shine.

• Compassion: Be compassionate with yourself and others. Find new ways to make an impact by asking what is no longer working and how you can improve it. Always recognize your own value.

Mentorship vs. Sponsorship

Understanding the difference between mentorship and sponsorship is vital in helping individuals accelerate their growth. A mentor is a person who has the character traits you want to embody. They allow you to make decisions. Sponsors are people who have broken the ceilings in their lives and have desirable success. She encourages those climbing the corporate ladder to seek sponsors—people who can speak their name in rooms they aren't yet in. Working with a mentor is an essential first step to doing the foundational work, such as defining goals and challenging limiting beliefs. Doing the work allows you to become the person your sponsor would notice.

‍"Don't let anyone tell you that you have to take 10 steps when your sponsor can reduce them to one or two." 

Strengthening your relationships can leverage your network to help you reduce the steps needed to achieve your goals. This approach is rooted in the belief that collaboration and community are as crucial to success as individual drive. Erica emphasized that you need to feel that you deserve the support. Asking for help and support will allow you to continue breaking ceilings in your life. 

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Transformational Speaking

A critical part of Erica's work as a transformational speaker is her focus on packaging wisdom and life experiences in a way that others can apply to their journeys. She calls herself an "experience expert"—someone who has taken the lessons from her life's ups and downs and packaged them in a way that others can digest, benefit from, and apply.

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"Every experience I've had, I've mastered. I've taken the lesson, taken the loss, and pulled it all together so someone else can easily benefit from it." 

Being a self-advocate is about sitting down and auditing your life, skills, wisdom, experiences, and shortcomings. Once individuals have a clear picture of their value, they can advocate for themselves. This approach is all about self-mastery. Mastering oneself will help you better understand where you are going. Advocacy starts from within and is not just external. It is one way to gain awareness of your unique value proposition and the way you solve problems. This is crucial for both professional and personal success.

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Knox is confident that by remaining rooted in self-advocacy, community building, and transformational speaking, she will continue to inspire others to live audacious, above-average lives. As she continues her journey, she invites others to break through the mental barriers that have held them back and create systems for long-term success.

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Grow Your Personal Brand

Before the conversation ended, Erica offered these three tips to grow your personal brand:

• Understand your value proposition: answering questions like, how do you make others feel seen, appreciated, and heard? 
• Be willing to be seen. Embody the 4 A's, awareness, audacity, advocacy, and authenticity.
• Advocate and be authentic about what you care about. Your personal brand should be embedded in you, not embedded in trends. 

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Gold Nuggets of Wisdom 

This conversation with Erica brought so much wisdom. We wanted to share our favorite quotes and mic drop moments she shared on marking her place in the world:

"I have always claimed my spot. And it's always been my spot, because I saw it uniquely in a way, no one else could"

On deciding the kind of life she wants to live: 

"I don't want to live an average life,". "My life will not be average. My life will be above average, ambitious, and audacious.

On recognizing her innate value:

 "I decided I would no longer work in the shadows of my own light. If I have talents and skills, I will no longer be the last person to speak on it."

Her advice to the listener:

"You deserve the life you're going for. You are equipped to handle it, and you will sustain it."

Did you find this conversation with Erica Knox eye-opening? Subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay updated when the next episode drops here.

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Check out Erica and her work here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-knox-031372136/

Instagram: @ekthemogul

Business Instagram: @madethecutcollective

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Keep up with all things Hue Capital:

Instagram: @huecapitalco

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hue-capital-community/

Website: https://huecapital.co

Email: info@huecapital.co

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