Diamond Greer, Founder and CEO of Women’s Professional Platform Let’s Vibe
Meet Diamond Greer, human capital strategist and founder of Let’s Vibe. She is passionate about empowering women to realize and actualize their potential. Two years ago, Diamond created Let’s Vibe as a platform to engage female professionals and give them a space to develop personally, professionally, and mentally. Let’s Vibe now has over 300 members, and is fostering new connections every day.
In this Fireside Chat, we spoke with Greer about intrapreneurship, entrepreneurship, and the significance of collaboration.
What is Let’s Vibe
Let’s Vibe connects diverse women who are embarking on their personal and professional journey. A “Vibe woman” is any woman who is willing to define herself. When my co-founders and I came out of college, within our professions we noticed that there weren’t communities for women, particularly within entry-level positions. There were no communities for us to “kick it” and “vibe out” and talk about our passions and careers, nor were there resources that enabled us to do that. We wanted to create a space for self-actualization, communal support, and for developing skills that we need to be effective leaders, to accomplish our goals, and to use design thinking to create solutions.
What kind of events do you host?
The focus of our events is connecting and “vibing out.” Events range from interactive workshops to development (personal and brand). During Let’s Vibe events, we focus on connecting, developing a specific skill, and creating/nurturing our plan of action for our careers and personal lives.
We are all about human-to-human connection, so we don’t do the standard networking room. We delve deeper into who we are as people, which influences our work ethic and productivity and our potential to be successful within our careers.
What are some of the challenges that you have run into?
The main challenge has been the evolution of our platform. When you start something, you have an initial idea of what it will be. The challenge is developing a sustainable model that is in-line with the needs of your community. As you grow, you pivot based upon your audience and their needs or you change because you are discovering your voice and how to effectively communicate your thoughts to be aligned with your intent.
Why do you think it’s so important for women to collaborate?
I think it’s about us taking back our narrative from people trying to craft them for us. You hear stories about women being catty towards one another, but there are many scenarios women coming together, even across different countries, from different viewpoints. It says a lot when women put their legacy or reputation on the line for other women who they believe in, and when we see that something is not created for us, we create it for ourselves. It is really important to connect and share the stories about it. The narrative just hasn’t been there.
What is an “intrapreneur?”
An intrapreneur is a professional within an organization who takes on entrepreneurial ventures or projects or just has an entrepreneurial spirit and is able to act on it. It’s essentially an entrepreneur, but within an entity.
How did you pull off being a successful CEO at such a young age?
Success is not a destination or final stop. For me it is whether I am learning and growing, and whether I am helping other people around me do the same. Am I achieving what I set out to achieve? And if not, what have I learned? I focus a lot of time on what it takes for me to be happy and whole, and what independence looks like. I pay attention to society and the world, whether it’s through myself, my work, or my organization.
My day looks like this: I wake up, I check and answer emails from about 5-9am. Then I have my full-time job. After that, from about 6pm until midnight to 2am, I am working on Let’s Vibe or any of my other activities or ventures. It’s constant learning and growth. And I travel. Even if you don’t have the means to travel physically, you can you travel through conversation.
How do you balance working full-time with running your own organization?
It’s a grind. It’s hard work, but I look at Let’s Vibe and most things that I do as an extension of myself. In that sense it’s just more of me and me being able to fulfill a piece of life that I hadn’t been able to before. When I look at it as an extension of myself and my vision of being able to transform something from an idea and make it tangible, it makes it worth it. It’s not a job to me; it’s life work.
What advice would you give to networking newcomers?
If you walk into a room, and you’re nervous, the one thing you can do is remember your most embarrassing moment, and look out into the room and just remember that everyone else there has experienced something similar. These are humans. I think if we add the human element to networking, or just take away networking in general, you can just call it connecting. You can start a conversation about anything. It doesn’t have to be about someone’s tenure or everyday job. At the end of the day, they’re all just people. You can kick a conversation off with “what brought you here today,” or “what’s your favorite book?” Just connect on a human level and you will be fine. The long-lasting relationships will be those that are most authentic.
Last words of wisdom? 1. You are enough. Be that. 2. You have a voice. Use it. 3. Ask for what you want and be clear about it. Otherwise, it is rare that you will get it.
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