I spoke with the team at Bella Sante when we started to gear up this project so we could all get to know each other better. They sent me three questions to answer that will help all of you get to know me better, too. I'm hoping that my experiences and journey resonate with you ... I think most of us can identify with awkward teen years, thoughts about aging and why we choose to take care of our skin into our mid-lives and beyond. This is the final question I was asked to answer. The written version appears below the video.
Question 3: Why did you sign on for this project now?
Last summer, my job was eliminated. That’s how it goes in print journalism. A 30-year career wrapped up in the span of one zoom meeting. I spent a couple of weeks sulking on my patio with a margarita asking myself, WHY ME? I soon realized that was the wrong question. The right question is, WHAT NOW?
I decided I would follow in the steps of my parents and start my own business — I called it Maverick Studios, a boutique design and marketing company that helps other businesses with their design and marketing projects. This meant I would have to go out and meet a lot of new people at networking events, where I would have to talk about my company and pitch my services. It was — and remains — an uncomfortable thing to do.
What does that have to do with the Beautiful You project? Well, in the words of Wayne Gretzky, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.
Let’s go back to Shaunavon, my hometown. It’s 1986. High school gym class. On this day, we had been playing basketball. I sucked at basketball. (I sucked at most sports, to be honest.) A ball happened to roll across the floor and I picked it up, went to the top of the key, and I turned my back to the net. I told my best friend I was going to try to make the shot.
My gym coach leaned back on his office chair to watch, agape, as I lobbed that ball -- two handed, backwards, over my head, without looking -- and it went through the hoop. No net. I could never (like, EVER) make that shot again. So I’m really glad I took it.
Now that I’m out doing new things every day with my new little company, I am seizing the daylights out of every opportunity that crosses my path. So when I went in to Bella Sante last winter to book a Botox treatment, I asked them if they’d ever consider letting me try out some services and in exchange, I would produce content about it. It was a chance for me to demonstrate my skills as a content creator, multi-media campaign planner and video editor. Plus I'd get to test out services I have always dreamed of trying. I worked on a very detailed proposal, outlining a content strategy and production schedule, and hit send. The ball was in the air.
I didn’t hear back for more than a month. I thought my ball had missed the hoop. But Dr. Jubin came back with a thrilling reply, and said she wanted to reboot the Beautiful You project and wanted me to be part of it. So if you’re asking why I’m doing this transformation now? Because NOW is when I have the opportunity to do it. I stood at the top of the key and took the shot, and it went in.
We all know that life is too short to not take your shot. Do things that scare you, like starting your own company. Do things that push you, like learning to produce videos (bonus points if you do it with no makeup and in a bathrobe) and write blogs. Do things that make you happy, like sharing knowledge you're learning with other women who want to battle the clock a little and don't know where to start.
I am profoundly grateful to Bella Sante for letting me be their brand ambassador and for letting me connect with all of you. Keep asking me your questions. Follow our journey. And if you get the chance, throw your ball at a hoop. You never know, it might just go in.
Until next time,
~Michelle
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