Meet Marsenia Mathis of The Nerdy CEO in Powder Springs

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marsenia Mathis.

Marsenia, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
As a child growing up in a small rural town, I like many others had a dream. I am a native of a small Georgia town, southeast of Atlanta, called Swainsboro. I cannot speak for other generations, but as a millennial, when I was young, I was taught to get a college degree and to strive to become a doctor, lawyer, teacher, or etc.; you know, the cliché professions our parents thought were the only means to success. So, without a doubt, my ultimate high school dream was to become a pediatrician. I’ve always had an inherent fascination with the functioning of living things and how they work, so a career path in the sciences was a natural selection. In college, I majored in Biology thinking I would take the pre-med route. That quickly changed, when a chance encounter with a new class left me wanting to do research and pursue graduate school, rather than medical school. While in graduate school, another course, ‘Mechanisms of Bacterial Pathogenecity,’ challenged me intellectually and that is when I developed an interest in infectious diseases. The rest is hi… I mean the rest is science.

I have a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Master of Science in Microbiology, and Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology. Taking this career path has allowed me the opportunity to mentor and teach students, particularly those that have an interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics). Moreover, I have used the platform to lead group talks and speaking engagements at various colleges, career days at K-12 schools in my region, and have been asked to be a keynote speaker for enrichment functions. I have always been passionate about mentoring and helping others execute their ideas. I have taught and mentored many students that have gone on to become scientists, engineers and doctors.

The past 12 years have been spent working in my field as a Microbiologist, and I absolutely love it. One of my early long term goals was to work at the CDC. When that came true, I was elated. By now, it is no secret that I am slightly obsessed with infectious diseases. Working in Public Health is a passion. I love the idea of solving problems, identifying solutions, and helping others. Employed as a government contractor, I joined thousands of other colleagues in the quest of Saving Lives and Protecting People 24/7. Throughout my tenure as a government contractor at the CDC, I’ve dealt with multiple government shutdowns, switching of contracts, and more recently the loss of my contract due to lack of funding while on maternity leave.

At the start of 2019, still on maternity leave, and with no job; I had a vision that I would start my own business. In fact, it was the birth of my daughter that kicked the vision into motion. After going to multiple job interviews and getting zero offers, I decided to just go for it. Sure, I questioned myself, but remained faithful to the desire of being a business owner, and I remained patient. The factors that really made it clear that it was time to start my own business, especially after being unemployed for ten months were:

1. Not Waiting Around For Someone To Hire Me or Validate My Unique Talents And Skills
   2. Establish Generational Wealth and Leave a Legacy For My Children And Family
   3. Teach My Daughter That We as Women Can Do Anything and Be Anything We Want to Be

My very own life experiences have inspired me to want to help others pursue their passion and accomplish their goals. More importantly, I want financial freedom and flexibility in my day to day schedule, and more time to do the things I love like spend time with my family and travel. So in February of 2019, I have began the journey of chasing my dreams to entrepreneurship. I founded and created The Nerdy CEO as a platform to educate and encourage women to pursue and follow their dreams and to ensure them that they have the support, resources, self-confidence, and conviction to achieve their goals.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Of course not. Just like anyone else..…I too have experienced some of life’s struggles. After all, life is the best teacher. I think it’s fair to say that for every success story, there are many who slip because they don’t persevere through the trials of the process. Expect to struggle before you succeed.

With that being said, I’ve been hired. I’ve been fired. I’ve quit a job. I got hired again. I’ve dealt with horrible supervisors. I adapted to change when I didn’t want to. So you see, nothing worth having came easy to me. It surely wasn’t given to me on a silver platter. All of my experiences caused me to bend a little and be uncomfortable, but never was I broken. We all encounter these experiences at one point or another. That’s what teaches us strength, courage, and conviction.

Some of my struggles are my own personal demons. I have been afraid of change. I am oftentimes impatient. I have been intimidated before especially by those that were where I wanted to be professionally. I even have self-doubt. I spend a lot of time in my own head overthinking at times, but there are two things I know are for certain:

1. I AM CONFIDENT in who I am as person. I don’t seek validation from anyone. I am not perfect by any means necessary. No one is. But I own who I am, admit when I’m wrong, and stay true to myself.
2. I DON’T GIVE UP. There’s just something inside, I can‘t really explain what, that does not let me give up no matter how hard it becomes.

What I know for sure is that God’s plans are far greater than ours (Jeremiah 29:11 my favorite scripture).

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about The Nerdy CEO – what should we know?
The Nerdy CEO got its start with a simple idea…..to give women useful methods for accomplishing their professional dreams and goals. I love the idea of motivating women and helping them realize their full potential. It was created genuinely out of my desire to help other millennial working women achieve success in their careers and become girl bosses by starting their very own business. I, like many others, work full time as a Microbiologist; but I’ve always wanted to start my own business so I could have complete control over my financial success. I also wanted flexibility to choose the hours I work, and circle them around the competing demands of being a wife and mom. I am a firm believer that great things never come from comfort zones.

Having said that, I took a leap of faith to pursue my dreams. I’m always wanting to learn more, improve myself and the world around me. Over the years, I have found my career as a scientist to be rewarding on so many levels, but I have also realized that my purpose is so much bigger. My hope is to teach women how to live, work, and earn on their own terms, and to give them the resources they need to do so.  Since starting The Nerdy CEO, I have inspired quite a few people (both male and female) to go after their dreams by climbing the corporate ladder, having the confidence to ask for more, and stepping outside of their comfort zones to starting their own business.

I believe that we all can create massive impact in this world and when we finally start doing what we truly love, life changes for the better. Even if the changes are just incremental and almost unseen at first, they build up over time and create a compounding effect; that is why I created The Nerdy CEO. What I have learned is that it doesn’t matter where you start, or how slowly you go, as long as you don’t quit. That’s exactly why nowadays my greatest mission is helping people just like you—and me—create a life we love by providing the tools, resources, confidence, and motivation to help us get there.

In a nutshell, here’s what you can expect from The Nerdy CEO:

• Each week, we publish brand new inspiring and uplifting content on our social feeds (Facebook Page and Instagram) to help you achieve those career goals.
• We update you with Newsletters about what’s going on within the community.
• We offer professional services (i.e. 1:1 Coaching, Breakthrough Strategy Sessions, Motivational Speaking, Brand Building, and we collaborate with other businesses and organizations).
• We sell digital products (physical products are coming soon), so please be on the lookout for those in email, on our website, and social media.
• And every once in a while, we share updates about any new opportunities or events we have going on.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I can’t take credit for the success of my career path. There’s no way I could have gotten here all by myself. While there are many whom have played an intricate part in adding value to my success (aside from the Almighty God), I have to single out a few people.

The birth of my career as a Scientist began with two of my major professors from undergraduate and graduate school, Dr. Mustapha Durojaiye and Dr. Lee A. Aggison, Jr. I have always wanted to work with someone who has done the things I’m striving to achieve and can challenge me. They both helped me to set SMART goals, they kept me motivated, even at times I wanted to give up. They helped me work through difficulties by explaining concepts I couldn’t grasp right away, they provided opportunities for me to grow and excel as a scientist, they helped me with personal development, taught me how to develop tough skin, and their no nonsense, and unbiased point of view pushed me in the direction I needed to go, to succeed.

Now as for the establishment of The Nerdy CEO, I will have to say my biggest cheerleaders have been my husband and my family. While out on maternity leave, I had an epiphany moment one night with my husband and I told him what I wanted to do. He asked me the most logical questions a customer would ask any business owner, gave me the encouragement I needed and said, “Go for it Babe. I believe you can do it”. I remember asking him, “Does this idea sound crazy? Would people take me seriously? Or believe in what I have to offer? His exact words were, “Mollie, you already have a good following based on who you genuinely are as a person…….People admire you. They look up to you. Of course they’re going to want to know what you’re offering”. Not only that, he created an office space in our home (dainty furniture and all) with a customized desktop nameplate that said The Nerdy CEO, Marsenia H. Mathis. That was a pivotal moment for me because I knew he believed in my dreams.

I was a bit skeptical at first about putting myself out there because again, I wasn’t entirely sure how I would be perceived. But when I tell you the amount of support I’ve had from my family, friends, my hometown peeps, and sorority sisters…the feeling is overwhelming. They all have been huge supporters as well and I can’t thank them enough.

Pricing:

• Think Like a Boss: Ultimate Guide to Starting a Business eBook $11
• What’s Your Brand eBook $7
• 1:1 Coaching $750
• Breakthrough Strategy Session $250
• Motivational Speaker Starting $200 per hour
• 20 Minute *Free* Consultation