Today we’d like to introduce you to Zollyann Howell.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
There are so many phases and chapters of my life story that have gotten me to where I am today. But I honestly think it came down to the chapter where I felt truly burned out, hungry for more in life and desperate for a breakthrough. See I had all the tools in my box that I needed to get me somewhere in life, I graduated college with my Bachelors and even started a career as a Teacher and in the midst of all that, I also became a mother. And that’s when my life started to really change. Having my children became my biggest motivation because it pushed me to want more not only for my children but I wanted more for myself. What most people don’t tell you when you become a mother is that life is no longer about you, not intentionally but you become so absorbed in that role that sometimes you forget or neglect your own wants and needs. And I was good at neglecting mine until I started to run empty. In 2019, the year before my 30th birthday I had a meltdown and fell into depression. And it was in those moments of being alone, being in the dark and being afraid of losing this battle called life that I had to get up and start taking care of myself. I spent months in therapy, meditating, praying and trying to get back to who I was. I didn’t want to neglect my needs and wants anymore. During one of my meditating sessions, I decided to create a list of 30 things that I wanted to accomplish before my 30th birthday.
That was the start of me evolving, discovering my true passions and truly finding my happiness and niche within this world. I woke up one morning and just decided to quit my job as a teacher. Many people thought I was crazy to walk away from my career but at that moment I didn’t care. I knew my mental and physical health was more important so I took every penny I had and put every minute of my time into accomplishing those goals that I wrote on that paper. I started to transform my home into an in-home family daycare because I knew that would help me get some type of income to keep my family going. While I was going through the approval process for my daycare, I started selling candles as a side gig to make extra money. Boy was I hustling! I saved the money I made from selling candles and used it as start-up funds to start my own online boutique and pay for the illustrations for my books that I wanted to publish. Little did I know a pandemic was going to hit months later. The new year came and so did covid-19. I didn’t let it stop me. I kept on with my plan and went ahead and launched my first two children’s books and my self-help book on my 30th birthday. Accomplishing that goal sparked a bulb inside because it made me realize my true potential. So I started putting in the work. Few months after launching my books, I launched my online boutique. It made me realize that I was always one decision away from reaffirming myself that my dreams matter and my dreams are attainable if I do the work.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I haven’t felt a smooth road since I became an entrepreneur. I failed a lot and learned a lot. As an entrepreneur, I’ve made all the newbie mistakes. I can still remember the frustration, stress and confusion I felt as I struggled to find answers. And even my fashion intern experience from Seventeen Magazine didn’t prepare me for what I needed to do to run a business. I remember when my first order finally came in, I didn’t even have a box for shipping! I can laugh about it now but when I think back, I still feel the stress of that day: scrambling around, trying to figure out what to do and how to do it all on my own and beating myself up for making a mistake. And that’s not even half of it. What I would’ve given to have someone show me the way, step by step and save the time, money, headaches and tears from trying to ‘make it happen’. But I stuck with it and got smarter. See, I walked away from being an educator for nine years and I left with no plan, a little bit of money, BIG faith and a strong Mindset! So many days and nights were rough in the beginning. There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes of being an entrepreneur that people don’t get to see or hear about. From hiring to firing employees, bad business deals and partnerships that I should have never even considered to begin with, losing friends and family because I started putting myself first, and the list goes on. For every month that business was good, the next month it was not. There were months I went from meeting my sales goals and then there’s months I made no sales. But it made me smarter and it made me more aware. That is where a lot of my resilience was built and a huge chunk of my personal growth happened.
For every bump in the road, I used it as a lesson to learn and built myself back up. I had an amazing year as an entrepreneur, met some amazing people and did some things that I never dreamed of. But it only happened because I got up every time I fell and kept pushing myself because I believed in myself and I believed in my purpose.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Since resigning from my full-time teaching career, I’ve went on to publish three children’s books and two self-help books, which includes the Best Selling Title “Your Mindset is Lit AF”, officially claiming my “label” as Writer. I’ve also launched a Fashion boutique called BAE & CO. that provides luxury, quality and trendy fashion items to women of all shapes and sizes. While running my boutique, my passion for teaching and helping was still growing and inspired me to relaunch my daycare as an Online Learning Academy. ZAM Learning Academy is a Virtual Preschool and K-2 In-Home Learning and Online Enrichment Academy where we strive to engage Learners, enhance academic skills and make learning fun through our virtual programs and digital workbooks.
I have a lot of labels, but they are just that- labels. They don’t define me. What defines me is my compassion. And that’s what sets me apart from the crowd. Whether it’s teaching a classroom of first-graders or selling books and clothing at pop-up shops. Whatever journey or project I embark on must touch my heart. My passion lives within helping people which is why I started my book gifting program called “Zee’s Virtual Library”. Zee’s Virtual Library is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age eight, no matter their family’s income. My goal with this virtual library is to foster a love of reading amongst preschool and young children and their families by providing them with the gift of free books and reading resources. As of today, we’ve provided over 150 book boxes and over 400 books to children across the country and internationally. I was even able to start a GofundMe to help provide books to children in Cape Town, Africa and so far we were able to provide 132 books to families in Cape Town. I use portions of my sales made from my book sales, ZAM Learning Academy and BAE & CO. to help me continue to fund this program. So whenever anyone supports my brand and businesses, they’re supporting this mission.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
There’s a lot of qualities that contribute to my success. Honesty, determination and organization is definitely top tier. But the number one quality is my mindset. My mindset is the filter that I run every decision I make and the circumstances of those decisions through. Working on my mindset allowed me to open myself up to believe that I was able to achieve the success I wanted and I followed through with determination by doing the work to get me where I am today. Having a “bulletproof” mindset as I call it is crucial to achieving the level of success you want. If you can change your mind, you can change anything because you are in control and that’s the secret that I feel so many people overlook in life.
Contact Info:
- Email: contact@bossbabemove.com
- Website: https://linktr.ee/bossbabemove
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoll_inreallife/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zollyannhowell
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/zoll_inreallifemhttps://twitter.com/zoll_inreallife
Image Credits
RTW Photography Studios
