Today we’d like to introduce you to Ayanna Carrington.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was still in college when I started working in Corporate America. I got a job in law firms right out of college and continued working in those spaces for close to 10 years. Working a traditional job was not fulfilling for me because of a multitude of reasons. Two of those primary reasons being (1) seeing the under-representation and lack of support of certain people in those spaces and (2) I realized a part of me was not thriving in those spaces. From there, I decided I wanted to start my own business and stumbled upon being a virtual assistant. I could take my skills and knowledge and use it to help small businesses.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it has not been a smooth road. One of the strange things about entrepreneurship is that it’s rarely simple, but you can weather a lot of painful circumstances by being prepared, being informed and by self-managing yourself the right way. I was neither of those three things. There were times where I ran out of money and had to use savings. There were times where clients didn’t pay on time or didn’t pay at all. But worst than all of those things was my inability to efficiently manage and leverage my ability to find the right solutions (which I commonly used for others) and come up with a plan.
Please tell us about Your Project Board.
Your Project Board is a virtual assistant company that pairs entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses with virtual assistants. We specialize in administrative and digital marketing services.
I’m most proud of the emotional incentive behind Your Project Board. What sets us apart is that we seek to work with minority-led enterprises, that we know are underrepresented in certain spaces. The entrepreneurs and businesses in our market want to make positive changes in their communities and we seek to get them the support they need to do so. This has opened us up to work with an array of businesses in different industries from legal to tech.
When people talk about why small businesses fail, they always resort to a lack of money being the main issue. However, I believe that it’s also in not finding and utilizing the right resource which is human capital, to help them scale and grow their business.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory was leaving elementary school during the week to go to ballet classes at this dance school called Ballet Tech founded by Eliot Feld, a ballet choreographer, director, and dancer. My first on-stage ballet performance was choreographed by Mr. Feld and I remember him coming into my ballet class and handpicking me to be a part of the ballet which was called “Papillon.” That opportunity opened doors for me and I’m always grateful for the experience.
Interestingly enough, a lot of entrepreneurs usually have a creative side to them and more than likely practiced in the arts.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yourprojectboard.com
- Email: info@yourprojectboard.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/yourprojectbrd
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/yourprojectbrd
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/yourprojectbrd
Image Credit:
Kid Willie Photography (www.instagram.com/kidwilliephotography)
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