Entrepreneur and Special Needs Mama!
Genesis A. Emery is a social entrepreneur, speaker, and global philanthropist. She is a trailblazing entrepreneur that founded The Little Dapper Collection and inspires positive change via her nonprofit The Little Dapper Project. Genesis hosts and produces“Mamas Making Money Mondays” an online digital platform to support female entrepreneurs. Not to mention she is also a single mother raising Noah her 5-year-old son with complex medical needs. She sits down for a frank conversation about her busy life as a working special needs mom on Episode 24 of the Raising Kellan Podcast. Here is a list of Genesis's businesses and projects and how you can contact her.
Genesis Emery and Noah
The Little Dapper Collection & Project
The Little Dapper Collection
The Little Dapper Collection
Noah is her inspiration for founding the “The Little Dapper Collection”- a children’s bow
tie company that grooms little boys into dapper young gentlemen, while raising awareness and giving back a percentage of proceeds to children with special needs. Genesis has used her economic empowerment to steer social change via a non-profit organization she founded to serve Chicago's underprivileged youth called “The Little Dapper Project”
Through The Little Dapper Project’s intensive workshop and mentorship program for underserved male youth, young men will learn the value of making positive decisions, and most importantly inspiring their peers to become future male leaders by leading by positive example. In addition to this, the 501(c)3 organization serves to lead fundraising initiatives to help support the boys financial and educational needs including text books, school supplies, field trips, and scholarships.
Mamas Making Money Monday's
The online show titled, “Mamas Making Money Monday’s” is a supportive digital media platform for women. Genesis hosts and produces the online show to spotlight phenomenal female entrepreneurs who are making a positive impact and using their authentic voice to show
both current and aspiring entrepreneurs what women’s entrepreneurship really looks like and the level of hardwork, tenacity, and commitment that it takes behind the scenes. The show airs on Monday morning on IGTV at 7:30am CST.
Amour Genesis
Amour Genesis
Genesis Emery is the founder of the Amour Genesis brand which is an empowering platform for female entrepreneurs that helps them to successfully balance the busy lifestyles between motherhood and entrepreneurship. She has spoken at women’s events such as, MommyCon, The Chicago Women’s Leadership Summit, and The Success Junkie Summit on topics such as “How to successfully manage having your own startup business and full-time job,” “How to become an effective entrepreneur while raising a special needs child,”
“The Top 10 Characteristics of Highly Successful Women,” “How Brokenness Can Lead to Bravery,” and much more! Genesis offers female entrepreneurs business consulting courses and marketing strategy sessions to help them become game-changing entrepreneurs in their
respective industries, while growing their businesses exponentially! Check out her website @ https://amourgenesis.com/
Let's Get Social
Instagram @amourgenesis, @thelittledappercollection
Facebook @Genesis A. Emery, @AmourGenesis @The Little Dapper Collection
LinkedIn @Genesis A. Emery
Transcript
Kellan Julal (00:21):
Testing, testing, Testing one to one, two, Testing. Welcome Raising Kellan, the podcast to motivate, inspire and educate parents raising kids with special needs.
Marsh Naidoo (00:42):
Welcome to this episode of Raising Kellan. I am your host, Marsh Naidoo. Today we are going to talk with Genesis Emery of Chicago, Illinois. She is an entrenpreneur speaker, as well as a philanthropist. Her brand is called Amour Genesis. Genesis provides a positive example of a single mom as well as a special needs mom to her son. Noah, stay tuned y'all for what is going to be some awesome conversation. Genesis, welcome to the Raising Kien podcast.
Genesis Emery (01:22):
Thank you. I'm happy to be here and excited and thank you for the opportunity, Lar.
Marsh Naidoo (01:26):
No, you welcome my darling. So tell our listeners Genesis, what were you like as a little girl growing up?
Genesis Emery (01:36):
Honestly, I was really, really playful very excited, kind of on the wild side. Just always wanted to explore and just be like a wild child, I guess. I like to have a lot of fun, but I knew since I was a little girl that God designed me to be someone really special. I have a very spiritual, faithful relationship with God and I just felt in my spirit that I wasn't gonna just be any old ordinary person. Nothing is wrong with that of course, but I just knew that God had a much bigger and higher calling for my life. Outside of that, I knew I was designed to be something remarkable and extraordinary. I didn't know how it was gonna happen or in what space, but I knew that God had really big plans for me and he's shown me that time and time again over the years.
Marsh Naidoo (02:26):
Who were the big role models or influences in your life? Genesis?
Genesis Emery (02:32):
One of them was definitely my grandmother. My grandmother is a very strong hardworking, hardworking woman. She's been working and taking care of her children since she was 14 years old. She's always did whatever that she had to do to sacrifice to be able to take care of her family and support her children. And she's just really big on motherhood,
Marsh Naidoo (02:53):
Genesis. Your values and what drives you is often learned by our environment as well as our experiences. Tell us a little bit about your school years and going on to college.
Genesis Emery (03:08):
Well, for me, I started off going to St. Louis University back in 2006 when I graduated from high school. And I basically majored in communication and I think I minded in French at the time cause I speak French. And being from Chicago, I decided that I wanted to come back home and finish my last two years of college here. So I finished my last two years at Loyola University Chicago, which is St. Louis U Sister school. And there I studied public relations and integrated marketing communication as well as advertising. And I just had a great experience there and I loved it. I do wanna get my master's degree at some point. Most likely I'm in marketing and entrepreneurship, so I've been looking at schools that I'm interested in. And other than that, I do a lot of learning on my own as well. I read books I do watch different tutorials and videos on YouTube. I read articles. I search for content that's relative to my industry. With me having a background in marketing and also being an entrepreneur, it's really important to me that I'm always learning and figuring out what's happening in the market and how I can better in my industry and how I can be a continual game changer and also lead other people into doing the same thing.
Marsh Naidoo (04:23):
Genesis, how did the idea come about for the Little Dapper collection?
Genesis Emery (04:29):
Sure. So the Little Dapper Collection is one of the first businesses that I started. I started the Little Dapper Collection in 2015. And the reason why I started it is because my son, Noah, who many of you guys may have heard of, he has special needs. A Noah has a very rare genetic chromosome disorder called Rubenstein Taby Syndrome. And essentially what happens is that children with Rubenstein Taby syndrome, they typically have genetic delays and different abnormalities at times they have medical challenges as well. So as an example, when Noah was first born, he had a heart condition which went away. Thank God he had a kidney disorder, which also went away. He had some abnormality and breathing issues and he was born with a cleft palate and a lot of other things. So many of those things have gone away. Now we're just working on therapies, so like physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and just working on Noah's overall development.
(05:30):
But he's really a blessing and a miracle. A lot of things that had happened with Noah when he first born, they're no longer here and correct themselves somehow. And he's just an intelligent kid and very highly functional despite his situation. But I knew from being a special needs mother and having a child with so many challenges and difficulties that we've encountered as a family, I knew that a lot of other families were going through the same thing. So I wanted to create a product that was going to help give back to them and help make a difference for them through our fashion and philanthropy brand. So our company, Lil Dapper Collection, we are in the process of rebranding at this time but Noah is the face of our company and we started it because of him to help little boys into becoming dapper gentlemen, while also giving a percentage of proceed to children with special needs.
Marsh Naidoo (06:22):
Can you tell me about the Little Dapper Project and how that ties into the DAPA collection?
Genesis Emery (06:31):
Sure. So the Little Dapper Project is a Little Dapper Collection non for profit organization. So what I do is I host workshops and mentor to Chicago's underserved youth. So I have a partnership with the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center and also the Boys and Girls Club. And I go there and I mentor to young Boys typically between the ages of eight years old, and to about 17 to 18. So we talk about things like life skills, respect, leadership, accountability. We talk about things like using our manners and being gentlemen and just different things that young men should know. There are a lot of underprivileged children in Chicago who don't have good homes that they come from, or positive mentors that they can learn positive examples from. So I try to be a bridge for them and to also just be someone of guidance. So myself and volunteers go there and we speak to the boys and we create workshop programs for them and just help them to be upstanding citizens and role models in society despite their circumstances and backgrounds.
Marsh Naidoo (07:36):
Guys, we're just gonna take a little break right now and I encourage you to go ahead and take a look at those beautiful handmade bow ties that Genesis sells on her website, The Little Dapper Collection. I love how she's taken her entrepreneurship onto a different level by becoming involved with her community and show, turning her economic empowerment into social responsibility by creating the nonprofit, the Little Dapper Project. I'm really excited y I've ordered Precaution Kill and matching Bow Ties as a dead son gift stitch. And to express how much I value what Genesis is doing in her community, Raising Kien is going to sponsor a gift card. And we are going to do a giveaway on both Instagram as well as Facebook on Instagram at Raising_Kellan and on facebook@raisingkien.org. So beyond the watch out for that giveaway, we are gonna go back to the show right now. And Genesis is going to now tell us about her entrepreneurship digital platform called Mamas Making Money Mondays. Hey Genesis, tell us about your journey into entrepreneurship and how you built up your brand Mamas Making Money Mondays.
Genesis Emery (09:13):
Sure. So as far as being an entrepreneur, I started when I was in college during my senior year before I had my son, Noah, being a single young woman, I used to host a lot of events throughout Chicago like beauty and fashion and lifestyle events. I did a lot of spoke modeling and photo shoots and I also did a lot of fashion and beauty blogging. When I became a mother, I decided to transition be a more Genesis brand to target moms. So it first became a mommy brand where I helped moms to balance motherhood and their careers and now I still do that, but it's more in-depth about helping moms to become effective game changing entrepreneurs. So with Mama's Making Money Mondays, that's an extension of the Amour Genesis brand where it's an online show that allows women to understand how to become effective entrepreneurs.
(10:03):
So as an example of that, there's so many things on social media that we see in terms of what entrepreneurship looks like, but being a business owner looks like, and many of those things are not true. We see the glamorous side of entrepreneurship, we see all the pretty photos and women taking trips and shopping and living the day of their lives. But in reality, entrepreneurship takes so much hard work, there's so much sacrifice because goes along with it. And for anybody who is an entrepreneur, they're gonna tell you firsthand what it looks like. For me. My days are long, my nights are long at times I have to make a lot of sacrifices, even time away from my son and still manage my life as a single mother. So entrepreneurship is not always pretty. And I like to use that platform to share insight with different women from different industries about what it looks like based on the work that they do.
(10:54):
So I interview moms and even women, we don't have children, but they are entrepreneurs in the beauty space, fashion technology, women who may be brand strategy coaches or PR professionals, women who are in medicine or may have their own fitness company. Anybody in the industry that's an entrepreneur who's a female. I use their stories and their insight and their tips and feedback to share with others what entrepreneurship looks like and how you guys can learn from them through their experiences. So we talk about real business matters, like how to drive sales, how to increase your profit margin, how to test out the market, what do you do when you don't have a minimal value product. Things like how to manage your SEO and how to optimize your social media. Those are things we talk about. Listen,
Marsh Naidoo (11:40):
What do you do to decompress and take care of yourself? Genesis, how do you take care of yourself?
Genesis Emery (11:47):
Well, to be honest with you, one of the things that I like to do when I can is really try to focus on enjoying my weekends. There are times when I have to still do some work on weekends or do a lot of work on weekends. It just depends on what's happening at that time. But for me, when I can take a day for myself and just have relaxation, I do that. I'll treat myself and go out to eat. My significant other in mine may spend time together. I'll go and get massages. I get my nails done every two weeks. When I have time, I may catch up on my favorite show or read a book. But I do things for Genesis if I want to. I have a glass of wine. I love going running. I was supposed to run the Bank of America Chicago Marathon this year, but it got canceled.
(12:32):
But I still do run. I have a treadmill here in my house. I go to the gym. I have a trainer that I work out with, so I just do things for myself. So whatever I need to do for me, sometimes I'll go shopping and I'll travel and take trips, but I always try to do something for myself at least once or twice a week to decompress. And I spend a lot of time with Noah as well. But at the end of the day, I'm a human being as well. And I try to give myself time to do things that I enjoy when I can. I'll spend time with my friends. I can't do it all the time, but I always try to do things that are positive and inspirational for me. That gives me an outlet. I love praying. I love listening to music.
(13:21):
I like to watch movies and just do things that make me happy. So I focus on that as well because I believe that as an entrepreneur who's successful work is very important obviously. But you have to have that balance as well. It can't just be where all you do is just work, work, work, work and nothing else. It needs to be where you're still enjoying your life because you don't wanna put yourself in a situation where you get depressed or where you're stressed out or where you don't have any happiness cause that's not gonna help you. And I've, I'll be honest, I've had situations like that in my life. I work so much where all I did was just focus on work and I didn't have anything else to look forward too, because that's all I did. I get to basics and learn how enjoy all over again, and I'm glad I did cause it's important. There are some entrepreneurs where all they do is just work and don't have anything else that they do besides that. But for me it's really important to have that balance.
Marsh Naidoo (14:25):
Genesis, I know that this is a question a lot of moms are going to help. What kind of support do you have or who do you call on when you need help?
Genesis Emery (14:37):
Honestly, when I need help or a break, I just pay for a babysitter. As you guys know, I am a single mother, so I pay for a babysitter. And Noah just recently got a PA, which is the personal assistant through the state because he has special needs, he qualified for that, which is really a blessing for us. But I have the PA coming over here every week. She works 43.5 hours a week, so it takes a nice load off my shoulder. So since I'm here at home all day working. Now I don't have to keep stopping every five minutes to do a G-tube feeding or a diaper change or potty trained him or stop from tearing up the house. I have somebody here to help me, which really makes a big difference. So she just started exactly two weeks ago, but it's been really a blessing to have her because before, I'll be honest, it was definitely a challenge managing all of this by myself.
(15:38):
So now I have someone here to help. And if any of you guys are listening to special needs children, if they have those programs in your state, definitely check into it. I just got that through, I think it's the Illinois Department of Human Services, but it's called a personal assistant and it's free. So because Noah has special needs, we were able to qualify for it. And it's just a certain amount of hours that they give you so that a personal assistant can come by and help. So she runs errands for Noah, She'll grocery shop for him, pick up prescriptions, come over here and watch him potty-train him, feed him, change him, bathe him, help him with his personal grooming, help him with his learning activities and education, show him how to do things like tie his shoe. The whole goal of having her is to help Noah to become independent.
(16:34):
So it's almost like having a nanny, but her focus is really just to help to provide assistance to Noah and to be a support system for him. So since having her, we've been working a lot on Potty-training and different things that Noah needs, but it's really been truly a blessing. So that's been a big help for me and I'm really grateful for it. So I encourage you guys, again, if you have that in your state, please check into it because it, it takes a village. And I'll be honest, since I have had her, it's helped to free up a lot of stress that I've had trying to manage my busy life as an entrepreneur and a mother. Because with Covid 19, typically Noah would be in daycare, in school, he goes to daycare and preschool. But when Covid 19 started, Noah's been home with me all day and this has been really difficult to try to get things done and manage my time amidst having this small child here. And I would have to stop all the time to attend to him. I'll be on conference calls and I have Noah the background screaming and he doesn't know any better. It's understandable but mommy still has to work. So now I don't have to worry about that. So please take advantage of that if you guys can.
Marsh Naidoo (17:55):
Genesis is indeed right. This is a stressful time for a lot of us. I know you will enjoy these episodes. They are episodes 17, 18, and 19 of the Raising Killing Podcast where we dive into some quarantine strategy series. That's part one, two, and three where we talk about yoga, relaxation, exercise, as well as the restorative power of being outdoors. So go ahead and give those episodes a listen when we come back, Genesis is going to give us some of her strategies, which she utilizes to navigate this time.
Genesis Emery (18:42):
I would honestly say do what works best for you. Just because you see somebody else on social media or even in your own community that looks like they have all the answers or they have everything all figured out, don't go off that everybody's situation is different and you have no idea what a person is going through when they're home, even if it's me. I know I do a lot of different things and you guys are probably wondering how I do it, but I'll be very honest with you guys. There are moments where I've had a lot of stressful times in my life since having Noah because at times it can be very difficult to manage on top of all the businesses that I have. So I had to learn how to find my way at times. I'm still learning how to find my way. One thing that helps me a lot is having a daily schedule and also taking notes.
(19:37):
I have a lot of notepads, but I take notes on my to-do list and what I have to do, and I use my calendar system, everything I have to do goes into my calendar, from my meetings to my conference calls to my campaigns or whatever it is that's going that's needed for that day and that I have on my agenda. It goes into my calendar so that I don't forget because usually my mind is so overwhelmed with different things I have to do on top of raising my son and being a mother that I forget things. And so for me, that helps me a lot. But I also had to learn to not compare myself to other people. There are special needs moms who look like they accomplish it all and they're doing all these different things and they look like their lives are carefree. And there's some moms who don't even know where to begin or where to start. And you don't wanna put yourself in a situation where you get burned out. You face anxiety. Your mental health is not where it needs to be. Don't put yourself through that stress. So just try to figure out your own lane and do what works for you and don't compare yourself to other people. People will share with you what they wanna share with you. They don't usually share with you the downfalls and the challenges.
Marsh Naidoo (20:43):
Yeah, the hard stuff, isn't it? Yeah, every day. I mean, it's not easy at all. I mean, every day has its challenges and at the end of the day, somehow you keep that hope and you keep that faith, isn't it?
Genesis Emery (20:55):
And I'm gonna be honest with you guys, there are times just, I'm a human being. There are times when I do get really stressed and I may have to cry for a couple minutes just so I can get through it. I guess it's like my outlet and my release, I'm not gonna lie, but over the weekend, I was really stressed this past Saturday cause I was just tired. I was tired. Noah is five and a half years old and he's extremely busy and really active and at times doesn't always like to listen to me. So I had to keep repeating myself all weekend about stop, no, don't do this, don't do that. Sit down. And I just got overwhelmed a little bit. So I found myself crying just cause I was just exhausted just from everything that I had going on. And I didn't really truly feel like I was able to enjoy my weekend the way that I needed to because again, working really hard during the week when weekends come, when I can, I wanna enjoy them.
(21:53):
That's like my personal time for me when I have an opportunity to have that as personal time. And I felt like before I know it, Monday morning is gonna be here and I'm spending my entire weekend trying to get my child together and trying to balance everything. And I'm sure just like you guys, everybody has moments where they cry sometime and they get frustrated or they may feel defeated. But after I get done with whatever little crying I have to do, I pray about it and I keep on going. That's really all that I can do. And I know a lot of times this type of stuff is not talked about on social media because people only want you to see the good stuff and the good stuff they have to offer. But this stuff is reality. People get stressed, people get upset, people get frustrated.
(22:39):
And for me, I do this by myself. I don't have a husband or anybody that's helping me raise my son. It's me. If I wanna break it's babysitter or scheduled for the PA to come over. And the PA literally just started two weeks ago. So prior to having her, it was me that had to figure it out. And so things are getting better now, but those of you guys who are struggling or having any challenges out there, managing motherhood as a single or special needs mother, just know that I hear you. I'm with you. I know exactly how you feel. It is not always glamorous. It's not always a rosy picture. We just have to try to figure it out the best way that we can. Take a moment to reflect, meditate, pray, Take a break if you need to, whatever you need to do for yourself, just do it and don't feel bad about it because our children really depend on us. But if we're not healthy and well, we can't be anything valuable to our kids either. So
Marsh Naidoo (23:35):
What next for Genesis Emory?
Genesis Emery (23:39):
Well, a lot of things right now, I just recently launched several business courses on my website to help women with entrepreneurship. So I do have a business course called Everything You Need to Know, Step by Step PDF Guide to Start your own business. So that's a PDF guide where women can go on there and they can learn everything they need to know step by step to become a business owner. It talks about how to get your business licensing, how to create your own business plan making sure you know why you wanna be in business, how to get business funding, getting license and legal, your forms and resources that you need and applications. That's all there. I have another course that's out which talks about how to get media for your brand. So how your business can be featured on tv, how to pitch media, how to write an effective newsworthy press release, how to build a relationship with media contacts that's there.
(24:33):
I even have another business course as well that talks about PR and how to build speaking engagement and momentum around your company. So these are all things that I offer in those courses and much more. But I do that because the Amour Genesis brand is essentially an entrepreneurial brand for female entrepreneurs to help them to become game changers. And by watching me with my story, me being a single mother and a special needs mom, I'm using my journey to highlight how that I can help them and giving them the tools and resources to be successful in their industries. So from there, they can watch the show. Mom is Making Money Mondays, they can purchase my business courses. They can also read my blogs and my content that I write on LinkedIn as far as my articles, they can follow the Little Dapper Collection that my son and I started. They can also support my nonprofit organizations. And then very soon in the future, I'll be releasing my very first book, which I'm writing now. So when that's out, I'll be sure to let you guys know so you guys can pick up a copy of my book. So
Marsh Naidoo (25:34):
Genesis,I'm gonna go ahead and close off with the last question. Okay. Just your honest reflection. If I had to ask you how has Noah changed you, what would your answer be?
Genesis Emery (25:48):
I would say that Noah has taught me how to be strong and how to really go after the things that I have feared. He just taught me strengthened and tenacity. I've been able to accomplish so many things since becoming a mother. I've been able to learn exactly what motherhood looks like and how to navigate and find my way through the uncertain times and really deal with my challenges. So Noah really has given me a lot of strength despite any adversities that I may have faced. And since having Noah, I now know that if I can be a mother and raise Noah, I can do anything that I want.
Marsh Naidoo (26:23):
Amen. We have come to the end of yet and the podcast. And this is episode 24, y'all. Episode 24 with Genesis Emery of the Awar Genesis brand. Go ahead and check out those beautiful handmade bows that she makes at the Little Dapper collection. And go ahead and follow her on social media. A young woman that is so inspiring. Well, until we see you guys the next time, always remember to get to the top of that mountain. And today we have a special guest that's going to be signing off.
Kellan Julal (27:05):
Well guys, until we see you the next time on meeting Kelly, do signing off. Remember, always get to top of that mountain. Bye guys. I'm done.