Black Rise
Welcome to Black Rise podcast, your gateway to inspiring conversations with the crème de la crème of Black talent, leaders of 7-figure and above businesses across a spectrum of industries. Your host is Flavilla Fongang, an award-winning serial entrepreneur and she will be your guide on this journey.
Black Rise isn't just a podcast; it's an extension of the first business platform dedicated to connecting the business world to talented, skilled and experienced Black talent. Our aim is to create connections, foster collaboration, and fuel growth by bringing together Black professionals, visionary entrepreneurs, and groundbreaking businesses. We're here to bridge the networking gap, facilitating collaborative growth not only within the Black community but also far-reaching into the broader world.
In each episode, we dive deep into the stories and experiences of our remarkable guests. They share their insights, challenges, and strategies that have propelled them to the pinnacle of success. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned professional, or simply hungry for knowledge and inspiration, Black Rise provides you with the tools and motivation you need to reach your own pinnacles of achievement.
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Black Rise
How To Build Multiple Global Brands - Karima Catherine Goundiam CEO of B2BeeMatch
Have you ever wondered how resilience can shape a person's journey through life's tumultuous seas? Karima Catherine Goudiam, our esteemed guest this week, offers an intimate look at her life story that is nothing short of extraordinary. From her humble beginnings in Senegal to her ascension as a global business titan, Karima unfolds the saga of her personal and career metamorphosis. Her experiences of profound loss and familial betrayal are potent lessons on character-building and the fortitude of the human spirit.
Karima's odyssey is a masterclass in adaptability, illustrating how clear communication and dogged perseverance can pave the path to success. Our conversation traverses her eclectic career shifts—from the film industry to the tech world, and ultimately, to her triumphant venture into entrepreneurship. It's a narrative that celebrates the relentless pursuit of personal growth and the determination to carve one's own destiny, refusing to be constrained by the expectations of others. Karima’s insights on the pivotal role of international networking and the strategic crafting of a personal brand will surely enlighten those looking to distinguish themselves in the global marketplace.
As we round off this inspiring episode, Karima's tale of empowerment serves as a beacon for anyone navigating their own professional and personal challenges. Her commitment to excellence, coupled with the unwavering support she garners from her team, exemplifies the true essence of leadership. We invite you to bask in the wisdom imparted by Karima and join our collective journey towards breaking barriers and fostering a future replete with excellence and transformative impact. This episode isn't just a podcast; it's an invitation to be part of a movement.
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Every single day is a blessing. The way I work is. Every day is new. I don't dwell on what happened the day before and do not take no for an answer. No is just the beginning of a conversation.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Black Rice Podcast. Get away to inspiring conversation with Black Rem de la Crème of Black Talent, who are leaders of seven figure and above businesses across a spectrum of industries. I'm your host, flavilla Fongang, and a world-winning serial entrepreneur, who will guide you on this journey. Black Rice isn't just a podcast. It's an extension of our business platform, allowing the business world to connect with skilled, talented and experienced Black talent. Our missions to serve as a bridge, connecting businesses with vast opportunities that lie in working with Black professionals, entrepreneurs and enterprises. We strive to showcase the value, creativity and innovation that Black talent brings to the table, fostering partnerships that drive economic growth, diversity and mutual success. Visit theblackricecom to find out more.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to welcome Karima Catherine Goudiam to the Black Rice Podcast. This is a fantastic opportunity to delve into a multifaceted expertise, experience and insight. As a CEO of B2Bmatch and Red Dot Digital KC, goudiam brings extensive experience in global business matchmaking, digital transformation and management consulting. Moreover, her role as the regional delegate of the International Chamber of Commerce and an involvement in federal government committees highlight her commitment to shaping policies and strategies in the business landscape. Her contributions as a guest speaker at various universities and her frequent appearances in the media display her captivating ability to communicate and share valuable insights.
Speaker 2:Let's get started. I'm so lucky to have you with me, karima Goudiam KC. I know we know each other very well and I call you KC, I call you Karima, and you know that I love to have the most amazing people on this podcast and so far it's been brilliant, and I know that with you it's going to be even better. And I love the fact that a lot of people in the UK probably don't know you, but you are a gem. You're a gem.
Speaker 2:You're not even in the UK, but you travel around the world. You're a globetrotter, you're a CEO, you're a mom, you're a wife. You're amazing. You are everything that everybody, some people wish to be, so I'm super excited to have you with me on this other episode of Black Rise. So, karima, people who probably never even heard your voice and are about to fall in love with you, I would love for you to take us for a journey from the beginning and I want to know how also to tell us about your childhood. What kind of child were you when you grew up? What were the people that influenced you when you grew up? And, yeah, let's talk about that.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, after that, how am I supposed to follow Like Fabula? This is such a wonderful introduction and it's my honor and privilege to not only be on the podcast but to have known you for years and seen your own journey. So thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 2:Pleasure.
Speaker 1:I was born in Senegal, so West Africa. My mom is Moroccan and my dad from Senegal. I was actually the first of my mom and the middle child of my dad, so I was we were a total of five kids, and who influenced me? You know what influenced me? A lot is just people around, and this is not something I have thought a lot about. But now, in hindsight, I'm really feeling that not only good things influenced me, but also bad things influenced me, for behavior I never, ever wanted to have. Sadly, my dad passed away when I was nine, so that is definitely an event that completely changed my outlook of life, and we had family betrayals, as you know, in some families, lots of turmoil and then I was sent to boarding school in France when I was 11. So that definitely changed how I saw things, but also how I saw people and navigated different environments.
Speaker 2:I love that you said. I think it's important people that now say that not everybody grew up with the perfect family and despite the struggle of a young child having to deal with the loss of the parent. But you say that it changed. You Are you saying that you became probably more mindful and less more cautious about who you were dealing with? And also, how did that also change your relationship with your mother? And also tell us about growing up in Africa?
Speaker 1:So I grew up partly in Senegal. Then we were to Saudi Arabia where my dad had to go to work, and that again, so very early on in my life, I was already changing environments very often and in Saudi people would say that it was the life of a princess, because we had a massive house. We had a very enchanted life that ended abruptly, and this is again something as a child. I do not wish that to anyone, but having lived the seeing the true nature of people, you know when you have a dad who is very prominent and very influential who dies all of a sudden, people change overnight and that is not something again that is talked about. It's very taboo to say that, but it is true.
Speaker 1:People change overnight because all of a sudden the reason why they were around you is not there anymore. So overnight you're not important anymore. So the people who were nice to you, who were thoughtful or who looked interested in you all of a sudden are not. And as a child, again, it's something that is very confusing to see. But this is the saying what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Every single time that I've had very difficult situations in my life, it was about it's not going to kill me, so it might as well make me stronger. So I would always learn from it. So what I learned from that period as a child was people are, people, are, people, are people, and I still use this expression, which is people are who they are and they're human, and they come with their flaws and they come with their qualities, and you just have to navigate different environments and just carry along what your vision is and what you want to do.
Speaker 2:It's beautiful and I love what you say that it's hard sometimes. Some difficult situation happens to us when we're young and sometimes it's important to remember that we can also learn lessons on this, even as a very young age, and I'm curious to know, in terms of, as you were young, traveling already really young did that influence you? Did the color of your skin somehow made you realize that you were different?
Speaker 1:So I have been black on, I think, almost all continents, like probably you and many, many of the people who will be listening to me. So I never wake up and think I'm black never, up to this day, I don't. My situation is funny because although I'm Arab-African, I identify as just me. I don't put a label on myself. It's actually society who, over time, has forced me to put a label. Actually, within my own family, I was different, having two backgrounds, so it's always like that and I've always had to justify where I come from somehow. So I've never really looked at myself and say you are black. I've always had to react to what was done or some reflection of being black meant, and that is really what somehow feels very I have a term that I always use it feels a bit yucky because you don't wake up choosing to be black.
Speaker 1:You are who you are and you live life through those eyes and through those experiences, and it is as far as it can go. I was actually when I went to boarding school in France and you're also friends, so you know how that is I was one of very, very few students who were black very, very few. I think the total of the school was 900 students across two campuses and we were maybe at most five black students. So again, very early on I felt a sense of being the only one and you just have to live. I think you just again, you just have to go through those experiences, build yourself a little bit like a Lego. You know one block at a time, and what you don't think is okay, you reject it, you react, you know you react to it and just make yourself a solid foundation as much as you can.
Speaker 2:I love what you're saying and I think it's so important that the rest of society makes us put it so forth that we're black, but we don't wake up and think about the color of our skin, but we are. Another thing that you say is very beautiful. But it's another thing that you say it's key for us, as we black people grew up in society where we are consciously ad numbered, that we continuously somehow the mechanism of our mindset is that we have to work by ourselves and culture, with that individualism, until we need to change our mindset for communism to be able to really progress together. But that's something that really stuck with me from the beginning of your story. So you did mention that you went to private school. What happened there?
Speaker 1:So the school I went to is actually not a private school. It's called La Ligeon d'Honneur and it's a boarding school that was established by Napoléon. But it functions like a private school. So to get in you have to you know, your parent, your dad or granddad or great-granddad have to have had done something and received a medal. So it's a very honorable school and I was. I did not know, my dad wanted me to go there, so when he passed away, that was the wish list, you know to for me to go there because it was. It's a very good school from a perspective of education and so on.
Speaker 2:Can I ask you, do you mind even ask you, what did your dad do? Because you talk about his even loss of a dad, but what kind of man was he?
Speaker 1:He was the most wonderful man ever, aside from my husband, and the story is also amazing. He was a Supreme Court judge in Senegal, but because of his position and his knowledge, he also was invited to work for international organizations like the United Nations and the HCR in Geneva, and so on. So a very, very long career of providing guidance, advice, frameworks for legal institutions.
Speaker 2:Do you think that, despite his, you know, the fact that he left, your life as a young age is still influenced to you?
Speaker 1:100 percent, even up to now. Why? Because he had a very, very solid moral code. And we know corruption in many, many different countries not just Africa, by the way, corruption is everywhere but he was one of those incorruptible people that you see in movies. He was one of those extremely strong minded, very, very strong, you know, strong minded, solid judges and he was also part of history of Senegal. He was one of you know. He was a judge in one of the very famous like cases in the history of Senegal after the decolonization.
Speaker 1:But that's not just that. I mean, he was a wonderful, obviously professional, but just his story was very touching and up to now I actually talk about it he was. He also had lost his dad when he was very young, and he was, you know how it is like in those ages, when it was early, early 1900s. He had to go and live with his uncle because his mom could not take care of him and his uncle, who was one of, you know, the rich people in the village, would not take my dad with him to go on in his car to school. My uncle would take his own son to school in car but would leave my dad at home to walk to school and many, many other stories, like he would not buy him shoes, he had to walk, you know, barefoot you know, and so on. So his own story of resilience and having taken him to where he was, he was is absolutely impressive, you know. So I admire him in that way and yeah.
Speaker 2:Do you remind people that if you have toxic family, it's OK to step away from them?
Speaker 1:100 percent and to some of the others of your life, even myself, I mean, I have a lot of family everywhere, right, and I don't choose to associate with everyone. And actually I have something that I have decided in my 30s, which is I only associate with people who give me good vibes. I don't care about family or professionally or anywhere else. It's important to surround yourself with, but actually you know what we are the sum of the five closest people that we have around us. So it's important that is good vibes.
Speaker 2:Good vibes, absolutely. So let's come back to education and your entry to work. What happened?
Speaker 1:So I, where were we? So boarding school. So I graduated. Then I knew France was nest, you know, there was beyond France for me and I was absolutely influenced by the American movies I was watching at the time. For me there was one way in life was go to the US. So, so as soon as I went, you know, as soon as I could, I did my tuffle, which is the equivalent in English, and I decided to go to the US. So I went to the US, stayed two and a half years. There was massive earthquake in Los Angeles, so my mom decided for me to come back closer and from there I went to London. So I went to the, to an American university in London, and graduated in business, international business, from there. Yeah, so that's how I fell in love with London at the time and I absolutely loved, how you know, just a great city, and I wanted to stay in London.
Speaker 2:One thing, one thing that happened to me is so what was your first job?
Speaker 1:My first job was when I went back to Paris. I worked with a production like a film production company called Merchant Ivory Production, which is pretty, pretty known in the film industry, and I was a production assistant there, so really doing everything they wanted me to do at that point Was it was different from what you seemed like.
Speaker 2:it was very different from what you study, or am I incorrect?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was different, very different, but there was the pillars of project management, pillars of. It was completely different. I mean, at the time and I'm talking 23 more years ago we did not have the internet like you, like we have now. Technology was definitely not as glamorous as it is now, and I tried. Actually, the story of why I ended up in Canada is pretty interesting, because I came back as a bilingual dual. You know, I had French nationality I still do, having a great degree from an American school, having already lived in the US and in London. And then I come to Paris and I'm like great, I'm going to find a job in what I love to do. And I started to apply to the big companies L'Oreal and the other ones and smaller companies and after 350 resumes I did not have a positive response and I decided to change my name on one of those resumes. So I decided to literally send the same resume but with a different name and I think I got a few responses, but as soon as I would be meeting them then I would not get the job. So that's when I decided that they had to be a better way that I could not continue to work in to not find the position that I wanted.
Speaker 1:At that time I had so much fire and ambition and I ended up having a last minute opportunity to join a group that was coming into Montreal and I think I the lady who, who had you know who helped me with the application said look, literally we're closing to like now you have to come now, basically, in the office and and finish the application. And when she saw my resume, she's like but you're over quality. This is usually for different types of profiles. And I said look, this is my story and I think I'm going to just go to America and see how it works. And this is how she accepted me and I landed in Montreal in April 2000. I started to work in marketing in a hotel in Montreal and then that's how I moved slowly in technology. My first job in technology was in Montreal at the time of the, you know, when it was booming, when it was the dot com era. Wow. So for marketing technology, what was your?
Speaker 2:I love, I love how our moment and I love ups and downs and some moment that really shifted the carrier. I'm waiting for that moment where you tell me something changed in your life that led you to a new direction, Purely.
Speaker 1:Pure determination, pure stubbornness, pure desire to never have somebody decide for me. Because when I was in the hotel, something very interesting happened. I was in marketing, in the marketing department, and one day I had to replace a colleague that was in reception. That was very unusual. I was in the hotel, I was in the hotel, I was in the hotel, I was in reception. That was very unusual. But I was asked to go, and because somebody was sick, so go and replace that person or reception. And then I was supposed to do that for five days and the next day my boss called me and said look, we have to remove you from reception. Nothing you've done. But we have had some clients come in and say that they don't want to. They felt uncomfortable being served by a black person. So, oh my God, that was in one year. That was 2000. Oh my God, 2000. 2000.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, it wasn't the first time that I had to live this kind of situations. So, and I did not have much choice from a perspective of career. I did not have a, you know, a visa that allowed me to change jobs. So I just, pretty much, I think a couple of days after that, I applied for residency in Canada. That was the trigger for me to be able to stay in the country and be able to move however I wanted. And also that was the reason as soon as that opportunity with the hotel stopped, I asked to move.
Speaker 1:You know, I was able to move to technology, pure chance, pure, completely by fluke. The reason I often say that to my students is the reason I moved from marketing to technology was because of the racism there was in marketing At the time. Marketing was almost like a chasse gardée, you know. It was almost like something that was, if you were dark, you could not really, you were not really invited to be part of the marketing Marketing. It was very front facing, you know. So rejection in marketing and all the glamorous jobs I wanted is what really brought me to technology.
Speaker 2:I tell you something. It's funny because I always wanted to work in advertising. But you know, in the UK or in France advertising was definitely not something that you could access to If you were not black, if you're not coming for big schools. You know big business schools and so on, and sometimes we don't realize that certain industry block access to diversity and you know talented individuals. Now I get to do things that I want now and test my creativity in so many different forms. But it's sad sometimes that we have to something negative. What I mean is that most of the time a lot of things happen when negative that helps us progress into something even better. And you know it is a. You know we don't realize in hindsight. Now we can see that sometimes it's a blessing in disguise.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. It's so true what you say. It's a blessing in disguise. But hindsight is a great thing. You know years later that we can turn around and be like okay, that's the reason why.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the reason and it's good that people can hear those stories because they realize that if you're going for tough trouble right now, what are you supposed to learn? I always say that, like, what are you supposed to learn this moment? Are you supposed to react? Don't let yourself fall for a victim, otherwise you will be the victim all your life. And when you face a situation where somebody says, oh, we're not comfortable having you, know, like not within safe ways, but not comfortable having you at the reception or whatsoever, it's basically okay, cool, I'm not wanted, I will go where I am wanted and find my own ways. But I love that you say as well that you know you take control. You know you have to take control of your destiny and not be subject to whatever good decide is your value or not your value.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely. Everything you said is rings true to me as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, so with the technology is your entry point? You know you've done a lot of things in technology. What has happened? I mean, I don't understand the phases of changes from the different ventures that you created, but also your involvement with the government now.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh, absolutely. So that was my first job in technology in. I started with marketing and then I moved on to, you know, other jobs and at the time again, I was a resident. I think at that time I was. I was having my residency, so having documents is not actually really really important. Point is, the reason I didn't I was stalled. I didn't have some of the jobs in the UK was because at the time I was always preferred for a British person, although I had a French passport.
Speaker 1:When I came to Canada until I had my Canadian residency, I was you know it was you couldn't move as easily because otherwise in a company would have to justify hiring me and not an already established Canadian. So once I had my residency it was way easier. That's when I continued to really find easier job. The fact that I was bilingual was definitely a plus. So I went on and I worked with KPMG, also in marketing, in a completely different role. It was not technology, but that was just a very short, interesting role. And then I worked in project management and project management was also something that fundamentally changed the course of my career. And then I took a course. I took a course at McGill, which was a graduate course in project management, and I made a post about it on LinkedIn on project management day, because this has always been, I find, the pillar of what led me to what I'm doing now. I think that was one of the most difficult class in my whole life.
Speaker 1:It was a one year course with a cohort. 99.9% of the people in the cohort were hardcore engineers.
Speaker 1:I was the only one who was not an engineer because in those times it was project management was very much geared towards engineering and I was the only one who was not an engineer in that course and I can guarantee you it was very complicated because, while a lot of the concepts made sense, a lot of them I had no clue what they were because I had not studied. And after that course I had a foundation, again, about understanding project management. So, taking in consideration what I studied a little bit of experience I've had, plus now the project management course I wanted to continue in technology. That was something that I knew, I felt that I needed to do. I don't know why again, I cannot explain why I was so attracted to technology, but I have made it a mission of mine to find a job in technology, to get into that field. So, after a lot of resumes sent, I finally got into a startup that had just been bought by a big organization and my boss, who I still talk to to this day, Nicolas Levit he's a French guy who had absolutely recognized me.
Speaker 1:When I say recognized me and this is important for people managing other people is I came in with no experience in that field and, as you know, agencies sometimes can be very exclusive. If you do not have the experience of agencies, they sometimes say, well, you don't have an experience in agency or enough fields. So again, you're not a good fit for us. So he had seen I did not have the agency experience, but still he said I'm going to give you a chance because I can see that you're very ambitious and I think you can be a very good addition to what we do. And that's how I started in true sense of my technology career. This boss was supportive. He was great. He was able to recognize how I was a bit different and how I was at the same time, driven. So that helped massively and really this was my first job in technology.
Speaker 2:Yes, a few things that you've done. It seems like you've been transitioning naturally into different roles and for marketing to technology, to particular management. People listening to this right now, how do you think has helped you transition to different type of roles? You know remote is.
Speaker 1:I call it survival. I mean really. I mean you know, when you don't, when you're constantly being told no, because in my life, you know, I've been constantly I've been more told no than yes. It's a fact. So when somebody you know, so you cannot wait for people to tell you no or yes. You can't wait for people, you have to constantly.
Speaker 1:You know, and this is why it was so funny, because when I went into this role I had not finished my degree in project management yet. So I used to be in my boss's office every week for him and be like I want the title because my role was project coordinator and for me that was not what I wanted to do. I was a project manager. He said, but you are not a project manager yet. I used to come to his office and demand more projects, demand more opportunities, demand everything I could, to the point where I remember his executive assistant called me highly intense and and I, and and that drive and lesson he is, you know he recognized how I transition is by, again, pure determination, because I knew where I wanted to go and it was just a matter of time until people caught up.
Speaker 2:Love it. And you know, sometimes you have to be so verbal about what you want to do, and I say that all the time. Don't ask people to guess what's in your mind. It's for you to make it very clear what you want to get. And you know, you know if you don't ask you don't get. So that determination that you say helps you get, keep on going, you know, going going forward and forward, and forward and forward.
Speaker 1:Again, when I say survival, it's simply because, for me, depression is not an option. I'm not really. I'm very blessed that I don't have that in me. I do not get depressed. I get very angry, but I don't get depressed. So this fuel is really what drives me to want to change my conditions, and circumstances which I do not want to be in.
Speaker 2:Love it. Love it as we continue this engaging conversation. Remember that Black Rise is more than just a podcast. We're a dynamic platform where businesses can connect, collaborate and prosper with black professionals, entrepreneurs and black owned companies. Our commitment to diversity, inclusion and empowerment reshapes industries and builds a future where black excellence thrives globally. So don't forget to subscribe and give us a five star review on iTunes. So what happened next? Tell us what is that journey to entrepreneurship started. Did you do more roles before you joined?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I've done so many things. Okay. So this is why I say I think I've done so many roles. Look, when I was in LA years ago, I even sold graves. It didn't last very long, but I did sell graves. I've done so. So so many roles and this is, you know, nothing scares me anymore. So after this role, I went to work. So I was in this role and I was. There was layoffs, so I was one of the few ones who were laid off and at the time I was pregnant with my second daughter. So it was fine. I went away and I continue to take classes, graduate classes.
Speaker 1:I've always done something I never actually had a time off and it was very interesting because at that time social media was just starting up and coming. You know, there was a whole hype about social media. So I decided to do consulting in social media because I was very good at it, I had done it professionally at work and I felt it would give me this beginning of freedom I wanted. So in Montreal I started to think I've never done before. But I started to approach clients, to go to events. All of a sudden I had to sell my services. It was a whole different ballgame for me. I was totally new and also using social media to brand myself and you know that you're in, you know you're one of your classes and one of your expertise is about branding. So it was a whole ballgame and that's what I did. I became an as I was starting to really, I want to say, have my name buzzing around and people referral, come in and having a good business model.
Speaker 1:I got approached and I got offered a job, or you know, by Deloitte. So in the time I said, well, I'm moving to Toronto so I can't take the job. And at the time, who is going to be my boss said, well, you can do it in Toronto or you can do it in Montreal, which was perfect. So this is why, when moving in Toronto, I integrated a big company. That was important for me to have also a big company on my resume. I would come into a new city, new network. So having an organization like Deloitte was really exciting and at the time I felt like it was a good compromise. You know, because I was still consulting wasn't like my company, I wasn't growing a company. So I arrived in Deloitte. The job was amazing. It was about digital, digital marketing in an amazing department. I was in management. Finally, I thought that was going to be it right and I'm at Deloitte doing my things.
Speaker 1:I've met, honestly, two of the most amazing women at Deloitte. One of them is Annick Paradis, who is still at Deloitte, and she was not my direct boss, but she was my dotted line boss, chief communication officer at the time A wonderful woman who and you would absolutely love her because she supports women you know one of those women who supports women really and to this day she does that and she gave me opportunities, visibility. She allowed me to flourish in my role. And the second one was my boss, kathleen Jean-Pierre, who is a black woman who left Deloitte for Google and now she's at LinkedIn. She's absolutely fantastic as well, and those two women really are the ones who have shaped my career.
Speaker 1:So, unfortunately, kathleen left for Google and I'm not blaming her for that, but what that meant is the reason why I had stayed so long wasn't there anymore. It was a bit complicated. It wasn't the vision, was not what I wanted, and in hindsight, I was really an entrepreneur. People actually around me who'd still talk to me say you were still you were ready an entrepreneur at that time you were, you know you were managing the department like if it was your own company.
Speaker 2:So business, that you know what that's when I speak to people, for example, different companies Amazon is probably one of them who asked this. They want everybody to behave like an entrepreneur. So it's a good thing because it means that you are driving revenue even though the money doesn't go on in your pocket exactly.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. That's an interesting point. What I found is they love your entrepreneurs spirit, but as soon as you get into the job, they don't necessarily can support it, or sometimes it does contradict some of the values internally. So it's a lot, you know. And also, big organizations just is a different again ballgame.
Speaker 1:So at the time I got, I started to get hunted, like had hunted a lot. So I was offered a job as a director for digital transformation At a big law firm in Toronto, which I took, and with the promise of making a lot of changes. And then after that I went to work with a big agency one of the biggest one here in Canada, on the Ford account, so for the automotive account, again as a lead for multiple different Programs. So I was at the height of my career was fantastic. I would have been able to hop jobs every year, year and a half and just get a salary increase bonus, whatever you wanted it was. You know, I was in every headhunters list.
Speaker 1:I approached a lot and then it wasn't that. I, more and more I felt that, yes, I had amazing results I mean, we won awards, I participated in one of the best campaigns but my, what I wanted to do was be the one created things under my terms. I had values that sometimes clashed with corporate I'm. I used to find myself fighting a lot for my team, in the sense that sometimes they would be treated unfairly. Sometimes my own clients would not get what they paid for because of process or because of how it works, and I would just find myself constantly having uphill battles to try to do things that were right, and so I just resigned and decided to start my own business.
Speaker 2:What was that first business of yours?
Speaker 1:so that was in 2015 and and I started Red Dot digital. So Red Dot digital, that was my own agency, working with companies and helping them in digital transformation. So we started with social media strategy because at the time that was what was really selling. And what you will find with Red Dot digital is we have evolved as the market evolved. So we started with doing a lot of social media strategies and execution, then we just focused on strategy and business transformation, then it was strategy and technology advisory and right now we purely do technology solutions. So it has evolved in those eight years. I love that.
Speaker 2:I love that you people would sometimes say say you know, start a business and remain the same and not able to pay attention to the market and becomes with. They basically fire their own, they make themselves redundant in a way. So I love that you say you know, you listen to the market, you see what the demand is, you see what the clients wants I'm guessing as well and you adapt and you can see where's the need and where it's not sufficiently covered to do that. That this helps us to discover the agency.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, because, as you know, social media started to become for me less relevant and more smaller jobs. We had to pivot right and strategy was bigger paying jobs. So we had to scale and we had to also and this obviously changed the nature of who we would hire. So also the people we would hire would be completely different over time, starting in social media. So there was a lot of, you know, designers, content writers, social media managers, and now we have a whole tech team, you know, able to build products, tech solutions. We also have a business and marketing team, which is separate, but it's absolutely that, yes, completely the nature of the jobs that I'm hiring for are completely different from even, I want to say, five years ago.
Speaker 2:Can I ask you a question? How did you think that you managed to differentiate your business in a pool of individuals and companies to do exactly the same thing, to scale a business to, of you know, more than a seven figure business? Now what would you say is your thing? Why have you done?
Speaker 1:It's. It's not easy. I've traveled, I traveled a lot, I did a lot of traveling. I've also kept iterating, and you know that you do the same, right, it's about iterating I'm. Once we implement something, I'm on to the next. I'm constantly optimizing, constantly optimizing, constantly seeing how we can do things better, faster, bigger. I also look at international. So international was always easier for me and it's a differentiator as well. While most organizations will focus in one city, one area, one region, one country, I immediately look at international Because I'm very comfortable in that space, right? So that's a differentiator. I'm also very savvy on social, right At the time. So you know you could be very savvy on many different platforms. Now you have to be a specialist in one. But I know and understand being digital already helped a lot because I didn't have to struggle to make myself known, to have to create networks. You're doing a personal brand.
Speaker 2:You really underestimate the power of personal branding. Yes. So again, something you don't need to jump on all the platforms that are there by really be where your own, your audience is. And again, you know the importance of also networking. And networking doesn't stop at one city or one country. If a business is in Saudi Arabia, why are you not going to this event in Saudi Arabia? If a business in America, why not going to a survey in America and be there? And I think that ambitions really a clue.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I want to emphasize that what you just said is exactly why I created my second business. The reason is I was traveling all over the world, I mean.
Speaker 1:I went all the way to Kuwait, right, and Canadian companies usually don't go there, I mean, unless they're teachers and doctors. So people were very surprised when they you know, when they found that I was a business person in Kuwait. So, however, this whole diversity of I want to say experiences is really what brought me to who I am today the struggle, the opportunities and also one of the things I've done. When I started to go back into the UK Because I stayed a while before going to the UK and then in 2016, literally the day after Brexit, I was going into the UK for the first time for family vacation it was very surreal because I was like everybody is going to leave the UK and I'm coming in. But I saw an opportunity as well.
Speaker 1:When Brexit happened, a lot of organizations, companies, decided to not do business with the UK or they were revaluating the UK, and that's when I decided to invest into the UK.
Speaker 1:So I would come to the UK many, many times a year and that's, you know, with trade missions. On my own initiative, and after a couple of maybe less than a few months, I decided to join a Chamber of Commerce here in Canada. That's a bilateral Chamber of Commerce which would allow me to at least have an opportunity with British businesses as well as Canadian businesses, and very early on I joined as well the board. So I was invited to join the board at that Chamber of Commerce and then I became the vice president of the board and supported transformation there. Again, all this to say you have to keep networking, you have to keep looking at opportunities, and it's not because someone tells you this market is not good for such and such reasons that you have to take that at face value and you do not do your own due diligence. I think it's all a matter of what works for you.
Speaker 2:Love that. Love that Networking. Build your personal brand. Go where nobody goes, as a certain thing I do when I drive everybody goes right. I'm going to go left so I can find a parking spot.
Speaker 1:That's exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2:Is there anything that you wish that you knew sooner, or maybe think that you think that would have helped your career progress? I mean, you did well for yourself. Anything that you wish that you've learned sooner, or maybe mistakes that were great lessons.
Speaker 1:I embraced less mistakes. Actually, failure is one thing that I always tell my team is let's do them fast and we bounce, we bounce, we rebound. I'm not scared of mistakes, I'm scared of wasting time. To me, mistakes are a blessing and you can just always learn. What I wish I had before is absolutely a very rich uncle who could give me a lot of money to start To contribute and invest in my organization. But there's nothing I regret. But I'm not someone who is wishful for stuff. I'm just creating the opportunities myself Because I know how hard it is for us. I mean, it is hard for everyone.
Speaker 1:It is what it is. I just move on. I don't take a lot of time reflecting. Actually, this is funny because usually I'm on the other side of the mic Talking to people about their own journey. Talking about mine is. Thank you for allowing me to do that, because I'm reflecting on things I'm not always taking time to reflect on 100%.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to compliment what I'm saying, but the mindset of a successful black female or just an entrepreneur I'm not going to say the black female, but the mindset of a successful entrepreneur is, first, ability to be resilient in tough situations and bounce back when you're not wanted or things are negative, but also to just go where nobody goes If people would like to play it safe. You don't play it safe. And also understand the power of building and having a voice and building your network. Is this something I have missed? Do you think part of the mindset of a successful entrepreneur?
Speaker 1:I think we'll see if we're successful when we're at the end of our life very old and successful at that time, I hope. But I think we're still in the trenches, right, and every single day is a blessing and the way I work is. Every day is new. I don't dwell on what happened the day before. If it's great, then I move on and I continue, and if it's bad, then I rebound and I learn from it and I move on. And what you said definitely it's foundation as an entrepreneur, regardless, you have to absorb that. I think you have to have thick skin. It's something that you've used as well recently in our conversation. Sorry, remember that you have to and do not take no for that.
Speaker 1:You know it's just the beginning of a conversation. Just you know you can't. And learning, constantly learning, is very important because if you learn, you'll be able to learn from your own customers, for your stakeholders, for your peers, and your environment will constantly feed you information.
Speaker 2:So true, and something that you say. You say you do not know if you're successful until you die. So what is your definition of success then?
Speaker 1:Yes, For me it's a balance.
Speaker 1:You know you can be successful in your professional life and you might have problems in your personal life, or you might vice versa, or sometimes it's health related. I think it's a gentle and fragile balance. Success and we know that, especially with social media, a lot of people who look very successful and after a while we found out that their life was in hell and they had this and this problem. So this is why I never dwell on or celebrate. I'm very, very grateful, but I don't dwell on either failure or a success because for me, they're very temporary, they're very fleeting, it's something that is, you know, it's momentary, right, and what I judge? The same way I judge people. Friendship this is why I value our friendship is over time and I value things over time If I have been able to align my values with my life.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm talking about. I think it's sad that sometimes we only measure success by the number of zero on a bank account, and I like the fact that we can reevaluate what success is. For me, success is time. For me, success is family time, time to live your life, time to make an impact, time to not be worried and do what you really want to do. And time is success is freedom. You know, if you don't have that, what is the point? Because you can also be successful and have a great business, but you have no freedom to live and do really what you want to do as well. And success is being able to switch off as well when Christmas comes around, and so on and so on. So a lot of things like that.
Speaker 2:You know, success is defined and we all define success differently. I think one thing that we tend to use in business is always money and swipes. Put all these people in the magazine and decide who is successful or not, and then, as you say yourself, behind you know, behind closed doors it's another story of disaster. But that's why we say we would not compare your life to me, to anybody that you see other, because you don't know. Nobody's life is perfect and we all create out there, playing facade to showcase one moment over 24 hours of life. It can be better.
Speaker 1:Exactly so much wisdom, absolutely, but and this is why, also in time, we try to always be authentic Authenticity is another form of success, because if you are able to align who you are with what you are inside out, without fear, I think that's another measure of success. Right so? And you know, we're in the trenches. We are definitely in the trenches, and this is why having built B2B is really important to me, because the reason, the real reason behind B2B match so my, you know, the AI based matchmaking platform that we connect all businesses on the real reason is because I was doing all the strips, all the travels, all the networking, I was paying an enormous amount of money to chambers of commerce and associations and I was not getting ROI, I was not getting any business or referrals.
Speaker 1:And, furthermore, what really annoyed me is we hear everywhere that small businesses at the backbone of the economy and we have to support them. But, in essence, no matter where you are in the world, small businesses are rarely supported. And not only are they rarely supported, but they lose out to bigger businesses, and I found it so unfair and I found that they had to be a better way to support that ecosystem, and this is why I created this audience, this platform, and I'm very proud of that, because not only am I obviously doing what I love, but I'm also supporting my own fellow SME around the world. We obviously now have big companies on the platform, so shout out to them, but it's massively small and medium organization from now 99 countries and 160 sub sectors, so that's very, very important to.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that comes back to the first point that we said at the beginning of this conversation that we quite often find ourselves in isolation and having to go through life as an individualist mindset, where we actually stronger if we bring people together as a village and know that you can find anything that you want in one marketplace. And that's what you've done with your platform. It's been a great interview and I have one last question, which is my favorite question. I'm curious to know what is your vision of your future?
Speaker 1:My future, oh wow. I want a future where I will be able not only to help my own self start with me, but I want to be able to support others in their own vision. Having an impact is something that is extremely important to me. I want to be able to help people find their own passion as well, and if that means by talking to them, by just being around them. Sometimes it's just a fleeting moment where we have a conversation, but I think it's important to all be very authentic, happy in what we do and accountable for our life, and the future for me looks like that, and I feel like when you're aligned, amazing, magical thing happens.
Speaker 2:And I couldn't say any better than this, and this was perfect. This was Carima Catherine Casey Gunja, the Canadian entrepreneur, ceo of BTB Match, a global business platform, matchmaking platform I said that twice Digital transformation and management consulting firm. I mean, you know where to find her. Don't tell me there's no talent in the black community. You have her here. Even on the other side of the world, she will come to you with a team to help you and support you. Carima, it's such a pleasure to have you and thank you so much for blessing you with your wisdom and your fantastic journey of resilience. You know from growing up in Senegal and traveling around the world already from a very young age, and you haven't stopped and I hope that you stop as well to relax. I know that you love working and yeah well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for having me, and yes to your own success Cheers.
Speaker 2:Yes to Black rice and to more. Bye everyone. Thank you for joining us on this episode of Black rice. We hope that you found this conversation as inspiring as we did. Share your takeaways on social media and tag us as we wrap up. Remember that you can always stay connected with us. Join us on this journey of elevation, motivation and empowerment. Let's rise together, break barriers and create lasting change. Subscribe now to stay updated with our latest episodes and visit the black ricecom to find out more. This is Black rice where excellence and impact converge to redefine the future. Until next time, keep rising, Thank you, Thank you.