Surround yourself with people who will support you and help keep your head up, even when things get tough. They will push you to keep your head down and keep going.
As a part of my series about “Grit: The Most Overlooked Ingredient of Success” I had the pleasure of interviewing Chelsea Beyerman of MOON Ultra
Chelsea Beyerman is the marketing manager at MOON Ultra. She’s a strategic, devil-is-in-the-details thinker and has worked throughout her career to build brands by always remaining two steps ahead of the game. Driven by data, fueled by caffeine and competition, she believe the best work is built when facts meet creativity, and ideas are allowed to run free and grow, before being reigned in and refined to an innovative approach. Chelsea currently lives in AZ with her husband.
Link: MoonUltra.com
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what events have drawn you to this specific career path
Sure! I’m originally from Portland, OR and Boise, ID, and ended up at Loyola University of Chicago for my undergraduate. I graduated with a Bachelors in Advertising/PR, and from there worked in various advertising agencies in Chicago and Austin, before settling in Phoenix with my (now) husband.
In Phoenix, I took a position as a traditional and experiential media planner/buyer at a small local agency, later transitioning into a data analyst position at an international digital media network. Within a year, I was internally recruited to join the influencer team, where I stayed and helped grow the team over the next 2.5 years.
It was during this time on the Influencer team that I met Edward Madongorere, CEO of MOON. Ed and I clicked instantly, and have been working together ever since.
Can you share your story about “Grit and Success”? First can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?
I graduated from college within a year of the market crash in 2008. At that time, finding a job (much less a job that was “college grad-worthy”) was near-impossible. I worked in bakeries, as a personal assistant, a housecleaner, anything to make ends meet and pay rent until I finally got my foot in the door at an ad agency, as an office manager. Staying persistent and keeping my head up for (literal) years after graduating from college while I worked jobs that I could have done right after high school really weighed heavily on my self-confidence and mental health. Pushing through, and eventually finding my footing, was a huge accomplishment for me.
Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
To be honest, the reality of being an adult boils down to the fact that there’s really no other choice than to continue. Had I given up, I would have essentially given up on the career I wanted and had been striving after for so long, without having ever even had it. I didn’t see my situation as being one where I had a choice to continue or not, there was only one direction to move, and that was forward.
So how did Grit lead to your eventual success? How did Grit turn things around?
While I can’t yet say I’ve “made it” in terms of being successful (Have any of us? How does one define success? Is this a lifelong pursuit, or something achievable by metric?), I once again lean on the fact that when it boils down it, it, I really didn’t/don’t perceive my situation as having any other choice. I know what I want to do, I know how I want it to turn out, and the only person that can make these “wants” a reality is me. So, I do it!
Based on your experience, can you share 5 pieces of advice about how one can develop Grit? (Please share a story or example for each)
- Don’t look for an easy way out. Stay focused on what you’re doing.
- Surround yourself with people who will support you and help keep your head up, even when things get tough. They will push you to keep your head down and keep going.
- Ask for help. Use your resources to seek advice. Let others help you move your project forward.
- Stop thinking of time as a Monday-Friday/Weekend calendar. Every day is just a day. Weeks and weekends don’t exist, because there are no days off when you have a goal.
- Don’t give yourself another choice. There is no other option than to get it done.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped you when things were tough? Can you share a story about that?
Most certainly. I would not be so heavily involved in the influencer marketing industry now if not for the person who originally recruited me to become part of the influencer team at RhythmOne, Caitlin Lucey. She trained and coached me in everything that is the foundation
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
As my career has progressed, I’ve had the opportunity to use my position to collaborate with some really awesome projects and people, including Meals on Wheels, PetSmart Charities and the Humane Society.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I am!!! It’s currently still under wraps for now, but I am working on a new venture in the at-home beauty space. I’m hoping this line of products will work to help bring an end to binary gender marketing of beauty products…We want EVERYONE to feel fabulous!
What advice would you give to other executives or founders to help their employees to thrive?
Don’t forget that what we do is about is ultimately about creativity. While we may get lost in the day-to-day dealings in making something amazing happen, don’t forget that what we do is part of a larger, beautiful creative process.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would solve homelessness! Providing quality mental healthcare, addiction treatment, providing education and training, and providing a stable network to rely on.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Here is one of my favorite quotes: “Everything will be okay in the end, if it’s not okay, then it’s not the end” by John Lennon. I remind myself of this daily. If something bad happens, I think… Okay that is not how I want this to end. It is up to me to figure out how to create that happy ending for myself.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
You can find me on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-beyerman-61a80b12/
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Chelsea Beyerman of MOON Ultra Light: Five Ways To Develop More ‘Grit’ was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
