Octavia Goredema MBE is a career coach and the founder of Twenty Ten Agency. Her mission is to help underrepresented professionals advance their careers.
Octavia is the author of PREP, PUSH, PIVOT: Essential Career Strategies for Underrepresented Women, published by Wiley. She has coached leaders at renowned companies including Google, American Airlines, Tinder, General Motors, Nike, and Dow Jones.
Octavia was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by the Queen in recognition of her work. Octavia is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, where she leads the Gender Equity network in the United States. You can learn more about Octavia’s work at octaviagoredema.com.
Have you always wanted to be a writer? And how did your journey begin?
Yes, I always dreamed of being an author, for pretty much as long as I can remember. As a little girl I was just obsessed by books and captivated by stories. Back then my biggest dream was to write the kind of fiction books that I loved to read. But over the course of time, I gradually gave up on that dream. I just didn't think that I was good enough to be an author or that it was meant to be for me.
Then five years ago, while I was at a speaking engagement at the University of Oxford, I decided that I was going to do it. I decided I was going to see what would happen if I just kept pushing and didn’t give up this time. And that’s how this journey began.
What's your Author journey been like so far? (process of getting published, working whilst also writing etc.)
Oh, the journey so far has been truly amazing. It’s such a thrill to visit bookstores and see my book on their shelves, that never gets old. It always blows me away to hear from people who have read or listened to my book and hear how it has helped them.
My author journey began with writing a book proposal that I pitched to literary agents. After I received an offer of representation, my literary agency used the book proposal to reach out to publishers. I received an offer from my publisher, Wiley, and after my book deal was signed, I started to write my book.
I wrote my manuscript over the course of the year. I started writing in 2020 in the first few months of the pandemic. Looking back, that probably was the best time to write a book even though at the time it felt like it was the worst time possible. But I did it. I met every single one of my deadlines and my book, PREP, PUSH, PIVOT, was published in hardcover and also as an audiobook and ebook in 2022. Last month, PREP, PUSH, PIVOT was announced as a best business / personal development book finalist at the Audio Publishers Association Audie Awards, which truly was a milestone moment for me.
Tell us about Prep Push Pivot and what inspired you to write it?
PREP, PUSH, PIVOT is a career coaching guide for underrepresented women in the workplace. I'm a career coach and I work with companies to provide career advancement and leadership development coaching to their employees. I love what I do, but I recognize that most people don't work at a company that can pay for a coach to come in and work with them directly. As a Black woman I wanted to create a resource that minority women could use to address the pivotal challenges we face at different moments, whether that’s figuring out our next role, knowing our worth, negotiating salary, asking for a promotion, bouncing back from losing a role, finding a mentor or trying to balance our career goals as a caregiver or a working parent.
What advice would you give to underrepresented writers?
First of all, my advice would be to talk to as many authors as you possibly can. If you’re dealing with writers’ block, talk to others about how they handle that. If you’re looking for a literary agent, talk to other authors about how they found their representation. If you’re self-publishing or hybrid publishing, talk to authors about the vendors they used or the processes they followed. If you’re prepping for your book launch, talk to authors who have done this before to bounce around ideas for marketing and promotion.
Talk to as many people as you can but remember one person's journey won't necessarily be the same as yours. Try not to get overwhelmed, and don’t feel pressured to replicate exactly what someone else did. Be open to suggestions, but make sure you clarify what you want to experience as a writer and then commit to enjoying the process.
Do you have anything exciting in the pipeline for the upcoming year?
Yes, I have a series of events coming up that I’m looking forward to! I’m going to be speaking at bestselling author Jon Gordon’s Power of Positive Summit and I’m headed to New York to teach three classes at New York University’s Stern School of Business. And, I have a brand-new project that will be announced very soon that I’m super excited about. If you join my email community, you’ll be first to hear about it. I have a feeling that 2023 is going to be a memorable year.
Check out Octavia’s socials below!!
