Girl Boss: Candace R. Young
February is the month of LOVE; I am switching up this month’s post to feature someone near and dear to my heart. This post features my best friend whom I met in undergrad at the University of South Carolina-Aiken. It was something about her bubbly, go-getter, super smart, always questioning, loud personality :-) that I just gravitated towards. She has changed my life in many ways over the years. I can always count on her to be there to give it to me straight whether saying "Krissy go for it, you will do great" or even "Krissy, now you know you are wrong." We have such an organic friendship whether it is talking every day (gossiping sometimes), lifting each other up, giving advice, couponing- we have been each other’s biggest supporter. Life is not always easy, but having a group of people who uplifts you makes the task much easier. I'm so proud of her and her many accomplishments. I would like to introduce my GIRL BOSS, my Doll, Candace R. Young, OTR. Check out our mini interview:
1.How long have you been in your profession? I have only been doing occupational therapy for almost 3 years. 2. Why or how did I choose OT? Well, I initially was a nursing major, accepted into the program and completed a year of classes. In my second semester, I failed two classes which meant I was kicked out of the program. So I spent my day crying because failure was something I didn't digest very well at that time. My mom called me and said have you heard of Occupational Therapy? At that time I didn’t, but I did my research and observations; I have been hooked ever since. 3. With everything going on with work/life how do you stay focused? When it comes to staying focus on my vision, I have plenty of off days, who doesn't? I find myself in meditation a lot and thinking about my future and what I want to accomplish, because of that and writing a lot of things down is what helps me get back on track. Looking at my goals every day is a constant reminder. Also, just experiencing life daily and being thankful for all the opportunities I have been afforded and currently experiencing now helps draw me back to priorities. I stay in church and bible study faithfully along with my daily devotional readings. I seek to live and operate in and out of my purpose, therefore it keeps me going. You never know who is watching or may need you to help them with their vision. 4. How do you set your goals? When I set a goal, I look at a timeline on how soon I can reach it and making sure it's realistic. Often times I have set goals before and made unrealistic timelines and failed, once again I don't like the failure. So, once I set a goal, reached it, work with it for some time (timing differs for everyone), I'm on to the next but still working with the goals already met. So, once one goal is met the second goal in line is partially met because the first one was a stepping stone. Just to let you know it’s okay to not succeed at a goal, just knowing that a lesson has to be learned because it needs to be applied to something in the future. Keep pushing! 5. What keeps you motivated? Okay, let's be honest, during the course of my education from undergrad to graduate school to now a working woman in her career a lot has changed. If I could add up all the moments and days that I was discouraged, wanting to quit, the result would probably be shocking. There are going to be times when you get discourage, but you can’t settle in that space. Surround yourself with a good support system, accountability partners who you can talk to and feed positivity into you and most importantly to help you refocus. If you have a dream-chase after; pray, grind, and work to be the best until you reach that goal. But never forget to stay humble and thank God for all his blessings. The grinding doesn't stop once that goal is met. It keeps going, never stay stagnant always push to show your full potential.
6. Do you have any daily rituals? Yes, I have a daily/weekly ritual and if you know me my days start with Thanking the man above for grace and mercies for letting me see another day. Then the best part of my getting ready for work is reading my devotion and going into praise and worship . Where I fall short is wanting to end my days the same way, and everybody knows I have a number of jobs (let my friends tell it I have 17 jobs). So sometimes I'm able to get my bible readings in and more time but I'm still working on it until I have it all together.
7. Tell us a little bit about your natural hair care obsession. Natural hair is my second love, I have a lot of products because I have my moments when I'm a product junkie. I spend $10-$80 dollars on my products. Some of my favorite brands are, are Wen 613 by Chaz Deaz (high-end) and Aussie 3-in-1 minutes (drug store). These two products I live by when it's time to wash and condition my hair. Natural hair for me, is embracing your natural beauty, promotes hair growth, and the chance to live your true self. My hair loves it. I can talk about hair all day if you let me. I am beginning my social media following; reviewing natural hair care products, protective styles, etc. More to come! 8. What is one word to describe you? It's too many to pick, I really had to ask people what they thought. So from the judge of it, I got loud, adventurous, people-person, charismatic, loyal, dramatic, loving, dedicated, hardworking, intelligent.
(I agree with them all!!) 9. What is a scripture you live by? James 2:26 faith without works is dead.......I always live by it. You can take it in biblically and non-biblically. No matter what you do in life it will require some type of work. If you expect a certain level of success then your grind needs to surpass that success level. We all start from the bottom and work our way up at some point. You give it your all, so when you look back you can't do nothing but smile, help someone else, and most importantly say Lord I thank you!!!
THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!!!!!
IG: thereal_curlygirl