Before you think this article is going to be about how I love Beyonce, or I'm now apart of the #Beyhive or Beyonce has saved my life, I'm going to tell you one thing: I'm not a fan of Beyonce. I am a fan of her work ethic, aesthetic, basically saying -- she's a beast, and I want to emulate that beast.
The path that she has created for young women in the music business is phenomenal, hell the path she created for women in general is phenomenal. I watched her gracefully enter into her solo career and take off. Even though I'm not apart of the #BeyHive, I always watched how she made moves through the music industry. Slowly I became a fan and her mentee. As her mentee, I admire her clean rapport, her professionalism, her poise, her demise, everything that she embodies business wise.
She is her brand.
Branding. Beyonce is well marketed and anything she puts out or promotes is GOLD. In the music industry she has taken over and dropped her self-titled album, Beyonce out of nowhere (which by the way sold 617,000 in 3 days on iTunes ) -- marketing GOLD. I don't care that she has a team for that, she's the sole creator of her brand honestly and the BOSS of that team. The team is hired because of their expertise, their expertise is used to make her visions not only come to life, but sell. In marketing, that's the goal.
Beyonce has to negotiate with her team, she has to execute her visions to her team and make sure everything is in her favor, for her brand. She has set the example for me as a leader, someone who takes charge of her life and someone who is in charge of her life.
In marketing whatever you promote, you have to believe and have confidence in what you produce one hundred percent. If you don't, your consumers won't believe you or the product you're trying to produce. Beyonce produces gold because she believes she's gold, she has 100% confidence that her team will produce gold. That inspires me to believe in me, because I'm indeed a brand. You're a brand, I'm a brand, we are all a brand.
As a individual, I admire her work ethic and aesthetic. I'm saying all of this to say that in the field I'm currently studying employers will be looking for a person who handles themselves as if they've had a team to mold and shape them. Even if in reality that person didn't have a team, they built a brand of themselves, and carried themselves as such.
She's a leader.
Another reason why she's my mentor is because she's a leader. She donates to charities across the globe, she motivates women, she's a role model to the young and the old, she's just great. It took me awhile to realize how great she is business wise until I actually saw her take over pop/r&b charts with the unexpected release of the self-titled, Beyonce (2013). Then later dropping Lemonade (2016)with little to no press release. No one in the music industry has done that before and if they have then they weren't as successful as Beyonce. She's a woman of firsts, which I admire as well.
Although certain business ventures haven't been as successful, (i.e. House of Dereon) Beyonce still prevailed and is currently #34 on Forbes Celebrity 100 list, #56 on Forbes America's Self-Made Women, and #21 on Forbes Power Women as of 2015.
All I'm saying is that it isn't her music that motivates me, or gives me inspiration, it's just her work ethic, aesthetic etc. If she wasn't a celebrity and was let's say a "regular person" with that same work ethic, I would ask her to be my mentor for real instead of her living in my head.
We all get inspired to aspire someone no matter if they relate to you personally or not. Like I said, I am not a fan of Beyonce, but I am a fan of her work ethic and her desire to lead women into their destiny. She sets the bar as to what a woman is supposed to be: fearless, confident, and strong. She made the cut, and she is now one of the many mentors in my head.