Tameika Hughes-Foote of Green Bay wants women to have the hope that she struggled to find in her own life.
“I was a teenage mom and had three children by the time I turned 19 years old. I was in toxic relationships that led to a lack of self-confidence,” Hughes-Foote said. “Having worked my way through those obstacles, there was a point when I thought I could come alongside other women and help them navigate their own challenges.”
The transformation in her life is impressive. Now a case manager at St. John’s Ministries, she works full time while building a business, Go Girl! Life Coaching. She says that having a solid support system brought her to the point where she believes she can develop a successful business that will have an impact.
An important step in that journey came years ago when she was working at Freedom House in Green Bay. Robyn Davis, who was director at the time, asked her to create a workshop.
“I had never done anything like that before, but went ahead,” Hughes-Foote said. “I created a workshop called ‘HOPE,’ one of my favorite words. It is about healing hearts and the optimism that comes from things like prayer and empowerment. So, here we are years later, and I am doing that same workshop at St. John’s.”
As she saw the impact the workshop had on participants, she began to dream of starting a business. She took entrepreneurship classes at the African Heritage Center in Appleton and connected with the We All Rise African American Resource Center in Green Bay, where she felt encouraged to take the next steps.
That led to mentorship sessions with David Stauffacher of the Small Business Development Center at UW-Green Bay and Laura Hack, a Green Bay SCORE mentor.
“They asked me questions like, ‘What is my target audience? What will the business look like? What does it mean to be a life coach? How do I explain what I am doing?’” she said. “This is a process, and I am in the awareness stage where I am networking and attending events to build relations and get a better idea of what people are looking for.”
In receiving that input and working on a business plan, Hughes-Foote said the financial aspect has been the most difficult part of the plan.
“It is a guesstimate when I try to assess what life coaching will look like in five years. It could be challenging,” she added.
But it is those obstacles that motivate her to help others. When her life was in crisis, she said she got tired of looking in the mirror and seeing a person she did not believe in. That taught her the benefit of setting goals to improve life situations.
“The biggest part is to get to the root of why we feel the way we do, and to set achievable goals,” Hughes-Foote said. “It is OK to be confident. It is OK to be proud of yourself.”
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Go Girl! is poised to help women, and, in particular African American women, gain that confidence in order to lead a successful life. On her website, www.gogirllifecoach.org, she says the values she wants to impart are respect, hope, joy and courage.
That will be accomplished through workshops, groups and one-on-one sessions. In addition to the HOPE Workshop (an acronym for ealing hearts, optimistic thinking, prayer and empowerment), she has one called “Be You,” and another called “Her Crown,” a workshop that celebrates the strength of black women and the unique challenges they face.
Group sessions focus on the “secret to happiness” for women who want to discover their full potential. One-on-one coaching helps women “transition from surviving to thriving” and offers highly personalized meetings.
]Most of the coaching has been done via video, but she looks forward to having her own space in the future. The business was launched in March, and it continues to develop with the help of her coworkers at St. John’s and volunteers.
“I am blessed to have a support team,” Hughes-Foote said. “I cannot do it all and the people I work with built my website and have helped in so many ways. One volunteer just came to me one day and said, ‘I want to help.’ I told her I wanted to be able to connect with more people and she came alongside me.”
Hughes-Foote says her mindset is to go forward and not overthink every aspect of the business because that just slows you down.
“The challenge is working full time and being a mom and a wife. It is going slower than anticipated, but I am getting there,” she said. “I’ve learned that when I’m afraid, I’ll do it anyway.”
She says that her life is evidence of the power of prayer and God working in her life. Her inspiration is to provide that same hope to women and to be an example to her children of what is possible.
The bio on her website summarizes her mission, “I have overcome an abusive relationship, and gained confidence in myself. … I moved to Green Bay in 2004 to provide a healthier lifestyle for me and my children. Since then, I have had the pleasure to pursue my passion in helping women reach their goals and renew their mindset to have fulfillment in their lives.”
Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt is co-owner of DB Commercial Real Estate in Green Bay and past district director for SCORE, Wisconsin.
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