Each week on “Around Town,” our host, Tom Reber, talks to members of the First Coast community who are making an impact in their part of town. Today, Tom speaks with Mercedes Swan of Career Love.
Mercedes Swan
Owner of Career Love, LLC
Website Address: https://www.mercedesswan.com/
What’s the biggest challenge people in your side of town face?
Black women are facing economic challenges and financial instability due to mass layoffs, which continue to adversely impact Black women in Jacksonville, Florida, and nationally.
What makes your business the go-to choice for side of town residents?
Career and business advice and coaching aren’t often tailored to the unique challenges and experiences that Black women face, and often we don’t have safe community spaces. I love providing a space where Black women can feel seen, heard and valued while they grow.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give someone new to side of town?
Jacksonville is an amazing and diverse community. I’d highly encourage they explore all sides of Jacksonville from events, restaurants, and community engagements.
What’s one thing people should know about why side of town is a great place to live or invest?
I love to explore new places to relax, eat and explore in Jacksonville and I think the range of experiences makes Jax a great place to work, live and invest.
Transcript:
Tom:
Hi everyone. I’m your host today, Tom Reber with Around Town with Tom, and we have a very cool guest today, Mercedes Swan of Career Love. Welcome to the show. So glad to have you.
Mercedes:
Thank you. I’m super excited to be here and to share more about Career Love and my mission to support Black women. And I was so excited to just be able to connect with Jacksonville. I live just outside of the area, but it’s a place that I love. And just to be able to connect with the Black community and the greater Jacksonville area with more of what I do.
Tom:
Wow. Such a powerful statement that you made there. And workforce, we just need to expand, diversify. As I like to say, bringing high tide to all boats. Mercedes, you bring foundational lift through Career Love. How did you get started with Career Love, and where are we going with this?
Mercedes:
Yes. So my career started off in human resources, and that’s when I really began to understand the discrepancies between different professionals and the type of career development that we have access to. And so a couple of years ago, actually eight years ago, I started my company with just this understanding that there’s so much that I have learned as a business student at the University of Florida and as an HR professional that other professionals just did not have.
Mercedes:
And of course, as I’ve grown, I’ve really begun to focus more on the career development and what Black women need. Because a lot of the time, we don’t have access to things like mentorship and understanding how to navigate the workplace that others or counterparts in the workplace often have access to.
Mercedes:
So it’s been really great to kind of stand in that gap and to provide that type of access to Black women who may not have it. And now I’ve expanded into some business development as well, now that I’ve kind of grown and learned so much in business. So, yeah, it’s—
Tom:
Well, Mercedes, you mentioned gap, and in my opinion, the gold is in the gap. And if you can fill the gap, you’re going to harvest the gold. And that’s what you’re doing with these folks that you’re working with to help them elevate and, from my chair, get the confidence to look up and that, yes, you can.
Tom:
There’s a Serengeti of opportunity in front of you, and you can navigate it if you have the confidence. And I think that’s what Career Love brings.
Mercedes:
Yes, I would agree. I think for so many of us, just if we look at the economics, we look at the layoffs that Black women have been dealing with for the past year, it means that a lot of us don’t dream and don’t think about our career aspirations as much anymore.
Mercedes:
It kind of means that we’re settling or maybe picking jobs that feel like they’re safe, but aren’t jobs that we’re really in love with, that we’re passionate about, or we feel like would fulfill us.
Mercedes:
And I think that’s a difference with Career Love is that I don’t want Black women to just accept any job because the labor or the job market is challenging right now. I still want them to go through and pursue things that are exciting to them, and I think that allows us to have better representation and begin to fill the gap.
Mercedes:
As you mentioned, sometimes it’s inspiration, sometimes it’s knowledge. But whatever kind of fills that so Black women can really pursue that next level role is exciting.
Tom:
Mercedes, you hit a couple of really good nerves in a good way there. You mentioned mentorship. Look up, surround yourself with people that are going to push you to be better, faster, stronger, more efficient, and bring high tide.
Tom:
You mentioned, kind of, hey, how do I find my value proposition with my job? And put yourself in a position where I’ve got unique skills. And that Career Love sounds like to me it brings those things to the table.
Tom:
How does an African-American woman either find you or you find them?
Mercedes:
Yeah. So I’m pretty much all over the internet. I’m on LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, and all of the places. I host a completely online and digital platform. So Black women are able to connect with me online in whatever way looks best for them. So plenty of options to connect with me.
Tom:
So you mentioned social media stuff today. I mean, you’ve opened up Pandora’s box, and that’s just the craziest thing today. One of my favorite clients that I work with is a TikTok star.
Mercedes:
Yes.
Tom:
And Kiara is a phenomenal TikTok star, and she gets all of her business from TikTok. So now that you are into the social media space and you’re kind of all over, what are some of the tips that you can give an African-American woman with regards to using social media to get a job?
Mercedes:
Yeah. I think we’re entering a space where our brands, whether that’s online or on a resume or even our networking, we have to be intentional about our brands.
Mercedes:
My LinkedIn profile, my TikTok, and my website actually helped me land a job because they really loved what I was doing online.
Mercedes:
So think about this holistically and the brand and what you’re trying to communicate to employers who may be considering your skill set, and how you can package that as an online portfolio to support your growth and career development.
Tom:
Wow. And I love the fact that behind you, your wonderful background is I’m sure where you do a lot of your coaching.
Tom:
It sounds like to me as well, Mercedes, you’re a Swiss Army knife. Connections with companies. So you’re invaluable.
Tom:
How do you go and target companies to say, hey, I can bring you wonderful workers, our athletes?
Mercedes:
My background has been in recruitment and executive recruitment, but I’m actually not in the space where I’m positioning or pitching any of my clients to companies.
Mercedes:
My goal is to empower Black women to understand how to find those opportunities, connect, grow, and build the skill sets to do that themselves.
Mercedes:
You never know. Maybe in the future we’ll have a full Career Love recruitment firm, but we’re not there yet.
Tom:
I think you got gems behind there. You’ve been doing this for quite some time, Mercedes, which is super impressive.
Tom:
Give us a parting thought.
Mercedes:
Thank you so much for this opportunity and for the chance to share what’s going on with Black women. There’s been a lot of challenges with layoffs and finding opportunities, and the more we inspire and share resources, the better.
Mercedes:
So thank you for having me.
Tom:
Well, thank you for being on the show today, Mercedes Swan. You did a fantastic job.
Tom:
If you’d like to learn more about Career Love and Mercedes Swan and her superpowers of helping elevate African-American women for employment and more, go to DailyNewsNetwork.com.
Tom:
Thank you all. Cheers.
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