The Pivot Queen: Six Years, Five Career Turns, One Vision

TaVia shares her own story this episode, the real arc behind Empower Them Collective and the 661 Creator Space. She traces six years of pivots: a wrongful termination after a scheduled C section, a thriving Mary Kay business she walked away from, a public failure the night she did not have the keys to a building she had promised her community, and the AIM initiative work tied to losing her own son. It all led to the 661 Creator Space, the fulfillment of a vision she almost gave up on.WHAT TAVIA COVERS(0:08) Introducing herself, executive director of Empower Them Collective and founder of the 661 Creator Space(2:38) The 2015 dream job, working until 30 minutes before a scheduled C section(3:57) Wrongfully terminated a year later, and the lesson that jobs will not remember your sacrifices(5:43) Pivoting into Mary Kay, becoming a director, then walking away when the culture stopped aligning(6:53) Finding her niche hosting monthly women's networking events(7:46) The 2018 vision for the Empower Her Center, a training space for women entrepreneurs(9:36) October 2019, the public failure of not having the keys on the night she had promised the building(11:41) The pandemic hits, and being thankful in retrospect she had not secured that building(12:16) Pivoting into a stable job as director of housing, developing new skills through COVID(13:55) Discovering the AIM initiative and learning her son's death was a systemic issue, not her fault(15:37) Applying for the AIM project despite not meeting the stated qualifications, and getting awarded it(17:12) Founding Empower Them Collective in 2021 to teach policy and leadership from lived experience(19:17) A 2023 event where black maternal health work was met with judgment, and why a dedicated space mattered(21:01) Applying for an office space an hour before the deadline, then securing a grant two weeks later(22:07) Her mother's passing in March 2024, and starting the 661 Creator Space about a month later(24:22) The space's completion in 2025, and recognizing it as the fulfillment of the original vision(25:11) Where the space stands today, and the projects and opportunities that have come from itKEY TAKEAWAYPivoting rarely happens in perfect circumstances. It happens when your current situation will not allow another effective move, and you plant one foot down while you look for the next opening. TaVia's path from wrongful termination to Mary Kay to a housing shelter job to founding Empower Them Collective was not a straight line, and some of it looked like failure in real time. But the original vision, a space for entrepreneurs and community members to gather and collaborate, never actually died. It just moved through several careers, a personal loss, and a season of grief before becoming the 661 Creator Space. Sometimes you pivot away from a goal for a season. That does not mean leaving it forever.