A quick perusal of vivianolodun.com and you’re greeted by the beautiful visage of the creator of Flourish Media, a marketing organization focused on helping small businesses think big while growing through digital marketing & public relations support Her site is crisp, and clear with pops of green. She is purposed, pragmatic and willing to share her story and her tips for success.
She’s the child of immigrant parents…a Panamanian mother and a Nigerian father. Raised in Miami as the youngest in her family of 4. She explains that her experience as the youngest taught her about marginalization and gave her a lesson in value that would help her operate in her Corporate career and help her transition into serial entrepreneurship and becoming an author.
Vivian is clear that her combination of lineage is unique and has benefitted her belief in who she is. She reveals that being dark and African in a country that consistently teaches tropes (intentional and unintentional) designed to diminish your self-esteem often causes people to behave in unauthentic ways. Her global views and family life countered this notion. Her conversation lets you know that she has steeped in her authenticity and is as proud of her Latina roots as her African roots.
Being an entrepreneur was not her life’s goal. Like many, Vivian trained in a discipline with an ultimate goal in mind and then life shifted her path. She’s a former high school cheerleader who earned a Public Relations degree from Barry University (Miami) and hoped to become an ambassador in public affairs. Her journey includes experience working with clients as a media consultant, real estate marketing director, and business development manager.
If you ask Vivan about what it takes to be a boss and to lead a boss laugh, she’s straightforward and sage.
First, she says, remember that you got this. It’s like popping your collar on the way out of the door every day when you step into your life and do your best work. Taking on different challenges encourages growth and gives confidence for the next big thing. In Oludon’s case, selling luxury, celebrity homes or realizing that your own knowledge is not as common as you may think.
Second, there is no rule book to life. You can spend years following the formula of life without ever living. Flourish helped to create new spaces where investors and businesses could find each other and collaborate. Satisfying demand and giving her best in the process. To create, you have to be comfortable bending or, at times, breaking the rules.
Lastly, make a decision with what you know. Doing nothing is not an option. Decision- making is a key skill in life and in professional endeavors. In a world of information overload, and analysis paralysis, Vivian uses the information at hand to decide a path and pursue it until more information is apparent.
Her latest projects include a newly released book, Stumbling Through Adulthood, and a series of seminars circling topics in self-publishing and speaking engagements. In Stumbling Through Adulthood, Vivian uses the power of the guided journal to immerse the reader in a collection of stories based on her own personal experiences and people in her circles then asks the reader to take a moment to discover their own responses. The book itself was a self discovery project that Vivian began after her engagement to her (now) husband. She says, “I wanted to discover the person that this wonderful man had fallen in love with.” She easily and readily gushes about her spouse and talks about her journey back to trusting men after a devastating experience with her father. The book discusses relationships, careers, and lifestyle among other things while creating a safe space for the reader to reflect and to garner confidence to step into the world.
Oludon says that she’s not a “unique snowflake”. Instead she explains and affirms that she’s taken her own advice and made the best decisions with the best information available at the time. She’s had successes like selling multi-million dollar homes for celebrities and failures. Unlike archetype leaders, Vivian prides herself in failing forward and understands that being an entrepreneur is not about having all the right answers.
So how does a corporate leader transform into an entrepreneurial boss? With a thought sitting on Machu Picchu in Peru enjoying some downtime. She mused that she wanted that moment to be her life. Two weeks later, Olodun left Corporate America. She appreciates corporate structure but realized that it wasn’t for her. It didn’t align with the things that she wanted.
She’d spent time balancing her early business of helping real estate agents get laser focused on luxury tools and mastering marketing tools and her corporate career in real estate marketing. It worked so well that she began getting paid by her “other” business more than her 9-5 where she’d had recurring requests to receive a raise. Instead of continuing to request she decided that it was time to pay herself and live the way she wanted to live. The rest is history.
Vivian’s Instagram: @vivianolo