Martina Yvette – food blogger and community organizer – uses stepping out of her comfort zone and overcoming failure to pursue her dreams.
Before Martina became comfortable in her work in front of the camera, as she does on her digital food show Dine & Dash, she thought she would work behind the scenes.
“I think for me, I didn’t really go into this thinking I was going to be a food journalist or any type of journalist. If I didn’t get my dream job of being a press secretary, I was going to be a producer at MSNBC. I like being behind the cameras.”
With this goal in mind, Martina made sure to set her self apart by becoming proficient in producing, recording, and editing audio and video content when she attended Savannah State University (SSU).
Although she described her younger self as “shy”, “timid”, and “just trying to figure out her place in the world”, Martina made sure that professors at SSU gave her the opportunity to develop the skills she needed. & she made sure it happened on her own timeline.
“I was not supposed to be doing the things I was doing at Savannah State [as a freshman] until about my junior year.”
As we talked about pursuing her dreams, we inevitably spoke about obstacles that would pop-up along the journey. Sometimes they come in the form of uncertainty when being forced to step out of your comfort zone. Other times it comes in the form of others telling you you’re not ready.
Martina recalled a story on how she convinced the station manager at SSU to give her the opportunity for her very first on-air appearance.
“One time she went to the Starbucks and I went up to the barista and I was like, ‘what does this lady order?’ And so she told me. So every day I would bring her Starbucks to her office and put a post-it note under her door and I would be like, ‘let me on.’”
*Spoiler alert* It worked. Being fully prepared when it was her time to shine, Martina went on to fill in for one of the anchor’s of the school’s daily morning show that ultimately earned her a permanent spot.
In Martina’s own words, “..that kind of shaped everything”. Aggressively pursuing her dreams, and maybe being a little crazy, helped create the food journalist, mentor, and community organizer that we see today.
MARTINA ON OPPORTUNITY
“Yes, there’s things that make me uncomfortable, but also fear shouldn’t live in the space of opportunity.”
“[There’s] lots of things that scare me on a daily basis. If I ran down all my fears, one of the biggest fears being elevators and driving at night, & these things are stopping me from becoming my best self, then that definitely means to me that I’m not doing what I need to do.”
“I have to get real biblical on y’all because I don’t do anything without Jesus in it. But for me, I honestly feel like God basically says you just need a mustard seed of faith to please him and to praise him. And I feel like because we are made in his image, as long as I give a mustard seed of faith for myself, I’m okay too.”
MARTINA ON GIVING 100%
“To be honest with you, I don’t feel like [anyone] gives a hundred percent. If you give a hundred percent, what are you giving to yourself? Me, as a human, I’m the most important. If I’m not okay, then I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing. But I do feel like I give, and that’s enough. It may not be my all, but that’s the reason [for] working together.”
“I think a lot of women in general, and those who identify as women, have a tendency to wear so many hats and then take it as a thing of putting on that persona, especially black women. Being a strong black woman, I don’t live there.”
MARTINA ON MOVING FORWARD AFTER FAILURE
“There’s something in that fail. There’s no way in the world that I would be where I’m at today if I didn’t fail. I am back in Savannah because I failed.”
“If we had more time, I would tell y’all how many jobs I either have quit, resigned, and/or been fired from, because all I kept doing was failing. But to be honest with you, I’m in the happiest space of my life because I failed so much that I landed in my purpose. And that’s honestly what you need to do. Keep failing and don’t be afraid of what’s on the other side of the failure.”
I appreciate so much the time Martina took to sit down and have a little Dream Talk. I look forward to hearing from equally amazing women about how they are navigating their own dreams. I encourage you all to listen to the full interview below & to continue sharing your own stories.
Keep Going.