What are we in, week what? If how you’re thinking about and treating and your time has changed since you started sheltering in place welcome to my world! Entrepreneurs and Artists often approach time differently. Working hard and with inspiration striking at all hours, the days and nights are long and blending.
I always say “bordeom is a blessing.” It’s a quote credited to one of my all-time favorite neighbors Julian when I lived on South Beach. I had just moved to Miami, had finished my internship commitment and found myself “bored.” Talking about my dilemma with Julian in the garden he stopped sipping his coffee, turned to me and said “boredom is a blessing girl! Enjoy it, you never know when shit will hit the fan!” I laughed and totally understood. He was so right.
These days you may find yourself with more time on your hands turning to your normal boredom relief activities like TV. For me I’m trying to spend time with my family and myself as much as possible and use this time of boredom for self-reflection and rejuvenation. Of course I’m doing a lot writing. We’ve put together several series of posts under this #coronachronicles umbrella. In this interview, we hear from Tammy Martinez.
Tammy is a solo female entrepreneur based in Miami Beach, Florida. She spent the majority of her career working for large corporations such as Ogilvy and Marriott between Marketing, Hospitality, and Events. After some life-changing experiences, she started exploring the health and wellness world personally and professionally. Last year, she decided to jump into being a full-time entrepreneur and Founded Let It Flow Experiential Marketing. Her main focus now is supporting organizations in the Health, Wellness, Mindfulness, Community and Sustainability channels. In response to COVID-19 she has collected varies resources focused on wellness and things that you can do even while it’s not safe to use our normal wellness resources like getting massages, pedicures, and social gatherings for example.
Read my interview with her below:
How has corona changed your daily schedule?
What a whirlwind the past few weeks have been. My business lately has been event focused with my clients so when this all unfolded, everything I was working on was put on hold. One by one, events were canceled, and it was a domino effect that left me asking “What now?” I am still exploring that answer, but with grace and acceptance allowing for space to see what unfolds.
I like what you’ve done with your website as a response. What’s one other positive thing you see as a part of this?
The biggest positive thing I have seen from this is community. Right before this all occurred, I started a Whatsapp group called Mindful Connections to connect people in the wellness community together to inspire, co-create, educate and make new connections. I wanted to get people out of their comfort zone and come together to support the uprising of wellness and mindfulness in the world. Through the group (and really everyone I know, big ups to humanity!) I have seen so much LOVE, so much support, so much community and bonding. I’ve seen leaders emerge, people collaborate, and positivity shine. In all this darkness, I see light and that is so needed in our current climate.
What Miami based organization(s) have been doing good things during this time?
There are SO many people doing great work out there. People are opening their hearts, their time, and their minds to lifting others up and keeping us all supported. So many are offering free classes, events, workshops, and resources to support those in need. Donating time, money, and whatever they can to help others get through this. FIU is offering grants for the hospitality world, Curbside Miami is offering an aggregated list of restaurant delivery/pick up services, Jeff Greene of 84 West has been focusing on helping small businesses in the events industry, mindfulness teachers are offering their time and events online such as @susanthesage and @warriorflowofficial online…. And the list goes on and on. I also took my own website and I am flipping it to an aggregated resource page for events that people can attend online, as well as resources to help people out during this time at www.letitflowexp.com.
How do you feel about the local government’s response and rules put in place?
I wish our government as a whole would unite and nationally gather a plan of action rather than piece-mail everything right now. The hesitation city by city, state by state and as a nation as a whole has created a bigger problem that will take more time and effort to manage and diffuse. We know that this is something that moves quickly, we know that it’s difficult to track, and rather than just locking things down for a few weeks as a country we have let corporate greed, egos, and disagreeing parties separate us and cause this to take much longer than it should with more loss and difficulty than is necessary. Elected leaders are showing their true colors during this time and when we all come out of this, I hope we all have a different perspective on politics and who we support as humanity is the race here that needs support.
What can we learn from this situation as a community?
We all can learn from this experience in so many ways. Many of us are uncomfortable sitting in silence and being with ourselves. So many build their identity of who they are around the outside world and what they have acquired in wealth or career success. At the end of the day, what I am learning from this is our human experience is fragile. We are not in control as much as we like to believe that we are regardless of how much we have, who we know, or what our status is. We must go within and be able to be sound with who we are and what we bring to the world as this is our only truth. The only moment we have is right this very second, as you are reading this, so we must make the best of it, and live life with intention and practice gratitude for each moment we are given.
Learn more about Tammy on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.