You're listening to Women in Feels Radio, while women in the marketplace connect with purpose and spirit, where the conversation covers all things women, business and fascinating faith. And now your host, Kristi Lynn Olson. Hello, I want to welcome you to episode 14 of the Women in Feels podcast radio network. Today's interview is part of a series I am doing that coincides with our latest book launch project, Volumes 1 in 2 of the book We Walk by Faith and Not by Sight, Women of Faith in the Marketplace, now available on Amazon.com.
Through the stories of 19 amazing women of faith, we get to peek behind the curtain so to speak of their lives and become inspired and encouraged for the journey we're on as women who work in the marketplace, and as women who are called to kingdom business in a variety of industries all around the world. Today's guest, Danita Scott, is on a mission to empower women and girls to live their best lives. She works for the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, giving girls a voice. Her professional speaking career is dedicated to helping women identify and interrupt patterns of perfection and failure that hold them back from achieving their dreams.
She is funny, relatable and honest about her successes and her failures. Danita has a unique ability to connect to people from diverse backgrounds. Danita has spent her professional career in nonprofit management and leading teams to accomplish big goals. Her educational background includes a bachelor's in organizational management from Ashford University and a master's in training and performance improvement from Capella University.
When Danita is not helping women live their best lives, you can find her chasing after her Tiva Dog Parker, going to the newest thrift store, Giddy with excitement, or traveling to a new city just for fun. Danita is truly an influencer. She grew up shy and awkward and not well-spoken. She was so shy, she was telling me, that when she was a Girl Scout, her mom had to sell all her cookies because Danita was too afraid to speak to anyone.
But as you will hear in our interview today, God had bigger plans for Danita and today he is launching her into the next season of her life as a beautiful single woman of God who is here to use her voice to impact and influence the generation. Let's listen in and get to know Danita a little better. So today I want to welcome Danita Scott to our Women of Views radio and so thank you Danita for being with us and I really have read part of your story in the book We Walk By Faith, Not By Sight and I believe you are definitely an influencer for the kingdom. I know you are an influencer in your career right now but I think it's so much bigger than that.
So as we go through and talk about how you're influencing people in the kingdom, I really want you to share with other women some of the struggles and the ups and downs that you've gone through. So are you ready to get going? Yes I am. Awesome.
So I know you are a nonprofit, you're in the nonprofit segment right now, you're doing some training and performance improvement for an organization, the Girl Scouts of Atlanta and I think that's a phenomenal organization. I also understand that you are going through a journey that you're doing a little shift and might kind of try an entrepreneurial career. And so I want you to share a little about you're on that journey now. So you can tell us a little bit about what you do in your everyday nine to five job.
But what are you finding as a theme or God is kind of giving you clues I think to your next entrepreneurial career. What's that look like for you? Can you share a little bit more about that? Yes.
So the actual idea that I could even be a part of the project for me was amazing because I have diagnosed with dyslexia and the third grade. They've always loved to read. So I read probably maybe five or six books a month, sometimes more. And so I always was interested in writing.
So thinking about being interested in writing, knowing that I was a shy kid and I was afraid to do everything and then knowing that I want to become a public speaker is like, okay, guys, this has to be because these three things don't go together. First of all, I have to write in order to be a speaker. They go together and then I have to be willing to be brave and bold and tell my story and not hold back because God's not holding back his love. And so that part for me has been such a journey of faith but a good one.
It's really free enough and that you feel a lot more confident. So during the day, I worked for a Girl Scout and I lead a team of seven amazing women that are out there making a huge difference in the world and we're responsible for getting a new girl and new adult into our organization. And then at night, usually between four AM and six AM or more new, however you want to call it, I am working on books and projects and I'm really excited. And I'm really doing what I know God called me to do and being very intentional about making sure that I don't allow myself to hold myself back from what I've been called to do.
I love that. Not so much about four to six AM part but I know you have to do what you have to do. But you mentioned the word intentional and that really has been a word I've been focusing in on in the last even year about how do we be intentional about doing what God wants us to do. And you wrote in the book also that this whole speaking and writing thing is not part of your plan but it is part of your destiny.
You know, how has, what kinds of things has God kind of shown you? Does He give you hints along the way? You talked about being so shy and not well spoken in the dyslexia but even day to day now as you're making this transition. You know, what kind of things is He bringing to you as an influencer that maybe helps confirm your on the right path?
Well, it's amazing for me. Even without trying, people are attracted to me doing the things that I've been called to do. So last year I was at actually Commision for work and I decided to table up to one of the people who was from our national office. I didn't know that.
And we just started to talk and we started to bond. And so they're not talking to us like, oh, you know what? We have some national trainings coming up. Would you like to do it?
No, no one in my office was chosen. But I was chosen to compose a national training and to do this. And I'm like, what? And so recently I did a taping of one of the features that I've been working on for what I know God has called me into and I really want to help women interrupt patterns of failure and perfection in their lives.
And so I went through and I talked about what actually got me there and that journey of giving me to let perfection go and let God in, it allowed me to really be free. And so just talking about who I really am in Christ and who I really am outside of work, it really caused freedom. And in that freedom, I got so many messages from friends and family members and people who I respected so much and they said, I'm doing the same thing. I'm doing the same issues of trying to be perfect and it's not working at friends that, you know, we're doctors that we're reaching out to be telling me the exact thing issues.
And so it let me know that was really on the path aside from my life. Don't you just love when he does that? I mean, he'll send a confirmation either through a person or through a spoken word or written word. And that's exciting when I hear women say that because it just reminds us that God is alive and active in our lives and every piece of our lives.
And so he really wants us to step into that. You mentioned the word perfection a couple of times and I know one of your favorite books recently has been Grace Not Perfection by Emily Lay. So tell me a little more about what has been your struggle with perfectionism? How does that show up in your life and then what do you do to overcome it?
Can you give us some practical strategies for that? Absolutely. So my struggle with perfectionism started pretty young. When I was maybe about five or six, I was with my grandmother.
We were at Belk and she was in small town and so Belk is the big department store. And we were trying on some clothes and she was like, oh, that's not working. It's just like, but you're so pretty for a fat girl. It's also first labeled, it came on and it stuck.
And so then I got grew up and I'm working and relationships, friendships and romantic relationships. And if I couldn't show up as the perfect person, then I would just like just back out of life. And so I was having a conversation with one of my really close friends and we've been friends that I think is night great though, like over 25 years. And she was just like, yeah, sometimes she would just disappear but I just figure you'd be stressed out.
And I'm like, no, because I was really trying to show up even in our relationship as the perfect friend. And so when I found through that process, anytime I was entering perfectionism, trying to have it all right, not making any mistakes, very critical of others, eager to please and going to 12 at work, doing everything above the standard and then at home, I was like, my house looks like a tornado. So either I could be all in at one place or all out in another. And so when I found the strategies that worked for me, it's really just being upfront and honest about where I was at the time.
I'm struggling right now, not okay, I need some help. And being okay with needing help knowing that was a sign of strength. And then the second thing that I know helps a lot is just being able to laugh even at the small things. I mean, just allowing life to help me to laugh and to not make it so serious.
And then the last thing that I know is my anchor is prayer and honest prayer. And so sometimes the honest prayers are not pretty and they're not like together and they don't have scriptural references. They're like, listen, I'm really angry at you. I need you to help me.
And so being honest and being at that place is helping a lot to recognize when the perfection is coming on and not allow it to be a part of how I'm thinking or how I'm acting in that moment. I love your phrase about honest prayer, not looking pretty. And I think too many women, we all struggle with perfection if we want to be honest at some level. But I think there is also a misconception that when we do get around to praying, oh my gosh, no, I can't pray because it's not the perfect, beautiful prayer that I read in all the books or my pastor prays really well and I'll never be able to do that.
But prayer is ugly. You know, and sometimes prayer, what I mean by that is it is raw emotion. So I'm so glad to hear you say that you just prayed whatever you were feeling because that's where Jesus could meet you at that place and go from there. So I also think part of perfectionism, you had talked about having issues with time management in the past.
I found for myself, it wasn't as much a time management issue as it was of me management issue. Have you ever struggled with, when you talk about time management and standards of perfection, how have you been able to set a schedule for yourself but not be obsessed with it, if that makes sense? Yes. So one of the things that I was never okay with is that if I start a time, okay, I was together for work and I work on some things and even for work for an hour, then I'll go get some food, go to the gym, then start the rest of my day.
So if I'm at 4 30, then I'd be like, the plan is off and now I can't do it. And then I'm going to do that and it would take me to a whole another place. And then I just get frustrated and go back to sleep. So instead of saying, okay, 35 minutes is perfect, it's on me for right now because I can have an hour and a half and maximizing those 35 minutes instead of looking for my plans to work out.
So I'd let go of my plan and like, if I need extra sleep, then I took extra sleep because I'm letting me for today. So that process of letting go is what I'm saying. Sometimes we have to let go and hold on to it so tight that that's great advice. And I think a lot of us will be able to think differently a little bit about that whole process of time and so thank you for sharing that.
You know, another thing as women of faith that we talk about is this concept of being salt and light in the world. And I love something that you put in the book that I have never heard before and I love learning new things about you researched what ancient people used salt for. I don't know if you can remember all that research, but what was your big takeaway from how you can be salt in someone's world, but what that looks like to you? Yes, I thought that was so cool because when I looked into it, I thought that for some merchants that you salt to pay wages because salt was so expensive, it was on the same level of currency as gold.
So you're able to be able to salt your food to preserve it or to be able to have salt to clean infection and wounds. Like that was such a high value. And so in our term, you salt everywhere. So it's like salt is killing us now.
It's not being such a precious resource. And so when I love about that, I was like, so God, you are saying that I am such a precious resource in the marketplace that my place is irreplaceable. So without me, everything's bland. So that really took on a new meeting of excitement for me because I'm like, this is what you're saying about me, about what you call me to do and not even really understanding how much she loves you when you think about kind of the difference maker.
I'm the person who put on this arc in this season to make that difference. I love it. We are currency in the workplace. And that kind of led me to think, how many women do you think struggle with this concept of being of value and having worth in the marketplace?
I mean, have you ever struggled with that? And do you know any other women that you think have struggled with that? Absolutely. So I was having a conversation with a different mind recently and she was going through something at work that was very difficult.
And she was like, you know, I'm applying for new jobs and I don't think you value it. Like, look at me. And I don't think they'll even care about what I have to say because all this and I was like, I'll get into the world's work. It's not determined by how someone else gives you.
You have the worth and a destiny that was designed by God. So you can't allow you one person to tell you what's your worth. It's not fair because they don't have enough information. They're only based on their limits of experience, on what they know, what they expect from you, and that's not enough.
If you've been called into something, go for it. Don't allow people to determine your worth. You let God determine your worth. Wasn't that an awesome interview?
And that's only a highlight of our interview together. To hear the full interview, uncut and full of wisdom and practical tips for women of faith in the marketplace, you need to download the free women infused app. available on Apple and Google Play Stores. After you download the app, go to the Women Infused podcast radio network.
There you will find the full interviews for all of the WeWalk by Faith series co-authors as we release them. Plus, if you download the app today and go to Women Infused Radio Network, you will have the opportunity to receive a free ebook devotional called Love Notes of Encouragement for Women of Faith in the Marketplace. It's full of special bonus, inspiration, and encouragement, including a special collection of notes of encouragement from some of the authors of WeWalk by Faith and Not by Sight, volumes 1 and 2. Hurry, because this free offer of the ebook will only be available for a limited time.
So go to Womeninfused.com for links to download the free app today. There's also a link in the show notes. Join our community of Faithfield Women and we look forward to connecting with you there. And remember this, alone you are significant, but together we are amazing.