This diva is sharing what she knows about business
Jessie Kirk / The Beaverton Valley Times
Monique Hayward wrote “Divas Doing Business” between her jobs as a manager at Intel and owner and operator of Dessert Noir Café and Bar.
In a time when many people are struggling to hang on to one job, Monique Hayward is holding down three.
The Beaverton resident works full-time at Intel as a senior marketing manager, is the owner of Dessert Noir Café and Bar, and most recently, has added self-published author to the list.
With a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s in marketing, not to mention a few years experience running her own business, writing about being an entrepreneur seemed like a natural step. After contributing to an online article on networking, Hayward said she realized she had a lot more to say.
“As I was writing that piece, I said, ‘I have a lot more ideas,’” she said.
It took Hayward two years to go from idea to the brightly bound paperback called, “Divas Doing Business: What the Guidebooks Don’t Tell You About Being a Woman Entrepreneur,” a book she wrote between jobs, late at night, on weekends and in short spurts whenever the inspiration hit.
“People who know me and have read the book said they can hear my voice because it sounds exactly like how I talk,” she said
Besides the conversational, girlfriend vibe, the unique thing about her book is that it’s not a how-to manual and it doesn’t sugarcoat the challenges that may arise. It does, however, provide real-life examples, research and a variety of lessons to give women the inspiration to keep going when business gets tough.
“I wrote the book for people like me, who were in the thick of it, to tell them that they’re not alone,” she said. “The drama happens to everyone.”
For Hayward, a $25,000 legal dispute with a vendor was a eye-opening way to learn that she needed to reevaluate her vendor strategies and see where she could cut costs. She also learned that it’s possible to get through almost anything.
“If you can learn the right lessons from your mistakes, they don’t have to be fatal,” she said.
Hayward said writing a book geared toward women was important to her because females face a whole different group of challenges when it comes to breaking into business. She believes women are still treated differently than their male counterparts and often struggle in the good-old-boy network of banking, finance and development.
“Some of the unique challenges women face is that people are buying into the stereotypes that women aren’t good leaders,” she said.
Some of the main issues addressed in the book are balancing your “M” factors, or those things most important to your life outside the business, identifying your top five mentors and confidants, and recovering from expensive mistakes and staying in business despite them.
When it came to channeling her ideas into lessons that others could learn from, Hayward sought the advice of women who are currently out there, creating their own business ventures and succeeding. Each chapter ends with a “Diva’s Lesson” followed by a profile and subject-specific, question-and-answer section with a well-known entrepreneur. The women in the book include motivational speaker Pegine Echevarria, author and TV personality Crystal McCrary Anthony and popular skincare line founder Lisa Price of Carol’s Daughter. The book also features a foreword by actor Morgan Freeman and portions of the proceeds benefit his PLAN!T NOW organization, a group that helps people living in hurricane and storm-affected areas.
What all the contributors know is how rewarding and uniquely challenging it is to be in business for yourself.
“Most people get up and go to work for someone else,” Hayward said. “It’s hard to be an entrepreneur because other people just don’t get it.”