At the end of the day, I'm still an African-American woman in a male-dominated industry, so sometimes you have to deal with people not taking your ideas seriously. But I look at it as, I'd rather have adversities in something that I love than doing something that I hate or where I am not interested.
When I was in eighth grade, I created a Backstreet Boys fan site. I came in third place in a fan site contest and got to meet them.
This is random, but I thought I was going to have the biggest Backstreet Boys fansite. I'm not even gonna lie: I thought I was gonna marry one of the Backstreet Boys, and I was gonna be his Yoko Ono.
I have my own marketing company, Always Civil, where I help artists create their online identity. I have worked with Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Mary J. Blige, Pusha T - the list goes on.
I am the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of Marathon Agency, a new venture with my business partner Steve Carless. It's a management, branding, marketing, and business strategy. I'm in charge of marketing and branding clients like Nick Cannon, Nicki Minaj, and more.
I wanted to focus on creating a solid foundation, creating my blueprint, and understanding who I was. You can get distracted easily, and people take you off course with just a compliment. I wanted the focus to be on Karen Civil the businessperson, not what I wore, not what I looked like.
I'm doing activations with companies you would never think of. Not to say this in a braggadocious way, but I'm not putting myself in a box. The only thing that goes in a box is Chinese food and your sneakers - not me.
The assistants, the managers, the PR, the person whose coordinating, the person in production - those are the people I loved communicating with and building network relationships with.
It's unfortunate that cyberbullying is something that happens to 13-year-old kids in junior high and adults in the workplace. It's something that we have to deal with as Americans.
I wasn't the biggest hip-hop fan, because I had to listen to whatever my parents listened to, so growing up, it was a lot of Dolly Parton, Elvis, and Whitney Houston. When they finally put a TV in my room and I got to listen to MTV Jams I was like: 'Here I am!'
Growing up in America, even in the rougher parts of Elizabeth, I had two nice playgrounds to choose from as a child.
Do you want to be the girl that's envied, or do you want to be the girl that inspires you? Most people don't know that I am super shy and timid, but online people think I have a big personality. Make sure whatever you do has an overall message and has value.
I tell people to use me as example of what they can do if they don't give up. I like people to see me as a 'girl next door' who conquered and went after what she wanted.
I believe that God has blessed me in immeasurable ways so that I can, in return, bless and help others.
When I was young, I originally wanted to be a radio on-air personality. Once I realized I may not be fit for that - I was infatuated with hip-hop - that I still wanted to be a part and give back the community, so I decided to carve my own path and make my own lane.
I admired and wanted to be a lot like Angie Martinez. As I got older, I realized that I had a soft monotone voice and that being a DJ may not be the career for me. However, I was so in love and infatuated with hip-hop that I still wanted to be a part and give back the community, so I decided to carve my own path and make my own lane.
What are you doing to magnify and grow your business? What are you doing for yourself? You have to self-motivate. I had to learn a million things on Google until I was able to meet people who I could partner with for help.
Social media can help or hurt you. People are more into other people's lives than their own. Everyone sees everyone else's success online, and we allow it to magnify our own failure.
People see your life on social media, and they say, 'Oh my gosh, it's perfect,' and I'm like, 'No, every day, it's not even just a struggle: it's something new, and it's a new challenge to make sure that I'm mentally stable and healthy and that I'm okay.' It was just great to finally get it out and talk about it.
Nicki Minaj is one of those rare artists who get the social aspect of their career. She interacts with her fans. She replies to them. She gets them information first.
