Empowered and Unstoppable
At our core, we are all stories. Stories of
love, death, and life. Stories that make us smile as well as cry; stories of
success and failures; stories of black, white, and grey. Story is a journey; a
journey of truth and false, of hope and death, a journey of one within and one
beyond.
In our search for such unique and powerful
stories, we have stumbled upon a passionate entrepreneur who is building her
legacy by empowering women across the globe.
Meet Briana Dai, Creative Director of
eWomenNetwork, Speaker, Brand Strategist, Former Makeup Artist, and Mompreneur.
Aside from all the mentioned roles and
adjectives that one might use to describe Briana, she is more than anything an
Empowering Woman.
Fittingly, Briana Dai features as the Cover
of Exeleon Magazine’s Empowering Women Leaders to Watch in 2023. Herein, we
look into the story of Briana – the entrepreneur, Briana – the leader, and
Briana – the woman.
Being the Best
From her growing up years, Briana was surrounded by strong leaders; leaders who instilled within her the courage and values of an entrepreneur.
Both of her parents were leaders and high achievers in their respective industries. As the daughter of Sandra Yancey, a CNN American Hero, who founded the #1 Entrepreneur Womens Network in North America, Briana always felt empowered. She explains, “I’ve always felt empowered not because my mom told me I could do anything, but because my mom showed me that SHE could do anything.”
For Briana, her mother has always been an example of empowerment. She proudly mentions how grateful and blessed she is to have her mother as a female figure to look up to.
Briana states that her parents led by example and had an innate willingness to aim to be the best at whatever they do. However, she is quick to point out that being the best doesn’t necessarily mean that someone can be termed as a leader.
She explains, “I think the first time it really hit me that being a strong leader has less to do with being the best, and more to do with being the best at inspiring others to be THEIR best, is when I earned the title of Cologuard Captain my sophomore year in high school.”
She continues, “I wasn’t the best and everyone knew I wasn’t the best. But leading up to the audition for the title, I worked my butt off so that I could BE the best. And I practiced relentlessly.”
On the day of the audition, Briana couldn’t follow up on her relentless practice and failed to make the perfect impression. She was devastated and broken. The following day, when the results were announced for the captain, Briana couldn’t even motivate herself to look at the results. Suddenly and almost unexpectedly, a fellow student yelled out “Congratulations Briana, You’re The Captain!”
It was at this very moment a young Briana Dai realized that being a leader isn’t about being the best. Rather, it’s about being willing enough to put in more work than anyone else. It’s about inspiring others to raise their game. She asserts, “These leaders inspire others to want to dream bigger, learn more, and become more by just being around them.”
Briana chose to be that leader.
“It’s surreal how many incredible women have created lifelong friendships, business partnerships with, collaborations, and clients because of eWomenNetwork. The thought of what we as women can do for this world as that level of connection continues to multiply blows my mind.”
Briana Dai | Creative Director | eWomenNetwork
The Pathway
Briana’s love for hair and makeup brought her into the industry at the age of 16. Working as a makeup artist and hairstylist for Glamour Shots elevated her career in the beauty space and brought upon new opportunities.
Eventually, the opportunities guided her into working as a full-time agency-represented makeup artist and hairstylist on massive campaigns for brands like Famous Footwear, Bloomingdales, James Avery, the ESPN Body Issue, and in the company of celebrity clients like Mariah Carey and LeAnne Rimes.
Recalling the experiences, Briana mentions, “Working in production for some of the biggest brands in the world is where I really fell in love with brand strategy and ultimately started dabbling in Creative Directing.”
Following this, Briana launched two companies. The first company saw her train and certify aspiring makeup artists, and the second company was built around the concept of a membership-based community for beauty industry professionals.
Briana asserts, “Building and growing those businesses was the most fulfilling thing I’d ever done. And what I realized along the way, in both cases, I had subconsciously built two niched-down, beauty-focused versions of the eWomenNetwork concept, the family business that was created and founded by my mom, 17 years prior.”
This realization guided Briana to the next part of her journey – empowering women. She wanted to leverage her learnings and experiences developed in beauty and branding to expand eWomenNetwork.
“In 2018, we merged brands, I left the beauty industry, and I joined the family business, and began my 10-year succession plan to ultimately inherit the eWomenNetwork name as CEO by 2028.”
Exeleon Shorts:
One Book Entrepreneurs Must Read – The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work & What to Do About It, Michael Gerber
One Productivity Tool / App that Everyone Should Use – Asana
One Podcast / Course that you would Recommend – Earn Your Happy Podcast with Lori Harder
One Movie / Show that you would Recommend – Ozark & Schitts Creek
One Quote that Motivates you the Most – “To whom much is given, much will be required.” Luke 12:48
One Investment Advice that you Follow – 1) start early and 2) Diversify your investment strategy with short, medium, and long-term investments.
eWomenNetwork: Mission One Million
Briana mentions that the eWomenNetwork mission is simple – to help one million women achieve one million dollars in annual revenue.
With only 2% of women business owners ever reaching the million-dollar mark, eWomenNetwork is on a mission to change that.
She explains that every networking event, masterclass, training, blog, conference, and summit is aligned and centered around this mission. “We are empowering women by ensuring that we are bringing them the latest information, tools, resources, connections, and opportunities to move them closer towards becoming a million-dollar (or more) business owner.”
As the Creative Director of the company, Briana handles all the outward-facing areas of the brand. She oversees the digital marketing, graphic design, and event design teams as well as looks into the brand partnerships and affiliations.
“My role is to ensure the brand message is carried out cohesively, and consistently, and is in alignment with our mission to help one million women each achieve one million dollars in annual revenue.”
Moreover, Briana shares that she absolutely loves representing the eWomenNetwork as a speaker across the country.
Ensuring Fluidity
Having collaborated with multiple brands, worked with leading companies, built her brand, and so on, Briana has grasped the understanding that balance is a never-ending pursuit. She mentions that wearing different hats requires one to be fluid.
“No two days are ever the same in my world, so you just go with the flow of the current situation while also having intentional boundaries to help steer things back to the center as needed. Know your non-negotiables and don’t waver from seeing that they’re met,” she points out.
Perhaps it is fluidity that has enabled her to be grateful for the lessons she has learned along the way.
Talking about if she would do anything differently if she were to start again, Briana says that are collective experiences, including the ones of failure and pain, has made her become the person she is today.
Moreover, she shares that one of the most painful lessons she has learned as a leader is that it is easy to overlook bad attitudes when people put out good work. “But the lesson I learned the hard way, and have had to learn a few times, unfortunately, is that good performance coupled with a bad attitude will do more damage than good in the LONG haul,” she adds.
Briana advises, “It’s critical to align with people who share the same values. And the second you get a whiff of misalignment, you need to run, not walk, RUN in a different direction.”
The Excitement Ahead
Briana mentions that the future is full of excitement for eWomenNetwork. She is especially excited to watch the brand open new chapters across the globe. “We have 118 Chapters right now across the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, so I’m amped for the continued growth of our network and sisterhood of women entrepreneurs!”
“It’s surreal how many incredible women have created lifelong friendships, business partnerships with, collaborations, and clients because of eWomenNetwork. The thought of what we as women can do for this world as that level of connection continues to multiply blows my mind.”
On a personal level, Briana is excited to grow into the CEO of the next generation of eWomenNetwork. She concludes saying, “I still have so much to learn, but if my growth over the last 5 years is any indicator, then I really look forward to getting to know the woman I am becoming.”
On the Cover – Briana Dai
Photographer – Priscilla Dasilva
Makeup Artist – Paige Parker
Hair Stylist – Anna Sullivan
Studio – The Production House
Published by
Exeleon Media LLC
www.exeleonmagazine.com
@exeleon_magazine
info@exeleonmagazine.com
Editor-in-Chief – Daryl Yeung
Project Manager – Natasha Green
Magazine Design – Naomi Lam
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