A New Home - www.gonegirlgo.com

The past few months have been amazing. I started this journey in January 2012 not sure of where I would go or what would be.

I never thought in a million years that a simple phrase would come to mean so much.

I remember when I started designing the logo. I had the idea that these words would have energy and movement behind them. I'm no graphic designer, but I was determined to keep communicating, designing, and sharing until it became what it was supposed to become.

Initial Logo

Current Logo

When I look back at the first draft of the logo, I laugh but I also smile. You gotta start somewhere.  

The emergence and growth of GoneGirlGo signified a turning point in my life. It was time for me to do things differently. It was time for me stop being scared. It was time for me to lean into discomfort. It was time for  me to challenge myself to grow.

My hope is that GoneGirlGo has come to mean something to you as well. You may not have participated in the learning experience Challenge Me to Grow. You may have only read one blog post. You may skimmed some of my tweets or Facebook posts. You may have wondered what was this all about. You may have thought it was not for you. But somewhere in your wondering, you got something. Something stuck. You made a connection. You felt what I feel every time I say GoneGirlGo.

Well, I couldn't stop here. I had to keep going. God put more in my heart about this than I realized.  I've been working on clarifying the message. I've been working on creating a virtual home for the movement. I have been working on something just for you.

I am honored to share with you the GoneGirlGo website.

Blogspot was a proving ground for me. I have never done anything like this before, but because I was eager to learn and do something new, I began to feel confident that I could advance to another level. I am using WordPress for the new site and it has been a journey. I'm not a web developer or all that technical so some of this was hard. But once I got over my fear, I was able to figure things out. (Well at least enough so I could actually publish a basic website.)

Right now the website contains just a few tools to encourage you to push forward your ideas and go impact the world.

• There's a calendar with strategies to make your M-W-F a GoneGirlGo kind of day.
• There's a Challenge Me to Grow Resource of the Month for you to download for free.
• There's all of the blog posts from this site.

And there's much more to come. You can look forward to more content, more connection, more community. There's even a Facebook page where we can extend our dialogue, share our stories, encourage one another, and challenge each other to grow.

Do me a favor. Keep this in mind. I'm still trying to figure things out. This is a work that will always be in progress. It will never be finished. And that's o.k. with me. (Cause when it's finished it's over.) Do me another favor. When you visit the new site, make sure to subscribe by email. It's simple.

So explore the new home of GoneGirlGo. Click, read, suggest, think, explore, comment, connect, and share. It's a place where you are welcome to be and become who you are.

Peace

This site will remain open, but I will no longer post anything here after this. (I'm kinda sad...)

LIVING THE GONEGIRLGO LIFE: LATORIA

I started Cleveland State University’s Diversity Management Program back in 2000 with DMP 3. Needless to say, I didn’t finish until 2007. I was distracted a little by life. I got the urge to go back so I ended up taking my last class with DMP 10. That’s when I met Tori. She was and still is a firecracker. Her energy, enthusiasm, and love for God, makes me smile. I wanna be like Tori when I grow up.  Enough said. Here’s her story:

In 2007, Cultivating Pearl, LLC was just a vision to a young lady in her early 20’s. I could literally see communities of women looking to live a life free from their past, who were ready and relentless to pursue authenticity. Although my vision lived inside of me, it never seemed to actually come forward. It took me years after my first attempt to launch Cultivating Pearl.

My first proposal was to my ministry leader at the church I attended at the time. She passed my proposal to our First Lady which I just knew was a good sign. That meeting left me very discouraged. I was told I wasn’t ready to take on something so big, and to be honest, at that time they were right.

I went on years after, steady writing and planning to someday see my burning passion birthed. It seemed that every time I attempted to move forward in what I knew was purposed to do, I ran into brick wall after brick wall. I was told everything from my vision was too big to we’re not going to be able to help you.

One day it hit me! I was looking for validation from people and organizations that had absolutely nothing to do with what I was responsible for contributing to the world. It wasn’t until I realized that my vision was just that….MINE. No one else would be able to see it quite the way I do because it belonged to me. I had to sit down and have a heart to heart with myself. It went something like this:

“Alright Tori listen, not only do you have the credentials to do this but you have the experience, your heart is in the right place, and you are passionate about what you do. Tori you can do this! Stop looking for people to validate you.”

No one can permit you to do what you were born to do. As of June 2012 Cultivating Pearl, LLC is no longer kicking me in the middle of the night. It is alive and well. If you are reading this knowing that you have something inside of you that has passed its due date, do the world a favor and GoneGirlGo! We are all waiting to receive what only you have to offer.

Latoria Polite, MA, CDP

Check out Cultivating Pearl at http://cultivatingpearls.onsugar.com/. Tori offers fresh perspective and insight into relationships, pursuing your purpose, esteem, style, and much more. Follow Cultivating Pearl on Twitter @P_E_A_R_Life . She does these Twitter chats that focus on relevant topics (even though I’m Twitter challenged, I try to participate!) Like her on Facebook too at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cultivating-Pearl-llc/186286648078110.

Peace.

SO HERE I AM.

Isn't it amazing the number of seasons we go through during our lifetime?  From the womb to the innocence of childhood, then onto the adventure of adulthood – life is a truly amazing journey. Like I’ve said before, life is fun but hard and I am convinced that in order to fully experience all that life has to offer, you have to have both. The hard parts of life should challenge you to grow.

Recently I have been in a constant cycle of being challenged to grow.  Shifting my career focus has challenged me to grow.  Being a parent to older children has challenged me to grow. Working in an actual office has challenged me to grow. Wrestling with relationships has challenged me to grow. And of course, pushing forward GoneGirlGo has challenged me to grow.

SO HERE I AM. 

In another season of life, being challenged to take what started out as a simple blog to another level. This territory is VERY unknown to me. I'm a fish out of water, but I'm determined to figure it all out. I will be launching gonegirlgo.com very soon. I’m nervous, satisfied, overwhelmed, and curious all at the same time.

1. I’m nervous because I’m new to all of this and I know that I will make some mistakes.
2. I’m satisfied that I haven’t reached my destination yet, but I have embraced where I am on this journey – the beginning.
3. I’m overwhelmed because I have to work a 9 to 5 in order to keep pushing this movement forward.
4. I’m curious to know what is right now unknown. I'm curious to know how you will receive gonegirlgo.com.

I'm packing my bags and getting ready
to move to a new site. 

You can help me deal with all of these emotions by doing me a favor.  I created a brief survey to get your feedback about gonegirlgo.com. Your comments on the blog, Facebook and Twitter have meant a lot to me. I want to make sure that I keep listening to what you say.  Click here to complete the short survey.

I will keep you posted on the move of GoneGirlGo to its new home. It will be within the next couple of weeks. I really want you to continue the journey with me so that we can keep challenging each other to grow. 

As always, peace.