Who's Abbi?
My skin color says I’m from Pakistan.
My birth certificate says I’m from England.
I’ve worked with words for 20+ years.
And this is the story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside — wait.
I left my childhood home in the dead of night. (if you can call 6am the dead of night; I do!)
I was 24 years old. (still a child?)
The whole house was sleeping. I cracked the door to my mum’s room and whispered goodbye, prepared to never see her again. (spoiler alert: I have. And will again.)
I did that to get to a place where I could be me. Unapologetically and awkwardly me.
As a woman, and person of color, I’ve heard more than my fair share of being told what to say and do in the world.
Can you relate? I’m betting I’m not the only one!
Because I’d interview my clients to get to the heart of their message, and they either didn’t know where to begin or they’d tell me things they thought I wanted to hear.
We wear so many hats in this world and biz of ours, that when it comes to talking about ourselves — it’s hard to do without relating to a role we play in this world. To get to my client’s voice, I want to know “Who are you when nobody’s home?”
I had to figure out a way to make it easier for my clients and myself — so I developed a whole thing around “Biznality” and this Biznality™ thing is now the heart of every project.
“To know thyself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Socrates
Who knew that words could say so much?
As the bridging gap between your thoughts and actions, your words are at once the purest expression of you and the most open to interpretation.
And when you have so much going on, your words are impacted and diluted by the million other things running around in your head and world.
In the meantime:
- You need to make a living on your terms and you wanna find the words that sell.
- You want your biz to go a certain way and you wanna find the words to grow.
- Every time you have to introduce yourself, you end up beating around the bush and you wanna hit the bullseye!
And that’s OK. Because now you have me.
Wanna know more?
When I was 16, I:
- Was published for the first time
- Started helping others as a wordsmith
- Volunteered my lunch break to read with younger kids, and ended up pioneering a program for other kids to work with and support the littles in school
- Was super duper shy (read: reserved vs introverted)
When I was 26, I:
- Was finally labeled the black sheep of my family (when I left to write my own story)
- Got married (and still am; same guy)
- Was still wordsmithing by word-of-mouth referrals
- Was coming out of my shell, but putting together jigsaw puzzles was (and is) still my idea of a fun time!
When I was 36:
- I’d officially been a biz owner for 3 years (you guessed it; wordsmithing!)
- Yes, I was (and am) still wordsmithing by word-of-mouth referrals
- I launched my first group program to help biz owners find their voice and uncover their biznality
And now I:
- Live a full and fulfilling life (2 kids, never-ending laundry, regularly fueled by Netflix and the gym)