Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Sonya Smith with me. Welcome.
Sonya Smith: Thank you for having me. It’s been a pleasure, and I’m excited.
Toni: Good, good. So Sonya, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Sonya: As Toni just introduced me, I’m Sonya Smith. I’m actually the Associate State Director at the Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center. What that means is that I get the privilege to work with a lot of small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout the whole state of Pennsylvania. We have 120 consultants. We do confidential one-on-one consulting as well as a lot of educational programs for individuals trying to learn how to start their business or grow their business. We stay true to our mission, which is to help businesses start, grow and prosper.
The inception of the program was in the 1980s, and since then we’ve had lots and lots of consultants, lots and lots of businesses throughout the whole state, and we’re just excited to continue to be the backbone of America, of helping those small businesses and their dreams. I’m actually a transplant, so I’ve lived here for about 12 or 13 years, but I’m originally from New Jersey. I went to undergrad and grad school here in Pennsylvania. I’ve learned to just love the community and give back and just do whatever I can to make a difference here in Pennsylvania.
Toni: Love it. Welcome to the Project.
Sonya: Thank you.
Toni: Let’s get into it. What does inspiration mean to you?
Sonya: Inspiration to me is just all different types of experience. I know inspiration can come from different modes and different variations, whether it comes from people, places, things, and experiences; even animals and your pets, but I think everyone’s perception is different of that. You can experience the same exact thing and you may or may not see or hear the same thing. Clearly, we’re all different. I think those experiences come in action, a power or force to influence some creativity or some kind of movement for individuals to push forward. It ignites that passion within them. That’s what inspiration for me is. It lights the fire again that was once there, or is there, but muddled and not seen. I love seeing inspiration, especially within this community.
Toni: So, do you know when you’re inspired?
Sonya: Of course.
Toni: You do?
Sonya: Yes.
Toni: What’s it feel like?
Sonya: I think inspiration feels like the stereotypical or the idealistic thought of falling in love. That whole butterfly feeling. I think inspiration, you get the sweaty palms, you get the butterflies. It’s like you’ve been there before. That’s what inspiration feels to me, so I automatically know when I need to put forth action to something because I get that feeling.
Toni: Does it happen a lot to you?
Sonya: It does, even more frequently because I’m surrounded by so many different people from so many different backgrounds. I have this thing that I try to be very self-aware of myself, but very self-aware of my thoughts and what I’m feeling and be in the moment. I’ve learned from meeting all of these individuals and talking to them and hearing their stories and hearing what they’re passionate about, and the whole product or service and what they’re doing, and whether it’s in business or my personal life or in church, you feel that inspiration.
I’ve learned to say, if I hear it more than three times that I’m on the right path; that I’m thinking the right thoughts, because just the other day I had a caption on my Instagram, and it was the same caption within the story that I was watching — storyline in the movie I was watching — and then I read a book and it’s the same exact caption. It’s just like you’re putting those things together and it’s just like the whole caption was, “Third time’s a charm.” I was like, “Should I try this again, or shouldn’t I?” The fact that I kept hearing, “Third time’s a charm,” was like, “Okay, yes. You’re on the right path.”
Toni: That’s a great example. How do you take when you’re inspired and moved like that and those butterflies and that wonderful feeling that comes with being inspired — how do you take that and put it into practice here in Berks County?
Sonya: Taking that feeling and then actually putting something behind it and making the movement is to get around individuals that have done that, whether it’s a new project I’m thinking of, a new program I’m putting together, or just trying to connect to individuals that want to achieve something. Like you said, it’s just getting those people in the room or making those connections for someone that has done it. It’s just like-minded; getting the like-minded thoughts together, that think tank or mastermind conversation going.
I think that’s usually the first step for me is to have a conversation and air out the good, the bad, the hurdles, and the struggles, but also what successes others have had. Then, you build off of that. I think that’s where a lot of successful businesses have taken something that they see has been inconvenient for the community or the public and they want to make it better. That’s the thing is just learning from those mistakes and those failures.
Toni: So when you are inspired, you don’t work in a vacuum. You try to bring other inspired folks to the table.
Sonya: Yeah, because that’s how you — well, my thought is that’s how you learn best, from people with other backgrounds and other experiences from your own. I feel like if you’re always around “yes” people or by yourself, then that creativity stops there. It stops at you.
Toni: It sounds like inspired collaboration.
Sonya: Yes.
Toni: That’s pretty cool.
Sonya: Collaboration and communication are my two big C’s. And consistency. I have a couple of C’s, but I feel like if you’re not patient with the consistent pattern or things that you’re doing and you don’t communicate when you are struggling or when you — some people hide their successes, because they feel like they’re bragging or being braggadocios about it, but I feel like if you don’t communicate that, it’s helping them inspire others. Your story is meant to be your story for a reason, and you shouldn’t be ashamed or feel that you are kind of overly arrogant about it. I think it’s all good.
Toni: Because we can learn from each other.
Sonya: Yes.
Toni: So, who in Berks County inspires you?
Sonya: It’s funny; because of what I do and I’ve thought about this. Of course, my family, my parents and friends, different people have inspired me. But within the community, entrepreneurs and small business owners inspire me because they’ve heard “no” many times, even from their own family and friends that don’t believe in what they have this passion about. It’s also the thought of that they are creative. They want to be innovative. They want to bring something different to their community or to the world.
It’s something that they constantly think about failure, because they’re good at their product or service or whatever they have a passion for, whether it’s baking cakes but they’re not good on the business side of it. So, it inspires me because they want to bring those people to the table to learn about, “Okay, maybe I need someone in accounting,” or, “Maybe I need someone that can help with my HR issues.” It’s everything that I believe in that I see in them, but at a different level because they’re living it every single day.
Toni: And they can admit to the fact.
Sonya: Some of them.
Toni: Yeah, that’s true. Very true. Right. That’s absolutely right.
Sonya: You have to bring that reality to them, and that’s why I love what I do. I’m not so down in the weeds with the consulting level anymore, but overseeing these programs, it’s really important for me to give that support to these consultants and all of our admin staff so that they can do the right thing of steering them in the right direction, whether it is something they should be in business, or not, so that they don’t waste their own time and energy.
Toni: That’s fantastic. So, what do you want your legacy to be?
Sonya: I want my legacy to be known as someone that was resourceful; someone that was dependable, but also a connector to something better than myself, bigger than myself. I’m just this little piece and particle in this whole big scheme of building communities, building things that will last a long time. That’s what I want my legacy to be is that I was a piece of something that will be standing way long after I’m gone.
Toni: I say this in every interview — you’re living your legacy today by the work that you do. I love the thought of inspired collaboration, and that’s fantastic. We so appreciate you taking the time and becoming part of the Get Inspired! Project.
Sonya: Yes, and thank you again for having me. I enjoyed it.
Toni: You’re welcome.
