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What would you do if you spent years delivering at a high level, supporting leaders carrying responsibility, being the steady presence behind the scenes? And then when the promotion opportunity comes up, you are passed over. Not only that, you are asked to train the person they chose. Sybil Stewart lived that moment and knew her voice was valuable, but it wasn't being valued. This is the Your Next Success podcast, and I'm your host, Dr. Caroline Sangal I'm a life first career coach and strategist on a mission to normalize questioning your career because I believe each of us is made on purpose for a purpose only we can fulfill. The longer we live out of alignment with who we are, what we do best, and why we are here, the more we miss out. And the more the world misses out on what only we can give. The Your Next Success Podcast is where we explore how to build a career that truly fuels your life. We talk about self-discovery, smart job, search strategies, professional growth, and you'll hear stories from people who have navigated big career transitions themselves, so you can create a life, first career and become your own version of authentic success. My guest today is Sybil Stewart. Sybil is a Christian business speaker and consultant who believes we are meant to do well, be well, and serve well. For more than a decade, she was the quiet voice behind influential leaders, global companies, and cultural movement. Today, she helps faith led women in service businesses speak and serve at the highest level. As a TEDx organizer, Sybil is intentionally creating stages where women could tell their stories in a way that protects their voice and honors their message. There's a kind of success that looks impressive. And feels like silence. You're doing the work, you're performing, you're producing, and somewhere along the way your voice starts disappearing: quietly, slowly, professionally. Today's conversation is about the moment silence stops being survivable. Sometimes you can be deeply trusted and not fully valued. Sometimes you can be the steady one and still be the one expected to stay quiet. What happens when you're passed over then asked to train the person who was chosen. That moment isn't just a career moment, it is a truth revealer. In this conversation, Sybil shares the turning points that followed how the cost of corporate silence showed up in her body, how faith and community rebuilt her life from the inside out, and how her work today is about creating what was missing safe stages where women can tell their stories.

Caroline 3:01

Sybil Stewart, welcome to Your Next Success. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to get to talk to you today.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 3:09

Me too, thank you so much for having me here Caroline.

Caroline 3:12

Thank you, Sybil. Okay. As you know, we're gonna get to all of the beautiful, amazing work that you do to help Christian women with their businesses. You're also, I know, organizing a TEDx event that is going to be, oh, quite so spectacular. TEDx Morgan Street in Durham, North Carolina. We're gonna get to that, but I'd love to kind of peel it back like way back. Um. Help us understand where were you born? What was life like for the very youngest little Sybil?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 3:49

So I was born in Charleston, South Carolina and everyone's like where's your accent go and I was like it's right at home where I left it and when I go back home I pick it back up, drop it off when I hit the interstate. Um, but yeah so that is where I grew up, I grew up my mom and my dad both educators as well as my grandparents my aunts and uncles, so I tell people I'm a fourth generation educator. And we also were actively involved in music, so my mom's a professional musician and the rite of passage was you sit at the piano except for in our house we didn't have a piano, we had an organ cause my mom's an organist, so that was childhood me and from there I'm still a musician to you know until today I've even got my harp picture in my background and I play the harp.

Caroline 4:44

Do you have a harp?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 4:46

Yeah I do play harp, yes. The harp was actually my 35th birthday present to myself, I said I am going to play this instrument that I fell in love with when I was five or six years old I was like it's going to happen. I was watching um I Love Lucy and there's an episode where Harpo Marx plays the harp, he plays Take Me Out to the Ball Game and I remember yelling at the TV and my grandmother I'm like I wanna do that one, like whatever this is, that's what's for me and yeah I just, you know, it was a dream delayed a dream deferred. Did not wanna be a teacher, um I was avoiding it because I knew what my parents right, both of my parents had second jobs to feed, clothe and keep you know the kids safe and so I did not actually want to be a teacher, I wanted to be a professional chef, I wanted to be a pastry chef.

Caroline 5:42

Oh wow. And do you have hobby to do that?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 5:46

I, in college started selling my baked wares from the dorms and it turned into a pretty nice business, um for a few years, so yes.

Caroline 5:58

All right. So you're in your littlest self. You are in a household and generations of educators, and you're realizing some you've got some music going on. Maybe you've got some culinary, um, things as well, and plus this kind of doing well with sciences and math, economics, those kind of things. So, but what were your, you know, littlest Sybil in elementary school, were there particular school subjects that you liked better than others?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 6:26

I was a voracious reader, you were going to find me reading the thickest book that I could find, you know, it was my way to escape, it was my way to dream, it was my way to live life through a different lens and so I remember reading and still today I have way too many books. If a book needs a good home mine is available but,

Caroline 6:58

I got you.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 6:59

I was in love with reading and learning and I still love to learn, so yeah it was my fantasy moment. It was my dream moment It was everything and still is.

Caroline 7:12

Oh, that's awesome. Um, did you have any siblings?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 7:16

Yeah, I have two sisters so I'm the middle.

Caroline 7:18

And as you get into middle and high school, was there any other, um, interests that started coming in?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 7:24

Yeah, so I wanted to do good for goodness sake, so was in everything from Girl Scouts to I was student body president to you name science Club, DECA, the dance team, the everything I wanted my hand in everything and at the time I didn't realize uh not everybody can do that, because they were like Sybil how do you have the time to do this and maintain a straight A GPA, right? It's not like I am a C student not that there's anything wrong with anybody right, but like I was a solid A student and I still had time to do all of these activities and yeah I just thought everybody was doing it.

Caroline 8:13

I, I, um. I can resonate a lot with that. If you are gifted to have something showing up for a good reason, we need to be letting that shine and, and utilizing ourselves in that way because in working in alignment with who we are, whether it's in our professional relationships or our personal relationships, or our fun and our hobbies, we need to have outlets for all of those things or our energy isn't being like fulfilled and it's just not.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 8:43

And it upsets you, right? I feel depleted when I don't use up all of my energy throughout the day I actually feel lower energy, I feel exhausted physically, mentally, all of it and so um and it's not about busyness, I never felt busy, I actually felt energized to go and serve and I didn't realize that that's what that was, that was me at a very young age just having a servant's heart to say how can I help.

Caroline 9:12

With the desire to help and also the abilities to help in so many different areas and things. So as you then get through high school, how did you decide what you wanted to do next? And even that you wanted to go to college?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 9:26

Oh that it were my decision, and so oh that it were. So my sister's a doctor and my parents just knew we're we're gonna have two doctors in the family and so I went to college to get a chemistry degree and I was like well I really don't wanna be a doctor but like what's the closest doctor person that's not going to deal with the people, touch blood, look at anything strange, Pharmacy. So I was pre-pharmacy when I went to college and I remember telling my fam, uh my mom and dad I said well I really wanna study kitchen chemistry and they were like no you're not gonna be a chef, you're gonna get a chemistry degree, you're gonna be a doctor like your sister and you know go through and I got into year four of college like I'm telling you the spring semester of the year that I should be ready to leave and I was like I don't like this, It was college was way too hard. And everybody says college is hard, no college was way harder than it had to be and I did well on the pharmacy exam and I was set to go to pharmacy school and I said I don't want to struggle for another three years like this in the spring semester of my senior year I changed my major.

Caroline 10:52

I get it. No, I, no, I, I get it. Okay. Okay. Sorry to what?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 10:57

Awesome terrifying, because I've gotta tell my parents I'm gonna spend an extra year in college.

Caroline 11:02

Yeah, yeah. I hear you. What did you, what did you switch to?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 11:07

Yeah, so I said what do you have enough hours in so that way they don't get too startled and so I switched my major to psychology which was my minor and so then I ended up having a psychology major, a chemistry minor and a concentration in statistics and I loved statistics, like I probably should have been a stats major uh but I didn't know these things and I think it's so important right to give kids the breadth and depth of every career choice and say here you pick.

Caroline 11:40

Yes. Yes. And that's, and part of, part of what I'm trying to do. You know, it's like, okay, I can still love this thing, right? It doesn't necessarily mean like, this is my.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 11:51

My thing.

Caroline 11:52

And, and also just for anyone listening, your thing can change. There's chapters and stages, so,

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 12:00

I tell my clients all the time your things If and when they do change, it was there to serve that part of you that needed that outlet in that season and so, um, you know, oh Sybil's such a hobby hopper, well that particular hobby I needed that part of my brain to either be activated or silenced or challenged and now I don't need that hobby anymore and now I need this other hobby, but the core of me has not shifted

Caroline 12:31

Yes. Right, exactly. That's the same thing, it's the skill building either way, depending on what's the intention of where, where that's gonna be used or served or, or fitting. Yes, I love it. Okay. We are aligned in way more areas than I thought. This is so cool. Okay, so you go to college, and by the way, I, I, um, switched my junior year from chemical engineering, and then I tried to salvage it and got a bachelor's in chemistry, so and then I went right on in and got a PhD in polymer science. So like whatever, point is, and I could do it and I could do it well, but there were some parts of it that were draining and there, but, but still, for me to have been classically trained in utilizing the scientific method, in doing that to do original research, it has come to serve me way differently than I expected. And it gave me the ability to relate to some of those other people and to feel that visceral kind of tug of like, oh, and I'm looking around and I'm like, all these other people are really jazzed by doing these calculations of how the pressure drops through a pipe and they're like, excited and I'm like, it's taken forever. And I'm just kind of thinking like, Ugh, if I wake up, will this all be over? And then I would wake up and it was still due, you know? Uh, but, but I, so I get it, and I congratulate you for feeling that and taking action on it, because it would've been so easy to just settle in and do what your very loving, well-meaning family thought and wanted, right.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 14:14

I know Um yeah so literally I I the joke is I'm one, I'm one class away from a chemistry degree, like that Is it, I am this many classes away from a, a chemistry degree but it's fine. So yeah I graduated and I didn't know what I wanted to do with this big, you know, psychology degree that I've got and so I sit I met with my my then mentor and he tells me about public administration and and this and that other thing and so when I told my parents about public administration, what they heard was attorney, so I scramble to take the LSATs that summer, I take the LSATs, I do the things I get accepted in the law school, okay, I did.

Caroline 15:07

Awesome. And but this is just showing like, give you a target, you will reach the target and you might not love your life while you're reaching it, but if you set a goal out in front of you and if you buy in that you're gonna get that go goal.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 15:26

it's happening.

Caroline 15:28

Yeah.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 15:29

So yeah, I enroll in law school I do a dual program uh for getting a master's and a JD at the same time and after a year of the dual citizenship I can't do this anymore I've gotta make a decision and I remember, I was in a relationship with a third year at the time and he said this to me and at first I was really angry and I'm like Ooh this is grounds for a breakup, but he said, he said if you don't love the law on both sides you're not gonna be a good attorney, like he said that to me and it hurt, you know in my 20 something but 40 something Sybil said I'm so glad he said that because I have a love of law. It's why I went into HR because I do have a love of the law, I have a love of history and knowledge and application but I could not and this is the requirement of an attorney, I could not energetically argue for both sides, I only wanted to argue my posture which would've made me a very uh thin skinny attorney. Right? But,

Caroline 16:38

Interesting.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 16:39

The cases of the people I, you know,

Caroline 16:41

Yeah.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 16:42

Can't do that and everybody is you know our society is such that everybody, you know, deserves due process, everybody deserves representation and so I would not have made a very ethical attorney not that I would have wanted to be unethical but it is ethical to represent the law and that's what i'm charged for and I couldn't do it.

Caroline 17:07

Because you had this, because you had this like morals and integrity in the way that you thought things need to be, and you weren't able to compromise the higher truth for the unbiased law.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 17:22

Yeah.

Caroline 17:24

But that was, okay, so you and then, and so he says this to you and you're kind of mad at it, and then what? Now you're able to reflect like, Ooh, that was a good choice, but so how did you go through that?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 17:37

Yeah, In that moment I looked at my course load and I said because at this point this is more like a logic game and I said I've got more courses completed for my master's degree than my JD, I'm going to go take my master's degree and I'm just going to wrap it up and so that's what I did and I graduated the following year.

Caroline 17:58

Interesting. And then what did you end up graduating with?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 18:00

So I have a master's in public administration.

Caroline 18:03

And can you help, uh, the rest of the, uh, straight chemistry nerds in the room or on the call? What does that mean? Like, help me understand, like,

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 18:14

It's literally an MBA, but for nonprofit and government work like we take the exact same coursework as business, um, MBAs we do all of the same things except we learn how to apply it for government nonprofit social services that's the only difference, policy work versus business work.

Caroline 18:36

Thank you for helping shed the light. I'm not too proud to say, I was like, wait a minute, what is that actually? Okay. And then what? And so now you graduate with this thing?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 18:46

I get this thing and it's the recession, the great recession the government is not hiring, so I have this very excellent degree that everybody said you're gonna work for the government when you graduate.

Caroline 19:01

Right.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 19:02

And then there's the recession and that's how I ended up teaching.

Caroline 19:06

Okay. Okay. All right and now from your, we didn't catch this part up though, from your bachelor's to your master's, you moved, right?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 19:15

I moved from Charleston to the great state of Alabama so I went to UAB.

Caroline 19:20

And then now that you are free to go work, where did you choose to go and why?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 19:26

I chose to go back home because there was a recession, moved back to Charleston and I thought I am not unpacking, I am not gonna be here long, this is a layover in life and I was there for two and a half years. It was a it was a pretty long layover but I taught school during that time, I taught uh grade school during the day, I taught math and physical science, uh apparently they didn't care that I was one chemistry degree uh one chemistry class.

Caroline 20:02

I don't think that elementary kids would have cared for that because knowing what those later classes are, they're good.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 20:10

They were good, so yeah I taught high school and then I taught dance cause I also have a dance background so I taught dance. Then in the evenings, I took an adjunct position at the community college, so that was my time of teaching.

Caroline 20:26

And what did you teach there?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 20:28

Chemistry.

Caroline 20:33

Nice. Nice. Okay. But you're still your multifaceted interests your high school kids by day and college kids in the evening and still doing a, a variety, even in your teaching. Of course, it wasn't just one subject, it was all of Sybil in different areas.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 20:50

To your, your parents point Uh teachers don't earn very much and I you know there was a lifestyle I was accustomed to and so that required two teaching positions.

Caroline 21:00

And did you, outside of your multiple jobs, did you also do other things for fun? and what were those or did you even have time?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 21:10

Uh you know, you make time for what's important and at that time I was a brand new auntie and so every Friday night it was me and my two nephews and it was some of the best memories that I could ever have, like I would've totally been a living babysitter I knew Friday at four I was gonna get to hang out with my boys.

Caroline 21:32

That's awesome. Oh, that's awesome. And I'm sure that your sister was appreciative as well too, so very, very cool. Okay, so now this teaching thing and your auntie, uh, beautiful service, starts a transition and what do you do for, for your, your career then? How do you make that decision of Mm, I don't think this is it. And how do you make that next, next chapter?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 22:01

So I ended up, um, they canceled my teaching contract at the end of the year cause uh, news flash to all the people out there, teachers only get contracts once a year, like you've gotta wait for that to renew, so I'm sitting at edge of sit, they don't renew me and I hear God saying go serve, right? Not go look for a job, God I don't have a job And I hear God, saying go serve right and so I go to my church and um, I don't know what to do right? Because when you're unemployed and things are already looking a little funny and I go to church and they say, Hey there's this conference coming up this HR conference and I'm like Hey I have a master's degree in public administration, say more and they're gonna show people how to get jobs and I was like okay cool, well I know how to get a job I'm just trying to figure out why I don't have one.

Caroline 22:56

Right.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 22:56

So I get to the conference and I meet the conference organizers and I start talking to them and they said you know it doesn't really sound like you need our help but would you like to lead a table and so I ended up leading a table at the conference that year and then the following year they invited me back because by then I was employed and then I ended up being a conference presenter at the church conference for people helping them get jobs and what's really interesting is I found my career in HR because I was out in the community doing what I love to do which is serving and so often I tell my job seekers, I said if you just go serve people see you serving in a way that you enjoy like don't go serve you know at the soup kitchen if you don't like food right, like if you're bad at cooking don't go there But I was serving in a place where I was going to be anyway, I was going to be at church, I was going to be around HR people, let me go serve in this way so that is actually how I ended up getting my first HR job is somebody saw me serving and you were like, hey what do you do for a living and I said this right here is what I do for a living um, which is administrator work for the church and helping them with these conferences and that's how I got my first HR job.

Caroline 24:17

You spoke at that conference too. Had you been doing public speaking throughout your stuff or was that your first?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 24:24

My first time.

Caroline 24:25

Immersion into public speaking was for this beautiful cause. This is so important, you listened to that still small voice, you followed it anyway, even though you weren't sure where it was gonna lead. You showed up. You allowed your gifts and talents to shine through while serving others. And then this opportunity opens up not only for you to be working with HR and doing these other things, getting a a job, but also this is now you stepping onto a public stage and communicating there too.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 25:01

Yes.

Caroline 25:02

This is interesting. Okay. And then what happened?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 25:07

I climbed the HR corporate ladder Um I worked at that job for about a year and a half I applied for a job up in DC and I got my first HR manager position, then I moved up to DC stayed up there for a couple of years climbed some corporate laddering, came back down here to North Carolina climbed a couple more corporate ladders and you know, at this point we're now you know, 11 12 years into HR, right, like yeah and what I would say is, I could always tell what my heart posture was when I was in these organizations as to whether or not I was gonna be there any specific length of time, like once I figured out how to pray over my success and over me and over the people who I'm supposed to be supporting, my discernment would get really flared up fast, if I felt energetically that that organization was not right for me and so I would say that I remember um during COVID, God was trying to tell me to leave corporate and I would not leave.

Caroline 26:20

How was that? How, how were those messages coming and what were you like, what were you overriding?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 26:26

Yeah, so I remember just being really unhappy because in my journal, which I found when I moved, I found my journal where I wrote down my dreams and my dream was HR director, well now I'm an HR director, now what? I'm an HR director in my mid thirties, God certainly this is not it I don't wanna do this for another 30. I'm not ready to retire, right? So I'm having these conversations with God I'm like I'm highly compensated everything seems hunky dory I'm not quite as happy as I thought I would be with this title and pay that people say you're supposed to have when you're multiple six figures and right and it felt empty and I was like I don't wanna feel empty, God. And then things started to get uncomfortable in the workplace and I'm like okay so I guess I'll start figuring out how to leave I had already saved up enough It's me.

Caroline 27:26

What was the discomfort? Would you mind like elaborating a little like, so it's like you're starting to have these questions and you're starting to, every now and then secretly kind of think about it, but then what were the uncomfortable work experiences that were also.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 27:40

Yeah, so I was on a global not on, I was leading the global team for HR leading, they wouldn't let me hire anybody all the other directors had teams except me and I would go say I don't need 10 people I said could I just get one, could I just get two, could I get a half of a person? Can you give me something and they would say oh we don't have it in the budget, i'm like but so and so just hired three people.

Caroline 28:12

Yeah, that's not, yeah.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 28:13

Um and then the next thing that happened is they had an open position for VP and again I never wanted to be a VP, that wasn't my vision but said well at least VPs have helped, so I applied for the VP position and I had been at this company for years, they sing my praises they say oh my gosh we're so excited you know, blah blah blah will you um will you train our new VP? We know you're be great at it.

Caroline 28:41

Oh. And what did that feel like for those at home?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 28:48

And I looked my EVP square in the eye and I said no I will not.

Caroline 28:57

Good for you.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 28:57

And I think that for those of us who have ever had that experience of being under-resourced in the workplace when we see other people have resources this is not I'm complaining this is I'm watching an inequity happen, I'm over HR, I'm responsible for making sure inequities in the workplace don't happen and yet the inequity is happening and then it's directed towards me. Um so that was my chief complaint and they said well you know, we hired a diverse person da da that that's not what this is about, you hired another man, you didn't want a female in that VP position, you wanted an entire leadership team of men, so that's not really diversity so they onboard this gentleman and he and I meet for the first time and I remember he said this to me cause again I'm in prayer and he said, do you know why you weren't selected for VP? I said, oh they told you and they said oh they didn't have to tell me oh and they said well you're not likable and until people like you you're not gonna your your your career will go nowhere.

Caroline 30:17

I need a second. I probably need about a lot of minutes. Um,

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 30:23

I didn't meet the likability factor, yeah and then he went on to say how he didn't even have to apply for the job um because he knows Bob and John and all of them and they said, hey just come on and he said sure.

Caroline 30:44

Oh, Sybil, I'm, I mean, like at that moment I can see like what, like all the thing, and now it's like I, I seeing beyond that moment, it's like, okay, thank you for that and I'll see that and we'll raise up a couple other, other notches. Um. And it did happen for you,'cause that wasn't where you were meant to be. You had a higher purpose, higher things to be able to do. And also in that same moment, oh my goodness, that's awful, like that's an awful, awful thing for somebody to say judging and for you to experience an inequity in all of the the, I, again, it's kind of rare that I don't have something to say, but that just stings so painfully.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 31:41

Yeah, so I resigned, I think they thought I was going to say and I said I'm not going to help you, I'm not going to onboard you, you're the VP, you should know all of the things I'm going to teach you so good luck and it wasn't about being petty, it was about me being responsible to the people who I knew were looking to see what I was going to do next, see other women who I was able to bring in the organization and I said if you back up now, you are not standing in your truth and said I'm not gonna make myself a liar, i'm not gonna lie to myself and I and I quit. Um and at that moment that's when God said go start your business, but I was not obedient, I looked for another job and that was the longest year of work ever, I remember starting the job at the orientation, I remember saying to myself, you have just made a big mistake, that was at the orientation meeting.

Caroline 32:46

So you, you had this nudge, you overrode it, you're now getting other feelings and, and yet you're still trying to show up and then what? And proven yourself in this job that you chose.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 33:00

That I chose, that I asked God for I was like God just one more job, I remember saying God just one more and then I'm gonna get ready and you know the lies when you,

Caroline 33:07

Yeah.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 33:09

I'm preparing, I'm trying,I'm getting things in order, I don't have enough saved, I was telling myself all of those things that we tell ourselves, it was the longest year, year in two months of my life. They were, they made it very clear that they never wanted me that organization from the time I started until the time I exited, it nearly cost me everything, medically, mentally, spiritually, it nearly cost me my life.

Caroline 33:41

The stress of all of this environment? Yes. Okay. And I don't, I'm not trying to pry, but I, I think this is so important for people to understand be, and, and it's, and it's not for lack of trying effort, smarts, it's none of it because I also overrode for way too long and I didn't connect, and I don't know if you connected at the time, any health challenges or struggles. I surely didn't necessarily connect at the until, until it was really late. Oh, and I didn't realize until I no longer had that corporate role, how freeing and how much of a weight I had been carrying by continuing to show up in an environment that wasn't truly celebrating and appreciating me, even though I know I was doing some good work and helping some others, but okay, but what was your, yeah.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 34:39

I would go to brush my hair and my hair would start falling out, so that was a really solid sign, I started having body aches, I would wake up I had body aches, I was having nightmares, I was having insomnia, Um I was blacking out because I was working so much, they had so many projects on my plate to try and force me out cause that's what organizations do, those I was having blackouts and I remember one time I was driving home and I was scared cause I had my migraines where your your vision starts to go and I had a migraine on my way home and I said God I can't see I just need you to get me home, cause I cannot see like literally the spots were.

Caroline 35:29

Yeah.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 35:30

I forgot what they call it when you have the the auras when,

Caroline 35:33

Yeah.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 35:35

So yes I was a a migraine sufferer I was a,

Caroline 35:39

Had you had migraines before?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 35:41

No.

Caroline 35:43

So migraines start showing up as this job, this one last, gimme one last job, and I guess this.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 35:51

Um and then I remember one migraine got so bad it was debilitating and so I went to the hospital went to the urgent care and they said is there anything else going on and I said I said my left shoulder just really keeps hurting. I, I said I don't know if I slept wrong now I did not know When you say your left shoulder hurts you get bumped up to the top of the line and for good reason, they wanna make sure you're not having a stroke or a heart attack or any of those things and sure enough I get bumped up to the front of the line they wheel me in the back you know they plug me up to the machines, they're like Ms. Stewart, you know uh well what's what's your exercise? Oh I run three miles a day, okay, well what are you eating, Oh you know I'm pescatarian da da, Well what's your stress level like I was like well you know things are happening at the job I'm very calm about it and then these other doctors start coming in cause the machine's beeping, critical, my blood pressure was that high, they thought that I was gonna have a stroke right then.

Caroline 36:57

Wow.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 36:58

Like, they were like Ms. Stewart, we need you to remain calm, I calm I said my head just hurts if you just gimme some tylenol for the shoulder sort of a thing, yeah the time um, they told me.

Caroline 37:14

And had you had, had you ever had indications before that your blood pressure, like regular checkups or anything, that it was outta whack or something that needed to have anything?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 37:24

I have been a 120 over 80 kind of gal since you know beginning of time here and yeah, when they finally told me what my blood pressure was, it was 179 over 113.

Caroline 37:45

Thank God that you actually went to the hospital.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 37:49

It was debilitating, I said I have never had a migraine this bad, like I went for the migraine and then I come out and and they're giving me stroke paperwork and telling me I've gotta go see a heart doctor and they're worried about heart failure and they're worried about all of these other things.

Caroline 38:14

And then what?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 38:16

So I get out the hospital and I start praying for peace, because as I got out of the care about this body right now I said, I said I just need peace, I said you can do whatever you're going to do and because of the mouthiness that I am, I said but of God if this is how you're taking me out please like, just let me be at the footstool right like, just please count this as my job well done because I don't know what else to do, I remember saying that and I hear God as clearly as you and I talking, he says and you're gonna have to quit your job and I said but God I just bought my house, like the house that you just blessed me with you are now telling me I'm quitting this job. Um.

Caroline 39:06

And where was this like location? Are you still in the DC area or are you somewhere down?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 39:11

Yeah, here in Durham went to Duke. Good old Duke. Yeah, so my sister and brother-in-law they come and get me because I'm not allowed to drive, right, I'm having panic attacks to the point of passing out, um I had what they call chronic panic attacks, which is where the minute one stops and starts the next one kicks right in.

Caroline 39:38

Oh.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 39:39

Um so, I could barely feed myself, I could barely close myself, I couldn't drive and I was having nightmares just incessantly.

Caroline 39:51

This is before you left? Like you're, you're having this just knowing you need to quit your job and all this is just compounding?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 39:59

Compounding.

Caroline 40:00

Oh, wow.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 40:01

Yeah, I hadn't quit my job yet, yeah, this was I got out the hospital and these things are happening Um and then I became agoraphobic, because I had had so many incidences of when I leave the house.

Caroline 40:17

What and what is agoraphobia?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 40:19

Agoraphobia is fear of leaving your home.

Caroline 40:22

Oh, wow.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 40:26

Yeah, so I was afraid to leave my home, I was afraid to eat, I was afraid of everything, I was hypervigilant because they had put that much stress on me, they were nitpicking all of the things and so you know all of that messes with your psyche.

Caroline 40:46

Yeah.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 40:47

And so, my sister's like well you've gotta eat something, I'm afraid to eat and she's like well let us hug you, no you can't touch me I'm hurting, my whole body was hurting, like my whole body was in pain. Every time somebody would go to touch me, I would would cringe because it was hurting so bad, It would hurt to sit, it would hurt to sleep. It was, you know, the the pain of it all was real manifested or not whatever people say but like,

Caroline 41:15

It was real. Yeah. You're experiencing this, this real thing driven by, yes, the stress of the environment that you were in and then what happened?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 41:30

That went on for a couple of weeks, I started, they gave me, I don't know a a week and a half let's just call it to get myself together and then they expected me to start logging right back in, like I was at home crying in between meetings. Panic attacks in between meetings. Still,

Caroline 41:53

And were you supposed to be in an office or were you allowed to be working remotely?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 41:57

They didn't want me even working remotely and I was like look I can't drive and here's my here's my medical thing I cannot drive. Um and the good news is right we are on the other side of COVID so work from home still was very much a thing so you could argue but not really, about whether or not I was being productive while I was at home, but yeah my sister and my brother-in-law nursed me back to health, I had to learn how to trust myself to walk outside again, I had to learn how to trust myself to drive again, I had to learn how to trust myself to eat again like in layers over a several weeks and so I get back to Durham on a Tuesday and I say, hey you guys I'm back in town et cetera et cetera, I'll be in the office on Monday. And that Monday they terminated me for poor performance.

Caroline 42:59

And you're still in HR by the way.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 43:01

Right.

Caroline 43:01

And they are at this point aware that you have medical documentation.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 43:06

Yes.

Caroline 43:07

And I went back and got my HR certification just'cause I thought that was a fun thing to know. Um, interesting, just interesting'cause that's,

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 43:21

But here's the thing in that meeting, I had been praying because right I had already decided God told me to quit this job, I was just gonna figure out how to do it in a responsible way, right. So I was prepared in that meeting to say, you know, here's my transition plan and here's what I can do and here's what I can't do and all of these things and I get in the room with the other two HR people and the interim person and they start lying not right I've never have, I ever had a performance pip, none of it.

Caroline 43:53

Yeah.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 43:55

And I remember one lady said we were just waiting to tell you, no you weren't. Um and then another lady said, well be that as it may, that was what her phrase was be that as it may and then I could hear God in the background saying don't say anything else, so while they're doing this to me, I'm up here having a conversation with God, what do you mean I can't say anything? And God said do not defend yourself, you bridle your tongue and I remember, you know, and he you know he's like remember Jesus, he stood before accused innocent, this is your opportunity to be more Christ-like, how are you going to manage this moment and then I felt peace that really does surpass understanding, while they were lashing at me and they said do you have anything to say for yourself, I said no thank you for your time and I logged off.

Caroline 45:08

Because they terminated you for performance, does that mean that's it deuces, or did they give you a severance package?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 45:15

They did not wanna give me a severance, so I had to hire an attorney to get the worst severance package ever created. Um and that is how all of this business of being in business began.

Caroline 45:33

Wow. Yeah, it's, well, it's by choice or by force that, that it, that it happens, right? And either way it's gonna happen, but you had kind of had this inkling and, but yet also you are you, I'm, I am awed by your obedience in that moment of listening, and I'm just saying,

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 45:57

You choke on your words too.

Caroline 45:59

I get it. I, I was laid off one time and I had felt this, like, I felt literally, and I'd been praying for a way to be able to be home with my kids and I felt these like angel wings, I felt, I felt a hug and I was like, okay. And then I still,

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 46:17

God didn't.

Caroline 46:18

Right? You know, but like, I, like I didn't get the message loud enough. I got the hug, but I didn't get to shut your mouth and I also don't know that I would've listened at that moment in that lifetime.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 46:30

Felt,

Caroline 46:30

But yeah.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 46:31

This, like you know, people push me back, I could feel him pushing me back in my chair.

Caroline 46:36

Wow.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 46:37

It was almost like, he was protecting me, while I was bracing for impact and he was restraining me so that I didn't say anything. It was very much like he was like no, you step back, like that was the feeling I got. It wasn't a hug, no no no God was like uh he was push you know like I got this and he pushed me out the way.

Caroline 47:08

Wow.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 47:08

Yeah.

Caroline 47:13

I mean, it's all the feels, now I see it as beautiful, but in the moment it'd be like, what? What are you doing? Thank you firstly for sharing all of these things, and I'm sorry that you had such horrible experiences with other parts of God's creation. And I am also inspired at like, look, right, like seriously though,

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 47:43

Yes.

Caroline 47:44

Like his plan is better than what, what was my plan than, you know, what had been your initial plan. Um, and I can't wait to see the rest of the story, um, and do that. So, had you pre-thought about having a business, did you have like you, you now find your yourself in the midst of an opportunity to do something different. It didn't come in the way that you had anticipated or expected

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 48:55

It did not.

Caroline 48:57

And it's on the heels of health challenges that were related to being in your past employer, so how did you navigate that? Like tell us about that.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 49:12

Yeah, so what I will say is, um, God really showed himself through my church community. Um, it was almost like he knew I was going to not follow direction sort of a thing. So when I was on the tail end of exiting corporate, I decided to join Rooted Group at my church, I don't know if you're familiar with Rooted, but it's like, um, a community, a micro community in the church and you go through, you know, a 8 or 10 week module thing and it's supposed to draw you closer to God, introduce you to new people at your church, that sort of thing. Now, I don't know how this happened'cause Rooted Groups could be anybody. Well, I end up in the All Women Rooted group.

Caroline 50:01

Wow.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 50:02

There are 12 of us, and I'm like, what is this?

Caroline 50:07

Are you the apostles for this next generation?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 50:12

And I have a fabulous group leader and I just think so much of her, so she's listening, Beverly knows, I think just the world of her, but as I'm exiting corporate, like I said, I'm afraid to leave my house, so that means I can't grocery shop, I can't get my medicine, I can't do anything and they notice because I'm a faithful steward of going to church, they start noticing my sisters. Sybil hasn't been to church, she hasn't been to small group, she hasn't. They started showing up at my house and rotating through and making sure I ate and cleaning my house and helping me to walk outside again and driving me places so that I wouldn't have panic attacks and cooking and cleaning and praying over me. And I mean, these women poured into me for so many months, when I could not, when I could not stand myself.

Caroline 51:25

Wow. Did they, how, how did the first one get in? Because I, I admit that when I'm going through some stuff and if I have people that want to reach out to me.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 51:37

Was in denial. Yes.

Caroline 51:39

There are so many, and there, there are a few people who've been my tried and two friends, and they don't live near here, but they know, and I talked to one just a couple weeks ago and she's like, I didn't hear from you for a while. I just so you know, I don't know what's going on, but I've been praying for you. And I was, and it was almost like that, that moment where it's like you're thinking you're all together and then there's that moment it cracks open, but like how did the first person that came get. How, how, like, did you just realize I'm gonna accept this person regardless. I don't feel like any of this, and now this is my church family, but I'm gonna go ahead and let her in the door. Like how, how?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 52:18

It was more like, you know how some people just have that way? And she said, I know you don't wanna come outside, but like she kind of dangled the carrot, if you will. And then of course when she shows up, she was like, I know you said I can't come inside, but just in case I'm gonna stand at the door and I'm just like, I can't let her stand at the door and so she like stands inside and close the door, and I know what you said, so you go sit on your sofa, I'm gonna stand right here. And she literally inched her way into the house until I would let her come be near me and, and like she was not going to let me do this alone. She was not going to see that happen. And, and,

Caroline 53:10

Wow.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 53:10

I remember, you know, she was like, I'm going to tell you, I already told the sisters. And I kind of side at it and I was like, well, whatever. It's fine and then all of them start texting me, hey Sybil, we're praying for you, you know, let us know what you need. And of course I'm too big, I don't need anything. No, thank you, right. I'm very much that terrible receiver and then I didn't know she was scanning the house, right? She was pan around and next thing you know, DoorDash is showing up at my door, hey Sybil, we wanna make sure you ate. Um, next thing you know, Sunday after church, Hey Sybil, and these women don't live anywhere near me, okay? Going out of their way. Hey, Sybil, we were just in the neighborhood. Okay?

Caroline 54:05

Totally for you, totally for you.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 54:06

We're in the neighborhood'cause we're on our way to, to make sure we make sure we take care of you and like I said, would come and cook and clean and make sure I had clean clothes and make sure that I wash my hair and they really poured into me.

Caroline 54:21

And, and just loved you without judging. They just came in and just showed you nothing but love and grace.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 54:27

Nothing, but love, grace, support, taking me to my doctor's appointment'cause I wasn't able to drive yet. Like, I remember one of them, she said, okay, we're going to go inside a building. Like I need people to really understand how severe agoraphobia is, so it's not just, I can't leave my house, but it's how long it takes to get in a car, how long it takes to get out of the car, how long it takes to walk across the parking lot. My first field trip out of my house was Target right when they first, right when they first opened, right? Like super dead Target's right down the street from my home. Um, because I needed the medicines that the doctors had me on and she said, we're gonna do this together and she got to my house right when Target opened and bundled me up in the car. I don't know how long it took me to walk inside. And she literally sat there at the car and prayed over me and waited for me and it was literally one step, one step, one step. And we stood at the door of Target for about five minutes and I'm trembling, and she's like, it's okay, we're gonna be here until you're ready.

Caroline 55:51

Wow. How long had you known these women?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 55:57

Not long. We had known each other six, seven months.

Caroline 56:03

Wow. But these, but here, this group had been made and fashioned, and you're part of this group, and just these beautiful, supportive people.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 56:17

Yeah.

Caroline 56:18

Found you as you were.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 56:19

As I was.

Caroline 56:21

Loved you anyway, and just stood with you through this really, really challenging time and they all have their own lives and their own stuff of what's going on.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 56:36

All of them. All of them, and I mean, literally one lady drove all the way from near Pinehurst to come and take care of me, like she had an hour and a half drive. And she said, I am not leaving your side until I know you're okay.

Caroline 56:58

Aside from your own sisters, had you ever experienced this sort of love, acceptance, appreciation, genuine pouring into from anyone else thus far?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 57:13

No.

Caroline 57:13

And your, of course, your mom and aunts and all that, but.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 57:16

No. Yeah. God saw fit to send his earthly angels to to cover me.

Caroline 57:25

And you, again, through this really difficult time, allowed yourself to open up to this experience that he's putting there for you.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 57:38

Yeah.

Caroline 57:42

Had you ever had these kind of like challenges ever, ever in your life. Like mental health, scary kind of anything before? Wow. So, so many uncharted territories and yet he's gonna see you through it and bring you people that you needed in that moment and many different women.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 58:07

Yeah. Yes.

Caroline 58:11

Wow.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 58:12

Yeah. And they literally rotated it because they knew I couldn't, you know, take a lot of simulation. It'd be two or three of them, and it would rotate another two or three and they rotate and they rotate and they rotated and like they didn't miss a beat.

Caroline 58:29

So, and through this you start having even more of an appreciation for the beauty of women together, supporting each other.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 58:40

Absolutely, absolutely. Um, without them, I don't know what my healing journey would've been like if I tried to have done it alone.

Caroline 58:53

And your own sister and her husband, how far were they from you?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 58:56

Yeah. So four and a half hours.

Caroline 58:59

Wow. Because see,'cause they came, they were the immediate helpers.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 59:03

The immediate helpers. Yeah.

Caroline 59:05

And now you found these new sisters. And of course, we're all brothers and sisters, right? Which just sounds so great, we're all brothers and sisters and God, right? And then it's just like, okay, all right. Interesting. Um, but yet here you are, you find a whole bunch of sisters.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 59:22

Yeah.

Caroline 59:23

That put themselves in a place to really just pour into you, without expecting or anything. And it's not like you'd known them long enough to give them all of your awesomeness.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 59:33

They just, yeah. I remember one of them saying she saw my light and I was like, oh, thanks. Because I'm feeling very dim right now, but thank you.

Caroline 59:44

Yeah.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 59:45

Um, but yeah, it was in that moment that, I was like, okay, I'm gonna be okay. I don't know what okay looks like. And I remember praying again, I said, well, I'm not going back to corporate, right? Like, this is not gonna be a thing. I remember praying again, um, because I was still having pretty reasonable, reasonably decent, and by reasonable, I mean horrible, um, panic attacks. And I remember having one that was so bad that I was just like, I was exhausted because it had lasted so long and I was by myself, they had already left and I slept, and this is probably the first time I had slept in seemingly forever. And I finally sleep and I could hear God saying like, here's what you're going to go do next. And God gave me the vision for my business in that dream. And I don't even remember writing it all down, but like perfect penmanship, it had to be me writing.

Caroline 1:00:55

Course you have perfect penmanship. That was a conversation from a week ago. You're like, do you have good penmanship? And I'm like, mm mm I wanna help Sybil and I don't think that's my role.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:01:08

Not the assignment, but yeah, I've got perfect penmanship and it, there it was when I woke up the next day and I was like, when did I write all of this? It's like, like seven pages worth of stuff.

Caroline 1:01:23

Wow.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:01:23

Here's how you're gonna run this business that you're going to start. I could not have made that up. Like I could not have made up this business that I'm in.

Caroline 1:01:33

Wow. Okay, so tell me a little bit about this. Tell me a little, tell us a little bit about this business that this divinely inspired, proclaimed, written down. When you have a doubt, you can go look at the little pre manual.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:01:53

I can go look at my graph paper, because that's what I wrote it on. I wrote it on some graph paper.

Caroline 1:01:58

Of course it was graph paper.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:01:59

Course it was graph paper. Why is it graph paper in the nightstand? I don't know.

Caroline 1:02:04

For this.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:02:05

For this.

Caroline 1:02:05

For this.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:02:06

For this. Um, but no, God gave me two very, very specific instructions and, and he said, go speak, go create safe spaces and tell her story. That is what God told me to go do. And I said, I don't know what this means, God. Right? Because I got like a lot of details of pages, but like the, the period dot was go speak, go create safe spaces and, and you know, tell her story. It's like, okay. So I start to feeling better and I'm like, go speak. Okay. What does that mean? Do people get paid to speak? Maybe so. So I find this phenomenal group called Innovation Women by a Google search. I'm like, speaking groups for women dot dot dot, and all these things pop up and I'm like, well, that one looks safe. Um, and so I joined Innovation Women and I am like, okay, well now what? Like these, these seems like a really good group of gals. You know, pretty low entry feed to join the group. I'm trying to figure out if this is a gag or not, but, okay. And I joined and you know, the owner's lovely. Everybody's really amazing. And I said, okay, how do I get paid? Because I, I don't have time and everybody says, oh, it's gonna take you a year to get paid. It's gonna take you six months to get paid. It's gonna take all of these, you know, lengths of time. And I was like, it's like I don't have time. I got my first page speaking engagement 76 days after I started, like nobody has that testimony. Right? But for the fact that. I was doing my darnedest to figure out how to be obedient, and I said, well, God said go speak, lemme see what speaking looks like. And it wasn't some big paycheck, okay? It was the possibility of the paycheck. It was$800 and a flight. And I said, I need some income. Let me just see how this goes. So my first speaking engagement,$800 for my flight. But then a couple of weeks later, I get a$2,500 speaking engagement and they get a$3,000 speaking engagement. Couple months later I meet, uh, not even a couple, like I'm saying, like a couple of, like one month later, right? Like,

Caroline 1:04:57

Yeah.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:04:59

Uh, one of the ladies from the group that I had met said, hey, I've seen you in the group, I follow you on social media. Um, my plane is stuck, can you do this presentation for me? You live in North Carolina? And I said, sure, where's the presentation? It was at the the C21.

Caroline 1:05:25

Yeah, right.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:05:26

What? What? So here goes another speaking engagement. I do that engagement. And they're impressed with me. And one of the ladies who is her partner says, wow, Sybil's amazing. And then they bring me on for a one year speaking contract with their company.

Caroline 1:05:54

Wow.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:05:55

Yep.

Caroline 1:05:58

Wow.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:05:59

So. There ain't nothing my God cannot do.

Caroline 1:06:09

Okay, so that's the, that's part of the speak that you're doing.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:06:13

Yeah.

Caroline 1:06:14

And, and then there was, there was another part of,

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:06:16

Create safe spaces. Tell her story. Yeah. So interestingly enough,'cause I was still trying to figure this thing out. I wrote a social media post on LinkedIn. I hadn't been on LinkedIn in forever, and I was like, well, I don't know what I'm doing on here because I'm not looking for a job. So I just kind of start dabbling. I don't care about the algorithm, I'm just talking and I write this post about post-traumatic, um, stress after exiting corporate. And this lady DMs me and she says, hey, I'm with Business Insider, I think it's a gag.

Caroline 1:06:55

Right, because I've gotten some of those gags.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:06:59

We've gotten gags before. She's like, Hey, I'm with Business Insider, your story, uh, just popped up on my mini feed. I couldn't help but reach out to you. And I'm like, ha ha, Business Insider. She's like, no, seriously. I write for Business Insider, da da dah. Um, we would love to feature you. Okay, so I get featured in Business Insider, all of a sudden I've got clients. Okay, I can create safe spaces. I'm really good at that, right? That was my assignment in corporate. What am I teaching this woman? I'll teach them how to, you know, build their career, build their brand, build their whatevers. So in the midst of that, featured in Business Insider was not chasing it, was not looking for it. I get another DM from another woman and she says, Hey, I have a woman's network that streams on Roku. I heard about you, would you like to have your own talk show? What? I get a talk show for being obedient. So I'm a year, year-ish into entrepreneurship. I'm speaking around the US. I'm in the Business Insider, you know, by divine ordinance and all that and now I am on Roku with my own talk show, telling her story. Oh, okay. God, what else you got for me?

Caroline 1:09:00

Wow.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:09:00

Yeah.

Caroline 1:09:11

How did one of the re ways that we got connected come into fruition? about your TEDx involvement.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:09:20

Yeah. So when I thought about the clients that I was working with, I pivoted because what I realized is I didn't wanna help women stay in a job they hated. I didn't want for them to turn into me where you're earning all the money and you're losing your soul, or I, I, I talked to people, I said, you know, you're, you're checking God at the parking lot or you're leaving God at the coat hanger when you walk in the office, right? Like coat check, God check. And you go inside and I said, I don't wanna help women do that anymore. And so I said, okay, God, how can I do better at this? And, um, it's so be careful what you ask God. So all my clients went away. I wanna be very, very clear. There was a season of zero clients,'cause God had to reorient me to the new clients that I now get to serve, which are women in business, Christian women in business. And I said I would much rather help a woman build a business or stay in business than stay a organization that's not treating her well. As I started working with these women. And they kept saying, oh my gosh, it's so hard to get on a stage or I don't know how to get on a stage, or why aren't people paying me to speak? And I'm like, I get paid to speak. What's going on here? Right. And then looking at the statistics of paid speaking, 70% of the paid speaker are men, so that's 30%. And of that only about 12% are women of color. I'm like, wait a minute, now I am back where I was in corporate. You know, the, the anomaly of it all. And I said, I don't want that. And when I asked these women who I work with and they start talking about stages and being present, and I said, well, what stage would you like to be on? And they said, oh man, just let you, I really wanna be on a TED, and so I started doing research. I'm like, well, I don't have to be on a TED, but what's this all about? I've seen TED Talks. I think they're fabulous. And I met, um, Dr. Sarah Glover, who I'm sure you know, she's absolutely fabulous. I met her actually in, in Innovation Women, and I was like, I'm in Durham and she's like, me too. So we meet in person and she's like, yeah, I really wanted TED, dah, dah, dah. And I said, okay, help me understand why people want this TED so bad'cause I just don't see it. And you know, it's a part of my plan. It's visibility, it's all these things. I said, well what if I hosted TED? And she looked at me and I was like, no, seriously. Like what if with your help?'cause I don't know what I'm doing. I hosted TED and we figure out how to create a TED for Women. I didn't even know if TED for Women existed. And so, yeah, that was last year. Um, because I said, if this is the need, how can I meet the need? How can I make it intersect and how can I make it as seamless as possible to serve well the people who need this the most and the people who needed the most are the women. And so I said, okay, great. So she was one of my first TED speakers along with four other ladies last year. Um, her TED's done fabulous, over 300 something thousand views, but to know that that is the hurdle. We need visibility. We need a stage. There's so much competition for stages. That means there's not, there's not enough people building the stages.

Caroline 1:13:06

Yes.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:13:07

And so how can I do exactly what God called me to do, which is speak, create safe spaces and tell her story. Oh, that's a TED. That's easy slam dunk, and the ability to not do that again. You know, in March I've got nine ladies this year, two of which are students, phenomenal young ladies, and, and a part of it for me is evolving even as I serve, because now it's not just about telling her story, it's about protecting their voice so they never feel like their story is ever compromised like so many of us have. Where we felt violated when we use our voice, where we felt minimized when we tried to advocate for ourselves. And I said, well, if I'm going to do this, yes, I'm going to create your safe spaces to tell your story, but I wanna create the safe space for them to know what it looks like to safely share your story so that you know what to look for.

Caroline 1:14:14

I love it. I'm so, I'm so excited to be, um, volunteering to help make this event that you're working on of telling her story to really be quite impactful. I'm gonna try help you get the, uh, the word out and get those stories shared. So tell a little bit about when is that event, um, how do people find out people local to the area? How can they come and support it, people who are not?'cause this podcast last I looked, was like in 47 countries and 300 something cities. Um, so how can they watch after the fact, like both ends.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:14:55

Both ends. So yes, it is happening on Saturday, March 21st. It is going down at 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. We have an amazing VIP experience, I think VIP is just about sold out though. I think we had one dangling ticket, but we are going to have a harpist in the VIP room. I am not going to be the harpist in the VIP room, but.

Caroline 1:15:21

You're also not supplying the harp.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:15:22

I'm also not supplying the harp yet. She has harp wheel travel. Uh, but one of the ladies from the North Carolina Harp Ensemble that I've had the pleasure of performing with is going to, uh, grace us with her gift and her presence, and she's an absolutely lovely young lady. Um, and so that's gonna be the VIP experience. Get a chance to meet and greet with the speakers, have a, a lovely meal. If you have never been to the 17th floor of the Durham University Club, I'm just saying the food is amazing there. So doors will open up at 11 for VIP, 11:30 for general admission. We have some amazing vendors who are supporting us as well, so I'm, I wanna make sure to shout all of our vendors and sponsors out. We have THL solutions, they're financial group. We have, um, a counselor, who is, um, supporting us as well. We have Clark and Burke IT Solutions who made a really phenomenal donation and we also have Jewel Smith, which is located here in Durham. They do custom jewelry, so if you've got a wedding anniversary party, just because, uh, opportunity, they do amazing jewelry work there as well. And they were actually one of our stage sponsors last year, and then they re-upped and became a stage sponsor again this, this year as well. So, we still have tons of sponsorship opportunity. Um, we've got our general admission tickets still available. Early bird have already sold out, so that is where we are and I'm just so blessed that the community has rallied around these nine women. I would love to say y'all are rallying around me. I appreciate it, but to know you all are rallying around me on behalf of the nine ladies who are taking the stage is just absolutely amazing.

Caroline 1:17:18

Where can they find tickets? What's the and how? If people are, you know, let's say Christian business owners and they're looking for a business coach, how can they also get in touch with you?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:17:27

Visit me at Sybilstewart.com. That's S-Y-B-I-L-S-T-E-W-A-R-T, Sybilstewart.com if you are interested in getting those fabulous tickets for this fabulous nine ladies, uh, that is Sybilsteward.com/rsvp. Our speaker lineup is, I just wanna talk about our speakers for a second if, if you don't mind, um. They, so last year's was telling her story. That was the theme because you gotta honor God. Of course. This year is all of her, and we are gonna look at the stories, but behind the modern day woman and we've got an a phenomenal lineup. We have a former physician who talks about medical gaslighting, and she talks about her story of being medically gas lit as a physician. Uh, which is just ridiculous. We have a lady who is a nuclear scientist talking about the future of environmental protection. Um, our kiddos are talking about what it means to be a youth and making big strides in literacy and networking. Um, we have another lady talking about post, post childbirth as a mom, because so much literature focuses on the child, right, the baby. There's an entire class of science that is dedicated to here's what the mom is going through that first year. Um, after giving birth, we have a, a lady who talks about how she immigrated to the US. We have another lady talking about how her hair held her back in corporate. So, so many great stories. Um, another lady talking about being worthy and what that looks like. How do you be worthy in the workplace? So, such a great lineup of speakers. I pray I didn't forget anybody. We've got our financial lady talking about financial health because wealth is being transferred right off our very eyes and we need to be prepared and most women are not. So yes. Incredible, incredible lineup. Visit Sybilsteward.com/rsvp if you wanna check out our uh lineup, just go to TEDxmsw.com. So TEDxmsw.com. All of our speakers are listed there.

Caroline 1:19:51

I love it. And then let's say somebody finds this episode months from now, how do TEDx talks become, um, searchable and how would they search that?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:20:01

So what's really amazing is TED, does that work for us once we submit the videos um, a little peek behind the curtain, it takes about six to eight weeks for the TED the, the videos to appear on the official TED website. Um. The speakers, of course, get notified first that their videos are available. And then from there you can literally search these ladies' names. So when you go on TEDxmsw.com, if you click their bio, it will link directly to their TEDx's. Yeah.

Caroline 1:20:34

Oh, that's awesome. Okay, so Sybil, we've talked a lot about your story behind the scenes, all the twists and all the turns, what you thought you were chasing, what's ended up evolving and opening for you. And I'm so curious. I'm really big on authentic success and that's, you know, personal to you, so how do you define your authentic success in this moment?

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:20:58

Yeah, I, I chalk it up to the thing that I tell all of my clients. I wanna do well, be well and serve well. And it used to be a trade off when I was in corporate, right? I was doing well. I was serving well, but I wasn't being well, like my being was not well, um, or I was doing well and being well, but I really didn't like serving because you've got me doing something I really don't want to do. But to have those three things in alignment where I feel like I'm doing good and advancing the kingdom where I feel well. My wellness is a priority and I can serve well and serving well for me is can you serve in excess, right? Not just, am I getting compensated for serving, but can I go out and volunteer? Can I serve even the least of these? Can I go and buy somebody a lunch just because I've been so blessed? And those three things are the, the alignment that I look for in business and in life now, and it really did happen when I turned my business, I surrendered my business to God. I said, God, I don't want to leave any of this my way. And so I tell people, I'm not the CEO, I'm the chief steward, no pun intended, but I'm the chief steward of this business. God is the CEO. I will take your direction.

Caroline 1:22:37

This is so beautiful. Thank you, um, for all of this, just beautifulness that has emanated from your being. Thank you for sharing all of the twists and and turns and the challenges that you've overcome and, and I love how you are supporting women and you really are fulfilling that mandate. So thank you so much for your story. Thank you for being on Your Next Success. I am just honored to have, you know, had this conversation with you.

Sybil Stewart, Christian Business Consultant 1:23:06

Thank you. This has been such a pleasure. Thank you for creating another safe space. Thank you.

Caroline 1:23:13

Sybil, thank you for our conversation and for all of the beautiful work you're doing.

1:23:21

Thanks for listening to your next success with Dr. Caroline Sangal. Remember, authentic success is yours to define and includes aligning your career to support the life you want.