Davina Pacley joins the podcast to discuss DivinelyCROWN'D, her business that encompasses life coaching, style coaching and much more. Our conversation covers Davina's journey to self love, how working with Paramount Pursuits set her on the path to success, and the social media advice Pacley has for other business owners. One note: The Sip & Slay Soirée that we discuss has since happened. Congrats to Davina on the sold-out event.
Sponsored by: Erie Regional Chamber & Growth Partnership
This podcast is a product of the NWPA Innovation Beehive Network. Most guests are clients that have used our free, grant-funded services.
Music: Kevin Macleod’s "pamgaea" available via Creative Commons Attribution-International 4.0. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, No changes were made.
Music by audionautix.com. Audionautix's "Roboskater" by Jason Shaw available via Creative Commons Attribution-International 4.0. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, No changes were made.
Transcript:
Davina Pacley: At the end of the day for me, I do believe that anybody can be considered Divinely Crown’d. I believe that we all are royal in our own way, so we’re kings and queens. So it’s really about tapping into who you believe you are and that comes from confidence.
Narrator: That’s Davina Pacley, owner and operator of Divinely Crown’d, a brand that encourages self-love and self-care and confidence through faith, life, and style. She’s the newest guest on Buzz, Generated, a show that introduces listeners to businesses and community leaders in Northwest Pennsylvania. Through our conversation, you’ll learn about Davina’s life coaching services, and you’ll discover how she personally achieved self-love. Then, you’ll get the inside scoop on where she’s taking the exciting Divinely Crown’d brand from here, such as with her own podcast and upcoming events. Join host Chris Lantinen, director of the PennWest Edinboro Beehive, as he sits down with our guest. Together, let’s discover what the buzz is all about.
Chris Lantinen: Reading and listening to your interviews, and looking at your website, so much of what you do comes back to self-love. You have your own journey towards self-love that I think we should talk about first. Because I think it sets the stage for everything else. Right?
Davina Pacley: Yes, for sure. So, my journey towards self-love. So growing up, I was always very outgoing and things like that, but I had very low self-esteem. Some of it came from my weight, some of it, just some of it came from feeling like “Okay, I am this outgoing person.” but I felt misunderstood. So, that traveled through my whole life, with a lot of different things I went through, but it wasn’t until I had my daughter, she’ll be 10 in October, that it was “You know what, I have this little girl that’s going to look up to me, and I wanna be the first person she looks up to. So, I need to start finding out ways to learn how to love myself, learn to be competent in who I am, whether it’s my looks, whether it’s the person I am. So that’s kind of how I started. It’s been about ten years now almost that I finally was like, “Okay, Davina you have to learn that you’re a queen. You are an amazing person, like dress the way you want to dress, say what you wanna say, and be unapologetically you. So, that's literally kind of how I began to have this self-love journey, which I do even now as a confidence coach, as a life coach, as this person with this brand who encourages other women. I’m still on that journey, and I think that I will always be on that journey, cause there’s different levels, especially as you grow in a business; in a brand. There’s different levels of where your confidence and where your self-love has to come from.
Chris Lantinen: When you are doing the confidence coaching, the life coaching, how much of your own personal experiences are you tying into these lessons or these activities? And we’ll get more into the life coaching as we go. But I think, just again, on the personal journey front, how much are you tying into when you talk to somebody else about self-confidence?
Davina Pacley: I try to find the balance because especially when working with other people, I want their story still to be able to be the forefront of what’s going on. Like if I’m coaching, they came to me because they believe and trust that I can help guide them, but I also want to be relatable. I want to meet them where they’re at, and that’s even like. You know, I do TikTok and I do Facebook and things like that and those videos, and I always want to make sure I’m relatable to the people. So like I said, I try to find the balance. Sometimes, I’ll talk mostly about myself and be like “Listen, this is how I’m feeling” and then I get this feedback like wow, thank you for sharing your experience, your journey because I can relate to that. Sometimes I’m like, “Okay, what do you have going on, well here’s what I have going on and this is how I took the steps to love myself or use my voice a little bit more. So, it’s really about, for me, finding the balance and being, you know, my authentic self when dealing with my clients or my followers.
Chris Lantinen: Before we go any deeper, let’s break down the brand. And everything that you offer with it. Cause I know a big portion of it is the life coaching, it’s the confidence coaching. But there’s definetly other aspects to it that tie together nicely.
Davina Pacley: Yes, so Divinely Crown'd started as an idea. It was only going to be merchandise at first and I was like “I see these male-dominated brands in our city. There’s like 3rd Official, there used to be Red’s Eleven, and there’s Dotigan, “ and I’m like “All these male-driven [brands].” Even though women wear them and everybody wears them it’s like “the men.” And I’m like “We need something for the ladies” so like that’s where the idea came from, but at that same time I was also on this self-love journey where I was like, learning how to wear different things that I want to wear as a plus-sized woman. So, I had on Instagram it was called Divinely Plus, where it was like trying to inspire plus-sized women to just be confident in themselves, but as I was doing that I realized like, “Okay, I’m not just inspiring plus-sized women , I’m inspiring all women.”
So, I had this idea for Divinely Crown'd but I also knew I was trying to be an influencer in other ways, and it kind of just collided. And, it’s been taking on a life of its own. Like you said, I am a life coach, which actually has become more prevalent in my brand within this last year. But before that, Divinely Crown'd, we offer brand merch right now. I’m wearing a shirt right now. We offer Divinely Crown'd T-shirts, some with the slogan with like if women want to wear it or whoever believes they’re queen, their crown for the queendom, but I also have non-slogan merch, just Divinely Crowned. Because at the end of the day for me, I do believe that anybody can be considered Divinely Crowned. I believe that we are all royal in our own way, so we’re kings and queens, so it’s just really about tapping into who you believe you are, and that comes from confidence. So, I have merchandise, I am a motivational inspirational speaker. So, I have been on certain panels for women empowerment at certain expos. I’m also a guest host , so recently within this last year, there was a business conference and I actually guest-hosted it, which was amazing. Like I said, I'm a life coach. I do a little modeling on the side as well. My audience is really like millennials for me, millennial women. But I realize I’m touching a lot of different people. I’ve been asked to speak at our local high school. I spoke to the Erie High girl’s basketball team just about confidence. But ultimately, Divinely Crown'd is just a platform to be a light to people. So, I always say, the sky is not even the limit for where this brand can take off. I’ve been on podcasts. I have my own podcasts, I don’t know how I forgot that. I just launched it on Friday which is just my birthday, September 23rd.
Chris Lantinen: Happy Birthday.
Davina Pacley: Thank you. So, I launched my Divinely Crown'd Conversations. That podcast is about having just real, honest, open, and transparent conversations with other queens about their journey in life. Where they came from, where they’re at right now, and where they want to go. But I also, I want to interview everybody. I always say, I’m inspired by Oprah. I loved how she would have these intimate conversations with people about just life and their stories. And like, I want to be like that and I’ve always wanted to be like that. So, just like I said, there’s so many layers to Divinely Crowned that, just say tuned, cause you never know what’s next.
Chris Lantinen: We’ll dive even deeper into that in the questions to come. I want to go back to, you said something interesting about speaking to Erie High. It was the basketball team?
Davina Pacley: The girl’s basketball team.
Chris Lantinen: And obviously, I would assume and correct me if I’m wrong, that the majority of your life coaching customers are probably within our age range. Millennials, I’m 34, so around that range. What are the differences in confidence issues or self-esteem issues that you see between those two generations because there is some sort of, I don’t know what the next generation after us is called.
Davina Pacley: Is that Gen Z?
Chris Lantinen: I think so. But what are the issues you see with Gen Z in those areas versus millennials?
Davina Pacley: Man, oh my gosh
Chris Lantinen: I know that’s a huge conversation
Davina Pacley: Yeah, that is a whole other conversation which, one big thing for me I feel like millennials versus Gen Z is how how big social media has become for this younger generation. I feel like for millennials, we know the Gen X world and we also know the Gen Z world. We’re in the middle so we can kind of understand both sides but the Gen Z side. That’s their world is social media and they have so much more, I believe, challenges because every day they’re seeing in their face “This is who you should be, this is who you should be, this is who you should be,” like constantly. And it’s like their world is technology now and we have TikTok and we have all these different avenues where it’s like where they sometimes struggle with finding out truly who they are because even if it’s positive things, they have so many different opinions in their face all the time whereas millenials. Yeah, we had our technology in the beginning, but we were also able to kind of like do adventures outside of that world of social media and things like that. And I think it was a little bit easier for us to find who we were.
Chris Lantinen: There was no daily content grind for our generation. I think the greatest challenge when I was in high school was picking the top friends on MySpace. Now you really have to sort of be a content producer.
Davina Pacley: You do, you do. And I think it’s awesome, but it’s also like…
Chris Lantinen: It’s creative.
Davina Pacley: Yes, it’s very creative. I think there’s been so many creative people that have come out of this new generation of technology and social media, but also I think we didn’t have to try so hard when we were growing up. We were able to just, you know, connect with people and kind of just be more of ourselves, even when we have our own insecurities, but now I just feel like “Man, I’ve talked to so many younger women that it’s like they don’t even know where to start with finding who they are because it’s something that’s constantly switching like “Nope, nope, this is who you should be, and that’s who you should be” and it’s like I know with the girls at Erie High when I talked to them it’s like I get it. I couldn’t imagine being in your generation, especially at your age. I was insecure for my own reasons, but like, my thing was always my weight but it’s like they have to decide everything. “Oh, we’re going to own our own businesses or work a 9 to 5” and we were just like “At 16, we’re getting a job at McDonalds.” Now it’s like, “Wow you work a 9 to 5 job, do you work at McDonalds? You should be a content creator. You should be an Instagram model”. So, I definitely know it’s a different world between the two, and I do believe that these Gen Z’ers need millennials to guide them and support them because a lot of them don’t know where to even start.
Chris Lantinen: Gotcha. I want to go back to the life-coaching aspect, and probably more so your general customers, which are like millenials and probably from there. When you first meet with someone for this service and they are entrusting you with their confidence and perhaps even they’re emotional state in some sense, how do you first connect with them? You know, how do you approach that initial conversation given the sensitivity of those parts of our lives?
Davina Pacley: Yeah, for sure. So, I’m still trying to figure out like, I’m not calling like the people I work with clients because I want that intimate connection. I want them to, like you said, trust me. So, our first meeting is literally like, a connect call or meeting.It’s like, “What made you choose to reach out to me? What are you looking to get out of meeting with me?” It’s not like “Oh, I have this credential and this credential”. That’s not what I want to give them. I want to give them, “What made you see my post?” or you know, I know some people refer people to me, but it’s like “What made you take a chance on me? Why do you feel like you want to trust me?” And then it’s “Why do you want to have a life coach? Why do you want this confidence coaching to kind of better your life?” Because some people don’t always know what confidence coaching is and/or life coaching for that matter, and it’s like “Also, I’m not a therapist. I will refer you to therapy, but let’s just have a conversation. You get to know me a little bit, I’ll tell you about why I’m even a life coach or a confidence coach, and you tell me what you’re even looking to get out of confidence coaching.” So, it’s really about making that connection, because I do also have to be honest and say, “Hey, I might not be a good fit for you. And I have to be okay with that, and also I want you to be okay with that. And let’s see who we can get you to and connected to help you get on your path to being the best version of yourself or the happiest version of yourself.”
Chris Lantinen: We are a business podcast, so I want to throw a couple of business questions in there. How do you determine, I guess not just rates, but obviously you want to help people. So how do you balance desire to help someone versus “Well, I also have to make a living”. So we got to talk about the price at some point, you know what I mean? So, how much do you give away for free, versus when do you introduce the idea of “Well you’re going to have to start paying”, you know what I mean?
Davina Pacley: Oh, this is a question that, oh my goodness. I actually just got out of this three-day digital boss challenge, and this is my issue. They’re like, “Tell me a struggle” and I’m like “Pricing” because this is who I am. And though I’m like I made this brand, I would love to make it my full-time income. But how do I charge people for something I’m passionate about doing? And so that has been a challenge for this last year of me really actually saying “No, this is not just some brand on social media. This is a business.” So, charging and fees, I’ve definitely done a lot of market research thanks to the Beehive and their market researchers here. They have helped me, you know like, they’ve taken research from different life coaches and confidence coaches into my area and have said, “Okay, this is what works for them and this is what works for them.” And I’m still learning. I have a support system that is like “Listen, we know you love this, but you need to get paid to do this,” and I’m like “Okay”. So they’re really pushing me, there’s a lot of people behind me pushing me to be like “Oh, yes. I want to help you but I also know my worth.” Which I think also teaches my clients “Oh okay, she knows her worth. She’s chagrin this amount of money, so I’m assuming that she knows what she’s talking about and she’s trustworthy because she is charging me.” So, my first client I probably gave her a major discount. But, I’m still learning what I want to charge. Life coaches can make a lot. There are very successful life coaches. I was just talking about how even certifications with life coaching and how the top life coach right right now is not even certified but he’s making…I forget his name but he’s making millions of dollars doing what he’s doing but he’s making a positive impact on people. Pricing is definitely hard. I don’t know, do you want to know how much I charge?
Chris Lantinen: No, you don’t have to do that.
Davina Pacley: Oh god, that is definitely a tough job. I think I’m getting better at like “Okay, this is my price.” Because I’m like “Oh my god, if I say my price, are they going to be like well no.” I have to know if like if they can’t afford it, those aren’t my people. I also have to remember that I’m not just touching our city, not like I’m not just trying to reach our city. I want to reach everybody, and so there’s going to be people like “Okay, I can pay your price. I want you.” So pricing is just challenging so like everyday I’m just pushing myself. I did forget to say, I told you about what I offer. This is why I say I have so many layers. I have a website. Divinely Crown'd dot com. It’s the hub for self-love and self-care and for all things just to get women inspired to love themselves. We have a self-love whole playlist of music that they can listen to or go on Spotify but it’s like a Spotify list of self-love music. We have a faith space on there, cause I am a woman of faith, so there’s different scriptures and videos that kind of have impacted me. My clothing is on there, my apparel. I have a…I call it the Self-Center play on words. But it’s just a part of the website where it gives you inspiration on ideas to practice self-love and self-care. So, I have journal prompts on there. I’m big into journaling, I love journaling and I always reccommend to my clients to journal and things like that. So if you don’t know where to start, there’s prompts on there. There’s so much. I’m still working on that website to really do it the way I want. But yes, so I don’t know.
Chris Lantinen: There’s a ton on here, Like I said, the shop; you have notebooks and mugs, tote bags and everything. The playlist includes music from India Arie and Mary J. Blige and a whole bunch of different artists.
Davina Pacley: There’s a little bit of everybody on there. I try to mix it up.
Chris Lantinen: It’s 100 tracks even, which I assume is purposeful?
Davina Pacley: I am a little OCD at times. Yeah, so pretty soon my services will be on there, my clothing. So, I was doing drop shipping for my T-shirts, but I want the best quality for my customers, so now I’m working with Deuce Two. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with them, but he makes my shirts now. So, I have to know how to upload those in order to send the orders cause I have them on hand.
Chris Lantinen: You spoke briefly about the Beehive helping you out and that was Mercyhurst and Abbey.
Davina Pacley: Yes, shoutout.
Chris Lantinen: Shoutout to Abbey. Why don’t you talk a little bit more about working with them and and what you got out of that experience because we area Beehive podcast. I always like to make sure people know what we do for clients.
Davina Pacley: So, I actually got connected to the Beehive because I was a part of the Paramount Pursuit THRIVE in ERIE program. So, I think they had somebody from Edinboro, someone from Gannon, Mercyhurst. So, they had people come in and pretty much talk about what they do. And so, the market analysis part, which is what Abbey and her team did, I was doing my business plan and market analysis was my toughest part. Like, because we kind of had to do it on our own but our coaches supported us. I was like “I don’t even know where to start. I have different layers of my brand, I have a retail part, so do I look into that, do I look into the life-coaching?” So, I pretty much sat with Abbey, told her what I was looking for, and her team. It only took them maybe a month, because it’s a lot of work, to come back. They gave me a stack of just amazing information, they sat with me on Zoom and broke down what research they did. Like I said, they researched different life coaches around and what they do and what they offer and where my brand would succeed on social media. They’re like “Well if you do more TikToks, you’re the only life coach in the area in this radius that even has a TikTok so you should be on there.” So, oh my gosh, they help so much. They gave tips and ideas and things to do better on my website. So, I’m working with them. I highly recommend it if you can, especially if you’re not great at the research part. There’s things in running a business that I’m like, “ That is not for me to do” and researching the marking analysis, I’m so thankful for them. They made it my colors on my brand, which I feel like was the icing on the cake. It wasn’t just a bunch of black and white paint where like “Here, take these.” It was my own signature plan, which was a nice little touch of detail to get you excited about your business and your brand and your information about growing your business.
Chris Lantinen: Through the PennWest Edinboro Beehive, we talk to a lot of small business owners and entrepreneurs and they have trouble in a couple of areas in regards to social media. One is how to be consistent, and knowing what to post on a daily basis, and two is just developing an overall brand voice. And I think you’ve succeeded in both of those areas. So, if you can talk right now to other business owners, first about being consistent on social media, what would you say to them in that regard?
Davina Pacley: Consistency, oh my gosh. Consistency I think is hard for all of us, whether we’re very successful businesses or just starting out. What I would say to a business owner about consistency is first of all, have grace on yourself. Because, we do see this like “Oh you’ve got to be consistent, you’ve got to post every two days,” but also don’t lose your authenticity as well. Be aware that “Okay, the only way my brand is going to grow or my business is going to grow is if I put myself out there. So, try to make yourself some type of schedule where it’s like “Okay, let me prepare myself mentally and emotionally to get on social media.” I think that’s where it starts because with social media, it can be draining, emotionally and mentally draining, so you do need to prepare yourself. So, if you’re like “Okay, so I wanna make sure I’m consistent two days out of the week. I want my followers to know that every two days Divinely Crown'd makes a post.” So, if you’re the type of person that’s like “I really don’t want to be on social media,” prepare yourself. Do self-care. Take care of yourself, get yourself in the mindframe that “Okay, let me be able to present my best-self to social media so that I can be more consistent but also not lose myself.” So, I think it just starts with taking care of yourself and not putting so much pressure on being consistent, but knowing that you have to do it to build your business and your brands.
Chris Lantinen: Well, let’s expand on that. How do you prepare yourself? It seems like when I’m watching your videos, it seems to come very easily to you to put yourself out there. So how do you prepare yourself to put yourself out there?
Davina Pacley: I am my biggest cheerleader, okay. I was just talking to a friend yesterday at this business, and I showed her, and I’m like “Listen to me.” I hype myself up, I talk to myself in the mirror all the time, and maybe it sounds crazy, but I highly recommend it. You have to be your biggest cheerleader. And I even just said the other day to myself, I was like “The best thing I could have did was fall in love with myself.” and I think when you’re in a business of any sort, you have to love yourself in order to be able to present yourself to the world. It doesn’t matter if you’re in engineering, or an influencer, or anything. You have to love yourself in order to do anything. So, I really think it’s just for me, I do my pep talks to myself. I affirm myself and if I don’t think I can affirm myself in certain aspects, I lean on somebody else, which I think when owning a business a support system is needed. So, that’s how I get into the mindframe. If it’s a day when it’s like “I know I have to do this, but I don’t feel my best,” I’m reaching out to somebody and I’m crying, you know? But I do feel like, there is one person for everybody to talk to out there, and that might sound cliche, but I feel like it’s the truth. There’s how many people in the world, you can find one person you can lean on to talk to, especially when running a business because it’s important.
Chris Lantinen: What other tips and tricks do you wish you knew when you started out, especially in the digital world and in terms of social media?
Davina Pacley: I’m still learning so much, like every day I feel like I’m learning so much but we even just talked about audios and there’s so many things that I’m like, “Oh wow.”
Chris Lantinen: Like with your podcast you’re talking about?
Davina Pacley: Like with my podcast or in general. Yeah, well for me I know that I was trying to make all this content. All this different content for different platforms. And so it’s like, “No Davina, you don’t have to make a certain type of thing for Facebook versus Instagram versus TikTok. You literally just need to add your content to each thing.” And I know that sounds so weird like “Why didn’t you know that?” but I didn’t. So, I’d be like “I’m going to put my story here, but no here, and I’m going to put this picture here but not here, but it’s like no. One, your brand.” So even if you’re on your personal Facebook, still post the stuff from your business because you’ve got to build those relationships with people to say, “Oh, Davina’s like this in real life and on here, and even her business matches who she is.” So, connecting all your social media. Like I said, the website stuff a lot. So there’s SEO which I’m still learning all these little terms.
Chris Lantinen: Search Engine Optimization.
Davina Pacley: Yes, all of that. So, I would just say I wish I would have known to have somebody to help me. Because Google is not always the thing you need. You need more than just Google to grow on social media. You need more than YouTube at times because you need somebody. For me, I’m going to need you to sit next to me and show me. I might need you to show me multiple times, but once I get it, I’m going to get it, and I’m going to be teaching. But definitely get somebody to help you, like reach out for help as much as you can.
Chris Lantinen: I think one great point you made was if you create one big piece of content, you can break it down into all these smaller pieces, which is good for TikTok, good for Instagram Reels, stories, excetera. I think people see all of the platforms, all of the sub-platforms of the platform and they get scared. But it’s just like “Create a big piece and then you have small pieces.” it’s like a pie.
Davina Pacley: Yeah and I guess I should say that is definitely something. Even making a video, recording a video, and my sister taught me this actually, she’s kind of doing content creating too. She’s like “You know you can make a video and just pause it and get your pictures out of there/” and I was like “Oh wow!” so there’s times I’m like “Oh, I can make this video for TikTok and Instagram Reels and I can get some pictures out of here too and create different things.” So everything really connects at the end of the day when it comes to social media.
Chris Lantinen: But it can be intimidating.
Davina Pacley: It is. I’m still learning LinkedIn for my business. I think LinkedIn for me is the most intimidating thing, I just never know what I’m doing on there.
Chris Lantinen: Yeah, it’s a whole new platform now for sure. It’s definitely a content-creating platform unfortunately, it’s another one. I want to go back to Paramount Pursuits really quick because we just kind of went over them quickly to get to the Beehive. But obviously, they’re an important part of the Erie ecosystem and I just want you to talk about what they added to this wohle puzzle of again, trying to be a business, trying to be full-time as you want to be, what did they do for you?
Davina Pacley: They switched me from, and I should say everything as far as business-wise. Like I said earlier, even before I started with them I was like “Okay, this is just a brand I’m going to have on social media and hopefully, eventually, one day with the help of God that it will be making me money if I get monetized or something.” But with Paramount Pursuit, they definitely helped me switch from just “This is just a brand” to “This is my business, I am a business owner. I’m not just the founder and CEO, I own this business.” And that was actually huge for me and challenging. I was emotional turning that just trying to impact social media into a business because I’m like, “I don’t want to lose myself in this.” I don’t want to be like, “business, business, like I have to do this.” I don’t know if that makes sense, but I didn’t want to lose my authentic self with trying to be a business owner. Because I know that can happen, you’re just in this business mindframe, but they definitely taught me how to be able to run a business, you know get the money that’s needed, make the connections that are needed, but also still be true to myself. And I think that was huge for me. I know that was huge for me personally. Being able to have an accountability partner, we talk about consistency. If it wasn’t for, my mentor was Missy Hitz, she’s a part of Thrive. Missy is the best, we’ve had another business I tried to start, and that was just like “Oh, this is a money-maker” but I wasn’t passionate about it, but she supported me through that and everything.
So her being my actual coach and mentor, she challenged me, she was there when I was feeling like “I don’t want to do this”. She didn’t make me feel like “Well, you know, well you chose this life.” but it was like she understood. She was there to encourage me, she was there to guide me and that’s needed. Because sometimes it’s like “Okay, I got to go to this cohort meeting or I have to meet with Missy,” but at the end of it, after the twelve months it was like “I’m so glad I decided”. I literally signed up the day of the closing and I was like “I don’t want to do it.” And I’m so glad I did. Now, I’m recommending it everybody because it’s like “Listen, if you’re a business owner, if you’re trying to start a business, if you’re still in the beginning stages, they give you step-by-step.” Anything you have to ask, anything you ask your coach, they have the answer. If they don’t know what to do, they are connecting you to somebody else. I created so many relationships with other business owners through this as well that are like “Davina, if you need anything I got you.” There’s Chris Lantinen Norris, he’s awesome with video, he has been like “Listen Davina, I’m going to connect you anytime.” I was in a commercial for the thrift store, oh my gosh, it’s on the tip of my tongue. The Thrifty Shopper, because of the connection I made with Chris Lantinen who was also in the THRIVE, so it’s making connections with people.
Chris Lantinen: And Chris Norris owns Revox Social?
Davina Pacley: Yes, Revox Social, yes. Shoutout to Chris Norris, we just did a video for THRIVE, and he’s just awesome. But making those relationships because of THRIVE, if it wasn’t for Paramount Pursuits’s THRIVE Program, I wouldn’t have made the connections I made, I wouldn’t be even as far as I am with having a website. Because I made my first website for Divinely Crown'd two years ago. I kind of soft-launched it at my 30th birthday and then I never put it out. And then I got into this program and it’s like “Okay, we’re gonna get this together” and I launched it during this time. I got my LLC with their guidance, or them pushing me actually. I’m now hosting my first event because they’re like “Okay, the program’s done, but now what?” They even gave me things to work on and goals to meet after. And even now, we’re still in this private Facebook group where we can see everyone’s progression and share our wins and share our concerns and stuff. So, THRIVE is definitely a community that, you know, I definitely recommend business owners to try to be a part of.
Chris Lantinen: Weirdly, enough, I think we’re talking to their current cohort today. I think we’re doing one of those events when you heard about us, I think we’re doing another one today.
Davina Pacley: Yes, and I have a few family and friends in that group too, so they’re like “What did you think?” and I was like “Listen, honest transparency, it’s a lot. But you need to stick it out because at the end you’re going to be so much farther.” I’m like “I’m going to be real, it’s a lot of discipline and consistency of meeting with your mentor and doing the homework they tell you to do and things like that and doing those cohort meetings, but also know it’s going to help your business, so just stick with it because you’re going to need this in the long-run to figure out your business and how to grow.”
Chris Lantinen: And the Beehive gets a lot of referrals from Paramount Pursuits.
Davina Pacley: Yes, yes. There’s so many connections I need to make with the Beehive. Even this was a connection!
Chris Lantinen: We’ll get you connected with everybody, no problem. Okay, so just a couple more before we wrap up here. I know, again, one of your goals is to take this full-time. And you talked about it in this great interview that you did with Erie Arts & Cultures a little bit ago. We’ll link that in the show notes. So, what is the dream set-up, the dream offerings? You’re doing this full-time; what do you envision?
Davina Pacley: Oh, my biggest envision is to one: be a world-renowned life coach and inspirational speaker that travels and makes an impact. Going back to saying I’m inspired to be like Oprah, I used to just say that as like “Oh, I’m going to be like Oprah…”. No, I’m really going to be not like Oprah; I’m just going to be me. But be an impact like she was. So, that’s definitely one of my biggest things is just to be able to travel, make new connections, use my voice on other platforms. Another big goal for me is to have my own space. I want to have my own facility where I can bring in my own coaching programs and events and have a safe space for people mostly, you know, women that they can come and have this safe space that they can connect with other people and have different seminars and things like that. So, that is my ultimate goal. Not just in Erie; I’m trying to have locations of different facilities. Growing my podcast is another thing. I definitely want that to be a platform, I even had a family member say “You need to have a TV show or something, a talk show.” And I’m like “Listen, say it. I’ll take everything!”. We see these different stories of people doing these things from these small towns and it’s like” Why can’t I? Why can’t I?” So, I just want to be able to continue to be a light all over the world. Not just the city, but the world. So that is my biggest thing and it’s not just like to say” Oh, look at me” but I truly make a positive impact. Even in the world we’re in right now, there’s so much turmoil and it’s like “There are so many good people out there that want to be a light” and I’m one of them. So, I want to keep growing and I want to see Divinely Crown'd everywhere. And when I say that, I want people to believe they’re divinely crowned. Like I said, I’m hosting my first event; it’s called a Slip and Slay Soiree. We’ve never had anything like this here, I said it’s a networking, cocktail fashion show party all in one. And we’ve never had anything to me like that here. So I want to create spaces where we’re not used to.
Chris Lantinen: And that is at SHE Vintage on State Street? On October 15th
Davina Pacley: Yes.
Chris Lantinen: So, you mentioned a bunch of things that it’s going to entail, but any more details you can give on registration if people are listening to this beforehand?
Davina Pacley: Yes, so if you’re listening to this beforehand, so right now, tickets are on sale like he said. It’s at SHE Vintage Boutique. I like intimate events, I don’t wanna have these huge super-events, but I like intimate connections. Tickets are limited, I’ve sold over half of the tickets, so if you do wanna get a ticket definitely do so. There’s going to be a nice amount of people but it’s not hundred and hundreds of people. Tickets are $30, that covers your food. We’re having signature Divinely Crown'd cocktails. There will be wine and beer, but also non alcoholic drinks because I respect whatever everybody has going on. This event is really about creating a space. Divinely Crown'd is about faith, lifestyle, and fashion, so making a space where people can get dressed up. I always say “Slay Your Own Way” so this is for everybody. Guys, girls, everybody can just get dressed up and and just make new connections with people. I’m encouraging a lot of content creating during this time. You know, SHE Vintage, the boutique itself, she’ll be open. So now we’re going actually going to do it between SHE Vintage and the Cashier’s House so we’ll have a lot more space, but she’ll be open. She’s actually in Paramount’s program right now under Alex Ellis. And we’re actually family too. So, we’re definitely supporting one another as much as we can. But yeah, $30, tickets are on sale October 8th. And if you wanna come, come connect and come meet me and my team and just have a good time in a new space.
Chris Lantinen: And if people don’t know, those shops have been recently redone downtown. That’s where the new Erie Apparel shop is.
Davina Pacley: Yep, Erie Apparel. There’s also the Dollhouse is down there, and oh my goodness, what’s the other?
Chris Lantinen: Jessica Hunter’s Photography Studio.
Davina Pacley: Yes, Jessica’s upstairs. Emily, I actually connected with Emily, who’s the owner of the Dollhouse. When I first started Divinely Crown'd, she was supporting me because I do style coaching too. Sometimes I forget all the things I do. So, yes I do style coaching too, which is pretty much another layer of confidence coaching. So I’ve always had people say “I always wish I can dress like you.” and it’s like “But you can.” And it does start with confidence, so let me help support you as you try and find your own style. So, I had a client, and I was literally her buddy, encouraging her. You know, supporting her in thinking outside the box with her style. Not just saying “Oh, I wish I can wear that” but “Okay, we’re going to go into this dressing room and we’re going to try it on. I want you to look at yourself and don’t look at the boots you fill as might be flawed, but look at yourself the way you really want to look at yourself.” so, my first client ever with that, it was an amazing success story. I’m a style coach too, but that’s where the Emily thing came from.
Chris Lantinen: I think we hit every part of the brand here at the end.
Davina Pacley: Yes, I know! As we’re talking!
Chris Lantinen: As we finish up, is there anything you want our listeners to know about the brand, upcoming events, whatever we didn’t hit on?
Davina Pacley: Yea, for sure. I just want to keep following Divinely Crown'd and really taking a chance on me and what I have to offer. From this whole podcast, I’m a life coach, I’m an inspirational speaker. My services are available if you’re looking for somebody, if you’re looking an energetic positive person to host an event you may have. You know, reach out to me, email me, slide in my DMs, I just, you know, want to be a light to as many people as I can. So, like I said, I offer a website, I offer podcasting, life coaching, style coaching, Follow me on all the platforms.
Chris Lantinen: Alright, well thank you very much Davina, is was great to talk to you.
Davina Pacley: Thank you, thank you.
Narrator: As mentioned, Davina received free market research through the Mercyhurst Beehive. Their Innovation Entente Lab has student analysts conducting key research and the collection of data necessary to help entrepreneurs and small businesses achieve an understanding of their market, industry and competitive landscape. To sign up for their offerings, head over to nwpabeehive.com and scroll all the way to the bottom of the homepage. There, you’ll find our intake form.
Speaking of the Northwest Innovation Beehive Network, we’re made up of six grand-funded centers that collaborate to encourage business growth in the Erie area and beyond. The centers work together to form the Hive network, while each location operates in its own specialized area of expertise. The Erie County Public Library, Penn State Behrend, PennWest Edinboro, Gannon University, Mercyhurst University, and our newest addition, Allegheny College, are each responsible for specific services.
You've been listening to Buzz, Generated. This podcast was released through PennWest Edinboro's Center for Branding and Strategic Communication. It's produced by Chris Lantinen and Thomas Taylor.
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