Q&A with Barbara Clarke Ruiz and Lisa Osinloye, Fortune Girls, Inc.

WASHINGTON - Aug. 4, 2013 - PRLog -- Q: Barbara, your daughter Madison’s art is the inspiration for the Fortune Girls’ characters. What role does she play now that the website and brand has grown?

A: Madison is the person that we bounce ideas off of. She’s responsible for creating new characters, graphics for the site and for our Facebook page. Madison and I work together to come up with new art postings for Facebook.  She’s a sounding board for ideas. For example, the idea for “Operation Hankie” started with a conversation between myself, Madison and her friends about what girls their age could do that would be fun for girls and have a positive impact. Madison understands our age demo, even though she’s 17 now.  Girls matriculate older, so she’s our go-to person to make sure our ideas are always fresh and unique.

Q: Fortune Girls was named the ‘Next Hottest Tween Brand’ by the Youth Mega Marketing Event, and was selected for the Teen Choice Awards Celebrity Gift Bag. Did you imagine that the brand would grow so much from where you started?

A: Lisa – In my heart of hearts, when Barbara and I met several years ago and she shared with me what she and her daughter had created with Fortune Girls,  I knew in my heart that this was something really powerful and big. I can’t explain it, I just believed in it very strongly. I’m really grateful it’s beginning to unfold and so much of what we have worked hard for everyday is starting to materialize.

As an African-American woman and entrepreneur, it’s not an easy journey.  For us, pushing forward has brought all kinds of challenges. I’m grateful and I believe I have so much more to do and more ways to grow. It’s a big world out there and every girl needs to be empowered. You go to other countries and see that there is so much that we take for granted. There are girls who can’t even get an education. I think the mission of empowerment for girls is a huge number one initiative that has to be accomplished globally and I would love for Fortune Girls to have a part in helping to make that happen.

Barbara – Madison and I never imagined in a million years people would love this brand as much as they do and it would get this far.  Its so exciting as they were just cute pictures hanging in my daughter’s room. We didn’t plan for this at all as they hung in her room for a year before we created the brand. We just go through the day-to-day routine trying to do positive things without knowing the impact. It’s like when we first got our BETA numbers after four months. We thought it was a typo when we saw three million hits.

There’s so much about this brand that you can’t really plan for or project but we believe it’s relevant and needed because Empowerment never goes out of style. It’s not a trend.

We have international characters and wanted to make sure that we represented as many nationalities as possible. We’re starting out with nine characters, but there are 28 characters in total that Madison has created.  I’m excited about what the future holds for us and are incredibly grateful we have gotten this far.  Moving forward, I’m excited to see what girls’ lives we can ultimately impact!

Q: You both have other professional responsibilities besides Fortune Girls. How do you balance your work load?

Lisa – Balancing the workload is not easy at all. I have paid the price for getting the balancing act wrong, and at one point became seriously ill because of it. The blessing in that lesson was it taught me that taking care of ourselves must be our first priority. I start my day by spending quality time with God, reading the Word, and having quiet time first. I find that when I do that my day is much smoother, I’m able to do a better job at prioritizing my time, and it makes balancing the work load much easier.

Barbara - I balance my workload by making a to-do list each night before bed. It’s my mental purge so I can get a fresh start with a clear head the next day. I make sure I get in some exercise at least 3-4 times per week. I certainly have enough great Eleven by Venus apparel to keep me motivated. Due to travel and my hectic schedule, that doesn’t always work but it’s my goal. Sometimes a walk or bike ride is all my spirit needs and I make sure to pray everyday to give thanks and take a few minutes to meditate. I always make sure to plan time for the things that are important to me and my family.

I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I said I didn’t put in a lot of long hours and in constant grind mode, but I truly love what I do as a consultant and building Fortune Girls, so it doesn’t really feel like work for me.

Q: Your main target is tween girls.  What are some of things that you have noticed as major concerns for them?

Self-confidence and self-esteem are probably two of the biggest issues surrounding tween girls. It starts early because, unfortunately, even young girls can be mean. Girls can get teased or talked about by other girls for the way they look, their hair, their clothing, jealousy, etc.

If that girl is not receiving powerful reinforcement at home, she can become dramatically affected by it.  Sometimes, even with positive reinforcement at home it can begin to tear down her self-esteem and self-confidence. Teasing can also lead to outright bullying, which can lead to cyber-bullying, in which case not only is that girl humiliated in school, she can then be humiliated online all around the world.

That’s why our mission at FORTUNE GIRLS is to build self-confidence and self-esteem in our girls. We believe that every girl is unique and special and has her own incredible gifts and talents.  Our goal is to help a girl tap into all of the possibilities that she can be when she grows up, because THAT is empowering.

It is empowering because when a girl is tapped into her gifts and talents, she becomes focused on making her dream a reality. Growing up, I knew what my gifts and talents were and I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I was blessed to have a mother who believed in me and helped nurture and encourage me before she passed away.  As a result, as a tween and even as a teen I didn’t deal with any of the negativity of girls because I was really focused on making my dreams a reality. I attended classes to cultivate my talents and all of my time outside of school was dedicated to pursuing my dreams.

When a girl taps into her God-given gifts she becomes less focused or concerned about what other girls may think or say because now she has a vision for her life and a dream for her future.  As a result, her self-esteem and self-confidence builds, and now she knows and believes that anything is possible!!!

To read the entire interview, visit: www.tlapr.com/blog