A Style-Driven Career Woman with purpose: Meet Sherry Sims ofBlackCareer Women Network (BCWN)

Meet Sherry Sims, the founder and CEO of Black Career Women Network (BCWN), a Cincinnati based  "career coach, and speaker with a passion for helping professional women, in particular African American women, discover, focus and utilize their strengths to develop and manage their careers."

Sherry established BCWN in 2008, as a sounding board and a platform to give women opportunities to share their experience, support one another, get encouragement, resources, learn new skills and gain career skills. 

As you will see from the series of images, Sherry is a professional business woman whose persona motivates and inspires women to strive. She is a woman with a purpose, who also wants all women to find and operate out of their God-given gifts. Through her national network, Sherry helps to make this happen by hosting working luncheons, business meetings, and training workshops for her members. Her network members also have access to professional coaches from all over the country, along with access to professional contributing writers and and connection to digital tools such as You Tube, Google Hangout, and other social media to keep members abreast of career information and resources. 

  

Sherry, and her 'team' are professional. I attended one of BCWN's workshops on creating Vision Boards. It was informative, fun and engaging. The materials she provided, the location, and the speakers for the workshop made for a good learning environment. I truly enjoyed the workshop and making my vision board. I still have my vision board sitting where I can see it each day. 

As with any successful career woman, Sherry maintains an impeccable image that is style-driven and conscientious of brand messaging. She also recognizes that professional women must manage their image or it can become a brand message that they may not want or desire. With this in mind, it is very important to craft an image that fits where you want to go in life and how you want people to treat you. Your image is comparable to a message. What message are you sending?

For this photo shoot, Sherry made it so easy for me to capture her spirit as a woman with class, style and power! Like most successful and powerful women, Sherry dresses the part. Her body language speaks of a woman who knows what she wants, where she is going and is determined to get there. Sherry's image exudes confidence! Something that we all aspire to have! And just think, dressing for success is an important first step towards building your brand message. Along with finding the right photographer with an eye for fashion, who is aware of brand messaging and who understands that the concerns of women are key for a successful photo shoot and are helpful to building their personal brand.

Image is not something that should be taken lightly and left in the hand's of others to interpret what you want to portray. Successful women have to keep an up-to-date look to be considered in the game. Sorry, that's the rules.  So whether we like or not, we are judged by our looks. It is human nature for people to be drawn to visual imagery that appeals to their aesthetic taste. Nevertheless and until things change, (doubt it) your first step is to ensure that you send a message that tells people exactly who you are through your image and how you wanted to be treated. And for business women, having a photographer who can transform  what you do into images that communicates a brand message that is clear and consistent in pictorial feel and vibe is a plus.

Sherry Sims, is like many successful and powerful women. She is focused and clear about where she is going. And one place that Sherry wants BCWN to go is 'offline' reaching women across the nation face to face, and globally. Sherry thinks BIG! She wants her network to see a larger vision of themselves that stretches beyond the boundaries they have set for themselves. In preparing for the photo shoot, we discussed key words that described the message she wanted her members and potential members to know: empowering, encouragement, and support.

                  She also wanted to portray positive energy, motivating and career empowerment!

                                   Images that say If you dream it: "You can do it! 
                   This is the spirit of the brand message that Sherry wanted to capture.

 Being confident and resourceful are good qualities to have, yet Sherry also knows that being versatile with your attire is also important and can be fun at least during the photo shoot for 'fashion conscious', and fashion 'newbees' alike. My clients so enjoy the fashion piece of the shoot because they know that I love fashion and enjoy bringing this aspect out in them and in their images. So for the shoot, they can bring several changes of clothes, their jewelry, shoes, and bags. It's like photo shoot 'makeover'! My clients love it, and so do I! Here's is where the photo shoots for my female business clients become more personal and fun. It's like we're girlfriends talking about hair, clothes, jewelry, you know all the fun stuff we women, no matter what age, still like to talk about. We cover these things during the consultation process along with other logistical things such as location. But at the shoot, it's like a production set where you're hanging out with your 'girl' who you're supporting  to look and feel her best because it's all about 'Her' and supporting her ambitions and dreams. I am my client's supporting cast, making her star shine. With that said, Sherry and I had a fabulous time on the 'set' selecting just the right items for the visual message she wanted to relay! And I think we captured it.

Actions, editorial shots are equally fun! They are also my favorite. Why, because I am also a writer, and it helps me to come up with creative concepts and ideas to use in the shoots to communicate your brand. It is an extra bonus for the client, that your photographer can create unique ideas for you. Yes, I do traditional headshots for my clients' website, and social media profiles, and they are included as part of my business woman 'Power Shot package', but the editorial story shots are the most fun and really tell your story; your message. These types of shots help build out your personal brand. 

Pictures tell your story. And just like a story, there are important elements to making your story complete, interesting and memorable! The main character and all those pieces must come together like a scheduled event.

                                                             Two words: Powerful woman!

You can learn more about Sherry Sims and Black Career Women's Network by visiting the links below!
   
https://bcwnetwork.com/
https://twitter.com/BCWNetworkCEO
https://twitter.com/BCWNetwork
https://www.facebook.com/BCWNetwork?fref=ts
http://about.me/sherrysims
Check out Sherry on Fox 19: http://wxix.videodownload.worldnow.com/WXIX_20140218102911480AA.mp4



Spirit & Soul Photography specializes in supporting business women to build their brand by telling their unique story from a style-driven, brand conscious perspective. We help you via our creative images to create an authentic personal brand that captures your spirit. We also specialize in showcasing our tween girl models in contemporary fashions from local, national and international fashion designers for publication in magazines, advertising and editorial ops.  For more information and to sign up for a business photo shoot or for a tween fashion photoshoot for your designs or magazine/publication visit our links below:

http://www.ourspiritandsoul.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Ourspiritandsoul?ref=br_rs
https://twitter.com/KarenMJenkins
ourspiritandsoul@gmail.com

You can also find fabulous career clothing for women at the charity Dress for Success and look for a chapter in your city. Here is the national link:
http://www.dressforsuccess.org/