Pamela Aculey – The CEO and founder of Just Like Me books on the importance of joy and laughter, defining your own narrative, and learning from others who’ve gone before you.
We’re not taught about self-belief when we’re at school. Being an entrepreneur and founder, you have to learn how to listen to your inner voice, how to be your biggest cheerleader. Self-belief is something that’s going to get you through those rocky moments.
Listening is so important as a founder. Listen to those who have walked a mile in your shoes, or slightly ahead of you. And listen to your inner voice when you think that something’s not quite right.
My children inspired my business. I’m a mother of three boys of mixed heritage. My eldest son was diagnosed with autism at the age of three and he was non-speaking. We struggled to find books where he could see himself represented.
We are the creators of the first ever interactive and inclusive augmented reality children’s books.
I thought, “I need to create the things that we wish existed”. And that’s the moment I decided to start my business.
I wanted to take charge of the narrative. About why I created the business, where I wanted it to go, and the impact I wanted it to have.
The best way of learning something is to throw yourself right into the thick of it.
Being able to laugh at life’s failures is only going to help you to get to the successes. What we’re doing, as founders, is incredible work, but sometimes it can feel so incredibly heavy, so you have to find those pockets and moments of joy and laughter. Especially when things don’t go right.
Know what your ‘why’ is, because your ‘how’ will change many times.
Create the things that you want to see in the world. Paint the picture that you want the world to see, write the music that you want the world to hear. Believe in yourself and do the things that you wish existed.
Access to finance has been a really, really huge barrier, but it’s also mean I’ve had to become really creative with our business, with our resources, and in terms of collaboration,
When it comes to venture capital for women, especially women of under-represented communities, we don’t get the same level of support that our male counterparts do.
Fundamentally, we need capital, we need money, and we need those doors opening because we have got incredible female founders doing incredible things, and they deserve to be celebrated, recognised and supported.
