Embracing Multiple Passions
The Make Lemonade Community is made up of radically unique, awesome, and genuine people. Meet one of the ‘lemons’:
Bianca Atkinson (she/her)
🔗 hiddenmecca.com
⭐️@biancagatkinson @hiddenmecca
Published Feb 2022
What do you do and why do you do it?
I’m a Freelance HR Professional and Entrepreneur. I’m an HR Professional because people and business fascinate me and HR marries the two. I feel like people deserve to work in environments that they can thrive in. I don’t think it’s too much to ask and I want to help make that a possibility. I’m an entrepreneur because I want to be in charge of myself, my time and my life. I’ve wanted to be many things (doctor, actor, nail artist), and when I was younger I thought that was bad or I wasn’t focused enough because we were taught that you pick a speciality, make that into a career, and that’s what you did forever. I never wanted that, so I was drawn to entrepreneurship because to me it meant I got to do all the things. I didn’t have to choose. I’ve tried to fight it, trust me, because entrepreneurship can be scary, but no matter how hard I try to fight it, I still end up coming back to it.
Tell us about a time that life handed you lemons. Did you make lemonade? *
I left a full-time HR position a few years ago. I was comfortable and some people in my life didn’t understand, but I knew it was time and I didn’t have another job lined up. After what seemed like an uncountable amount of rejection letters and a short stint in another job where I counted the days until it was over, certain things started to reveal themselves to me……different tools and resources…..and a community called Make Lemonade. Eventually, I launched an e-commerce business with my sister called Hidden Mecca. It’s currently under construction but it’s one of my proudest accomplishments. I also started to help the people around me with HR-related tasks. After some time, I worked on a project for a startup and eventually started to work with them on a consistent basis, handling pretty much all things HR for them. I’m so grateful for that because it was unexpected, and it’s turned out to be one of the best things for me. Now I hope to grow and offer my HR services to more clients.
What does success look like, feel like, taste like, and mean to you? How do YOU measure success?
Success to me feels like gratitude. If I can dwell in gratitude, be a good person and support my family, then I’m successful
Do you have a quote or saying that inspires you? What is it?
And still I rise by Maya Angelou is one of my favourite poems. I always come back to those specific words, “still I rise”, they remind me that no matter what happens, I’ll be ok.
Do you ever have moments of self-doubt? What do you do to overcome it?
Alllll the time. I struggle with it all the time. What helps is to separate me from the negative self-talk and respond to it as I would respond to my friend. So if I’m thinking that I’m lazy and unproductive, I try to think, “if my friend said that to me what would I say to them?”. Is that really true, and what evidence is there to show that? The evidence points to the opposite pretty much every time. Or, I just call someone I love who ends up doing this for me.
Do you have a mentor? What role have they played in your success?
I don’t have a mentor but I have community. I have family and friends. The Make Lemonade community has played a pivotal role in my journey. I’ve always known these were my people and I was right.
What's on your bucket list?
