Today we’d like to introduce you to Anitra Scott.
Anitra, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Whew! Where do I begin? I feel as if, every piece of my life has played an intricate role in who I am today, therefore, I must go back to the beginning. I was born to two amazingly wonderful and talented individuals. I feel that God knew exactly what he was doing when he chose them to steward my life. From an early age, they intentionally raised me. They gave me so many opportunities to explore all of my God-given talents by way of what I consider to be the mother of all learning… EXPERIENCES. From a young age, I experienced what it was like to work in various capacities. My father was a pastor and took me to work with him throughout the summer and any and all school days off. At the young age of 8, I learned to work a switchboard and many other administrative skills. In addition to this, my parents were entrepreneurs. They owned a store and hair salon, called Suit Yourself from Head to Toe. There I learned the world of sales, and how to keep a clean environment in the salon, by completing small tasks for all the cosmetologists, such as sweeping, sterilizing combs, brushes, etc.
From there, I came into even more knowledge of who I was and all that I possessed. I was born with the natural inclination to teach like my father and loved children. By the time I was in high school I knew that I wanted to be a teacher and/or own my own school. And by the time I graduated high school at the top of the class and valedictorian, I had already been trained vocationally to teach, earning more than enough credit hours to teach and be the administrator of my father’s daycare center, Identity and Destiny Academy at the age of 18.
While working and attending college on a full ride to Miami University, I felt that I was almost where I wanted to be. Suddenly, the city of Forest Park gave us a few months’ notice to vacate our current premises for our school and church, forcing us to leave, as the city had plans to tear down our current building and rebuild… I thought this was the end, but little did I know this was just the beginning.
After my second year of college, I decided to leave college and help my father with the church’s building project. During this project, I learned to manage employees, make draws, work with companies on contracts, and so much more! I continued on after the building project to manage the administrative staff of the church until the time came to re-open the daycare and school, but this time all on my own. By this time, I married and had my 1st child, after two devasting miscarriages. From 2013 to 2020, when the pandemic began, I ran and owned my own daycare and adult daycare center, while continuing to manage the church’s staff as well.
Right before the pandemic hit, my husband and I were launching a 3rd business. Crowned King. Crowned King was designed as a mobile store, catering to men of all ages for your formal attire and business wear. My ingenious husband thought to create a store on wheels so that we could create a convenient mobile shopping experience for men all around the tri-state as brick and mortar seemed to be quickly fading away. We took the savings from the sale of our 1st home and bought a box truck and converted it into a mobile store. This was not your average mobile truck. We invested in floors, shelving, racks, and even a glass door and stairs for the ultimate shopping experience. At the conclusion of this build-out, we started contacting schools in the Cincinnati area to partner with us to bring a shopping experience right in the school’s parking lot for prom. Our first connection was Lakota West. We set up a table during their junior and senior lunch bell to tell them about who we are and get them excited about prom. At the conclusion of the day, we hoped to have come back to set up sh0p for students and parents to shop and suddenly the pandemic hit which forced us into what we thought would simply be a 2-week mandatory shutdown. Little did we know, it would totally derail all of our 2020 plans.
During the pandemic and mandatory shutdown, I picked up another passion of mine in the meantime… baking. I never thought it would take off like it did, but it did! While baking, I used my education background to home school my then 1st grader, preschooler, and infant child.
During the pandemic, I literally saw how everything that I experienced in the course of my life, brought me to where I am now. Because of the administrative and education background, I now have continued to work as an administrator from home for our church, manage our business, Crowned King, that we were able to re-launch in 2021 servicing students, grooms, and your everyday male all around the city, be a full-time mommy keeping a nice tidy home full of delicious, well-balanced meals, volunteering at my children’s school and working with my toddler here at home.
During this time, my friend JoVonne said to me, “girl you do it all, and you need to share with the world all that you possess. You know what you are to me? A momgul”. I instantly said to myself, no I can’t be that, When I hear that word, I think you are inferring that I am a mogul. And while I would love to be, I am not there yet. She said, “yes you are!” From that day forward I decided to make my own definition, taking what I considered myself to be, and NOT what I feel people would expect me to be. From that day forward, I said I am, ‘Anitra the Momgul”, I am an influencer of all things from being a wife, mother, all the way to an entrepreneur. If I was listed in the dictionary or Wikipedia, I would imagine that it would say this, Anitra the Momgul [a-nee-trah-the-mom-gul] noun.:
1) a woman who balances her relationships, home, motherhood, business, and/or the workplace with grace, determination, and power.
2) a woman who defines her own success by the measure of her innate capacity to incubate and reproduce herself for generations to come.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
A smooth road? LOL! Absolutely not! I mean, have you been to Cincinnati? There is nothing smooth about the roads here, or my journey to where I am now! Oftentimes in life, we want the ideal path to travel on. One without traffic, detours, and potholes. But in fact, what is life without those distractions and obstacles? It teaches you perseverance, dedication, and ultimately sacrifice.
If I told you all of the struggles, we would be here all day, and you obviously don’t have time for that so, I’m going to share the ultimate struggle, which in fact I bet is EVERY. SINGLE. PERON’S. STRUGGLE…. self! When left to ourselves we will battle with ourselves. We create scenarios in our heads that haven’t even occurred yet. We make up reasons why we can’t do this, or why we can’t do that. We will play the blame game and blame everything and everybody, knowing that the real person we have to blame is SELF!
Unknowingly, we operate and live our lives from a place of fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of not having or being enough, and ultimately fear of the unknown. Fear is produced through our life experiences, traumas, and moments of pain.
The moment I learned to step out of fear and into faith, complete trust or confidence in someone or something was the very moment doors and opportunities began to present themselves.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
What do I do? Lol! That’s a loaded question! I am a full-time administrator, full-time wife, and mother, business owner, relationship coach, and my ultimate goal is to be a macro influencer! I believe that all the jobs that I have, paid and unpaid, currently are launching pads, to my desired influencing career! My ultimate goal is to be an influencer because I can still be a wife, mom, and entrepreneur while influencing, helping, and encouraging others while being me. Sometimes people are just looking for someone to relate to, know they are not alone in this journey of life, and glean from the knowledge of others. That is the person I want to be for others… not for fame or notoriety, just merely an example of who and what you can be!
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Wow! You guys are asking all the good questions!
Success for me is not defined as an “I have arrived moment”! Many of us think that if we achieve a certain thing that we have reached quote on quote “success”. Once we achieve something in life, soon thereafter, we will be trying to achieve something else.
Success for me is defined as a place of contentment and peace with self and not with material things or status. I am more interested in living a qualitative life and not a quantitative one.
A qualitative life is a life that consists of deeper meaning, one of peace and contentment, and not one that consists of a bunch of things. I mean just look at all these celebrities who have all the money one would desire and still kill themselves. Look at the one who has a bunch of cars, but no family or loved ones to ride and enjoy it with it. Or even the young lady who thought she has arrived as a supermodel but had to starve herself to continue the image of the industry and standards of a model that the world has made for her.
I have already achieved success; I am at peace with myself and others. I have a wonderful husband and life partner, 3 beautiful children, a loving and supportive family, and all my essential needs are met. Now I am not saying that nice cars, money, and other things are not wonderful and something nice to have, but what I am saying is that they don’t define who I am or my ultimate success. Those things are just icing on the cake, and if I never get those things, I am content with who I am and what I have!
Contact Info:
- Email: scott.anitra@gmail.com
- Website: thelaurellife.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anitrathemomgul/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alscott2009
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfELBlYOshGRWHzhUaLxnxg
- Other: crownedkingapparel.com
Image Credits
Kenyatta Davis Photography
Taylor Made
Memories by Juanita Johnson
Kiki Smith Photography
