Meet Tiffany Hopkins | Innovation Strategist, Researcher & Medium

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tiffany Hopkins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tiffany, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I’ve been thinking about this lately as I’m at an inflection point in my business. I feel growth coming! So I can get there, do I need to take more risk? Bigger risk? It led me to get specific about what I even consider risk. I realized that the riskiest things I’ve ever done for my business from an outside perspective didn’t feel like a risk. Maybe this means I’m not taking big enough risks? I think about when I moved to a country I’ve not seen for a job or when I funded my graduate degree using balance transfers and part-time work. This was just me doing what I needed to accomplish what I wanted. Now it looks like long bid processes for contracts I might not get – these are huge investments of time (which is, of course, money) but are taking me to the next step with my business. In all these cases, I’m letting my curiosity and interests guide me. So I suppose the biggest risk is saying, look I care most about these things, my energy is flowing towards these things, I’m going to follow them. Then all the personal, financial, and business risks don’t seem like anything other than logical next steps.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Haha, was it easy? Hahaha. No! But easy was never really an option for me anyways. I do something that is niche and hard to explain – let alone sell – so I didn’t have a clear path to follow. I couldn’t even decide between art and science in college – so I got degrees in both. I’m most proud that I’ve gradually and painstakingly built a business tailored to maximizing my capabilities as a human. Not just as an employee or a professional but as a family member, artist, friend, neighbor, etc. I have learned how, when, why, and with whom I work best. By building my own business and client list slowly, slowly over the past 15 years, I can now support myself, my family, my community, and my clients with everything I’ve got.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I dedicate this shoutout to all my ancestors. If they hadn’t lived their lives exactly as they did, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I think especially of all those who didn’t get a chance to use their minds – especially women in the past few generations but before that, both genders were often focused on survival more than knowledge. Thank you for keeping the spark alive! Back to the here and now, I couldn’t make it through everyday life in a rural village without all the people who talk to me on the phone every week. Thank you for sharing your time with me.

Website: nobox.us

Instagram: unknowitall

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjhopkins/