Meet Waveney Henry | Leadership Career Coach & Hospitality Professional

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

Hi Waveney, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The most important factor of success I would say is my focus on creating and bringing value to whatever I am doing. Be it professionally or personally. This is a standard that I have set for myself.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Although I am still working my 9-5, back in June of 2018 I launched my company The People’s Brand.

The People’s Brand is a coaching company that helps women unlock their potential, leverage their communication, build relationships so that they emerge as influential leaders at their place of work.

Interestingly enough when I started The People’s Brand I did not start out with leadership coaching. The truth is I have always wanted to start a business but never saw how I could package my knowledge and create something that works. So after an in-depth discussion with a friend, I found an area that also happened to be a critical need at the time in my country.

I am a hospitality professional, and around the same time, I was having these thoughts, the hotel for which I worked Park Hyatt St. Kitts was coming onstream, and being in HR I was heavily involved in the recruitment and conducting interviews. Here is where I found the opportunity because there were many persons whom I saw had great potential but lacked the requisite interview skills I knew that they would fail the interview going on to the next step. Many times I took those moments to conduct a quick coaching session with them so that they could win and hopefully be employed.

This was the opportunity I needed and in June 2018 I launched on Facebook The People’s Brand, focusing on all things HR but specifically Interviews. I did 4 cycles of interview classes, that I held. And it was from there that I branched out, and kept on refining and evolving the business to what it is today. Although I do still offer interview sessions I do so within my Coaching program, Communicate to Influence as a bonus.

I focused on coaching new or tranistioning leaders for a few reasons. Not many persons have role models or mentors or their work place is not equipped with the strategies to assist them with managing others. In the Caribbean leadership is extremely authorative. This type of leadership never really works well, and even more so with the rapid changing landscape brought on by Covid-19 a new type of leadership is required. As well as before I transistioned I have been freely coaching and giving recommendations to others assisting with their people challenges. So it was an easy transition for me to focus on this area.

I think what sets me apart from other businesses is the experiences I’ve had and who I am as a person. I have gone through the ranks of organisations from line employee to Director of Human Resources, a role I am currently in my 9-5 . So I not only have my personal experiences growing up in management (and still growing) but I am also in a senior leadership position, that allows me to continue building my expertise.

My personality sets me apart because excellence is my metric and it has always been. Looking back I can see I am always striving to be better than before, to grow to learn and develop. And so when you have this built within you and you can see the results of it in your own life, if you bring that to your business it’s a whole different ball game. It can only get better. I am also extremely authentic and intuitive, and this works well because when people encounter me they not only feel at ease, but I am able to pick up on cues both said and unsaid. This helps tremendously as I am better able to ask better questions and make recommendations that serve them well.

I am most proud of my accomplishments, the fact that I don’t have a college degree yet I am the Director of Human Resources for an international company. That’s a biggie, and I hope it serves as an inspiration for others, letting them know that they can achieve anything. Then my company The People’s Brand that has evolved and grown since 2018, my ability to invest and to put myself out there, to try new things so that the company can grow. I am extremely proud of the product.
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With regards to The People’s Brand, it has not been easy. Nothing of value ever is, but it is extremely rewarding. I think where I am today is because of consistency and my quest to learn how the business side of what I love to do works. And any entrepreneur that is growing their business and still working their 9-5 will tell you that it is difficult trying to balance both.
Some lessons that I have learnt are:

1. Time – you’ve got to learn how to manage this. And this comes with saying no a lot to things and people who matter, but you’ve got to prioritize.
2. Focus – zeroing in on what is important, what you want to achieve and returning to that every time you feel lost or like giving up.
3. Bring Value – every post, every interaction what is the value you are sharing? You can’t half-ass things when bringing value is what you do.
4. Learn – I did the strengths finder test years ago and one of my top 10, was Learning. And this has helped me tremendously on my journey. From learning about algorithms to marketings strategies to sales funnels. Leaders learn and they never stop.
5. Know when to shut out the noise, you can easily get inundated by what everyone else is doing, how many likes your post had, this shiny thing over here. Know when to shut that out otherwise you’ll get derailed and off track. Focus on your mission and return to your why.

What I want the world to know is The People’s Brand, is the go-to brand for emerging leaders, one where people can feel safe and get the support they need to equip them for the journey. By an expert who grew a successful career from the ground up.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would take them to Carambola for dinner, I love their Friday night sushi and the beach side atmosphere.

We would do breakfast at Coconut Grove

Drinks at Arthurs

On Sundays we would do brunch at Park Hyatt St. Kitts at the Fisherman’s Village.

Although I do enjoy the ocassional fete, I am an introvert by nature and prefer quiet intimate settings most times.

https://www.facebook.com/carambolabeachclub/

https://www.facebook.com/coconutgrovestkitts

https://www.facebook.com/ArthursKittitianHill

https://www.facebook.com/ParkHyattStKitts

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I view everyone that has touched my life and every experience I’ve had as a lesson. But at the heart of it, I would have to give credit to my Mother. And the reason is this, whenever I wanted to quit while going through a tough time, the way she communicated and what she said to me made me realize that I don’t have the option to give up.

She has also always spoken what I would coin “life” to me. She has always said to me “I see you climbing the corporate ladder”. But most importantly she has held me up continuously in prayer.

And so although there were persons that impacted my life positively, she has been the one constant throughout.

Website: https://thepeoplesbrandskn.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peoplesbrandskn/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waveney-henry-phri-0749957/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepeoplesbrandskn

Image Credits
MEP Studio Guys CreateOne Studio Media