I met Anna Bey on a lark a year ago when I stumbled upon her blog, the JetSetBabe. I was struck by her beauty, intelligence, and poise. I was intrigued, so I reached out to connect with her because I felt like she and I had some compatibility in terms of our mission and goal to help women to become the absolute best version of themselves.

One year later, and Anna now has an amazing new product that helps women learn how to navigate comfortably in the highest echelons of society globally called the School of Affluence. I’ve watched with pride and amazement at how her platform has grown, knowing that along the way, we too content creators have supported one another, congratulated each other’s wins, commiserated on the challenges, and motivate each other.

We are not selfish with our knowledge and experience, and what I have to give I do so, and she does in kind. We both want the absolute best for one another.

If I hadn’t stretched myself to meet this exotic (to me) Russian/Finnish/Swedish woman, I would have missed out on an amazing new alliance.

Because of the insular nature of the black American community, we sometimes have a distrust of outsiders. We believe we have to stick together because no one else will have our backs. That notion is patently untrue and self-sabotaging, especially if you want to have real success. The truth is, you have to network and form alliances with ALL kinds of people in today’s world.

More than ever, I realize something that is absolutely true: You ARE who your friends are.

So…who are your friends? 

Learn more about networking and becoming more culturally fluid as a black woman by joining The Pink Pill, the first and only online self-improvement course specially tailored for the black woman’s experience.