Cindy Makita-Dodd is a 2X entrepreneur, top-rated Career Strategist & Coach, the founder of Hired Institute. In 2020, Cindy was selected by LinkedIn as a ‘LinkedIn Career Expert’ and through her company, Hired Institute, helps people land their dream jobs.
Cindy believes that everyone has the potential to pursue their ideal careers but they may not know the steps to get there. She helps people navigate the complexities of the job market and overcome the hurdles holding them back from achieving career success to ultimately land jobs they love. She’s been featured in WGN-TV, Business Talk Radio, Fox34, and more sharing her strategies with job seekers all across the globe. She is also co-founder of PEMA, a global marketing agency that helps businesses acquire clients in various industries.
Leading Ladies Africa: What has been the Highlight for you since you started your career?
Cindy Makita: The number of people I have had the opportunity to help. From helping hundreds of professionals during the pandemic get back on the job market after being laid off through my career coaching, to helping women reach their personal and professional goals through my online community, to helping business owners get customers through my marketing agency. The highlight of my career has been the impact I have made. Hearing my clients’ wins is so rewarding and fulfilling, and it gives me the fuel to keep going even when things get tough.
Leading Ladies Africa: Can you describe a typical day at your job?
Cindy Makita: Well, I have 2 businesses – a client acquisition (Marketing) agency and a Career Coaching business. As an entrepreneur I work long hours and my time is split between both. A typical day looks like having an all-team meeting with my employees to kick start the day sharing wins and motivation. From there I do a lot of front-facing calls with clients and strategy behind the scenes, while my team works on the operations and delivery for both businesses.
As an entrepreneur every day is different. Some days I’m hiring, some days I’m creating content, other days I’m delivering a virtual workshop and training.
For my coaching business, I do a lot of reviewing of Resumes & LinkedIn profiles that my team creates for our clients, and creating content for my monthly coaching calls and online community for women.
I have to be very intentional about my time so I do time blocking and have an assistant to organize my schedule, so I can get hyper-focus work done, undistracted, and produce the best results for my clients in the midst of the many other tasks that demand my attention.
Leading Ladies Africa: Do you have mentors? Who are they and how important is mentorship to you?
Cindy Makita: I do have mentors and I have them in different areas of my life. I have business mentors, relationship mentors, and spiritual mentors. I even consider the authors of the books I read as my mentors.
I believe if you learn from someone, whether they know your name directly or not, they can be considered a mentor.
Mentorship has been crucial in my personal growth and development but also in accelerating the growth of my businesses. I wouldn’t be where I am today without mentors. I have been open and intentional to even pay for access to people I look up to and consider mentors, in order to learn from them., like paying for a course or access to a mastermind where I can brainstorm ideas and learn from their experiences.
Leading Ladies Africa: Have you at any point failed at something? How did you handle it?
Cindy Makita: I always say, if you are not failing, it probably means you are not trying. I have failed more times than I can count.
But I look at failures as opportunities. Opportunities to learn, to grow, to redirect, or to become stronger. I wouldn’t be where I am without the many failures I’ve experienced in my life.
Leading Ladies Africa: What is the best piece of professional advice you have received, and why?
Cindy Makita: “You can have anything in life you want, as long as you can help other people get what they want”
This has been significant in my life because it has taught me that if I can focus on service, and focus on really helping people whether it’s a client, my employees, or another company, I can create success and I can create the life I want to live. The possibilities are endless when you are focusing on adding value to other people’s lives and helping them get what they want.
This has been foundational to my business and life.
The Leading Ladies Africa Career Conversation series focuses on women of African descent, showcases their experiences across all socio-economic sectors, highlights their personal and professional achievements and offers useful advice on how to make life more satisfying for women.
Do you know any woman of African descent doing phenomenal things? Send an email to lead@leadingladiesafrica.org and we just might feature her.
