Leading Voices: Aseeyah Shahid

Aseeyah Shahid is a Marketing Strategist & Content Creator based out of Atlanta, Georgia. As the Founder of Iseeya, she helps founders and professionals turn quiet LinkedIn profiles into bold personal brands.

We sat down to chat about upcoming projects, advice from our future selves, and what brings us joy.

Andrea: Tell us a bit about your work, and what you're most excited about these days.

Aseeyah: I’m a marketing strategist and content creator, which I feel go hand-in-hand with each other. My work is to empower folks, particularly founders, coaches, and creators. And to help them to stop showing up like a corporate robot on LinkedIn, particularly.

Be yourself, but also, let's turn that self into money. And what I'm most excited about is seeing that light bulb moment. I love seeing when people move from, Oh my god, I'm struggling, I don't know what to do, and then I come in and say, Okay, this is what we're going to do. Or getting you out your comfort zone, because I'm the queen of doing that.

I'm also going to be launching a cohort soon, teaching people step-by-step how to optimize LinkedIn, and the mindset behind it.

What guiding light or core value helps you make decisions?

One in particular is my upbringing, my family, and how I was always taught to think of people as people. I don't care who I'm meeting with, I always go in with the intention that I trust people, until they show me otherwise. But I always go in with the understanding that people are good.

We all come out of the womb and we’re all just little babies… and sometimes the babies get into situations. But we’re good.

And my faith is also a guiding light; I've turned my faith into something that's for me instead of something that other people have put onto me. Instead of feeling like a trauma, it's become a guiding light and a purpose. One of the things that is taught in the Quran is that from the cradle to the crave we’re all learning.

So that's what helps me to be open and helps me to connect and find the right people who are on that same kind of mission and journey.

Andrea: We're good, we're all babies, we're learning from the cradle to the grave. Yes!

Aseeyah: Nice little shiny babies.

Andrea: I'm trying to allow your words to come through instead of me being like, Oh my god, let's dig into this!

Aseeyah: You’re like, How can I make this a little less weird?

Andrea: No, no, I love it.

So how do you move through barriers and challenges?

There's a mix, right? Crying it out. There's a lot of that, but I move through by reflecting on it first. What is it that I'm going through? Because sometimes the barrier or challenge could just be, I need rest. And then I think in my mind that it's bigger, but I actually just need to sleep.

Also talking to people that I trust, where I'm just like, Hey, I'm going through some shit. I'm really going through it, can you help me think through this thing? Or maybe it's something that I'm like, Was I wrong on this? Tell me the truth. So, having trusted people around me as well. And then, a third layer is therapy and having a coach.

What advice would you give to your younger self, just starting out?

Stop listening to every guru. That's the biggest one. Even if it's me from 8 months ago, when I was really starting this LinkedIn journey. There's so much noise, and I thought, I'm going to pick the biggest noise.

And even when I was younger, I was constantly listening to Gary Vee and all those people, and then I look up, and I'm like, Damn, I'm not a millionaire, I'm 21, what the fuck am I doing? Something must be wrong with me. And on LinkedIn, it's the same thing. I thought something must be wrong with me, because I'm not getting the results that everyone says I should be getting.

So my biggest advice is to follow what your heart and your intuition are telling you to do, instead of trying to be something that you're not. 

Looking way into the future, what do you think your 90-year-old self would tell you?

I feel like 90-year-old me, if she's still a badass bitch, which I think she would be, 100%. She would say: What you're doing now is going to change your entire life.

Keep going. And you might cry, but whatever happens, continue to listen to your intuition, and never forget your heart. And keep going with your therapy, and keep making jokes, because you're so fucking funny, but I'm just so proud of you and what you're doing.

What's one ritual, habit, or practice that keeps you grounded?

Honestly, going for walks. Let's say weeks go by and I haven't intentionally gone for a walk, then I'll feel off, because walking outside is very healing to me. Especially being around nature. That and just sitting with my own thoughts, because ADHD – I have a lot of thoughts. So, reflecting, What is my day? My journaling is another big thing.

Where do you find joy outside of work?

My joy is honestly with people. I love people, which is something I would never have said 10 years ago, but I love my people, my family, my cats. I just love meeting people, I don't care where you are or how old you are, I just love people.

Andrea: That ability to find alignment with what you're doing for work, which we all have to do because capitalism – if you can find the joy and align that with your work, it’s gold.

Aseeyah: I love that. That's actually one of the reasons I wanted to be a recruiter. I wanted to be a resource for people but doing it through a big-ass consulting firm was not the move.

But now supporting people through my business and my content is fulfilling, and the community on LinkedIn just makes my heart smile.

If someone wants to reach out to you, what’s the best way to connect?

LinkedIn! I'm available in the DMs. Or book through my calendar link.

I’m also starting a cohort. There’s so many people who are going through layoffs, as well as business owners and founders, who are just now starting to realize the potential of LinkedIn.

The cohort is going to be for 4 weeks, one session per week. It’ll be a beta group of just 6 people because I want it to be really tailored for each person.

Every week will focus on something new. Week one is really the fundamentals, profile optimizations, etc. Week two is mindset, and that framework to build up your voice.

Week three will focus on crafting your content and growth strategies. And then week four will be about the algorithm and community networking, as well as ongoing support.

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