Antoinette Clarke and Tricia Clarke Stone are twin sisters who literally wrote the book on how to "Double Down" and succeed on your own terms.
Antoinette is an award-winning producer and the senior VP of branded entertainment at CBS, but her first job was as a production assistant on a daytime television show. "I've worked at almost every daytime show," she says. She even worked on "Rachael" during season one!
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Tricia is the co-founder and CEO of WP Narrative_, a creative and technology agency. She began her career in radio ad sales before leaving to work for a digital internet company. "I went back and launched the digital division for that company, grew it to a multi-million dollar business and then eventually I started my own creative and technology company," Tricia says.
The power twins say that their book, Double Down: Bet On Yourself And Succeed On Your Terms, is "essentially a remixed rulebook for boss ladies." To them, a boss lady can be defined as "an essence, a vibe — you're compassionate, you're confident and cool and you remain constantly a fearless optimist."
Here are their best tips for becoming a boss lady and getting ahead in your chosen career.
1. Cultivate The 3 Cs
The first step toward success is to cultivate the 3 Cs: confidence, cool and compassion.
Confidence: "If you're not confident about yourself, no one else is going to have confidence in you," Antoinette says. But when you believe in yourself, others will believe in you, too!
Cool: "Cool is all about leaning into your cultural intelligence and also figuring out what your personal style is — so all of us can be cool," the businesswoman says.
Compassion: "The status quo will tell you that you should not care about anyone else but yourself, but we didn't come up together — her and I and everyone in the world — without caring about other people."
2. Find Your "White Space"
The next step is to "plant a flag in your white space," Tricia says. "Your white space is an area of opportunity, or a place where you can really innovate, solve a new problem or reimagine how you bring something into the world."
So, how do you find your white space? By asking yourself these questions.
What am I good at?
- What you care about — that's your passion.
- Where you've succeeded already — that's your achievement.
- Why people come to you — that's your reputation.
Where can I apply that skill to make the biggest impact?
- What is everyone else doing in this space, and how?
- What makes them successful, and why do people gravitate toward them?
- What can you do within the existing landscape that no one else is doing?
3. Focus On The Long Game
"You want to make sure that you're going to be legendary, not temporary," Antoinette says. "Don't get caught up with the failures or the short wins — focus on your north star."
It's all about listful thinking (not wishful thinking), so put your dreams down in writing. List all the steps you'll need to take to get to your ultimate goal, then work your way from the bottom to the top.
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4. Surround Yourself With People That Can Be Your Elevation And Your Gravity
"It's really about deliberate cultivation — and that starts from within," Tricia explains. Start by developing your inner circle, your go-to family and friends. Next, focus on your crew, or your extended friend group. You also have your work squad, coworkers who keep you grounded and celebrate you when you need a lift at work and outside of it.
Finally, you want to have a board of advisors. These are your trusted council — the people you can go to when you need to make a big life decision or you want a unique perspective. Your advisors can come from any of your different groups.
