September 13, 2018

Meet Trailblazer Danielle Mills

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Mills .

Danielle , can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.

From an extremely young age, I embarked on a incredible journey when I was introduced to the sport of tennis by my father, Barion Mills.
After years of hard work, when I turned ten, I made the choice to focus my life to the sport and become a professional. I moved from Rochester, New York to Bradenton, Florida and attended the prestigious sport-prodigy-producing, IMG Academy. After thousands of hours training, early 5am practices, private lessons, and an inextinguishable drive, I began to show huge promise on the junior world tour. My family and I decided that at age fourteen I would turn professional. As a professional tennis player I was on the road traveling the almost 36 weeks a year. I would go to places like Mexico, Brazil, Australia, England, Morocco, Turkey, Czech Republic, and Spain just to name a couple.
My life was train, travel, compete, airport, hotel, and repeat. I loved every minute of it.
At the age of 22 everything began to change. My body began to break down, and playing became extremely painful. Being a professional athlete has a huge impact on my professional career. When I retired from tennis I knew I wanted to impact people’s lives, and make a difference in whatever field I got involved in. But more than that, I wanted to show others in similar positions and walks of life that their athletic careers could sprout more than they could imagine.
When I made the transition from full-time athlete to blazer-wearing corporate warrior, I was somewhat shocked to learn that all those skills I honed on the courts were extremely valuable. My strongest skills from professional tennis were my pilars to lean on. The ability to be extremely adaptable, think on my feet and learn new things really allowed me to grow in unexpected ways. In my years traveling the world, I learned to interact with people from all walks of life and backgrounds; the ability to communicate and relate to all types of people allowed me to build strong relationships, and bonds with my clients. In the corporate world, my success has come from working smarter, not harder and I’m a firm believer in quality over quantity.
I want to give young girls hope, that they can achieve all that they put their mind to. I want to show women/girls that self-esteem and confidence is not something that you have to be born with: It is a skill that can be worked on, and improved.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Once my body started to break down, I knew that tennis was not going to be something that I could do forever. I needed to start thinking about my next moves, and how I was going to take my expereince and channel it into something else. I had some fears, and some doubts. When you spend your whole life being one thing which was an athlete, and you then have to figure out what to do next, it can be extremely scary and unknown. I had never had a “normal” job before, nor did I ever go on an interview. Those were some things that I always thought about once the time would come to retire.

My biggest advice to young women out there who are starting their journey in either the corporate world, or in their own businessses is to master the art of networking. Get extremely comfortable with making connections with people in person, and through amazing mediums like Instagram and Linkedin. You don’t always have to have the most expereince, or be the most intelligent in order to have success. A lot of the time, its about leaving a lasting impression, and utilizing what makes you unique to get you to where you want to be.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about your business – what should we know?
I want to give young girls hope, that they can achieve all that they put their mind to. I want to show women/girls that self-esteem and confidence is not something that you have to be born with: It is a skill that can be worked on, and improved. I also want to show women, that anything is possible by way of networking and communication. The majority of my successes, and opportunities in life have come from networking, and having the confidence to speak with key people to impact my life either through promotions, or contracts with companies, or business opportunities.

I am a retired Professional Tennis Player

Curly Hair Enthusiast

A Influence who works with different brands and companies.

I break my area of expertise into 3 key areas. Beauty, Body, and Business

Beauty- meaning anything relating to looking, or feeling better. This includes skincare, makeup,or hair care,
Body- meaning Workouts, Diet, Wellbeing
Business- meaning Work tips, interview tips, career tips, business tips, financial tips, confidence tips, networking tips.

Whether you want to be a corporate executive, Business Owner, Stay at home mom, or Beauty Blogger, My content can speak to you!

I am evolving everyday, and always growing and changing. I truly believe if you are not growing you’re shrinking, and being complacent is the enemy.

So much of the media coverage is focused on the challenges facing women today, but what about the opportunities? Do you feel there are any opportunities that women are particularly well positioned for?
I think women should always push for beyond what they think they are capable for. The opportunities are out there for women to be in leaderships roles. There are also many male dominated industries that would benefit from more women becoming involved and striving for leadership roles.

In the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg she talks about how men are promoted off of potential when women are promoted off of results.

She also talks about how women will often handicap their careers when they begin to think about their potential families, and turn down opportunities, or stop striving to achieve more becuase they think they cannot handle it all.

My biggest advice would be to always strive for more, and go after every single opportunity that presents itself. I also believe if there isn’t a opportunity availble to create one, or go somewhere where you will be valued.

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