PHOTOS BY MICHAL LEPORE, DOUG MITCHELL, BRODY WHEELER
GOAL DIGGER. One who utilizes ambition and persistence toward a particular achievement and won’t stop until the desired outcome is attained Well this truly defines our latest She Hustles Talks cover woman Nina Purhenn.
Recently we had the pleasure to sit down with Nina and talk about her goals, where her journey is taking her, plans for hustling in the future and more. She Hustles even got to enjoy Nina perform on stage at the December Catwalk for Kidneys fashion show where she launched her clothing line Goalline Lifestyle, and gave the audience an epic performance of her spoken word poetry.
Let us introduce you to a woman with goals…Nina Purhenn.
Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? Who is Nina Purhenn?
I’ve lived in Syracuse most of my life but I was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. I am the owner and operator of my business, The GoalLine. I’m a certified Personal Trainer and Goal Coach. I teach group fitness and Zumba as well. Outside of the gym and personal training, I’m a motivational speaker and spoken word artist. I enjoy working on my goal-orientated clothing line. I’m also a mom to my beautiful 16-year-old daughter, Amaree. I love spending time with her and my other family members and friends as much as possible.
What makes you hustle?
Besides wanting to be a good role model for my daughter, I feel passionate about motivating people towards their goals and healthier lifestyles. I believe it’s part of my purpose in life.
What is Goal Line Lifestyle and how did you start the business?
The GoalLine Mission is all about Pushing Positivity with Purpose and Passion through Motivational Collaborations, Fitness and Fashion. The focus is really just that positive lifestyle brand. I started my business after being inspired during a church service.
What are some of the things you find help you to be a successful business woman?
I think its important to be a good listener, to always continue learning, to be goal-driven and accountable. My faith in God is also a huge part of my life and Is definitely a main contributor to my success as a businesswoman. I also think it’s super important to be authentic. I live the lifestyle that my business represents.
What is the mission behind your business model?
I shared my mission statement above which pretty much sums it all up, Pushing Positivity with Purpose and Passion through Motivational Collaborations, Fitness and Fashion!
The bottom line to me is all about pushing the positive, productive, and motivational lifestyle and encouraging others to get their personal goals and to be the best version of themselves. I don’t want people to just look good but I actually want them to feel good too, and that too, and that starts from the inside out.
If you could interview one person who has inspired you, who would it be and what would you ask them?
I would be honored and probably a little bit scared but my interview choice would be with God. I’d ask him for advice on the current circumstances in life, I would ask what he thought I was doing good, what I could be doing better, and what his idea of my best looked like for him.
Have you found social media to help or hinder you in promoting your services, especially during 2021?
Definitely helped. That’s how my business grew when I first started far before 2021. Social media still plays a huge role for business development and marketing, especially in light of all the virtual connections needed during the covid-19 pandemic.
How do you juggle the fast-paced life of being a female entrepreneur and having a personal life?
I have to schedule everything on my calendar! I mean everything, both professional and personal tasks. Sometimes I’ll have 4-5 clients in a day for coaching and then a spoken word event in the evening, in between family, friends, calls, cancellations, orders to fulfill, social media marketing, messages, my daughter, her jobs, school functions, volleyball, etc. If it’s not written in on my calendar then it’s not a priority and it won’t be getting done!
What challenges have you faced since you started your business and how have you overcome them?
Early on, I definitely feel like I wasted a lot of time, energy, and money by attempting to complete business endeavors alone and without proper plans. There was a lot of trial and error and I think that’s to be expected at least a little bit. I would encourage new entrepreneurs to work with a business counselor and take some entrepreneur business classes to properly prepare.
Besides that, I look at any challenge or setback as an opportunity to learn. Never let anything keep you down for too long, you live, you learn and you move on!
What motivates you and keeps you moving forward?
I’m definitely motivated by my faith and what I believe my purpose in life is. I know God has blessed me with certain talents and gifts and that my time on earth is limited, I don’t ever want to take that for granted.
Did anyone ever prepare you, or encourage you to move ahead in business? What about in the fashion world?
My mom, Deborah has always been a huge influence and inspiration to me. From as early as I can remember, my mom has always had her own business and she has always incorporated me into many different aspects of her company operations. Certainly, she was preparing me for my own business but I didn’t know that then. Currently, she owns and operates Nutrition Power; ‘A Health Enhancement Retail Shop’, in Lawrenceville, Georgia. She continues to encourage my entrepreneurship, she comes to every performance possible, the GoalLine apparel is also featured in her shop and you will often find her rocking the line as well.
Where do you see yourself in the next 3-5 years?
My short and long-term goals revolve around faith, family, and fulfilling more goals. I’d like to have my own studio for fitness classes, personal training, and the GoalLine Motivational Collaborations. The GoalLine vision is about bringing a diversity of culture, color, community, competencies, young, old, and everyone in between, we want to exemplify positive, motivational collaborations and not the need to compete. The GoalLine has a particular ambition to help underprivileged and misguided youth, along with veterans, adults, and seniors who suffer from mental health and have limited community resources available to assist with their success in life.
What are some of the pros and cons of being a female business leader?
Naturally, there are benefits in regards to being a woman-owned or minority business such as training and educational programs. Also, the access to opportunities within government or federal contracts due to your specific business qualifications and/ or their standards of minimal spending requirements. However, for the most part; I think pros and cons can go hand in hand. As a leader, unfortunately, the same reason that some people look up to you will be the same reason that other people try to pull you down. My personal approach is to always stay true to you, regardless of the negative or positive, if it doesn’t apply, let it fly.
Do you have any helpful advice to someone just starting their career? Any tips that helped you along the way?
Yes, set SMART goals! This is always part of my educational piece when I do my motivational speaking or spoken word poetry, especially with the youth groups or young adults. Follow the SMART goal template (with some NinaP additions) S=Set goals that are very Specific, M= Let it be Measurable, what are the Metrics and Milestones you need to Meet, A= how will you Achieve this goal, do you have the Assets and/or Abilities you need to Accomplish this goal, if not how do you plan to Attain them, R= is this goal Realistic and Relevant, does it Relate to your overall success, T=is it Timely and True, You need to have a Time period, is there a deadline, do you have a beginning and an end, is this goal still True to you and for the vision you pursued?
This template helps guide my personal Goal Plan on the daily !
What prepared you to be where you are today?
This is kind of a loaded question for me, my circumstances in life and the choices I’ve made, both good and bad have ultimately led me to this moment, I think we can envision and imagine our reality prior to any actualization, I believe we can take all the necessary steps to equip ourselves with knowledge and the resources that we think will help us be prepared, but I’m not sure if we can ever truly prepare for experiences we’ve never really had.
If you needed to start it all over again tomorrow and you had just one thing to change, add or subtract, what would it be and why?
This is a tough one too, my first thoughts are that I wouldn’t change anything, even through all the trials and tribulations, I’m so grateful for where I am today, BUT if I had to choose something, I would slow myself down and be more present and mindful in all of my moments.
What makes you an expert in understanding the needs of your audience?
I don’t know if I would call myself an expert but I would call myself experienced and evolutionized. I think it’s essential that my audience can relate to me, and that I can relate to them. I think goals are very relatable because we all have them but we all come from different foundations and formulations, we can have similar backgrounds but come from different generations;
At the end of the day, if our goals can mutually collaborate for the betterment of our families or for our communities sake, then that’s the need I want to entertain.
Where did you come up with the tagline “Goal Digger”?
After listening to my pastor at the time, the message was very strong about our personal goals in life and how they might coincide with the world. It was a few years after Kanye West had the gold digger song, and after my church service, a thought just came into my mind about Goal Digger. I went and got a black hat made with big gold letters spelling Goal Digger across the front and wore it everywhere. At the same time, I was composing my thoughts about goals, just as a personal form of expressing my feelings based upon the message I heard at church. I never really shared poetry before, I never even really wrote poetry, except like little grade school things, it was always just thoughts that I put together in my mind over a period of time, that was basically the birth of the GoalLine and the GoalLine poetry Anthem.
Name one defining moment in your career that was your ah ha moment.
There are so many defining moments for me, actually, this alone is one. I have so many experiences where I’m just so humbled and honored that so many people have invited me to share my line, my story, my positions, my passions, it always feels so inspiring. It’s always a blessing and I’m so grateful for each opportunity.
Tell us about one moment in your life that has had a lasting impression on you and formed who you are today.
My life has been full of lasting impressions but I’d have to say that the most impressionable experience was being pregnant and giving birth to my daughter. I was pregnant at 21 and had her at 22. Before she was born or even conceived my path in life was less than productive, I lacked value and respect for myself and for others, I had no compassion or empathy, I was full of anger and resentment. Honestly, I was just a lost and misguided young lady at that point in time, but thank God, something changed inside of me when I knew I needed to be a mom, I knew I needed to teach my daughter better than I was and I committed to that more than I had committed to anything before. My life dramatically changed from that point forward.
What do you attribute your success to?
The love I have for my daughter, the love I have for God, the love I have for myself on top of my ambition, persistence, dedication, commitment, perseverance, and determination for a passion and purpose that expands beyond my personal expectations.
Tell our audience one thing about yourself that not many others know.
Often times people perceive me as a strong, confident motivational leader, which I would agree with most of the time, but what people don’t know or see is that I do a lot by myself without help and thats not always easy. From the outside looking in, people see the finished product not fully realizing what it might have taken to get there. Don’t forget about your strong friends, sometimes motivators need motivating too 🙂
Where will we see Nina Purhenn next?
February 5th, I’ll be making my debut in Atlanta! An entrepreneur friend recently started her own business there and I’m thrilled to be assisting in her launch event.
We recently finished our first 30-day GoalLine Healthy Habits Fitness Challenge. We had 12 people sign up and I’ve been so inspired as a coach. I can’t even fully explain how their determination and success in the daily challenges have filled my heart with so much joy. I’m excited to see who will the cash prizes, they all definitely deserve it.
We’ll be starting another challenge soon for the new year, be sure to reach out on one of the links below for registration info!
Stay up to date with me and all the other GoalLine events on social media or check out our website with new merch coming soon! GoalLineLifestyle.com
FB: Nina Purhenn
FB: GoalLine
IG: GoalLineLifestyle
