My name is Melissa DiVietri — but I go by MISSYDI. I wanted to share a short list of things you wouldn’t guess about me… so here they are.
Entrepreneur, all day — all the way.
#5 I’ve been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember; I refuse to work for another person to make them money; we will work together as partners or nothing at all.
I worked for Corporate on many occasions to do the normal routine of society.. Work, get a mortgage, get married.. like who the fuck wants that life. I found myself ‘missing something’ as I stared at my desk in a cubicle. I would get sick very easy from sitting in a desk space from 8 to 5.. and sometimes 8 – 7PM during agency life, when I worked in advertising agencies. I would have major anxiety from staring at the same space.. even after I added “art, photos, Starbucks.”
(My skills are incredible but if the client / brand cannot accept my terms of remote work; then we will not be working together).
The last time I worked for Corporate companies; I quit within 2 weeks. I tried the company culture > going to lunch with coworkers, being nice to people by doing their work for them, staying late to look good.. like fuck me, is that really what it’s like to “climb the ladder.” No.. my skills are way more valuable than to sit at a desk hoping I would get noticed.
My entrepreneurship is something to be recognized for.. I’m a force of strength and admiration.
Blogging before it was even a thing
#4 I developed my first blog back in 2006 when MySpace was a hit. I would hand code and design graphics for friends and online users. I learned these skills by searching onlin for tutorials; this is when I realized online marketing was my thing.
From there.. I developed a Blogger, WordPress, Medium, Tumblr and other online blog sites to be active in the online community. I knew that I was going to be an online social media star.. I had that feeling > now I can be found on 32 social media network.
My Passport is almost FULL
#3 I travel.. it’s just what I do. I’m in love with people, culture, languages, art and music. I get fixated on different environments; that’s just how I roll. I MUST be around new settings so I can constantly stay inspired for my online work.
Some countries that I’ve visited are South Korea, China, Indonesia, Colombia and more. I hope to travel to more than 30 countries in this given year – 2017. I started my travel in SOuth America and will work my way to Europe.
Physical Disability.. and so?
#2 So what.. I have a disability. I do more things in a given day than most people do in their entire week. I am excited to wake up in the morning because it’s a new day and there’s a lot of opportunities out there. I’ve been connecting with a lot of people on social media to meet with in person. Example question other digital nomad that are traveling the country will reach out to me and find me on social media. We’ve arranged to get coffee with each other and talk about our businesses so ultimately my social media skills are taking off because I’m able to connect with people who are like-minded.
I don’t use my disability as a crutch even though I use crutches. I believe that everyone has their own limitations and obstacles but you have to be strong and get through them. Traveling with a disability is extremely hard but I embrace my challenges and offer solutions. There are times that people are more empathetic to helping me get on and off the plane. I am able to put in special recommendations like I need a wheelchair or I prefer aisle seat.
I stop taking medication last July 2016, I am holistic you’d say. So when I feel like I’m hurting or need to rest, I just make a bag of ice and take a nap. I find that it’s just my body telling me to chill out and relax. My career is extremely stressful with deadlines every day and people commenting all the time on social media. I will sometimes just shut off my phone and not worry anything.
Don’t waste my time and I won’t waste yours.
#1 I am a very busy person. I have a lot of dreams and aspirations. I’m running a social media agency and online marketing programs for more than 30 clients. I have a strong team that helps me with my marketing programs but being your own boss is sometimes hard. I have to hold myself accountable to get things done but also be a good leader for my team. My team is all over the world so I have to adjust my time schedule to be available to them, I take a lot of naps and drink coffee. My day starts later but I’ve found that I need other people to work around my schedule not theirs.
I started to research developing a nonprofit in my hometown, Detroit. It’s in the early works but I want this to be a passion project for me to get back to my community. This will be a nonprofit in for disabled people to live a lifestyle of freedom and be able to get around the city without barriers. Detroit and many other cities do not put into factor that we need special circumstances for disabled people to open doors and park close to our buildings. There are times that I will park 10 blocks away from where I need to go because that is the closest place to get to my building or wherever I’m headed. People have been able to remember me because I walk everywhere but I am exhausted by the end of the day and that doesn’t leave time for me to work on my passion projects. So I hope that I can work with Dan Gilbert and team and city of Detroit to come up with a solution for people like me who want to get back to the community and also I have a lifestyle of freedom. Other cities will be able to adopt these characteristics and apply them to their city.
As many of you know I could talk for hours on my blog but I wanted to keep this a short version of myself. I’m currently working on producing my blog into a book so that more people can be inspired by my actions and develop opportunities for themselves. I am an advocate for the disability community as well as other communities who come from alcohol, drug and violent families. I channel my obstacles into opportunities so that I can be a strong person for others to look up to.
There will be more to come on my Instagram and Snapchat as I’ve been live posting throughout my travels.
