When Bernie Davies walks towards a door, it opens. In fact, this charismatic former lawyer has seen it fling so wide that she can now add best-selling author, publisher, business motivator and trainer, TEDX speaker, diversity and entrepreneurship leader and restaurateur (to name just a few) to her glittering CV.
Pretty remarkable achievements that are, perhaps, all the more striking when you realise Bernie is a black woman who hails from Jamaica and has tackled her fair share of knockbacks.
But if you think what Bernie - a proud sponsor of the - has achieved is a one off, an exception that few can emulate, it is time to think again: this is a woman keen to share the secrets of her success with businesses and entrepreneurs of all colours and creeds.
鈥淚 want people to own who they are and be the best version of themselves - be authentic in that,鈥 explained Bernie, whose is imbued with her own infectious zest for life. 鈥淭hey should brand their business around themselves, develop a culture around their key values and build their services around that. And their key people should have similar values - together you build a network.鈥
Her best version
Bernie firmly believes a key to business success can be found by harnessing your own uniqueness - something that has worked brilliantly for her.
This is, after all, a woman who qualified as a lawyer after initially dropping out when she fell pregnant, rising to be the head of property at New Law, Cardiff, before branching out as a networker, respected entrepreneur and business leader (Bernie is founding council member of the South Wales Chamber of Commerce and former chair of Neath Chamber of Trade).
A move into hospitaliy saw Bernie launch a chain of restaurants, Jamaican Jill鈥檚, to much aplomb (winning awards for the Top 100 Restaurants in Wales 2018 and Number One Caribbean Restaurant in Wales 2019) before the calling back to help and guide other entrepreneurs as owner of the Introbiz Swansea and West Wales franchise. Even the Covid-19 pandemic couldn't dampen that innovative spirit - with Bernie utilising the time to become a double bestselling author: , topped the Amazon new releases in all its three categories, becoming an overall Amazon bestseller and soon followed.
Unsurprisingly, her latest enterprise, Bernie Davies Global - which sees Bernie provide guidance, tutoring, mentoring and talks to the Welsh government, major banks and universities - is also proving a hit with entrepreneurs keen to emulate that success.
But this litany of achievements only tell the partial story - beneath is the rockier road to self discovery: 鈥淚 struggled to find my way and started off on the wrong foot,鈥 explained Bernie who, as a clever child, became 鈥済iddy with the attention鈥 her academic achievements lauded on her.
鈥淚 became very competitive. When I got to high school I was obnoxious - nobody liked me, some bullied me. But I grew into myself. My mum鈥檚 response was 鈥榢now yourself鈥. When I got to university, because I didn鈥檛 know myself, I fell prey to someone and I got pregnant. Imagine that, for somebody who built their whole life on what they did and not on who they were? That journey and that experience has taken me to where I am. I ended up going back to university and being a successful lawyer, but that take down got me to a place where I understood that my worth wasn鈥檛 about what I did and who I was.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 that girl who dropped out of university and was pregnant, nor was I the girl who was always doing well. I had to go on a journey of finding myself. I found I was a person who cared about people, who wanted to excel but I got a lot more joy from taking people along with me than leaving them in my dust.鈥
Diversity and inclusion
A passionate advocate of diversity and inclusion (Bernie sits on the and championed the launch of Black Pound in Wales in 2020), Bernie was Swansea Black Icon 2019 and scooped Excellence in Business 2017 at the Sennedd for Black History Month. They are successes which also spring from inner knowledge and embracing what she dubs her YOU PRINT鈩.
She said: 鈥淭he diversity I would like to create is one of heart, one of love, one of healing, one of togetherness - not one of separation, not anger and hatred and accusation and wagging of the finger. The work I do is all about that collective. It鈥檚 that understanding that diversity isn鈥檛 just about colour for a lot of us.
鈥淚鈥檓 not saying that doors might not have been closed but what happens when I start to walk towards them they open. They were flung open because I walked towards the door expecting it to open. I didn鈥檛 go to a job interview and see a white blonde haired and blue-eyed person and think, 鈥榯hat鈥檚 it, it鈥檚 over for me, I鈥檓 not getting the job鈥, because I didn鈥檛 even think about that. So I walked in and I got the job.
鈥淭his is the kind of thing I want to help people with, whether it鈥檚 a gender or disability issue - if you come from the perspective that the people you are interacting with just want a chance to get to know you and understand you and you give them that chance to know and understand you.鈥
Proud to sponsor awards
Bernie Davies Global is proud to sponsor , which champion those who make a real difference to the Welsh community, Winners will be announced on Wednesday, July 13 at the special ceremony at Cardiff City Stadium. To find out more information, visit the .
