oin us in this transformative episode with Cami Barnes, where love, purpose, and empowerment are at the forefront. Cami, with her rich background in matchmaking, speaking, coaching, and more, shares her journey from HR and mental health to her heartfelt passion projects. Discover how she helps others find love with "Linked for Love," a matchmaking service that ensures you're ready for commitment through in-depth background checks and personality assessments.
Cami also dives into her empowerment coaching, offering strategies for balancing professional ambitions and personal life. Plus, we spotlight the Cami Barnes Scholarship Foundation and invite you to support trauma survivors at our high tea fundraiser.
Don't miss Cami's call to action for Women's History Month, encouraging us to uplift each other in business and beyond. Tune in for insights that promise to inspire purpose in every facet of your life.
Learn more about Cami Barnes: https://camibarnes.com/
Come join us at our virtual events monthly. Visit our website to learn more.
oin us in this transformative episode with Cami Barnes, where love, purpose, and empowerment are at the forefront. Cami, with her rich background in matchmaking, speaking, coaching, and more, shares her journey from HR and mental health to her heartfelt passion projects. Discover how she helps others find love with "Linked for Love," a matchmaking service that ensures you're ready for commitment through in-depth background checks and personality assessments.
Cami also dives into her empowerment coaching, offering strategies for balancing professional ambitions and personal life. Plus, we spotlight the Cami Barnes Scholarship Foundation and invite you to support trauma survivors at our high tea fundraiser.
Don't miss Cami's call to action for Women's History Month, encouraging us to uplift each other in business and beyond. Tune in for insights that promise to inspire purpose in every facet of your life.
Learn more about Cami Barnes: https://camibarnes.com/
Come join us at our virtual events monthly. Visit our website to learn more.
Rainier dilemmas. Cr reverb Tively Rainier dilemmas. This is DISM.
Speaker 2:All right, good evening, hello everybody. It is another Tuesday night, another Gucci turban and another amazing guest.
Speaker 1:So hi Kami. How are you Hi?
Speaker 2:everyone out there in the atmosphere I'm doing.
Speaker 1:thank you, so much for having me, shelly. Oh my gosh, it is my absolute honor, y'all.
Speaker 2:So let me just give you a quick introduction and then I'm going to say hi to the peeps on the streets. So today I have Kami Barnes. She's a celebrated matchmaker, she's a motivational speaker, she's an author, she's a coach and she's a new, a newly anointed wedding efficient. So this is such a great time for me to talk to you about all of the breadth of your contributions. I want to touch on your scholarship funds, I want to get in your business about matchmaking and, for those of y'all who don't know, kami is a guest host for an event that we have coming up, sponsored by Grayson Group Media Divine Strength, women's Prayer and Workout. Y'all need to sign up. It's April 20th at 10 o'clock. It is virtual, she's free and she is just going to come in and really teach us around wellness and empowerment. So I'm really honored to have you here, kami. Thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 1:Of course, I'm so grateful to have the opportunity.
Speaker 2:So, first of all, I know that the folks on Facebook please, you don't have to text me, y'all follow the YouTube link because SwimYard has lost connection, but we are here on YouTube. So, hi, youtube. I do want to do a shout out to the folks on LinkedIn and X, formerly known as Twitter, but I do have to do a special shout out to the Parade Deck family. This is where a community of 7 million or so people and so we have that community is built up of veterans and military spouses like myself, and so I'm a part of that military influence community. So thank you, kami, because I'm sure that there's going to be something that you share today that's going to help somebody.
Speaker 2:So, hi, everybody who is catching us on the Parade Deck live screen, hello, hello, hello. So I want to find out, kami, because this is one of those things I try to say to people whenever folks come onto my show, it's usually people who've gone through, they've been a different part in their journey and just looking at the breadth of work that you do, you know it's a lot but it's amazing. So can you tell me a little bit, a little bit about kind of yourself and where you are now in your career?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I am a wife, I'm a mom, I am a serial entrepreneur. I do a lot of stuff, as you mentioned. I am a professional matchmaker, I'm a speaker, I'm a coach, an author as well. I live a health and fitness lifestyle as a part of my normal way of being. We're actually a fitness family, so all of those things sort of you know combine and you know it's all things that are a blessing that I'm able to do and you know, these different gifts and interests and all these, all these different ways of empowering people is how I see it.
Speaker 2:I love that. How did you know? So that's one of the questions that I get a lot, and especially for military spouses. You know, they're kind of all over the world stationed right. How did you know, like, how did you know Like, yeah, I'm good at this, I'm great at this. Like, how did you know?
Speaker 1:When it comes to the matchmaking, honestly I'm not sure, but honestly there were. Just like you know the way that God works, there's a combination of different skill sets and you know as far as my background, so prior to doing the matchmaking, I have over 10 years of experience in human resources and prior to that it was mental health and social work, and so if you think about some of those skill sets that really work well and lend themselves very well to matchmaking, so it's the assessing people, it's matching people for goodness of fit. So, you know, in human resources, it's more so pertaining to careers and on a professional level and in this respect, it's more so when it comes to matching people and their compatibility and all those sorts of things. When it comes to finding the right partner. Wow.
Speaker 2:And then, how did you make this shift to become an author, which is another question that I get a lot? So I'm an author myself and there are certain genres that I will not touch. That's just not my speed, but how did you? Can you tell us a little bit about the book, or about what books as an author? And then, how did you do that? How did you get into that?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I have always loved writing. I've always loved it, even in school. I've always loved writing. At one point, I did come with some of my poetry.
Speaker 1:Lots and lots of years ago, as for several years of having different experiences and things like that, I felt like it was time to write another book and so the most recent book that I've helped with last year was called During the DAD, and then the next one was from DCI Mace's Poe, and the purpose was essentially to cater some of the challenges, the ups and downs and all those things I sort of encountered on my journey as I was working towards my career and owning businesses and all that sorts of stuff, just to empower and let people know that you're not the only one going through this stuff.
Speaker 1:We all have these challenges and these pitfalls, that kind of happen, and it's a matter of how you navigate those different seasons of your life. So it actually is meant to serve as a tool to provide some very strategic and specific things that you can do to overcome certain obstacles. There's a goals workbook at the end of the text as well, so that people can really get on track and get clear and start to plan and write down those goals so that they can actually hold themselves accountable and get to working on them.
Speaker 2:So I wanna point out a little bit more about you as a matchmaker, and I think this is also gonna be really, really helpful for those who might be in the market. So can you tell us a little bit more about your matchmaking, your services and what is the name of that business, and tell us a little bit more about that?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. The business is called Linked for Love, matchmaking, and our demographic is marriage-minded professionals, so people that have reached a certain level in their career, and it usually falls into two buckets. So we have this group over here who maybe they put so much focus on building their career and being successful that they've not really put as much time and effort into finding their person. And then we have this other group who maybe they've been married and then something happened and they're widowed or a widower or their divorced, and now they found themselves suddenly thrust back into the dating world and they're not accustomed to how things are in 2024.
Speaker 1:There's the dating apps and the swipe and all this sort of stuff and there's a hookup culture and so you're marriage-minded. It's so difficult navigating the current, the existing tools that are out there and the main ways that most people go about finding a person, and if you're really busy you may not have the time to really get out as much to connect in person with people. So this service essentially provides them one-on-one personalized service where I am literally sourcing and seeking out potential matches for them. I'm vetting them, I do background checks, I do personality assessments, and it eliminates some of the guest work as well.
Speaker 2:Is there a type that you would say oh, hold on, there's questions. Do you offer coaching for dating? I'm asking for a friend, Do you?
Speaker 1:offer coaching. Absolutely. I do so as a part of the service. So they get the personalized ongoing consultation calls with me. They get unlimited matches. They do get some image consulting, date coaching, all of those things, because ultimately I want you to be successful so I can provide you with the potential matches. But I'm not just gonna throw you out there blind me and say okay, here, go meet up with this person.
Speaker 1:I'm going to really talk with you one-on-one. We're gonna prep for that meeting, for that date, so that you can go and feel incompetent and so that the date goes well. I love that.
Speaker 2:I love that. Yeah, I love that you talked about. First of all, you started out by explaining the mindset, because there are a lot of again, you're right, and for those of y'all we are in the great state of Georgia, so that hookup mindset I've been off the market for many, many years. I can't imagine myself going back. I don't think I could. I could because of that mindset, right, and I love that you call out, because there are a lot of professionals who really put their energy into building that career and securing the bag for real, and so those types of individuals who are success-minded, mature I'm trying to get all the words out like this isn't a hookup situation, y'all. This is. This is a really credible service that's available to you if you're interested, working with Kami and her team. So how did you? How do you, or is there any advice or anything you'd share with anyone who's considering working with you?
Speaker 1:What do you want to say? The biggest thing is just being open, and I tell people all the time in my initial consultation call with them.
Speaker 1:So I'm assessing to make sure that this person is actually ready to pursue a serious relationship that could lead to marriage, because there's some people who think they are and maybe they're still carrying baggage and previous hurts and things like that. And so you have to, really you have to be ready, you have to be willing to have put in the work, the self-work, being self-aware and understanding that these are the things that may or may not have been working for you in the past, and what aren't you really willing to do to really prepare yourself for that husband or that wife?
Speaker 2:I love that. So can we talk a little bit about empowerment coaching, and so what does that look like for you? What are the services that you offer in the coaching area?
Speaker 1:So in the coaching area. So I do provide the coaching within the realm of the matchmaking piece, but I also provide that on just a professional level, where maybe there are super ambitious people and they have these big goals but they don't quite know how to get there or maybe they aren't clear on what that path looks like. So I would meet with them. We clarify what it is that they're wanting to do, what they're wanting to accomplish. We put together a plan, step by step. What are some things you can do? What are three things you can do within the first 30 days of us creating this plan that puts you that much closer to reaching whatever this goal is. What are some things that we can put more long term, like within a six-month timeframe, within a year timeframe?
Speaker 1:What are the qualifications? If it's a specific job title, We'll go through different job descriptions under that title and say, okay, these are the qualifications you have. What are the things that you need to? What are the skill gaps? What are the knowledge gaps? What do we need to do? Do we need to find some training programs, search certificates, whatever it is, to get you on the path towards that goal?
Speaker 2:I love that. Are most of your clients for the coaching aspect. Are they mostly women, or do you work with men and women?
Speaker 1:For the coaching aspect, it is mostly women.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I see just a level of comfort that most women have with another woman, especially if you're a mom, if you're a wife, because those are some things that they would have in common with me and I think people they just feel more comfortable talking to someone who sort of can offer advice from that perspective as well, because I get that. You know You've got to juggle the wife and the mom in addition to anything else that you're doing. Those are your most important titles that you have. So ultimately we have to make sure that that stuff is good to go and then you know, we can build from there. But it's doable. There's so many wives and moms that are out here, you know, living their dreams, going after it, thinking big, not being afraid, stepping into their greatness. So it can be done.
Speaker 2:It is true, and so I wonder, like I want to make a point here, as I was just thinking about those of us who have adult children so I'm not going to call her name, but my bonus daughter would be would be a good consideration. But I was just thinking also of young adults or, you know, those who are late 20s plus. They will be a good match, if you will, for the coaching program, because there's some basics. So do you think that they could pick up you know, through you, and then help them develop professionally as well?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:There are a lot of employers nowadays that are trying to incorporate some level of like a career ladder or sort of a you know professional development path, because they've seen the benefit in that, particularly with millennials and younger people sort of becoming the larger portion of the workforce, and so they're realizing that in order to keep those people and attract those you know, those people in that great talent, they have to have something that they're willing to offer to help them grow professionally.
Speaker 1:And so it certainly helps if you can have someone, have a coach of your own who can help you as well, because there's some employers that are doing that, but there are some that are not. And then you may find in some workplaces, particularly in corporate America, they're not always as receptive as you would think to this younger person coming in and they've got all these big dreams and these goals and they're like simmer down, simmer down. No, you have to do this, and so they'll try to, you know, spice you a bit in some situations and scenarios. So in that respect, someone like me could be really helpful, because I'm on the outside.
Speaker 1:So, my primary goal is okay, what do you want? This is what we want to do. Okay, so these are the things we need to do to get you there, and maybe that might mean you leaving this place once we've reached a certain level and you've accomplished certain things to meet those qualifications.
Speaker 2:I love that. So for those of y'all who might be older like myself and you're looking at the matchmaker service but you have adult children who are entering the workforce, this is a twofer. You might want to consider matchmaking and coaching. You know, just come on in.
Speaker 1:But do you see how that works? Yes, if I have so much of this human resources and workforce development, I can use all of these gifts and this knowledge and everything that he's given me in so many ways to help so many different people. So I'm just, you know, I'm praising God every step of the way. I'm like, okay, god, you know, let's make it happen.
Speaker 2:So this is what purpose looks like, right For those people who are saying you know they want to, they don't. First of all, they don't know what their purpose is, or they assume that purpose means it's not. There's no work involved. There's a lot of work involved in purpose. So can you touch on that a little bit about you, because you're operating in your purpose. And I also warn people that there's some of us who spend multiple plays. I'm not saying this all the time. Some people can spend multiple plays, some people spend one play, and that's okay. You don't have to be a cameo or a Shelly. You spend your one play. Okay, be great at it. But can you talk a little bit about your purpose, because that's what you're operating in.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. My purpose has always been in one way or another. No matter what industry, whatever it is I'm doing, I am an encourager at heart. God has. That's something that God has really just sort of planted down in my spirit and I've always sort of had that mindset and that's how you know it's got, because it's even from a child. I've sort of been this way. I've been this very loving and nurturing and, oh, I want to serve and I want to do this and I want to help this person, sort of thing. That it's just something that's in me.
Speaker 1:And life can life can teach you different things.
Speaker 1:God can allow certain things to happen in your life that'll shift you this way or that way, but who you are and the things that he's put down in your spirit there's, there's something that you need to be doing to utilize that, to really use those gifts that he's given you. And so I'm just fortunate enough to have found multiple ways to do that. And whether it's, you know, the workforce development piece, whether it's the matchmaking, whether it's fitness, it's all contributing to helping people ultimately become the best possible versions of themselves and helping them to, in a sort of holistic way, to feel good about themselves to know that they're capable and they don't have to shrink themselves and think small and feel stuck, because that there's no reason for anybody to ever feel stuff. You are under no obligation to be the person you were even five minutes ago. If you have something you want to do, it's never too late. There are people graduating from college at 80 years old. Yes, as long as you have breath in your body and you have the right mindset, you can do it.
Speaker 2:You see, kami, I knew you had something in your belly for somebody here because also notice we were having, I was having some audio issues early and it just cleared up the moment you said that things started to ship. So I don't know who this is for, but I'm telling you, I know what I know.
Speaker 2:Somebody needed to hear that. Whether they are on the live or you catching this on the replay video, or you catching this on the replay audio, wherever you get it, y'all, somebody needed to hear that piece of advice. You just never, never know, but I know in my heart and soul that that was meant for somebody. So I appreciate you sharing that, because a lot of times successful people don't share that part of their journey. They just kind of swallow their own testimonies and for me I'm like long you can help somebody else. So I really appreciate you being honest and vulnerable and not to share that. You kind of share that with us.
Speaker 2:So I have a few more questions that I want to ask you before we let you go. I want to know what your projects that are coming up for you that you're maybe more excited about. Or I know listen, she is booked. I've dropped her link. First of all, you need to go to candybarscom, buy her books, support this woman, support my sister. Okay, do this, all right. So we said all that for those again, for those of y'all you matchmaking best friend adult children. Go get a coach, do the thing, okay. So what are some of the things that are coming up that you're most excited about.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so this fitness event, divine strength, with the prayer and the fitness aspect that I'm doing with you, all super excited about that because it combines some of my favorite things. And the funny thing is, as God has started to call me higher in ministry, because of course I'm doing all this stuff, I'm speaking, and I've really found that I am most comfortable when I'm doing my presentations and speaking, when I can share things about God and the love of God as well, anytime I felt like I've needed to. Not, you know, not, I just feel so much more in my element when I'm able to do that. And so as a result, you know, I've got got an ordained to officiate weddings.
Speaker 1:I'm a part of the outreach team at my church, new Bird here in Atlanta, so evangelism and all that stuff. But there was a piece of the whole fitness thing that you know I found a little bit challenging and I'm like, okay, god, how do I? Because ultimately, everything I do, I wanted to give him the glory. Yes, and you know how fitness is nowadays, especially on social media, and so it's so difficult to figure out ways to do the fitness thing and do it in a way that's not we know what you're saying.
Speaker 1:You know, because, of course, if I, if I record a fitness workout a certain way, wearing certain things, that's going to get me more abused, but that's not the reason that I want to do it, that's right. So I have to be a lot more cognizant of those things as I'm doing the fitness thing now, and so having this opportunity to do an event where there's prayer involved and there's fitness, it really just marries the two very well, and so I am so grateful that you all thought of me and I'm just so excited, so excited.
Speaker 2:You're excited, I'm excited.
Speaker 1:Honestly, shelley, no, I don't think you understand. So it was literally an answered prayer, because I have been praying. Listen, seriously, I have been praying. Okay, god bless of me and more of you. What do I need to do? Show me what I need to do. And so he's been stripping away different things and I told him I'm fully committed, whatever it is I need to do. And then you guys come to me with this opportunity and I'm like, okay, thank you guys. And so, yeah, I'm so excited about that. I've got some other things in the works. I also have a tea party, a high tea event. It's a cute fun that I am doing. It's a fundraiser for my nonprofit. It's the Cammy Barnes Scholarship Foundation and we provide funds for college students who are women survivors of trauma oh wow. And we are selecting two scholars every semester to receive the funds, and the tea party event is those proceeds are going to benefit our scholars and we will also be announcing and presenting our two selected people for refall at the tea party. So super excited about that?
Speaker 2:That's amazing. And is that that information is also on cammybarnscom, right? Yes, oh my. So y'all, it's a one stop shop and if you want to sign up for the divine spent that event, it's on Grayson with me. To y'all know we will be. We'll be harassing y'all, you know. Please sign up. It is free and this is this is a once in a lifetime. I'm not going to be doing her free again. Okay, so we appreciate that you're donating your time. I did not know was an answer prayer, was certainly an answer prayer of ours. And yeah, and there's a shout out from the dump of ground podcast. So so proud of you and you have put your tea party. Now I'm like I'm gonna have to check out the tea party. Look at your outfits ladies.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:You have the cute outfit, you go hat and all that. So it's gonna be so much fun. And the venue oh my goodness, beautiful. It's the Swan Coach House on the ground of the historic Swan Mansion here in Atlanta. Wow, the gorgeous. It's gonna be fun. What's the date for the tea party? That is July 29th. It's a Saturday, ok, 27th. Yeah, well, 27th. Sorry, july 27th. 1.30 in the afternoon. All that information you can find on camiebarnscom as well. The tickets are available now. It's the entire cost of the ticket. Counts is a charitable donation. We are a 501-C3 nonprofit board and we have our charity. Ein is there on the website as well. So all of this for a great cause. It's gonna be a great time.
Speaker 2:I love that and I also love that the event that you're doing with us, the foundation for prayer and wellness is what you're going to be able to use going forward. So, whatever reason that he's got that in place, you're supposed to build on that and go there for so I'm so grateful. Again. I'm just grateful that you said yes. For those of you all, we have a prayer ministry. You can find us on Facebook. It's Come Out of the Wilderness. I cannot believe it's growing. I literally have these Joseph McKees all the time, Like where are these people coming from? They're here now and this is them. They're here now. They're here now, yeah, yeah. So I do appreciate, genuinely appreciate. So we're down to our time and before you go, I just want to make sure that we didn't miss anything that you wanted to share.
Speaker 1:Well, everybody, you can certainly reach out to me on camiebarnscom. I have other events that I didn't have time to really go into detail on. But all of that information, my full calendar, is there. It's up to date. Reach out to me, reach out to Shelly. We would love to have you participate in the Divine Strength event. It's going to be a great time and we're going to praise God. We're going to pray and we're going to get this workout in and you're going to work up a sweat and burn these calories and we're going to make it through the day.
Speaker 2:I love that. And again, y'all seriously go to her website or, if you can't find her, you can find me and I will find her for you. Make sure that you again support this is. Wait a minute. This is Women's History Month as well, right? We're in March, so another reason for all the support a woman in business is Women's History Month. Support A woman who's actually making history. I'm throwing it all out there, so there's no reason for y'all not to support right? Yeah, cammy, this was so good. I'm grateful again for the time and for the encouragement and for all the keys you dropped For somebody who's going to really benefit from what you shared today. Thank you so much for giving us your time. We're going to tell everybody good night and then we're going to hang out in the back parade deck. Thank y'all for watching. I saw y'all, so thank y'all so much for participating and catch us on the replay or listen to the audio, and make sure you please like my videos so they don't kick us off YouTube. All right, thanks y'all.
Speaker 1:All right, thank you.