Nicki Minaj Discusses Women Being Entrepreneurs and Her Admiration for Jay Z in 'Marie Claire' Cover Story

   Hip-hop's reigning queen Nicki Minaj has built her empire from the streets of Jamaica, Queens up to the No. 6 spot on Forbes' 2016 Hip-Hop Cash Kings list. Her evolution from street mixtape rhymer to pop powerhouse with "Anaconda," which hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, has solidified her rank among her male counterparts. In her November cover shoot for Marie Claire, the Queens native is all about women's empowerment, and confesses her admiration for Jay Z's hustle.

   Nicki Minaj has always encouraged women to be be their own boss, and have a sense of independence, instead of looking for cop-outs like "marrying into money". "I don't want that to be a woman's goal in life. I want your goal in life to be to become an entrepreneur, a rich woman, a career-driven woman," she tells Marie Claire.  While she gained prominence with Lil Wayne's co-sign and residency on his Young Money imprint, Minaj has flourished in the male-dominated hip-hop industry, often calling out the industry for its unfair treatment towards women and biased beauty standards.
   Minaj has also pocketed a few collaborations with Beyonce, like the "Flawless (Remix)" and "Feeling Myself" off Nicki's 2014 LP The Pinkprint, and says she feels "inspired" when the two artists work together. "Every time Bey and I do something together, I see how women are inspired, and it has nothing to do with how we look," the "Super Bass" MC explains. "It has to do with how we are owning who we are, and telling other women you should be the boss of your own career and the brains behind your life or your decisions or your art. I just love that feeling."
  Though she seeks the same opportunities her fellow rappers have, she's found a way to look past the industry's faults in order to build her empire, and has modeled her career after one of hip-hop's true moguls: Jay Z. "He did such a great job being an authentic street guy and a businessman, and I was like, 'Why aren't there women doing that, taking the success from rap and channeling it into their empire?'" she confesses about the Brooklyn-bred lyricist. "I felt like anything he could do, I could do."
SOURCE:www.naijacop.com

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg says the most successful entrepreneurs share 3 traits

 

In a live Q&A in Rome on Monday, Mark Zuckerberg  was asked to name three traits of people who make it to the top.
First and foremost, successful enterpreneurs have a specific vision , the Facebook (FB) co-founder and CEO said. They pinpoint the exact problem that they're trying to solve.

"If you want to build something great, you should focus on what the change is that you want to make in the world," Zuckerberg said. "I see too many entrepreneurs who decide that they want to start a company before they actually know what it is that they want to build. To me, that seems backwards."

Secondly, they surround themselves with other highly successful and motivated people.

"No one does it alone," Zuckerberg said. "When you look at most big things that get done in the world, they're not done by one person, so you're going to need to build a team."
To build the strongest team possible, look for people who excel in the areas where you're weaker or less experienced. "You're going to need people that have complementary skills," he emphasized. "No matter how talented you are, there are just going to be things that you don't bring to the table."
Finally, the entrepreneurs who make it big are persistent. "Nothing ever goes the way you want it to," he said. "People talk about overnight success, and that's not the way it works."
The ones who come out on top are the ones who refuse to give up despite the inevitable trials and tribulations they face throughout the process.

Zuckerberg concluded: "The biggest things that have gotten done in the world tend to be done by people who primarily believe in a mission and are not trying to build a company; by teams, not by individuals; and by people who just don't give up."