I am so tired of hearing about "IT WORKS", Aren't You?

Over the course of 2017 I saw an influx in social media posts about “ItWorks Global”. Several of my Facebook friends are posting about various weight loss and skin care products that the company offered. There are before and after photos, screenshots of direct deposit payments and the promise of financial freedom if you just dare to sign up and be a distributor.  Through a mutual friend on social media I followed Antinese Stinson prior to me knowing she was a distributor of the trending wellness company. I met her at Westside High School and I honestly just liked her radiant personality and her whitty humor. As time went on I began to notice her posts about the It Works products and admittedly they peaked my interest. I am a woman who has tried everything but crack on my own personal weight loss journey. Honestly when I saw the post I clicked like because I am always proud of my peers who are embarking on entrepreneurial endeavors. Also admittedly I AM NOT a sales person so don’t even ask was a thought that crossed my mind just like others I’m sure who see these posts in passing. Time continued on and I noticed all of the promotions that Antinese was getting within the company and just like everyone else while proud of her I had lingering thoughts like this is just to good to be true. I even became an auto ship customer of hers because I wanted so badly to see this mother of two reach her goal of being a top performer. I typically only blog about the criminal justice system but it is important for me to highlight people of color in my community doing positive things as well as uplifting and empowering women like myself. I reached out to Antinese also known as Nikki and asked if she would be interested in being interviewed for my blog and she agreed.

In elementary school Antinese was a straight A student from kindergarten until the 8^th grade and in middle school she won an award for having good grades her entire school career. In the 9^th grade that begin to change and she no longer wanted to be smart, she wanted to fit in so she stopped applying herself. She simply wanted to do what the other kids did. There was a point during high school Antinese was only attending school once a week while her mom was busy working three jobs.  Her father was always an entrepreneur and her mom always worked a lot. No matter what her mom always did what she needed to do to make things happen for she and her brothers.  Around age eleven her mom worked three jobs and at one point they didn’t have a car. Her mom rode a bike to work at night to Krystal’s from 11 to 7 then rode it home showered and worked her day job. Her dad was incarcerated up until age 12 for various drug charges. They visited and corresponded through letters His physical absence didn’t really affect Antinese because this had become normal for her and her mother filled the voids as best she knew how.

Roughly two weeks after graduating from Robert E. Lee High School in the year 2000 Antinese found out she was pregnant. After graduation she had no plans and with a baby on the way didn’t really know what  she wanted to do. She got a job working at a call center and one day while running to catch the bus it was pouring rain. The bus driver saw her running and splashed her with a puddle. She went back home and this was the start of many incidents with several jobs.

In 2003 she had her second son and started working as a medical assistant. In 2005 to 2007 she worked at an abortion clinic. After that she worked at a companion service and an OBGYN office where she has seen everything dealing with female genitalia. In 2011 she was in nursing school with one semester left with a 4.0 GPA. A classmate who had recently lost her healthcare asked her could she bring birth control samples to class. She thought nothing of it because women regularly received free samples at the office. While exchanging the pills another student was selling candy bars for a fundraiser and Antinese purchased one. An on looking student told the professor that she was selling pills. As a result she was kicked out of school and two days later she was terminated and arrested because her professor contacted her employer. She thought life was OVER! Her entire life she wanted to be a nurse and through life’s shortcomings that was her chance. She cried everyday for over a week.

In 2012 Antinese started several odd and end jobs from tax preparation, personal assisting, working the door at night clubs, strip clubs, call centers, cleaning service and even worked as an Uber/Lyft driver but she didn’t want anyone to know.

In May of 2016 she saw a post from Ashley Goggins that read “looking for 5 ladies to make residual income text lunch to ____________”. They met a few days later at Panera. Antinese thought she was getting a job. She went to the meeting with a resume and Ashley told her about It Works and in her mind she was thinking “You gotta be fu*king kidding me”. Ashley told her it was $99 to start but she didn’t have it. She handed Ashley her card and prayed that it went through. The payment total was $113 and there was $115 available on her card. She received the kit in May and didn’t open it until October. Meanwhile she was still working two driver jobs for both Uber & Lyft, working at Revlon, her cleaning service, a student, a mother and still struggling.

She attempted a wrap party but her friends weren’t receptive and she thought no one would support it. She also thought that by being plus sized no one would purchase weight loss supplements from her. In October 2016 Antinese began posting to social media about Its Works and within two weeks she had 30 customers. She continued posting and people were receptive. She promoted four ranks in 30 days by recruiting 16 distributors under her team and as a result she received a $1000 bonus. From November 2016 to January 2017 she promoted to Diamond a leadership rank with 26 distributors now on her team and received a $10,000 bonus. In March she promoted to double diamond with over 46 distributors working on her team and a total of over 300 team members and received a $30,000 bonus!!!! (These bonuses are broken into payments over time.

Antinese is no longer receiving public assistance, paid off debts, repaired her credit and quit ALL of her jobs except the cleaning service which she owns and Its Works! Today she is preparing to promote to Triple Diamond and anticipating a $25,000 bonus. Once this goal is accomplished she will have received $66,000 in bonuses not including her monthly commissions and weekly bonuses. With these supplements she has lost roughly 25 pounds, her skin is clear, her blood pressure is down and her bank account is up. Even with her past shortcomings, the arrest, her childhood, overcoming bullying, being a single mother and every single curve ball life threw at her she was able to find something that not only helps others but she has helped herself and is on the road to financial freedom!

SO YES IT DEFINITELY WORKS!!!!!!!