Dr. Velma Trayham was born into poverty in Houston’s Third Ward to a 14-year-old mother. Today she leads the Black Chamber of Arizona, has helped more than 8,000 entrepreneurs build and scale businesses, and holds the distinction of presidential honoree. Her new book, UNFIREABLE, arrives at a moment when millions of workers are staring down layoffs, automation, and an economy that seems to be rewriting the rules overnight.
What inspired you to write UNFIREABLE?
At a heart level, I wrote UNFIREABLE because I saw so many amazing, talented people tying their entire identity to a job title, and then falling apart when the title changed, or when the role or the job was taken away from them.
I’ve lived through that. I was born into deep poverty in Houston, Texas. I was born to a 14-year-old mother, and spent years breaking generational chains of lack, rejection, and small thinking. When you grow up like that, you either surrender to the systems around you, or you decide your end does not have to look like your beginning. I chose the latter, and this book is the blueprint of how to become UNFIREABLE.
When we look at data right now, we are truly in a crisis moment. More than 35 million Americans have experienced job displacements. Entire departments have been wiped out by AI and automation. DEI programs are being dismantled at alarming rates. In tech alone, well over 140,000 people were laid off in a single year, and large companies like Oracle have been restructuring tens of thousands of roles globally. Less than three weeks ago, 30,000 employees of Oracle received an email at 6 o’clock a.m. that said that they were fired.
I wanted to give people something more than “update your resume and hope.” UNFIREABLE is a way to become so rooted in your God-given purpose, that no layoff, no algorithm, or no gatekeeper can cancel the plan and purpose that your Creator put you on Earth to solve.
Why is it so important to separate your personal identity from your job title and role?
Your personal identity should not be tied to your job role. Your purpose in life is the thing that you were put on Earth to do, the problem that you were put on Earth to solve. Job titles are temporary, but purpose is eternal.
In the book, I talk about the old lease versus the new asset. The old lease is when you rent your identity from a company. Your whole sense of self rises and falls with what’s on your business card. When that changes, you feel like you’ve disappeared, you feel like you no longer have a purpose, you feel like you’re no longer of value. The new asset is an identity anchored in the problem that you were born to solve. Your job is just one place you express that purpose.
When you separate your identity from title, a layoff becomes painful, but it’s not a verdict on your worth. You can say, I lost a role, I lost my job, not my reason for being here. That shift is critical. It’s critical for mental health, it’s critical for leadership, it’s critical for all organizations. People who are clear on their purpose recover faster. They innovate more and lead better. Whether they sit in the C-suite, on a factory floor, or in a classroom, titles and roles are temporary, but your purpose is eternal.
The book talks about walking boldly in the assignments God created you to do. What does that actually look like in real life?
Walking boldly in your purpose-driven assignment doesn’t always mean quitting your job tomorrow and starting a business. It means recognizing that every season, corporate, entrepreneurial, ministry, and even government, is an assignment. Every assignment has a time limit. It’s an assignment, it’s not your identity.
In real life, this is what it looks like. Saying yes when your Creator nudges you to build something that doesn’t yet have funding or validation from others, but you know that it’s solving a problem. It could look like leaving familiar environments, like I did when I left Houston many years ago. I would not be where I am today had I not left my hometown in Houston, Texas.
Refusing to shrink, even when things don’t feel like they’re going well. Walking boldly looked like building a nonprofit organization when there was no budget, when there was no money. I had this vision to end poverty through entrepreneurship. I created programs that now have helped over 8,000 entrepreneurs start and scale businesses and secure contracts, even while I was still healing from my own losses. Bold obedience is really what it is, and that is where purpose becomes impact.
Maybe there’s a book that you should have written by now, and you’re afraid because you don’t know if people are gonna support it. Write the book anyway. Are you solving problems? Will the message of the book solve problems? Have you been on a job that don’t value you, don’t allow you to operate in your purpose? It’s really just refusing to settle, walking boldly in your purpose and destiny, to do what you were created to do.
What message do you want readers, especially those feeling uncertain in this economy, to take away from the book?
Your job is temporary. Your purpose is eternal. You can lose a role, you can lose a job, you can lose a salary, but you cannot lose what God put in you before the foundation of the world.
To the person who’s been laid off, passed over, or quietly pushed aside. You are not finished. Uncertainty is not your identity. This book is your sign that you were created to solve problems, that there is a path forward, and that you can build a life and career that’s rooted in something that no pink slip, no algorithm, or no political climate can take away.
And to organizations, this is your moment to decide whether you will simply manage a headcount or invest in purpose-driven people. The companies, schools, churches, and governments that choose to develop people will be the ones that lead the next generation.
UNFIREABLE is a guide to help you get there. What I want people to take away is understanding that no matter how many times you’re fired, if you’re walking in your purpose, you will never need money, because money follows solutions to problems.
Where can we find the book? Where can we find you?
I am launching UNFIREABLE nationally [today]. I actually just did a very soft launch here in Phoenix, Arizona. On unfireableofficial.com, there’s a link at the very top where you can join my national book launch. This is the official launch, April the 30th at 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
