Tag: building something

Q and A with Ale from Mexico City, Mexico

“Life is tough, yes, but if there weren’t challenges, life would be so boring.”

Q: Tell us about yourself.

A: I always was very passionate about dancing, and when I finished college, I decided to open a dance studio. A lot of students struggled with their weight, had a very negative mindset about their bodies, struggled a lot with stress, and sometimes their moms didn’t cooperate with all that.

Thanks to my dance studio, which I closed during the pandemic, I decided to study for a master’s in nutrition and got certified as a health coach, studied mindfulness, and was certified again as a mind-body functional health coach. Since the dance studio, my mission was always to help others be much more confident and make their health and wellness a priority. My new passion as a coach has been amazing and so transformative for me and others. My passion for dancing has been transformed into neuro dance (neuroscience + dancing) and I include in my practice breathing techniques and most important, hemp CBD because of how wonderfully it impacts our overall health.

Neurodance is basically the connection between neuroscience and dancing. It’s a deeper connection between your mind, body, and spirit; it’s a symbolic way of expressing emotions and reliving trauma. It’s super interesting how movement can be so therapeutic. In Mexico, THC is illegal, so any tincture, gummy, or capsule we have is free of THC. This is a project I am super passionate about, and the people that are part of it are so great. CBD has benefits overall health because of how it works in the body.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: It’s curious. Since I was 3 years old, I used to play I was a teacher. As a coach, you educate a lot, and since I was little, I’ve always been open to transformation and always aligned with something transcendence. Make a difference in my community and globally.

Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?

A: Life is not static, and we come to enjoy life. Allow yourself to transform, be authentic, and always do what you love, what is aligned with your core values, and what you feel and what your intuition tells you is your mission in this life. Life is tough, yes, but if there weren’t challenges, life would be so boring. What has brought so much joy in my life is learning to neutralize what has happened to me. See life as a sum of experiences that build you up, and maybe this can be of help to you.

Becoming a mom was the best thing that has happened to me, and at the same time, the most challenging one. I was super independent before, and in a certain way, that independence is restricted. Thanks to mindfulness, I learned to be much more flexible and compassionate. And both of my kids have been my greatest teachers.

Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism, for me, means freedom. Freedom to be a woman, a mom, an entrepreneur, a sister, a wife, and much more. To express myself and to follow my dreams. It means building tribes with other women and empowering ourselves, instead of gossiping and screwing others. And it means showing my son that there’s a perfect balance between men and women, and we should all respect each other and be fair and just.

Fun fact: I studied physics engineering, and what I’ve told you is to show you that, YES! You can follow your dreams and transform in time.

Q: What is it like in Mexico City?

A: Mexico City has tons of things to do and is comfortable, but to be honest, I never wanted to live here. I wanted to live in a place where I can travel easily and learn a lot from other cultures. What I do love is the weather; it’s never extremely hot or cold.

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Q and A with Michelle from Akron Ohio, living in South Florida, USA

“Finding your niche client and product is the best way to start and grow a fledgling business.”

Q: What are you passionate about?

A: My true passion is color! I love vibrant, saturated colors. Luckily for me, color was important in my career, which ended up being in fashion. I have done literally everything in the fashion industry: in-store sales, MIS(data entry…computers were only just becoming relevant) advertising, photo shoots, styling, buying, selling, import, export, runway shows, showroom sales, design, manufacturing, fabric pattern design, and anything else I forgot.

I have visited the silk dyers in South Korea and the silk weaves in Italy. Stood next to the pile of hides to be tanned into leather for jackets and stood in freezing studios filled with sand and fans to create a summer photo set. From mass merchant to high-end luxury, I have done fashion. So, it was an easy transition to branding.

I am now a brand director for anyone starting a new biz or doing a brand refresh. What does that mean? It means a brand is not a logo. Creating a brand for your business gives you a clear direction and outlines your services. Clarity is the most important part of a business. I am sure you have heard it before, but if you sell to everyone, you sell to no one. Finding your niche client and product is the best way to start and grow a fledgling business. I also really like tarot!

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: How I survived the 70s…I have no idea! No seatbelts, drunk driving, smoking, hitchhiking, not to mention the serial killers who were apparently lurking everywhere. I actually had a pretty great childhood, and I am still friends today with the kids were lived in my neighborhood because we all went to the same schools, although we now live all over. My family had a restaurant and catering business and everyone worked. Not all of my 26 cousins, but most. So, my entrepreneurial spirit came from that family work ethic, and it still is very implanted in me today. I followed the narrow path and ended up getting married very early (20) as it was the only way out of the house. As you can imagine, that did not end well. But it set me on a path that took me to Europe. I lived in Germany for 15 years, learned the language and the culture, and traveled extensively. I have reached five of the seven continents (Antarctica & South America, I’ve yet to see).

Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?

A: You are enough. The “rules” you were taught, are only your rules; no one else is going to follow them so you might as well throw them right out the window. When I look back, believe me, I have a lot to look back on…I see a young person who was afraid to not follow the rules, this limited me and kept me from exploring all the things I could have. But obviously, my personality and confidence led me to push forward and break the rules. There were a couple of quotes that always rang true, “leap and the net will appear, feel the fear and do it anyway.” At the time, I didn’t quite understand what that meant, but now I am much better at doing it and asking for forgiveness later. Whatever you think you want to do, do it.

Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: In my lifetime, let me repeat that, in MY lifetime, women were not allowed to have credit, could get fired for being pregnant, and had very limited job opportunities. We couldn’t even run in a marathon! I am fully invested in feminism and getting equal rights for everyone, all the time. It is pretty weird to have lived through this evolution of women gaining more rights, but absolutely baffling that we are still not 100% there, yet. Seriously?

MORE ABOUT MICHELLE: I felt inspired to create a limited series podcast, where I interview women (of a certain age) to hear their stories. Women of any age would enjoy it! I also have a monthly newsletter about branding that is pretty fun, you can sign up for it on my website.

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MORE Q&As WITH MICHELLE:

Q: What do you like to draw inspiration from for your fashion?

A: Fashion leads to everything—food styling, home decor, and trends of all kinds. I believe fashion is a form of art and creativity.

Q: Traveling quite a lot, did you notice any similarities in fashion for all the countries? Or fashions that are always in style?

A: One thing for certain: black is always in fashion. It is sleek, minimalistic, and super elegant. No matter what country you’re in.

Q: And do you have a favorite country you want to go back to or have visited the most?

A: Having lived in Germany for such a long time, I feel the most at home there in any city. However, I also spent a lot of time in Paris and London. So, both of those cities are my favs. Germany, what was that like? I would need to write an entire book about my experience in Germany. I will say I went with one sentence in German…“Der bleistift ist nicht rot”… The pencil is not red… so that was super helpful, right? Oh, and I could also order a beer!

Q and A with Shellece from the Rocky Mountains, Utah

“I remember one week we had $16 for groceries. Those difficult few years were extremely stressful, but I gained some practical skills that I appreciate and use now. ”

Q: Tell us about yourself.

A: Hey, I am Shellece Durfee! I am an artist and photographer. I was born and raised in Utah near the Rocky Mountains. I am a mom of two cute little girls, Lily (age 7) and Mariah (age 6). I just celebrated my 10th anniversary with my husband, Shea. I earned my bachelor’s degree in fine art from Utah State University. I teach painting classes, and I paint custom portraits. I also love newborn photography.

When my babies were born, I stayed home with them and we had to live extremely frugally because we were living on less than $20,000 a year and my husband was still in school. As a matter of fact, I thought we were rich when my husband got a raise to $20,000 a year. I worked my tail end off doing meal planning, budgeting, sewing clothes for my girls, and taking the best pictures I could of my babies. I learned how to make bread to save money. We basically lived off of homemade bread, egg burritos, macaroni, and hot dogs for about four years. I felt like I was drowning and I was scrambling trying to think of ways to make some money on the side. I remember one week we had $16 for groceries. I had some food storage, so we made it work. I spent occasional weeknights drawing and painting when my girls were in bed and I had friends and family who paid me to paint custom portraits of their loved ones and I taught some art lessons. Other good friends paid me to do some photography for them. Those difficult few years were extremely stressful, but I gained some practical skills that I appreciate and use now.

I am in a local artists guild and I regularly practice painting and photography. I would love to illustrate my own children’s picture books, license my designs, and teach online art courses in the near future.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: As a child, I experienced neglect and abuse in my home. I used art, walking around in nature, and playing the piano to survive the abuse and feel okay in my life. Being creative gave me an outlet for relieving stress. Art was one of the things I enjoyed and it was something I could control during a very isolating time in my life. Creativity brought me a sense of accomplishment and joy. I continue to develop my talents because it still brings me a feeling of accomplishment and it is an important part of me. I think there is a lot of power in being creative. I would not be the person I am today if I hadn’t had these tools for reducing my anxiety and calming my mind. I would love to help others feel the relief I have felt by creating.

Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?

A: I have learned that keeping my mind and body active during difficult phases of my life has given me the will to hope for better times and to make the most of the difficult challenges we go through. Pursuing creative endeavors helped me stay optimistic and okay during the hardest parts of my life. I can take negative emotions and energy and turn them into something beautiful, and I think everyone is creative and artistic in one way or another. We just have to give ourselves permission to do it.

Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism means assuring that women have equal financial, educational, and social opportunities that men. As women become more celebrated in the world I think it is very important that we continue to facilitate respect and dignity toward men simultaneously. Men and women are and should be considered equal and treated humanely. So I suppose from my perspective feminism means humanity for all.

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Q and A with Jessika

“We never really know what people are going through, so it’s best to be kind to everyone.”

Q: What are you passionate about?

A: I am passionate about helping people. I absolutely love seeing people and businesses grow and succeed! I also love being able to help people be more positive and motivated on a daily basis.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: When I was younger, I was part of a very loving family and home. I have two older sisters, so I am the baby of the family. I was born and raised in San Diego, California, which I love! Education has always been important to me, which is why I got my master’s degree around the time that I moved to Nevada in 2013.

Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?

A: Something valuable that I have learned is that we never really know what people are going through, so it’s best to be kind to everyone.

Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: To me, feminism means that women are treated equally. Just because we are women does not mean that we should be treated differently!

MORE ABOUT JESSIKA: I used to be a teacher, but I have been a virtual assistant and social media manager for the past three years. I absolutely love being able to help people remotely! I’m also currently starting my life coaching journey.

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