Today, we have an incredible guest—Arielle Winfield, a dynamic entrepreneur with a fascinating journey. Arielle graduated from the University of Pennsylvania as a two-sport student-athlete with a degree in cognitive neuroscience and consumer psychology. She launched her corporate career at Morgan Stanley, diving into the world of Private Wealth Management Marketing. But Arielle's entrepreneurial spirit couldn't be contained, leading her to leave Wall Street and start consulting in marketing, communications, and business development, serving clients in the entertainment, fashion, and sports industries. Arielle saw an opportunity to help others and founded a tech startup aimed at bringing a form of universal basic income to the creator economy. Throughout her journey, Arielle has never let fear hold her back. She's consistently leaned into her passions and continues to blaze a new trail for herself, making her path truly uncharted. Join us as Arielle shares her story of courage, innovation, and relentless pursuit of her dreams.
Connect with Arielle Winfield: Website | LinkedIn | IG
[00:00:00] Welcome to Uncharted Paths. The podcast that dives deep into the journeys of courageous individuals who listen to their inner wisdom and forge paths of authentic expression. In a world where conventional success often overshadows personal passion, we illuminate those who have dared to venture off the beaten track.
In Season One, we're uncovering the untold stories of unique alumni from Harvard Westlake School. You may recognize names like astronaut Sally Ride, the former mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, and actors Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal. But now we're shining a light on the hidden gems. I'm Lindsey, and I'm Kristin.
Join us as we explore the stories of these remarkable individuals, share their triumphs and challenges, and uncover the lesson that can inspire possibility for all, especially today's generation. It's time to follow your heart and chart your own path. Welcome to Uncharted [00:01:00] Paths.
Today we have an incredible guest, Arielle Winfield, a dynamic entrepreneur with a fascinating journey. Arielle graduated from the University of Pennsylvania as a two sport student athlete with a degree in Cognitive Neuroscience and Consumer Psychology. She launched her corporate career at Morgan Stanley, diving into the world of private wealth management marketing.
But Arielle's entrepreneurial spirit couldn't be contained, leading her to leave Wall Street and start consulting in marketing, communications, and business development, serving clients in the entertainment, fashion, and sports industries. Arielle saw an opportunity to help others and founded a tech startup aimed at bringing a form of universal basic income to the creator economy.
Throughout her journey, Arielle has never let fear hold her back. She's consistently leaned into her passions and continues to blaze a new trail for herself, making her path truly uncharted. Join us as Arielle shares her story of [00:02:00] courage, Innovation and relentless pursuit of her dreams.
Arielle, thank you so much for being on our show today.
Thank you for having me.
What led you to say 'yes' when we asked you to be here?
What led me to say 'yes' was the mission behind the podcast. I love the name Uncharted Paths. I think society kind of makes us feel like there's one right way to be doing things.
And I just don't believe that that's true, especially for the othered folks of the world or the underdogs of the world. We are not strangers to the uncharted path. So, I was happy to be a part of it when I was asked to get to share my story too.
And when you hear 'uncharted,' what comes to mind?
I think of something that's never been done before. New territory, excitement.
In your [00:03:00] experience at Harvard-Westlake, what would you say were the 'charted' components of the things you were told to do versus 'uncharted,' soul-led, heart-led activities.
The 'charted' things were definitely coursework. Harvard-Westlake challenges you in the best way and really prepares you for the future, especially if you're going to college and beyond. The 'uncharted' parts of my experience at Harvard-Westlake were probably all of the things outside of school.
Getting to lean into the things that I loved doing, like I was a volleyball player. Volleyball was my thing. That's my passion sport. I still love it to this day. I don't play, obviously, to the same capacity, but I did the things that I did because I loved them. I ran track and other extracurriculars. I also was a part of a lot of groups on campus. I was one of the co-leads of BLACC [00:04:00] and was a part of peer support and all the different groups on campus.
Those are probably more of the uncharted things because you get to lean into all your other interests and things that people don't force you to do necessarily, or you're not required.
Can you describe what made you be drawn to certain things?
I am a creative through and through. It's almost like I have to do it, especially singing or music. Those are things that I feel like I have to have in my life. Even to this day, if I haven't listened to music in a while, or if I haven't participated in it in some way, I don't feel right.
I would say that I was drawn, especially with sports, so I grew up in a very big sports family. My dad played professional baseball. My mom used to actually be a NFL cheerleader. So, they definitely encouraged both my brother and I and my sister to pick a sport. They gave us the freedom to try a lot of different things, which I think was such a blessing. I tried [00:05:00] so many different sports, and volleyball was the first sport that I found that I really, really loved, because, before that, I was an artsy girl.
But once I found volleyball, I was like, 'Wait, this is actually really fun.' And I always loved to run. I was always fast. So, I was like, 'When I get to Harvard-Westlake, I'll try that too.' Felt really good for me to move my body, and sports really teach you so many things about yourself and about life and about teamwork and relationships.
And what did that feel like being at the transition point of going from Harvard-Westlake to college?
Since I was young, I wanted to go to an Ivy league school. I knew that I wanted to experience a new city. Once I got the opportunity to tour all of the schools that I was looking at, both Ivy League and non Ivy League, Penn just really spoke to me. Being in such a diverse city, being the most diverse Ivy League at the time, I think they still are now,
I really was called to that. I also was really called to the volleyball team. I [00:06:00] felt connected to the coach and my teammates. One of them actually was the sister of one of my club teammates that I was playing with. I felt like, 'Oh, I have a connection there. I have family almost in this new place.'
All these pieces just started lining up. The campus is beautiful. I was, and still am, a huge Harry Potter fan.
Me too.
Yeah. And so when I saw the campus, I was like, 'This is kind of like Hogwarts.'
Yeah, it is a little bit like Hogwarts.
It kind of like filled that little childhood dream.
I also have a really important question. Which house in Hogwarts?
I probably would have to say Gryffindor.
Ah, yeah.
Yeah, I guess. I was like, maybe I'll say like, Hufflepuff.
When you look back at your younger self that wanted to go to New York and an Ivy League,
where was that coming from at such a young age?
I've always been a competitive person, and I've always strived for the best, and not the best compared to everybody [00:07:00] else, but the best that I could be. I knew that the best that I could be was really good. It's almost like you against you. I used to complain to my parents, like, 'Why is everything so hard? Why is this path so hard?' And they're like, 'Girl, you chose this.
You literally keep choosing the hardest path, so why are you complaining? You knew what you signed up for.' And I was like, 'You know what? You're right. I can't even blame anybody but myself.'
I feel like society makes us feel like we always have to be in competition with one another, and we always have to be comparing ourselves to other people. I've definitely fell victim to that. I think we all do, right? Now that I'm older, I don't want to subscribe to that. I really don't, because we're all in our own lanes. Teachers always tell you, keep your eyes on your own paper.
I think that applies to life as well. Keep your eyes on your own path, your own paper, your money, or whatever it is. Mind your business, because you're the one that's the captain of your own ship. I think it's really important for everybody to remember, especially young people, because in the age of social [00:08:00] media, you're constantly bombarded with what everybody else is doing, their highlight reels, but you know nothing about what's going on in their actual lives. .
Speaking of social media, how has that played a role in your experience?
I started a blog in college,
and it was really just because I wanted another creative outlet for myself. I was doing so many things on campus that I'm required to do, like schoolwork and volleyball, which those two things alone take up all your time basically.
But I just had so many interests, so I was joining all these different clubs. I just was like, 'I want something that's just for me.' That's when I started my blog and started sharing fashion and beauty things just for myself. Originally, the plan was to just have a journal or something.
And I was like, 'Well, I don't want it to be like a written journal. I want it to be something more creative, and visual and tangible in a way. And so I was like, 'I guess I should just make it a website,' cause then I can incorporate video or pictures and writing, all the [00:09:00] things that I want to do with it in one place.
I started it because it was fun for me. It truly was just for my own creativity and passion's sake.
I didn't really care if anybody read it or not, but then people started reading it and started gaining a little traction. After that, I just leaned into it more, because it served a purpose, and it was fun for me. Then, I started making some money with it. And so it just transformed after the blog.
Is that something that you continue to do today?
Not in the same capacity at all that I used to do it. When you start something for fun, it's just for fun, right?
It did end up becoming like a job, because I started getting paid for it. You start writing down goals and like, 'Oh, how can I reach this milestone and that milestone?' When you start making money from it, it becomes a job, so it doesn't fulfill you in the same way.
For the last four, five years or so, I haven't been leaning as much into it, because I was leaning more into other business things.
So, if we [00:10:00] imagine you're on the boat of Penn. You're about to come into shore. You've been on the journey of college. What is that first step look like into the next chapter of your life?
What happened was that I ended up moving to New York, which is what I had prophesied, you know, and I was so excited about that. I started a job on Wall Street at Morgan Stanley.
That was never in the plans for me. When I started college, my major at Penn was Cognitive Neuroscience and my minor was Consumer Psychology. My original intention was to become a doctor. I wanted to be a neurosurgeon. After my freshman year, I came back to LA, and I shadowed an anesthesiologist at Cedars Sinai.
It was so fun. It was an amazing summer. I got to see so many different types of surgeries and just learn a lot and experience what it's like to be in the hospital. Even though I enjoyed it, it didn't feel like this was something that I wanted to do for my whole life.
Especially when I learned more about the path that it was going to take to become a doctor, particularly a neurosurgeon. I was like, 'Wow, [00:11:00] I don't know if I want to be in school until I'm almost 40.' Like, yeah, like, 'I don't know about that.' It's just a high pressure thing. You know, you literally have someone's life in your hands.
I moved on from that dream and was like, 'What else do I want to do?' And I've always loved fashion. I've loved beauty. I was like, 'That's what I probably should lean into.'
I had internships at Tommy Hilfiger and Under Armour and loved it. So, I'm thinking I'm going to go into retail. I was applying to all these jobs, because I wanted to make sure I graduated with a job knowing where I was going to be.
Start of senior year, I'm applying and applying and applying, and I wasn't getting any retail jobs. I was like, 'Dang, I don't understand. Yeah, this is hard.' You're always told: you follow the path, go to school, get your degree and you'll get a job and do the internships. I had all the internships, so it just didn't make sense to me why I wasn't getting a role.
I was like, 'Okay, let me just expand my horizons, open up the search to other things.' Penn has what they call on campus recruiting. A lot [00:12:00] of companies come to campus and have information sessions.
I didn't necessarily want to be a part of that, because I saw my friends and other people that were in my life doing that, and it was so high stress. Once I wasn't getting retail jobs, I was like, 'Let me look into it.'
I ended up going to a session that Morgan Stanley was hosting and met the CMO at the time. He was just so great. I still keep in touch with him to this day, actually. We had a good conversation, and I happened to be a little bit late for the application window, because I was, of course, not thinking about Morgan Stanley or any of these finance consulting companies at all.
So, I was not on the right timeline. He was like, 'Okay, well, the deadline for applications has closed,' but it was almost the new year, and a lot of companies, when the new year comes, they get to see what their budgets are
and if they have openings on different teams. So he was like, 'Once that comes, I'll see what we got, and if there's anything available, I'll let you know, and you can interview.' I honestly didn't think [00:13:00] anything was going to happen after that, but he reached out and said, 'We actually have a role.
So, go ahead and interview if you want.' Everybody was so nice. I was like, wow, I didn't think I would enjoy the people as much or like the office and being in Times Square and all that. I just didn't think I would like it. It just was a good experience.
They offered me the job. I'm like, 'Well, this gets me to New York and I'm going to be doing marketing.' I wasn't heavy hardcore finance. That was never going to be my thing, but I had background in marketing, so I'm like, 'Well, this seems perfect.
And if I don't like it, I'll just leave and go into retail.' I started working at Morgan Stanley and stayed there for two years, and I loved being in New York so much. It was just a great way to kick-off my career and such a great learning experience.
And looking back, it seems like the retail jobs, you were all set up, you had done the internships, you did all the work to get there, but the doors were closed.
Reflecting back, do you feel like you were meant to go to Morgan [00:14:00] Stanley because it was so much easier and it was an open door? Oh yeah. Hindsight is 20/20. You know, you look back on your life and you're like, 'Oh, that makes sense. It all adds up and leads me to where I'm at right now.' I feel like those doors were locked for a reason. I truly feel like God has a purpose for our lives. You just got to go with the flow sometimes. There's always going to be resistance along your path in life or obstacles, ups and downs, ebbs and flows.
Life is not meant to be easy all the time, but it's important to understand, 'Okay, where is the resistance happening? Why is it happening?' Instead of just trying to break down the door all the time, maybe you're not supposed to be going through that door. Maybe your door is over here and you just got to look around a bit and allow life to kind of flow through you and to you rather than trying to force things your way all the time and force the universe's hand.
That's just not how things [00:15:00] go.
If every failure is actually just a redirection, when you look back at your experience with retail, how would you talk to a young person who isn't getting the job they want or they aren't getting into the college they 'need' to get into?
Nowadays we live in a world where you don't even have to go to college necessarily. So, it's definitely different in that respect, but you don't have to go to any particular place. You don't have to go to an Ivy League school.
A lot of schools are good. You can get a high quality education at a lot of different places. I think it makes more sense for you to choose the place that aligns with your goals for what you want to study. Colleges have certain degrees that make more sense for what you're interested in studying or certain programs that
will set you up for the job that you want, or if you're an athlete, certain athletic programs that make more sense for you. So, I think it's more about choosing [00:16:00] that way than being like, 'Oh, I have to go to Harvard because it's Harvard,' or 'I have to go to Penn or Yale because of the name.'
I would encourage a student to reframe their thinking around that. And then when it gets to job searching, at some point, it's just good to get a job, you know. Whatever doors open. Like, let's not sit around for years being like, 'Well, if I don't get that one job, then I'm a failure.'
Like, no, no. How will we get into the workforce first? You can pick up a lot of skills at whatever job it is that you get. It's good to start making money and building relationships and networking. I don't think anybody really starts their career with the perfect job or the dream job.
I've honestly never heard a single story like that. I think it would be important to get people's expectations away from that when job searching. Find something that allows you to live the life that you want, like gives you good work life [00:17:00] balance, pays you well enough to cover your bills and expenses and things like that, even if it's not way past that, and hopefully, the job also fulfills some sort of passion for you. It's exciting in certain ways or you look forward to logging on every morning. And if you don't, okay, this is a temporary thing. You don't have to be there forever. What made you leave Morgan Stanley or what were you feeling toward the end of your journey there?
It wasn't feeding my soul. I was struggling. I really was. And at a certain point, I had to actually take a leave of absence for my mental health, because I just wasn't doing well. I felt like my soul was slowly dying. And even though, again, there was a lot of people that I worked with at Morgan Stanley that were great.
The work, itself, wasn't like so bad or anything, but often I would sit at my desk, and our office was in Times Square, and I would look out the window at this amazing view. And I'm like, 'How am I 23, or however old I was at the [00:18:00] time, sitting in an office every day?' It just didn't compute for me.
I'm like, 'This is not how I want to be spending my life. I should be more free. I should be living my life doing something that speaks to me, that fulfills me in some way.' And this has taught me a lot. And I'm grateful for the experience a hundred percent. I would not change it. Once I got towards the end, I was like, 'Okay, I think my time is coming to an end.
I need to do something different.'
Once you have that recognition, I think it's important to take action on it so that you don't start slowly dying on the vine. While I was on my leave of absence, I came back here and took a month to really just recenter myself, figure out what it is that I really want.
I had already started thinking of my startup idea at the time. So, I came back here and was working on that. That month I felt like a new person. I was like, 'Wow, I am actually enjoying every single day. I'm enjoying the work that I'm doing. I'm enjoying [00:19:00] this rest that I get to take and recalibration moment that I get to have.'
Now I got to decide, 'Do I want to leave or do I want to stay for an indefinite period of time?' And I made that decision during that month off that I needed to leave.
Did you have external pressure to stay?
Yeah, I did for sure. I remember talking to my parents about it and being like, 'Yeah, I think I really need to go.' And they were like, 'Are you sure? This is a good job, Arielle. You should probably stay.'
Obviously also I was leaving into uncharted waters. I didn't have a solid plan. I knew I wanted to work on my startup, of course, but it's not, day one they're taking off or successful, right? And I'm definitely not making money day one. I knew I wanted to be working on that, but
what else am I going to be doing? I was like, 'Well, obviously I'm making money with my influencing, blogging, creating content,' not a lot, but obviously I couldn't devote a whole lot of time to it, because I was at a [00:20:00] full-time job. Since I'm leaving, I can just maybe lean into content creating and maybe that'll pick up in a way where it can support me while I'm figuring out the startup thing.
That was the biggest leap of faith that I've ever taken in my life. It's scary when you don't know what's ahead, when you don't have a plan, especially when your whole life has been planned. But I believed in myself enough, and I trusted God enough. I felt like I couldn't not make that decision, because what is the other option for me to stay at this job that I'm dying on the vine at?
I can't do that. It was like I either leave, and the path will unfold before me or I stay and just be miserable for who knows how long. I just can't do that.
What did those waters look like once you jumped off?
In my head, I was like, 'I'm gonna give myself a week or two to just be like, 'Okay, what am I doing right now?' Like, 'Let's start planning.' I'm a planner. I went to an event with my parents, and that's where I happened to meet my first consulting client very [00:21:00] serendipitously.It just felt like nothing but God, because pretty much a month later, for this to fall into my lap, essentially. And granted, it didn't fall into my lap. You network and you have to put yourself out there. You can't just sit back and be in a room and think that things are going to happen just because you're there.
You have to actually put yourself out there too. So, I did that, and it paid off.
I got my first consulting client. I was so excited about it because it was honestly the most fun work that I had ever done. I was working with this band at the time and helping them develop their first tour.
The plan was for it to be international, but COVID happened not long after, literally a few months later. So, it ended up just being national, but to get to travel across the country. And again, I mentioned earlier, I love music. That's always been something that feeds my soul. So, to be working in [00:22:00] music, I was the happiest camper you could find.
That was checking all my boxes. The pandemic hit soon after. That became very scary for years, obviously. I continued working with them for maybe a year or more and was still doing my content creation, still working on my startup, trying to make that happen.
Starting a business at any time is extremely difficult, and so to be doing that, especially in tech, during a pandemic was even more difficult. There was just so many unknowns. I could not see the next step on the path. It was truly the biggest, it still is really, the biggest faith journey and faith walk of my life.
But it's brought so much learning and growth and learning to surrender to the ebbs and flows of life and trusting that even though your path is uncharted, it's still going to work out exactly how it's supposed to, even though you can't see what's next.
How has [00:23:00] that looked when you look at the people around you? Have you felt like you can walk with confidence? Or is there ever a moment where you look side to side and wonder, 'What am I doing?'
I mean, imposter syndrome is a thing, right? Everybody experiences it at one point or another. And I remember having a conversation with a friend of mine and he was looking at one of these celebrities that he really looks up to. And he was like, 'I bet he doesn't experience imposter syndrome.' And I'm like, 'Yes, he does.' Every single person, I don't care if you're Beyonce, at some point you're experiencing imposter syndrome. I, of course, definitely experienced that at different times, and it's not easy. I think this path of entrepreneurship, where you have to do everything on your own, it's literally required or else nothing's gonna happen if you don't move. I think being forced to learn and grow and make things happen almost for yourself, it's [00:24:00] built up a level of confidence in myself and assuredness about my capabilities and who I am, my character in a way that cannot be shaken at this point. Like, can't nobody tell me about me, right?
I literally told my friend that the other day, and she was sharing with me a really amazing accomplishment that she's just experienced at her job and got a new promotion, and she was experiencing some anonymous comments from people that she works with talking bad about her, down on her,
and she felt bad about that. I mean, anybody would feel bad about that. Nobody likes to hear people talking bad about you, especially when the things are not true. I told her, I'm like, 'Can't nobody tell you about you. You're fully aware of what you bring to the table.
You know that you're more than qualified, capable, all the things. Brush it off. Don't pay them any mind, because they're not even telling the truth. It's not real. It's not real life. You know what's real, what you did, what you didn't do. Stand in that power and just let that [00:25:00] go.' I feel the same way about myself.
I am so confident in who I am and what I can bring to the table and the value I provide as a business person, but also as a friend, as a sister, as whatever else. Yeah, it's been such a blessing to get to this point, because I haven't always felt this way.
A lot of kids these days, students, aspiring adults, they want to be content creators. It's almost a newer profession, a job opportunity. How has your experience been with that?
If this is a profession that you want to jump into, do it. One thing that I would tell people though is stop saying you're an 'aspiring content creator.' You may not be making money day one or making how much you want to make at the beginning, but you're not aspiring, you're doing it. If you're creating content, you're doing it.
I think changing people's vocabulary around it makes you feel more confident in what you're doing. It helps you continue along the [00:26:00] path and hold on to what made you start in the first place and the excitement that you had about it in the first place. I think it's really, really important if you're going to do it to be creating content or talking about something that you actually care about.
You would be talking about it anyway type of thing. Because if you pick it up just to be making money off of it, your path is going to be a lot harder.
I'd love to hear a little bit more about what your startup is and what your career looks like today.
With my experience as a content creator, I had been doing it for a couple of years at that point, had been making money for a few years at that point,
but I just found that it was a struggle for me to consistently make money as a creator. I just figured it was because I didn't have a lot of followers, but I started talking to some of my friends in the space, some other creators that had come across my path or worked with at some point. Everybody, whether they had around the same amount of followers as me or millions of followers, everybody overwhelmingly said the same [00:27:00] thing. Like, 'No, it's hard for us too, girl.' So, I was like, 'Oh, that doesn't really make sense to me.' I'm wondering why that is.
I want to create a space where content creators can have a form of universal basic income. I want them to feel like every month, every year, they have a source of income that they can rely on, that can bolster what it is that they're doing.
Maybe it's not covering all their bills, but something is way better than nothing. Of course, the more people that used it, the more money that everybody would make. It's been very difficult to make this come to life. Raising capital is extremely difficult, especially in this environment.
Less than one percent of all the money that's invested goes to women of color. Over the years, of course you refine, you continue to make progress, you get support or people working with you, but it still hasn't come to fruition yet.
At least, in terms of launching publicly and being [00:28:00] all that I intended it for it to be originally. I still thoroughly, wholeheartedly believe in my vision and mission and believe in myself as a CEO, as a businesswoman, but I think the execution is just going to have to be different. And that's okay. I mean, that's what happens in business. You have to learn to pivot when it makes sense to do so or leave and do something else if it's not working. Right now, I'm taking a step back from it in a way where I can just kind of look at it from a bird's eye view and be like, 'Okay, the mission and vision still makes sense, still very much so needed. Even when I talk to content creators all the time today, they still are like, 'Okay, so when is this coming out? Cause we need this now.' I know. There's a demand. I want to make that come to life.
I want to be able to support the creator economy in that way. It's just a matter of figuring out the right and the best execution for today's world and to make sure that it supports the needs of our consumers today. I'm still figuring that out. I'm leaning into my [00:29:00] consulting, and I'm so grateful that I started that right when I left Morgan Stanley because it's been consistent for me ever since. It's been in marketing, communications, and a little business development. I have a couple clients in the sports and entertainment world, fashion, technology, neuroscience company I'm working with, which is really cool. So, it kind of scratches that itch from my college days and what I studied in school.
I feel very, very good about where I'm at right now in my career. And I'm just really excited about what's to come, because it still very much so feels like the beginning for me.
What does success mean to you?
I love this question, because I feel like a lot of people think success is who has the biggest house? Who has the most money? Is my marriage looking picture perfect to the world around me? Is my social media feed perfect? Like all these things that are external. For me, it's about, does my life feel good to me? [00:30:00] Am I happy with what I'm doing? Do I feel fulfilled? Do I feel like I'm making a positive impact on the people around me and the world around me?
Am I leaning into those things that make me feel creative, that allow me to express myself in new and fun ways. At this point in my life, I absolutely would say that I'm a success. It feels so good to say that, because I wouldn't have been able to necessarily say that before, even though I was in a role that was feeding my ego.
Now I'm in a position where I do feel like my soul is being fulfilled. I feel confident in myself in a way that I can express myself.
We were talking about my nails earlier. I love doing nail art and doing my hair in new ways. Dressing in a way that makes me feel good and comfortable and confident. I think those things are part of success too.
When I hear you talk about your experience at Morgan Stanley and then your experience in the entrepreneurial world, I hear hard, but just hard in different ways.
The way you talk about Morgan Stanley, it was hard on your soul, but entrepreneurship is hard on the ego. [00:31:00] The soul is like, 'Yeah, we're in, this is awesome. But the ego is like, 'Oh gosh, every step is so hard.' Yeah. Those moments where you trip and fall and you're in those dark moments of ' What am I doing? Why isn't this working?' How do you pick yourself back up?
I think that's an important question, because a lot of people when they look at entrepreneurship, it's almost like glitzy and glamorous, which is interesting, because it's like the hardest thing. You're constantly failing.
Even though I truly don't believe in failure, I really believe that it's redirection. It's a lesson. It's something you're supposed to gain from that experience. It has been hard. For the last five, six years straight, it's been very hard, very, very hard. Even though from the outside, some people think they know what's going on in your life.
Because you can say you're an entrepreneur, and you live on your own, and like all these things, they have their own idea of what your life is like or they have their own ideas of success [00:32:00] and maybe they attribute what you're going through and what your life looks like to success, but they aren't with you in the trenches.
They aren't with you every single day, in all the rejection conversations that you have. When I've been going through the hard times, and there's been a lot, I ultimately just had to really lean on my faith, lean on my family.
Oh my gosh. I'm so grateful for my family. I would not be here today if it was not for them. So, to have such a great support system, I think is imperative for anybody, whether you're an entrepreneur or not. College is the time in your life where you get to explore, find out who you are.
What is it that you like, don't like? What is it that you believe? I really took that seriously. One of the things that I was trying to figure out was my belief system, my faith system.
Is there a God? Do I believe these things? Even though I grew up in the church, that's when that journey really started for me.
Once I took that leap and got into entrepreneurship, [00:33:00] it tested me in new ways that I just didn't anticipate. And then of course the pandemic, oh my gosh, people are dying around you, left and right. It's so scary.
I just really, really leaned into building my relationship with God. And that has been the thing that has got me through. I truly, truly believe God is real, and He has really laid out the path in front of me, because one thing that people often ask or wonder is, 'How do you know that your path is for you or that you're on the right path?'
I thoroughly believe you know you're on the right path when it disappears in front of you. You're not supposed to know every single step of the way, but people are so used to knowing, cause we grow up in a system where you go to school and then you go to college and then you go get a job and then you stay in that job forever or hop around.
But that's essentially what your life is supposed to look like. And when you're, especially in entrepreneurship, that completely [00:34:00] falls away. When you don't have a blueprint in front of you anymore, it's like, how do you navigate when you don't know what's in front of you? That just makes you figure out who you really are, what your character's really like, what you're made of.
And I think another way to look at it, too, is people are always trying to get to the next step. They're trying to climb that mountain. They're trying to keep moving forward. At the end of the day, it's really about being present, being in the moment that you're in right now and allowing life to come to you and flow through you rather than you trying to force the next step, force the next moment on the path.
No matter how hard you try, if something is not meant for you, you can't force it to happen. I've tried many times, trust me, and it just doesn't work that way. You can't force something to happen that's not meant for you. I'd rather just not deal with the strife and the stress.
Life is already too stressful. [00:35:00] I'm going to focus on what I can control. And that's really just me. I can't control what you do or you or anybody else. So why try? I'm just going to focus on me and allow life to flow to and through me, and then it'll end up exactly how it's supposed to.
I love that.
If we continue down the road of the metaphor, you in the driver's seat, God is the GPS and you've got your snacks, your water. How do you quiet the backseat drivers?
Backseat drivers come from other people externally, but they also come from like the little voice in your mind too, which can be very confusing because you're taught to believe one thing and you know when life doesn't start looking like what you were taught to believe the whole time, your voice is telling you in your head that something's wrong or you're wrong or you're bad or you made a mistake, you're a failure, like all these things, and you can't listen to that voice. You can't listen to the voices of anybody else either. It's one thing if you're talking to trusted [00:36:00] advisors or trusted family members who can give you good advice that you asked for. When it's unsolicited and it's putting you down or it's making you really confused about your journey, you have to just not listen to it.
If that means telling your family or friends like, 'Hey, I'm going to need you to just be quiet, okay? Like, I'm doing what I got to do for me.' Because a lot of times people will tell you their own advice because that's their own insecurities and fears being projected onto you. You literally have to just let that wash off of you like a duck. Let the water flow off, because it has literally nothing to do with you. They know nothing about your journey or what God has planned for you. They only know what's going on with them. So, how are they going to tell you? How are you going to tell me? Well, you don't know. I barely know. I started thinking about it that way and realizing that everybody is honestly more focused on themselves than they really are about you [00:37:00] anyway.
I'm just going to focus on me and not listen to what they have to say, because it just causes more confusion than you need.
Thinking about all of the things we've discussed, what are the takeaways that you'd like people to remember from our conversation?
I think it's important to be hopeful along your journey. They say the definition of an optimist is someone who believes that the future is uncertain and pessimists are always right, but they derive no satisfaction from it.
I would rather be an optimist. I'm going to remain hopeful about the path ahead of me, cause honestly, that makes it more exciting. There's more opportunity. There's more potential for good things to happen when you don't know what's next. If something's always planned for you, then that gets boring, right?
Then you're just like, 'Okay, I checked that box. Now, I'll check the next one. I'll check the next one. Then, I'll check the next one.' When the path is uncharted, then you have endless possibility. [00:38:00] That's so exciting. And I think people should think about life that way and just be hopeful, and know that if you're doing the right thing, you're being a good person, that things will work out.
Resilience is important. Treating people well is important. Redefining what success means to you is important. Even when things get hard, cause they do and they will, that's never going to stop happening. If things get hard and it's too overwhelming sometimes, I think the best thing to do is just reset and refocus on your own life force.
Focusing on your mind, your body, and your relationships, and those things can fill you back up again. Then you can feel ready and reenergized to get back on the path.
I just imagined one of those stone paths, but you don't know what the next stone will be.
Sometimes you can just sit down on the stone. Yes. Take a break, drink some tea, recharge, and then when you're ready, get back up to take that next step.
I feel like so many people are like, 'Oh, I [00:39:00] constantly have to keep getting better. I constantly have to achieve this and that and this and that.' Yes, achievement is great and growth is great. You should want those things, but it shouldn't always be this like constant quest. I think it's really important to take those moments where you can just be present, where you can sit down on your little stone, and woosah!
Is there anything else that you'd love people to know? I think one thing that I would leave people with is that I used to really reject my heart.
I remember, often, here at Harvard-Westlake, like my Dean at the time was Ms. Cuzio. For anybody that's had Ms. Cuzio, they know that she's just a gem. And I'm so grateful for her. I'm grateful to all administrators and teachers that really allow students to share space, just hold space for them, because adolescence is hard.
Growing up is hard. High school is hard. I would often go into Ms. Cuzio's office [00:40:00] and cry or vent, and I remember one time telling her that, 'I feel too much.' I just feel like I feel very deeply. I remember that I felt so badly about that because I was like, 'Everything just feels so hard. Everything feels so heavy.' I just really appreciated her holding space for me in that way. As I've grown up, I really look at having a tender heart as a good thing. It's been not a weakness, but a strength for me, especially in entrepreneurship, because you have to put yourself out there. You have to connect with people, and it's allowed me to connect with people in a really special way. It's proved to be beneficial to me both in business and in life and personal relationships.
I would just tell people to tend to the soil of your heart. It's really valuable when you do that, not only for yourself, but for the relationships that you develop with other people and how you like interface with the world around you. And, ultimately, it [00:41:00] brings back tenfold, a hundred fold more than what you put out there because of the work that you put in.
Beautiful. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me.
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