It’s taken me a little over a week to put down into paper how much it meant to me to have had the opportunity to keynote at WeAllGrowFamilia this year.
When I was asked to keynote about “my success story,” I froze and wondered, How exactly do I share that story? I don’t know that I would consider my online growth a “success story” -yet, as I feel I”m still mid-adventure.
I’m also not someone that naturally shares my inner-most struggles; which for me, have always been whether or not my English was good enough, and in turn, whether I was good enough for a certain task.
WeAllGrow Familia was an event organized by the WeAllGrow Latina Network in collaboration with Munchkin and, even though it was only their second edition this year, they raised the bar of what an influencer, one-day conference should be.
The event was at the wonderful Munchkin Headquarters and also made possible by their brand partners (Ergobaby, OshKosh B’Gosh, Carter’s, La Lechera, Disney Pixar’s Coco, to name a few).
This event was the reason I flew to Los Angeles two weeks ago and turned the trip into a full family vacation (more on that in another post).
For me, it’s easier to share how I’ve grown my business through a Content Strategy, building an online community through the content and in turn, an email acquisition strategy…. and all of those nerdy things.
The night before, facing the reality that I needed to create some slides so that I could organize what I wanted to speak about, I realized that it would be best to share a little insight on the girl who came to the United States without speaking English and wanted more for herself than the school system wanted for her; as well as her determination to learn English with a dictionary on hand, no matter how long and tedious the process was.
I first shared that the definition of success is in the mind of the beholder. For me, “success is having the freedom to build and live the life you’ve always dreamed of.”
With that in mind, it became easy to share the importance of having a vision for yourself, one that only you can define and continue to shape as you grow personally.
Another really important key point I wanted to drive home was that we all need to surround ourselves with superheroes. For me, the success of my business has a lot to do with the support from my personal superhero: my husband.
As mushy as that might sound, I couldn’t do all that I do without his insight and continuous encouragement. He too wants more for me than the other people around us, so that’s always a motivator for me to do more things, create products for my customers, and get better at my craft.
This year’s “Grow with Love” theme for the conference fit perfectly with my talk. I’ve always felt a close bond with Ana Flores, the creator of the WeAllGrow community, as I feel the “she gets me” applies to our close friendship.
The event was a great example of the power of having a loving community surrounding you, one that it takes time to build but it’s also welcoming of new members, and it only grows by the support of those that are already in it.
Over the last couple of years of attending Latino-focused events, I feel like the Latino community has embraced me with open arms. They no longer see the young girl that came to the United States without speaking any English, they see a strong, confident business woman that has broken many barriers and stereotypes while building a fulfilling life for her and her family.
I shared that “the path to success isn’t something you can buy, you have to look within to achieve.” To me, that means having the confidence to know that you are enough and can conquer a lot in this world if you just give yourself a chance to try.
Perhaps it was me, in the end, who needed the Keynote most. As I learned to overcome my fear of sharing personal stories about the difficulty and the struggle of my professional journey. Thank you for the opportunity, Ana, this opportunity meant more to me than you’ll ever know.
If you’d like to watch the keynote, you can watch it below. It was originally shared as a Facebook Live video from the event. PS: turn up the volume or use headphones.
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