Realizing the power of your connections is the key to success in business and life.
Marcela is the President and CEO of designEDengagement where she co-creates roadmaps to help strengthen the partnership between families, communities and educators. In cities across the country, Marcela passionately oversees projects dedicated to cultivating the power of connections to strengthen communities and create better opportunities for students.
Asking for help can feel like a shameful and transactional experience, but we all have a community of generous people who care about us and are happy to help. Once you realize that trust is the biggest currency within this support network, your community becomes a psychological safety net that will help you navigate your way through any hardships you face.
When you work together with the mission-aligned people in your life, magic happens, and everybody can enjoy the fruits of the labor together. Your community is your parachute, so don't be afraid to jump your way towards opportunity and success!
Notes:
😇 Growing up in poverty as a child of immigrants: Marcela’s mother, family, and community are instrumental to her life and story.
02:56🦸🏻♂️ Making the ask: the desperation, shame, and feeling of failure that comes with asking for help.
08:07⚡ Being a Latina founder is not easy: asking for help is the key her mom gave her by breaking the mental mold.
11:22🔥 Marcela’s circle of champions: church, mission-aligned networks, and wine time with a 96-year-old neighbor.
13:06🤔 How leveraging works: using the closest circles for personal issues and broader networks for professional ones.
17:20🥅 Funding issues and receiving support: building a strong safety net.
19:25⚠️ Trust as your biggest currency: what Marcela says to all Latina entrepreneurs.
21:29😅 The first business lesson Marcela learned about business and entrepreneurship: don’t eat your product!
24:49🪂 Your community is your parachute: from work in Mexico and opening schools, Harvard graduation, building a family engagement program for the state of Texas and starting her own company.
25:29🌞 Education consulting, podcast, and her book: Marcela is supporting people to intentionally design engagement and supporting students’ hopes and dreams.
34:11💎 Marcela’s RONdering: Measuring vs. experience in your cooking, leadership, and life - experiencing things with others is always better.
39:18Links:
Episode 18
