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Getting people to step out of their comfort zone and transform is what gets Victoria Jenn Rodriguez out of bed every morning. She’s determined to shift the way people think about themselves and the way they do business.
Born and bred in New York, Victoria Jenn Rodriguez sparkles when you speak to her. You immediately sense her New York vibe, the energy and charm she has, the enthusiasm she has for life, and the passion for change she wants to make in people’s lives. She’s proudly tied to her Latino roots, having been raised by her father who moved to the USA from Puerto Rico.
Added to this, Rodriguez has an impressive resume. She started her career in the corporate world and successfully moved up the ladder to senior positions. “I started my career on Wall Street,” she explains. “I was in operations and quickly got promoted to sales and trading.” She worked in client relations, program management, recruitment, and talent management before deciding to make the move out of corporate life to start her own venture.
Rodriguez decided to take the plunge, bet on herself and start her own consultancy five years ago. It was a bet that paid off. Out of that emerged the Dare to Leap Academy. Through this online learning platform, she has trained over 15,000 professionals and entrepreneurs and continues to grow that number. In Dare to Leap, ambitious women sign up to learn how to make the transition from corporate to entrepreneurship, without losing their financial security. This is a leap Rodriguez knows inherently so it’s a practical, dynamic place for women to learn from someone who speaks from real-life experience.
Why the focus on women? Rodriguez is quick to respond: “I decided to focus on women because when I was in college I had a mentor who showed me what happens when women collaborate. Magic emerges when women genuinely support each other and show each other the ‘game’ so they can create a legacy and evolve.” She also believes we need more women founders. “Not enough women bet on themselves and believe they can pursue business ventures or create additional income streams for themselves. There’s a real opportunity to speak into women’s lives with the Dare to Leap Academy.”
Rodriguez has also founded a non-profit organization called The Female Collaborative Inc. focused on revolutionizing the way women work and do business together. “We show what can result from collaboration and what happens when we put the nonsense aside and share our intellectual property and skill sets. That’s how we grow together,” she says.
A Passion For Smartly Disrupting Corporate Culture
A lot of her energy is now being spent back in the corporate space where she consults for organizations in the areas of mindset, emotional wellness and leadership. She has worked with an impressive list of companies across industries, privately and publicly, ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500s. They include Amazon, Blackrock, CocaCola, iHeart Media, Comcast NBCUniversal, Barclays, Bloomberg, Food Back of NY, Moodys, Yum Brands, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and more.
You may think she’s planning a return to her corporate roots, but she’s on a very different mission now. Her aim is to transform the way people work together and how they show up in the workplace. She’s being what she calls ‘smartly disruptive.’ She goes into organisations and shakes things up with intention, strategy, and the type of energy that gets people motivated to work towards positive change. “I’m smartly disruptive because I am non-traditional,” she says. “People look at me and want to put me in a box because I grew up in corporate.”
It’s her vibrancy and complexity in exposing the different layers of herself to the world that allows her to be authentic. “When we are truly being our true unedited selves, we realize we are not one thing, we are many things. When we showcase our layers and play up our strengths, magic happens. Because now you’re taking off the mask, and you can just show up as yourself,” she says.
Dealing With imposter Syndrome
Rodriguez is fondly referred to as the ‘Imposter Syndrome Killah.’ As a sought after keynote speaker, she’s often asked to address audiences on the subject. She has researched imposter syndrome extensively and sees it as a positive force to utilize in your life. She explains that “imposter syndrome is actually a signal that you are stepping outside of your comfort zone, taking a risk on yourself and doing something you’ve never done before. You are spreading your wings! It’s a natural human response for you to question if you can really do something you’ve never done. You’re human first, and everything else second!”
Rodriguez has a system that helps overcome imposter syndrome. It’s called the “Don’t Panic Framework” and it consists of 4 levels. The first level is “Self Awareness”. This allows you to identify when imposter syndrome will creep in so you can prepare yourself in advance. “It might be before you step on stage or present to a board of directors. It might be having a really difficult conversation with a lover. Once you know the trends, you can set yourself up for success,” she says.
The second level is what she calls a “Badassery Committee,” which is a group of people you can call on to be your cheerleaders and remind you that you’re great, powerful, and amazing.
Next, you need to be doing “Mirror Talk.” “This means you talk to yourself in the mirror. You tell yourself that you’re deserving of abundance. You tell yourself that you’re badass and that you’re going to kill it,” she emphasizes.
The final step in the framework is “Celebrate Your Wins.” Life has a funny way of making you always want and thrive for more, and we forget the significance of celebrating wins big and small along the way. “When we celebrate ourselves, we give others permission to do so as well. It’s a ripple effect that has a huge impact on our mindset and emotional wellness.”
In short, Victoria Jenn projects, “You need to believe that imposter syndrome is a good thing. When you are feeling the symptoms of imposter syndrome i.e. feeling like you don’t belong, feeling like luck got you that seat at the table versus the sweat equity you put in, or feeling like a fake because your journey is different from others, you’re probably putting yourself in spaces you normally wouldn’t because they make you uncomfortable, which is a very good thing. That’s how you will evolve.”
It is clear that Rodriguez is all about creating positive change in the world. Whether it be mindset and emotional wellness, or getting women to step out of their comfort zones and start their own businesses, she is energetically challenging the way individuals and organizations think and how they do things.
As she says, “I make a living off of doing what I do best – talking my shit, educating and inspiring the world to step into their power and be their most unedited, authentic self.”
To find out more about Rodriguez, you can visit her website or follow her on Instagram.
Media Contact:
Clive Vanderwagen, Writer
clive@mindfulmediapr.com
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