We should be able to plan our careers the same way we plan anything else in our lives. But college doesn’t teach us how to network or get that promotion, especially in corporate America. Putting our heads down and working as hard as we can is getting us nowhere. We need new skills. So, we need to listen to someone who has been through it and can help us get to where we want to be. 

Elsa Jimenez is a powerhouse first-gen Latina in tech on a mission to bridge the gap between high-performance code and holistic well-being. By day, she navigates the complexities of the tech industry, championing representation and breaking barriers for underrepresented voices in the digital space. Beyond the screen, Elsa Jimenez is a dedicated advocate for mental health and fitness, believing that a strong mind is the ultimate operating system. She views movement and mindfulness not just as hobbies, but as essential tools for resilience in the fast-paced corporate world. Whether she’s optimizing a workflow or hitting a new PR in the gym, she brings a signature blend of cultural pride, grit, and authenticity to everything she touches. 

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about how Elsa broke into tech, survived a layoff, and built her personal brand. Our careers are not as safe as they used to be, especially with tech layoffs looming over our shoulders every quarter. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have control over our own lives. Elsa used her time in the Courage Driven Latina program to plan for the best and worst case scenarios in her career, specifically so she doesn’t feel panicked when something doesn’t go according to plan. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear how she used the CDL program to advance her career and what she’s currently working on to get ahead in this year’s CDL group. 

Resources Mentioned:
Click here to claim your Manifest Your Marca bot!

Follow Elsa on:

Instagram: @vibinwithelsa 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/elsamjimenez/ 

Follow Erika on:
Instagram @‌theerikacruz
TikTok @‌theerikacruz
LinkedIn

Website:
http://www.theerikacruz.com

How to work with Erika:

Sign up for the Courage Driven Latina program here!

Join the waitlist for the Magnetic Mastermind here!

Podcast production for this episode was provided by CCST, an Afro-Latina-owned boutique podcast production and copywriting studio. 

Episode Transcript:

Erika: [00:00:00] What were some of the challenges you had to overcome as a Latina in tech that maybe other groups didn’t face?

Elsa: overcoming like the politics of corporate America. You go to college, but no one tells you how to get promoted. No one tells you. 

Erika: Welcome back to this week’s episode of Chingona Revolution podcast. This is your host, Erika Cruz, and today I am joined by one of my clients named Elsa, who was one of my first clients ever back in 2020. She joined my program back when it [00:01:00] was purpose-driven Latina, and we started working together again six months later because she wanted to build her personal brand and.

Just about a week ago, we had a call where I suggested, Hey, why don’t you offer coaching? Since you have obviously had tremendous success yourself, and I know you want to give back and help others as well. And within 24 hours she had an inquiry for her coaching. So today we are exploring Elsa’s journey from being a recent grad to landing a job in the tech industry and what it was like to be the first in her family.

To working corporate like this and to be a first gen Latina in this space that felt unfamiliar and how she was able to find success and now how she’s helping other people find success as well. Take a listen to this week’s episode and I hope you enjoy.

El, welcome to Ana Revolution [00:02:00] podcast. How are you? 

Elsa: I’m doing good. Thank you so much for having me. 

Erika: I’m excited for our conversation. You and I have crossed paths since 2020, maybe 2021, and so much has changed over the years, and I’ve just witnessed your growth over the years, and I’m so excited to allow you to share your journey because you have such an inspirational journey.

When we firstCrossed Paths, I think you had just graduated from college, right? 

Elsa: Yeah, it’s correct. 

Erika: So you were like this super driven go-getter, like, I need to figure out what I’m doing with my life. And now you are this Latina in tech that has such a, you’ve established such a great career.

I’ve seen you grow in so many different areas. But for the people who don’t know you, can you tell us a little bit about Elsa? Like who are you, what do you stand for? What, what do you do? What are your goals? 

Elsa: well thanks for that introduction. I feel like there’s a lot to share about me, [00:03:00] but I’ll try to keep it concise.

 my name is Elsa Jimenez and I’m a proud first generation Latina. Born and raised in San Jose, California, but I have family in Oaxaca, Mexico, which is why I’m wearing these earrings. so shout out Oaxaca and yeah, I graduated during the pandemic from uc Davis. I majored in cognitive science, minored in sociology.

Didn’t really know what I wanted to do until a mentor. And I had a conversation in one of my internships, which I can dive deeper, or provide more detail later on. but essentially he was like, you know, you’re born in the Silicon Valley, like, why not pursue this tech industry? But I wanna pursue law.

I realized I didn’t wanna do that, so I was like, sure, like I’m lost and you’re fighting some direction, so let’s go with that. so I dedicated the next nine months to pivot into the industry, break into the industry. And luckily I was able to land a full-time role in tech, after that, after those nine months.

And, I also have like a background in [00:04:00] the local and non local government, federal government and nonprofit sector. So I feel like my background co is like a horizon of like a lot of different things. but I was in tech for a little bit, and. You also asked about goals, right? So, I became really passionate about my mental health and fitness because of an experience that I had while working in corporate.

 and last year I was actually able to lose 40 pounds naturally, through a high calorie, high protein, low calorie deficit diet. And I can also dive deeper into that. but. Yeah, I’m just really passionate about helping other women of color find their roles in corporate. I know there isn’t that many of us, specifically in tech, so I’m really passionate about, being like that mentor and helping other women, women of color Latinas break into the industry and also super passionate about, mental health.[00:05:00] 

I think that it’s really. Easy, to kind of disregard it kinda like our physical health, but I think they’re both like really crucial in order to, have a, let, have a better lifestyle, especially when working in corporate. 

Erika: Definitely. Yeah. You touched on so many things, but one thing I wanna highlight is your evidence of how you can be multi-passionate and successful at the same time.

And you’ve always been interested in multiple things and have explored multiple things, but you also have enough discipline to be successful or like set a goal and go after it. And I feel like you really encompass that. So tell me about whenever we first. Crossed paths because when we first crossed paths, it’s because you joined Purpose Driven Latina, which is now courage driven Latina, and we can get into that later.

Elsa: But where were you at that moment? Yeah. Wow. So that was six years ago when I had just graduated from college [00:06:00] and I felt lost. Like I knew I wanted to break into the tech industry, but I didn’t have community. I didn’t have accountability. I didn’t have support. And so when I came across your tiktoks about PDL, I knew that it was a community that I wanted to be a part of.

Erika: I knew that. Everything that you kinda share, like resonated, even like with your background in the tech industry, really, resonated with me. And so that’s why I decided to join Purpose-Driven Latina. And I still have friends from my cohort that I keep in touch with six weeks later. So I think that just speaks to the, community support that you build when in the program. Yeah. Which I think is such a full circle, like moment for you because what you’re looking to do now or what you are doing now is like, okay, how if what I was lacking was a support system and. essentially people who were already in this industry and people who can guide me, like how can I now be that guide for other people?

So I think it’s like a beautiful for full circle moment where it’s like, [00:07:00] okay, I was able to get to where I want to go to now, how do I pay it forward? so as a Latina in tech, like what would you say are where some of your struggles, like what were some of the challenges that you faced that maybe other people who have.

Maybe their parents weren’t necessarily in tech, but maybe their parents were in corporate America. Like what was it like to be a first generation Latina who, and by the way, your earrings are beautiful. It was like one of the first things I noticed, but we were having technical difficulty, so I was like, let’s figure this out.

 and also as you recall, the symbol for the purpose-driven Latina group was like the butterfly. So it’s like also full circle. So back to my question.  what were some of the challenges you had to overcome as a Latina in tech that maybe other groups didn’t face?

Elsa: Yeah, that’s a really good question. Honestly, it was a culture shock, similar to when I started my journey in college. I didn’t come from like a privileged background. and the high school that I went to was predominantly, [00:08:00] Hispanics. so when I went to uc Davis, like that was a culture shock, because it was predominantly, white folks.

And so similarly when I started, well, when I started my role, it was during the pandemic, so it was all virtual. But eventually after the pandemic was over and we started to pivot more into like in office, a lot of the races that I would see would not be. Latinos in tech, if anything, like what I would see a lot of, if I ever came across, anyone with like a Hispanic background, or similar background as mine, it would be, the people helping to clean.

And soI realized how privileged I was to be in a position where I. I always wanted to form a relationship with those, with like the people cleaners that I would see because it would remind me of like family, right? Like it reminded me of like my loved ones and the people that I care most about.

Mm-hmm. Um, but that was like a huge, like culture shock for me. Like definitely overcoming that. I think also [00:09:00] overcoming like the politics of corporate America. you go to college, but no one tells you how to get promoted. no one tells you, no one tells you how to like, navigate the politics. Mm-hmm.

Within corporate America. A lot of, in my opinion and my perspective from what I’ve seen, like the promotions are like you have to build rapport with the higher ups, or like with your manager. and no one really teaches you like those like skills that are important if you want to get ahead and like.

If you want to climb the corporate ladder or, yeah, those are like a couple, like things that came first to top of mind. Uh, yeah. 

Erika: And shout out to you, Elsa, ’cause I didn’t give you any questions ahead of time. We’re just like having a conversation here and you’re doing great. So I just wanna share that I had a very similar experience when I was working in the tech industry.

I remember that we would go, I was kind of like on the, I worked at a startup, so I had a lot of client facing stuff. So we’d do [00:10:00] dinners and sometimes travel. And I remember during the dinners. was, we’d be at this table and I’m like the only Latina, many times, the only woman, many times, the only young person.

And I felt like I couldn’t really relate to anybody at the table except like the busboy that would come and like, refill our waters, right? Or the people in the kitchen. And it’s like, I would hear Mexican music in the kitchen and I was like, oh my gosh. Like, that feels like home to me. Like, and I remember.

I was, this was when like LinkedIn articles had just come out and I was like, oh my gosh, I really should write a LinkedIn article about, of like, I have a seat at this table, but yet, like, I don’t really feel like I belong at this table. And it was just like a big identity, like questioning my identity and questioning like, I think as whenever you’re successful, it’s not like, hell yeah, I made it.

I feel like as Latinas when we’re successful, we’re like, wait, like I wanna bring people with me and I, we almost like feel guilty when we get ahead. And I remember that was the experience I felt a lot when I was in the tech [00:11:00] industry and also like the promotions, right? You’re so right. I was looked over for so many things because I didn’t know how to advocate for myself because culturally we’re taught work hard, be humble, keep your head down.

And so I relate to everything you said, and I’m sure people listening who are in corporate, or even if they work in nonprofits, right, like there’s politics kind of in everything. And culturally, we’re not raised. We’re raised to work really hard and be great workers and have great work ethic, which I think is a great skill.

But if we can combine that with the skills to like set boundaries, advocate for ourselves. Sell ourselves network, which is one of the key things that you did. I think we, we would just collectively be in a different place. So, 

Elsa: because I didn’t feel that sense of community, I sought out community. And so what that looked like was in a lot of, these organizations, there’s like employee resource groups or employee belonging councils.

And so I immediately joined, um, my old company’s employee belonging council. And that’s where I found my community. [00:12:00] That’s where I found my people. That’s where I felt like I did belong. And they really, nurtured and guided me with all the questions that I had. And to your point about like networking, like that’s where I started to learn the portions of networking.

Mm-hmm. Um, and through joining like programs, they, they did a program called a Atlanta, which is like a retention program focused for, Latinos and African Americans in. In our specific company. And, they taught a lot about like personal branding, building your network. And again, those are things that you don’t learn in college.

You kind of just like figure out as you go. which is kind of unfortunate, or very unfortunate. But yeah, that’s just something I wanted to add the. Even though I didn’t find, even though I didn’t feel the sense of community right away, there’s, there are like those outlets and options, through like ERGs.

Erika: Definitely, and I feel like you are such a go-getter that you take advantage of these things, and that’s so admirable because sometimes as Latinas, we [00:13:00] really want to hide and for you to allow yourself to be visible and put yourself out there and network, I think is really what has led to your success.

Do you think that this. Kind of like in-person networking is what sparked the interest of showing up online and almost creating a personal brand online, or where did that interest happen? 

Elsa: Um, that’s a good question. I think. I would see it a lot on my social platforms. 

Erika: Mm-hmm. 

Elsa: Like you, for example, like with your personal brand or other content creators that I follow that had a personal brand.

and I learned about like the importance of personal branding through that like program that I did, the retention program that I was a part of. so I feel like that’s what kind of sparked the want to start to build my own and really focus on like being more visible. Which is why when we had the visibility challenge, in creative driven Latina, I knew that I wanted to, to like target every single day and be, and [00:14:00] like, do as much of the challenge as I could.

because in the long run, like it would just help with building my personal brand. Right. and yeah, we can definitely dive deeper into, What that challenge looked like for me. 

Erika: Yeah. So there’s a, a little, there’s like a gap in our story. So you joined my program when it first was born, essentially, which is all about helping you like find direction, find clarity, find community, and then like go after the thing that you have found clarity on.

But six months ago you rejoined the program that’s now called Courage Driven Latina, and. The program has evolved quite a bit. It’s evolved to be a little bit more specific. Now we’re really supporting with like helping you grow your personal brand and now monetize your personal brand. And in order to kind of kick that off, we did something called the Visibility Challenge, which for a lot of Latinas.

And a lot of women of color, [00:15:00] this idea of, let me put myself out there, is completely counterintuitive to what we’ve been told we need to do. Even though Latinas have a lot to say, women of color have a lot to say, right, we’re we’re passionate individuals, but there’s something about putting ourselves out there.

That feels really scary. So what, did you have any reservations around like creating content and showing up and did it feel uncomfortable or like, what was going through your mind before you actually started posting tiktoks and posting on LinkedIn? 

Elsa: Yeah, at first it was very uncomfortable, uh, because I just didn’t know what to post.

Like I feel like I didn’t have the strategy or like I didn’t know, like yeah, what I wanted to post about. And so when you gave that advice to. That you can literally post whatever. ’cause I feel like oftentimes you think you need to have like a niche right away. Mm-hmm. But I think for me, like exploring and just posting a little bit of everything, about like fitness, mental health, being in corporate concerts, traveling, everything that I think I’m, I kind of [00:16:00] like stand for, is where I saw like traction come in.

And I don’t feel so confined now to have like an niche. I think I’m still figuring out like, okay, like what do I really wanna focus on so I don’t feel like I’m all over the place. but I think to a certain point, it’s like it provides, more leverage where I don’t feel so like, restricted on like what kind of content I wanna post because I, ironically, I just went to a content creator event, last weekend and.

There was a content creator that was saying how like a lot of her content is around like career and she wants to get back into makeup, but she doesn’t wanna just like post her makeup stuff on her career page ’cause she feels like she known for like career stuff. So she wants to build like a different page for makeup.

so she was also providing that insight of like. 

Erika: It’s 

Elsa: kind of good that you post like a little bit of everything. Yeah. 

Erika: Yeah. And just so you know, we have a training coming up inside of the program all about your niche and how to like. Rather than boxing yourself into a category, how [00:17:00] you become the niche and how through you, you get to share the things that you’re really skilled at.

So for you, that would be things like networking, being a Latina in corporate, advocating for yourself with also your passions, which would be things like traveling, working out, and the, the things aren’t that far fetched, right? Like you being able to build this career of yours has given you the flexibility too.

Travel, the like going from feeling burnt out to now prioritizing wellness, like that all is connected and it all makes sense. So it’s almost like you yourself are the filter and the niche. So anything you’re passionate about or skilled about, you get to create content on. And remember when we went through your like aligned messaging.

Where like that’s the filter you filter through. Okay. What’s kind of like my overall mission and so much can fit in there. Traveling could fit in there. fitness can fit in there. Job searching [00:18:00] promotions, right? Like I know salary negotiation was also a big thing for you, because you worked with Evie, who is um, also one of my clients and she’s been on the podcast as well.

And so with that being said, you, whenever you are the niche, you never run out of things that you can post on and you never feel confined. And that’s exactly what we’re. Like the new training that’s coming up, which we informally did that a little bit during your session. But all of this to say we had the visibility challenge, which for those of you who are not in the program yet, it’s a challenge where we post every day during the week for four weeks and also was one of the winners from the Visibility Challenge.

So tell us about your experience with the Visibility Challenge. 

Elsa: Yeah. first I didn’t know, like I wanted to post on TikTok and LinkedIn. but then I decided that, I think it was like more strategic if I just focused on one platform, for now and at the time. I really wanted to grow my personal brand on LinkedIn again.[00:19:00] 

So I decided to focus on LinkedIn and the prompts were super helpful, because it provided the guidance that I knew I was missing. So I, I know I wanted to put my personal brand, but I didn’t have like the how. Right. And so you provided the how with the prompts and, the lovely 

 content generator. so having those like tools were really helpful. 

 I saw like in the increase in views. It just motivated me to wanna, of course, post some more because visibility’s so huge. I’m currently on the job search, looking for my next opportunity.

And so that’s one thing that I’ve really learned, like through building personal brand is the visibility and like the impact and the importance of visibility and, I think that’s what the challenge really like offered for me to remind myself that like, putting myself back out there. Can be done in a safe way.

Erika: Mm-hmm. 

Elsa: Where I don’t feel like I need to have like a crisis every time I post. Like before in the past on TikTok, I still kind of feel that way. Like I still kind of feel like [00:20:00] I’m gonna, I post and then I feel like I can’t see the post again until like.

A week has passed and I’m trying to get over that. 

Erika: Yeah. 

Elsa: and I think that, so that’s why choosing like a platform for the visibility challenge that I felt comfortable with is why I believe it was so successful, because I felt that safety at the same time as I was boosting my visibility. 

Erika: Totally. So what I hear is that it, the challenge and the prompts took away the what to post question and like, how do I post?

Because what you talked about with the content idea generator, it’s pretty much like this custom AI tool for the group that has you. Clarify, like, okay, what’s the intention of your post? Are you just looking for visibility? Are you looking for to make a sale? And then it asks you, okay, what platform are you using to support you in optimizing for that platform?

Elsa: So I think it takes away a lot of the guesswork and, oh, does this sound good enough? Or what structure should it be? Um, [00:21:00] and then you noticed an uptake in views. Did you get any type of. In real life comments like, oh my gosh, you’ve been so active on LinkedIn. I just heard it from other people. So I’m curious if that happened for you, like did or any dms or anything like that? Yeah, I had a conversation actually with a friend that I hadn’t, well, I had a conversation with an acquaintance that I hadn’t talked to in like maybe. Four years and we had like a networking call because as I mentioned, I’m looking for next opportunity. And um, he brought that up actually in our conversation.

He mentioned, he was like, you know, like even though we don’t talk very regularly, like I follow, I have followed your journey through LinkedIn and I see you like post about your story. I think it’s really inspirational. Um, so yeah, definitely had people like, uh, you never know who’s watching, honestly.

Exactly. Um, so I’ve had people like I think be more open to helping me out because they see that I put myself out there. 

Erika: Yeah, totally. So you mentioned you’re on the job search, and as we know, the tech [00:22:00] industry’s been going through a lot of shifts and a lot of layoffs. So when you learned that you were laid off, I was blown away with how you were not, I mean, who knows what was going on internally, right.

I’m sure you probably had a moment of like, oh crap, what am I gonna do? But from my perspective, I feel like you handled it so gracefully and we’re almost. Like it didn’t phase you. And do you think part of that is that you were already building your brand and already kind of open to new opportunities and already preparing yourself for that?

Or what was going through your mind? Because I think, I think the, I forgot what the number was. I looked up this. Statistic, but I think like one in three people are gonna be laid off or, I don’t remember exactly the, the numbers, so don’t quote me on that. But point is a lot of people are going to be laid off in their, in their lifetime.

And I think especially right now with the rise of AI and the shifts going on in tech, it’s just happening so much. So how did you handle that? 

Elsa: Yeah, To your point, I was already mentally [00:23:00] preparing. When I heard about the rumors of restructure happening last year, I started to prepare even more. But I started to prepare mentally, financially, and from a career perspective.

And so I was really strategic with what those next steps were gonna look like for me if I was affected. So a couple things that I did was from a career standpoint, I am interested in getting program management certified. So I asked my, management if it was okay for me to enroll, and luckily they said yes.

So now, even though I was part of the, my position got eliminated and I was part of the restructure. I have this program management bootcamp that keeps me very busy and just started a couple weeks ago. Um, so that’s like one thing I did from like, from a career standpoint. And then, financially I started to b take my budgeting more seriously.

Erika: Mm-hmm. 

Elsa: last year as well, uh, just in case I was affected. safe to say, I feel really privileged to [00:24:00] say this, but Tech companies do provide a severance package. So that also did alleviate some financial pr, pressure that I had. But,to your point, like I think I feel really lucky that I was able to navigate the whole layoff situation with a lot of grace.

but I did write down a couple steps that I did take. I wanted to share those because I think those could be really helpful because yeah, there’s a lot of layoffs happening. It’s really sad, but a lot of people are getting affected. So the first one is to not take it personally because at the end of the day, even from the get go, like I, I understood that I was just a number to them.

Like it’s sad, but it’s the reality, like you’re just another. Like number in the organization, like, so to not take it personally because I think it’s really easy to think like, what did I do? Or devalue your skills, but just remind yourself that like it’s really all outta your control. They just set a criteria and it’s really in like whoever is a part of that criteria, like gets affected.

I also took advantage of my benefits. So [00:25:00] before they ran out, I scheduled my doctor optometrist therapy and dentist appointments. Because those are gonna expire very soon. So I took advantage of that. you mentioned the program with Ev EV’s been really helpful. So we negotiated my severance package and I, I, I like think everyone should do this because the worst I can say is no.

But at least you try to put yourself out there. 

Erika: Yeah. 

Elsa: And the last thing that I really did was I just took care of myself and I like took some time to reflect. Let out, like any emotion that I had around, the news, uh, I really, it was helpful to talk to my support system. I remember I was like stressing a lot at the beginning, even though I felt like I had prepared myself for this, it’s still a shock.

and so just talking with my support system and they put a lot of perspective for me that was really helpful. and. something that I also did was like, have a lot of network conversations with, uh, individuals that I know that were laid off in the past. To kind of gauge like tips of what they would do.

And to my surprise, a lot of them said if you had the time to travel, like take the time and go [00:26:00] travel, or like take the time to do something that you wish you had the time to do. Because in reality, like when you are working a nine to five, like life gets really busy and life in general is just always really busy.

Um, so yeah, just figure out how quickly you wanna land a new gig or if you do wanna take the time off. for me personally, I. Feel lucky that I have had a couple interviews, within the month of the layoff, so hopefully one of those work out, but I’m not, I don’t feel my, I don’t feel pressured to land something like quickly right away.

I actually do wanna do some travel. So just trying to figure out once my PMP program is over, and I take the exam and knock on wood pass, um, like what that travel time can look like. 

Erika: Yeah, totally. And there’s also something else we did while you’re in this kind of, I’m gonna call it like a little.

Break right on your little break. And so when you and I had your one-on-one call as being one of the winners of the visibility challenge, we also said, well, okay, it [00:27:00] might be fun. Like, hey, having a a, a job. Like there’s nothing wrong with having a job. It comes with benefits, right? You get to work with amazing people, especially if you’re in alignment with, with the company.

And I worked in tech for a long time, so this isn’t about like, forget the nine to five. But in this moment where you have a little bit of time and you obviously have been able to. Create success for yourself. What I find as far as like in order to monetize a personal brand, you either have to have a skill, like let’s say that you were doing a specific job in tech and you wanna help other people with that and do it on your own, or you have to have lived experience.

Like meaning you overcame a challenge and you figured it out. Or last but not least, like you’re really passionate about something and I feel like you kind of fit. All of the, all of those things in that you learned how to network, you learned how to advocate for yourself. You learned how to navigate corporate America as a first gen Latina.

You’re also passionate about helping other people. And you [00:28:00] also are obviously skilled at it because you, uh, we can’t control reorgs to your point, but obviously you had a lot of success within your tech career. So when we had our call, I was like, well, what about just like. Trying to do this coaching thing, like why not give it a shot?

And what came up for you whenever I brought that up? 

Elsa: at first, I. Wasn’t sure if I could do it. Like I wasn’t sure if I could like land. yeah, someone that would be interested in like talking to me. 

Erika: And then what happened? 

Elsa: And then like within 24 hours I posted, or a couple days later I posted on LinkedIn and then within 24 hours, I had someone DM me that they’re interested.

So we’ll be having a call shortly, which is. To think about. 

Erika: Yeah, so I mean, it, it’s wild, but it’s not wild for me. Like it’s wild for you. But I’m like, oh, of course you can totally help people. Like look at everything you’ve already navigated and you want to help people. And this isn’t about, you know, forget my job.

[00:29:00] Like I just wanna make money off people. Like this is really about impact and a lot of times when you’re impacting enough, like you can also make an income from it. So. I think a lot of people assume that they need, it’s kind of like this all or nothing, and I just wanna highlight that you are on the job hunt, but you’re also allowing yourself to make your own money and make your impact in a different way.

So what this can look like for you. Whenever you do go back to a job, you can grow your coaching business and then decide, do I wanna do this full time, or do I love just doing this on the side and having this like additional source of freedom and income? Or if a layoff does happen, like you have something to fall back on.

And I think the best time to kind of work and build something is when you have a safety net, which right now you have your severance, right? You have. All of these different things that are supporting you. [00:30:00] So, I mean, you’re obviously in the early stages, but look how quickly this happened. And I think people assume, oh, I have to go get a certification.

I have to go do like all these different things and they end up being roadblocks. But within 24 hours you had somebody message you that they were interested in what you offered. Isn’t that crazy? 

Elsa: Yeah, I love it. 

Erika: Yeah. So for those people listening who feel like. It’s impossible to find clients from, from content.

It can happen so much faster than you think. And the categories that I really think are important is like, do you have a skill that you already know? Like for example, are you a recruiter? And do you wanna help people with being a career coach or, um, do you have a skill? I’m sorry. Do you have a, a passion, so like maybe you’ve been studying personal finance and maybe you’re not a certified financial planner, but.

You’ve been able to help yourself with your budget, right? Or you’ve been able to help [00:31:00] yourself, um, set up all the accounts that you need in order for, for retirement. Like those are all things that can transfer to a personal brand that creates income and impact all like altogether. Or have you had had a lived experience, like I have somebody in the program who.

A breast cancer survivor. And it’s not like her coaching is about helping people with the breast cancer, but it’s about navigating that, that journey. So I feel like for you, you have all these different skills and passions and lived experience that translate to being able to support somebody else in the journey.

And I think it’s not just about money, right? But it’s also about the. And it feels good to like have these calls. So I’m excited to, to follow along your journey and I’m sure you’re gonna get so many more inquiries. So do you have anything to say about that before I move on to the next thing? 

Elsa: No, I think that’s something that my, uh, layoff has also taught me, like, to your point earlier, that like [00:32:00] you, you never know it can happen again or it’s probably will happen again like in the future.

Um, so it just made me think about like having more. Freedom of flexibility if I were to be in that situation again, which is kind of also what motivated me to, like, why not provide that impact and value to others if I can right now? 

Erika: Yeah. Yes, definitely. And then the more you support people, the more that helps shape your content because then you’re like, oh wait, I forgot that’s what I was struggling with just a few years ago.

Let me make a video on that. And then it just, the, the content begins to flow. so what has been your, to kind of like wrap it up, what has been your experience in the program? Because you joined again six months ago and then you just renewed. So what has been the value for you and what would you say, like, who do you think should join?

Elsa: Yeah, I love this question. Um. Even from when I joined six years ago and I like felt [00:33:00] lost, I received and gained a lot of support from the program. And what made me want to join again six months ago was I wanted to build like my personal brand, right? And so, and I was feeling. I’ve always been a go-getter to your, to what you’ve been sharing.

And so I always felt like I like need to be doing more, like continuously. Um, and so that’s kind of why I joined again and I knew I wanted to build like content on TikTok. but through joining the program, I was able to, I think when I first joined and like started my, CRO and Latina project, for content creation on TikTok.

I don’t recall the exact number of how many followers I have, but I know like, like checking like this morning it’s like tripled if not quadrupled. And I think it’s because of accountability that I had through the program with the project. and now I’m thinking about like this coaching opportunity, right?

So [00:34:00] I think. Joining the program has really allowed me to continue to push myself and find clarity and find like these tools and be surrounded by like badass women at the same time that are also go-getters and want more from themselves. that has, yeah, really provided a lot of value for me. so I think anyone should do the program that is looking for like support, wants, accountability is ready to, Yeah, make change in their lives, a positive change in their lives. Um, should really consider joining. 

Erika: Love it. We’re gonna have to have you back on the podcast because we didn’t decide this coaching thing until our call right before I went on vacation. And then when I was on vacation, I get this notification where you’re like, oh my gosh, in 24 hours, somebody already inquired.

So we’re gonna have to have like a part two on like the journey of Elsa’s coaching program or coaching business and how it’s going. so yeah. Thank you for sharing everything you’ve shared. Is there anything that you wanna say to the listeners [00:35:00] before I let you get back to your day? 

Elsa: yeah, I think something that I didn’t share or I kind of like touched upon was,how passionate I am about mental health.

And the reason why I am so passionate about it is because I had a, a lived experience myself early on in my career. That really changed like my perspective on how like I viewed, Corporate, like I felt like I was just so like, burnt out and neglecting my personal or my mental health that that caused my diagnosis with bipolar disorder.

and like I had to take like a six month, career break because of it. So I think something that I just wanna share, through that eyeopening experience is that I learned that. When you think about success, I think success is very sustainable when mental health is prioritized. And that’s kind of like, a quote that I love and have actually on like my, email, email signature. but yeah, I just feel like it’s taught me that success is endurance. And sustainable success is not about how fast you run in the first mile. It’s about making sure that you can finish the marathon. [00:36:00] So I just encourage people to view their health, especially their mental health as their most critical career asset because I feel like if you break it all your other assets like skills, connection, salary, are also devalued.

And that’s just a valuable lesson that I learned very early on in my career that shifts my perspective on how like I viewed hustle. Because I feel like I grew up like glorifying a lot of wholesale culture. Mm-hmm. And it was always like finding like that next big thing and never really processing the journey.

so yeah, I think that’s just like a little piece of advice, uh, related to, Prioritizing, like one’s mental health. 

Erika: Love it. Yeah. And that in itself, I think is going to be one of your content pillars. And I also think that’s going to be one of the categories in your coaching, right? So it’s because you’re such a natural go-getter, you’re, you’re going to attract people that are also go-getters and culturally when we’re taught, you know, work hard, keep your head down.

We’re, we’re almost conditioned to be these. Like hustle, hustle, hustle, and ignore our mental health. But that lived experience now gets to become a content pillar for you and a pillar of support for your clients. [00:37:00] Like that gets to be part, part of the recipe for success. Right. So like what I’m thinking for you for.

Would be like, so, okay, what is the key to having the career success that you want? And one of them is going to be networking and putting yourself out there. So this one’s gonna be a lot of like mindset worthiness, skills around how to show up. And then it’s also going to be, taking care of your mental health.

So that one can include things like maybe a journaling practice, a fitness club. Work out. And then maybe the last one is like, okay, finding jobs that are actually aligned with you. So almost like a a three part, I’m thinking like a little tripod, right? Like this is what’s gonna help you get to where you wanna go or help sustain where you wanna go.

And then, so I would think about. Your content from those pillars as well, where you get to share your story and then you get to share strategies and techniques or your, your thoughts around those three main things. 

Elsa: I love that. Yeah. [00:38:00] That really resonates. And I think it goes back to your point, like you and Evie have both helped me so much, as coaches, and I feel like you always see so much more than like what I see for myself.

So thank you. 

Erika: Yeah. I got, we cannot undermine our lived experience, right? Like it’s so, we’re so conditioned in society to be like, oh, let me go get a certification in that. And also with your project management stuff. I also think that gets to be part of how you support people, like treat each client like a project, right?

So like everything you’re learning in your certification for project management. That’s actually what supported me with Courage Driven Latina. That’s where the courage project plan came from, because when I was in tech, I did a project management course, and mine wasn’t even a whole certification. It was just like a one-off course.

And that allowed me to create, like, that’s where the contingency plan comes in from. That’s where the, like a, and then also like manifestation principles, but that’s like. Just like mental health is one of your passions and manifestation is one of mine. You get to kind of embed all of that and use all of that [00:39:00] in how you support others and how you support yourself.

Elsa: This makes me so excited. Yeah. I can’t wait for the next three months. 

Erika: I know. I’m so excited for you as well. I’m telling you we’re gonna need like a part two and then whenever we do it we’re gonna be like, oh, listen to our first episode. Great. Elsa, thank you so much for the time and for your patience earlier as we had a little bit of technical difficulties, but that’s.

Part of the game. thank you so much for coming on, and congratulations on all of your suc success, including your fitness journey. We didn’t talk too much about that, but. I’ve been able to witness from the outside looking in how, you like the gym really became one of your passions. And then you were asked to be an ambassador for a gym and you naturally lost 40 pounds.

And like really seeing you like, I feel like I’ve what witnessed a journey in you of self love and it’s been such a beautiful journey. You’re at this place where you’re like, no, I really like who I am and not let me help other people. I think that’s a [00:40:00] beautiful thing and that’s why I love working with Latinas.

’cause it’s always about like, how do I pay it forward? 

Elsa: Yeah. I love that. Thanks Erika. 

Erika: Yeah, thank you Elsa. I will see you on our call on Tuesday. 

Elsa: Sounds great. 

Erika: All right. Bye.