Meet Vanessa La Rose

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vanessa La Rose a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Vanessa, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I am not sure that even the greatest artists and entrepreneurs of our time ever overcome imposter syndrome, but I believe it is worth trying. I have had much success with the “fake it until you make it” confidence boost I get from just putting one foot in front of another and believing in myself each day. I have pretty poor self esteem, but every day I go to work and help someone to feel better my esteem rises.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am passionate about art as expression. Through beauty and design I have found so much joy. I am a licensed cosmetologist, makeup artist and generally love making people feel beautiful. I also work in mental health and have a passion for helping those who are experiencing a rough patch in their life, because we all do, and I take joy helping others through what I like to call Radical Empathy.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Grit, love and appreciation of beautiful things and souls. I would advise that finding a bit of beauty in every day is helpful. Looking for the best in people instead of dwelling on the flaws. Developing grit through vicarious resiliency is not easily won but is very necessary.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
My parents always allowed to make big choices for myself. For better or for worse. They trusted me fully. For a long time I resented it, and there are probably quite a few things that I could have excelled at if they had made certain choices for me before I turned 18. Now at 36. I now am realizing that the self-determinism they wanted for me and feeling of freewill is not a bad thing to run from.

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