We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Vanessa Guzman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Vanessa below.
Hi Vanessa, so excited to have you with us today and we are really interested in hearing your thoughts about how folks can develop their empathy? In our experience, most folks want to be empathic towards others, but in a world where we are often only surrounded by people who are very similar to us, it can sometimes be a challenge to develop empathy for others who might not be as similar to us. Any thoughts or advice?
Some of the conditions that allowed me to develop my empathy were living in a home where I was always misunderstood, I was/am the black sheep. Which in return this led me to live a life where I made all the efforts and continue to make effort in figuring out who I am and in knowing who I am. Allowing myself the space and empathy to be seen for me and loving myself unconditionally allowed me to be the same vessel for others. I believe everyone deserves to feel seen and to feel heard no matter their social and economic status.
I grew up in a mixed status home, a home where I saw people treat my family members differently because of their skin color, because of our own social and economic standings. I grew up in a small rural very red town where I had teachers who didn’t believe in me, people who othered me and I had many school bullies for who I was. But through all of this it taught me to be secure in myself, and to lean on me and the more I did it the more I became secure in who I was. My mother taught me to have empathy for the people who were mean to me and that is how I handled a lot of it and still do to this day. Because to do mean things we have to be in a mean place mentally.
I have felt many things in this lifetime and there are many circumstances that I wish upon no one and which is why I try my best to lead with empathy when possible because I know what it is like to be treated with no empathy. Empathy is one of my true strengths and it is one that I have had to learn to work with through discernment, in the workplace and in my life for the past 31 years. Empathy has been something I have had since I was a child and I used to hate this about me because it made me feel so deeply but the wiser I became the more I saw how empathy was a way through.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My name is Vanessa Guzman, I have a few different things that I do professionally. For one I am a business coach based out of Washington State and I am also a business owner. I own a jewelry brand called Alma De Oro | Soul of Gold it is an inclusive Mexican based brand rooted in the true history of gold and reclaiming what was first ours. The gold industry and silver industry has a lot of really historic movements that are relevant to the jewelry industry and that have shaped the nations to what they are now. I use my brand to bring awareness of this, as well as to reclaim and reinvent the jewelry industry. Our website/online store is almadeoro.co and we are also on instagram at almaadeoro.
I am also a business coach backed by over 15 years of experience in different business sectors like accounting, sales, administration, marketing & branding. I have worked for marketing agencies, Nordstrom, Locally owned businesses, Non-Profit Organizations and in Higher Education.
I call myself a business guru because I can help with many areas in the business world but I thoroughly enjoy building a brand from getting it established on paper to creating it’s true identity the entire process for me is invigorating. I also enjoy getting businesses organized, building online presence and putting systems in place. Through working so closely for various businesses and organizations I gained so much insight into knowing what should and what shouldn’t be done. In my career I have been blessed to have had many mentors/businesses/organizations who have invested in me in the past through various ways such as professional development opportunities, trainings/certifications, workshop referrals, which in return have allowed me to grow and develop professionally and personally in a way that allows me to teach what I know and to help others build onto their life whether personal or professional.
Every year I also take some time to host 1 on 1 and group workshops based on self development that include tools or techniques which have helped me get to where I am today. I take many of the routines, habits, skills I have developed throughout the years that allow me to be the business person I am today and I crunch them into different types of workshop sessions to allow people to learn from me and to help pour into their journey personally and professionally based on what I have learned and know. I host these workshops once a year because I love to teach what worked for me because I find many people ask me “how do you do it?” and these workshop sessions are great insights to my how and how others can apply my insights to their current lifestyle.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back my 3 skills would be developing my morning routine, being open to learning new things and new perspectives from anyone, and commitment to my self discipline.
1. Developing my morning routine is something I did and wish I did sooner because it really helped me to build on my self discipline. My morning routine is something that allows me to keep my anxiety under control and to stay grounded especially when life is overwhelming.
2. Being open to learning new things and new perspectives from anyone is a skill I have always admired about myself because it has allowed me to have many life changing conversations, this skill has allowed me to expand my perspectives and to empathize with many in situations different from my own.
3. My self discipline has shown me that everything starts and begins with ourselves first. It has gotten me to where I am now and I see how my discipline continues to back me up emotionally, mentally and physically. Self discipline is a true commitment to ourselves first and little by little you start to see it all add up.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I think it is important to be well rounded and to invest and improve the areas you aren’t as strong in. Speaking from experience I used to see empathy as a weakness and took the strengths assessment and learned it is one of my strengths so I started to hone in on my empathy and learn to use it to my advantage.
Just because you deem something a weakness does not mean you cannot develop that area into a stronger skillset or strength. One of my top 5 strengths is input which I felt funny about because at the time I wasn’t comfortable giving my input in professional settings. I had to work on voicing my opinion/ideas/thoughts before I could really develop my input strengths more. I wasn’t used to speaking up in group settings or people wanting to know my input and once I started to work on my voicing and communication contributing my input felt easier. I also learned a lot about my communication style which really helped solidify my findings with the strengths assessments.
I highly recommend the Clifton Strengths assessment and the Enneagram for strengths and areas of improvement.
Contact Info:
- Website: almadeoro.co
- Instagram: almaadeoro
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/almaadeoro
- Other: [email protected] is my email for coaching inquiries and or collaborations.
Image Credits
Brian Alvarez – Alvarez Advertising 509
