How did you develop your confidence and self-esteem?

Confidence can open doors and is at the heart of so many amazing success stories across industries and disciplines and so we’ve always been interested in learning how we can help our readers and community members increase their confidence and self-esteem. Below, you’ll find highlights of some of the great conversations we’ve had on this topic.

Julie Cremoux

My journey into life coaching began as a personal endeavor to understand and improve myself. I took a hard look at my life and the patterns in my relationships, which led me to pursue certification as a life coach. Initially, it was about personal development, but as I progressed through my training and began working with practice clients, the positive feedback I received was incredibly affirming. It helped me realize that I had found my place and purpose in life. Read more>>

Amanda Howell

Developing my confidence and self-esteem took a long time and was quite the journey. I began with challenging negavite thoughts and attacking negative self talk. I had to learn to replace criticism with positivity. Treating myself with kindess, compassion, patience and understanding. I had to reroute and grown during my failures and set backs. I learned more from failures than any success, I took criticism as an opportunity for growth, not a personal attack. Read more>>

Wes Putnam

This has been a major thing to develop, as I’ve always considered my confidence and self-esteem my Achilles heel. The conversations I have with myself about myself are horrid. That’s not unique to me, and I like to think that if I have developed confidence and self-esteem in my life, anyone can. Read more>>

Prince-armanii De’vaughn

When I was a young Prince, I loved being the families entertainment at the family events. Whether my birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, everyone knew Prince was putting on a show and that’s where it all began. I had interest in being a magician; mastering different card tricks and illusions. Being a dancer and performing in the Annual Chicago Bud Billiken back to school parade, training with professional dancers, Being a sucker for the arts; Theatre, dance, music aided my rise in confidence and self esteem. Read more>>

Kenzie Harr

I think a lot of this came from really doing a lot of work DAILY to not care what people think and this has not been an easy thing for me at all. I feel I was born confident with really high self esteem but then as I grew up this began to dissipate due to other peoples opinions getting in the way. I allowed them to steal my confidence and self esteem but then through a lot of deep work I realised I was able to take that back from them and not let anyone steal it again. Read more>>

Antoinella Peterkin

My confidence came from me realizing that Ive been fly my whole life. From a child til now I’ve always had a different style of fashion and a smile that could light up any room . It was in high school that I was always remembered as the girl with all the colors . Even still from
colleagues to my students I am always awarded compliments on my daily outfits and as one of my babies said yesterday “You have a great fashion style “ . Read more>>

Cameron Gregory

I developed my confidence and self esteem early on in my childhood. Being a pastors kid i was always expected to be the poster child for the youth group. And because my grandparents and parents were the ones leading the church they made sure to make me study and be at every church event so I wouldn’t embarrass them as the leaders of the church. I was required and forced to go the extra mile. So being in the limelight comes naturally for me. Not being afraid of the moment is something that was just built into my character. Read more>>

Sonja Williams

I Developed my Confidence when I was a Lil Girl Growing up My Father Use to Tell Me That I Was a Pretty, little Girl and I was His Princess and That I could Have anything in lin this World That I wanted!! If I work hard For It, And Never be Jealous of what the next Person Has , bc I could have it To..My Mother also was a Very Interesting Woman, She Brighten the Room when she walk in, Very Classy lady Very Much Love From the Ppl She NEW, So I learned to Walk with my Head up High Despite whatever Life Throws at You. Read more>>

Lance Wiggins

I developed Confidence and self esteem by going through things in life that was obstacles and developing Skills on music and performing in front of people and gaining the ability get through anxiety which i’ve been fighting my whole life since i lost my dad. Read more>>

Leeann Ditomaso Samantha Paros

As Spelling to Communicate (S2C) Practitioners, we’ve overcome many challenges and climbed through many obstacles that have led us to be as confident as we are today. Until you sit down in our chair, you won’t understand what it takes to be an S2C Practitioner. Presuming competence is the key. It is important to believe in nonspeakers and never underestimate their true potential. Keeping calm & regulated throughout each session has allowed us & our Spellers to become more confident in our work. Read more>>

Joylin Crosser-olin

For me, it was by surrounding myself with a supportive network. I reached out to my friends and family, who always believed in my potential. They ultimately became my cheerleaders, offering encouragement and celebrating my successes, no matter how small. I knew that growth often comes from stepping out of one’s comfort zone. So with their support, I felt a newfound sense of belonging and strength to pursue a small business and get myself out there. Read more>>

Caroline Nyakundi

When I was six, I was sent to a distant boarding school, which was initially very challenging. I quickly learned to protect my belongings, stand up for myself, and take care of myself. Though I struggled with Chemistry and Physics, I excelled in subjects that interested me, which built my confidence. Moving to America after high school, I became independent, got a job, bought a car, and realized I could achieve my goals. This journey of self-reliance and success greatly boosted my confidence and self-esteem. Read more>>

Annie Mcniel

Over the years, I have taken every opportunity to learn all I can about the mortgage industry including guidelines, ways to help my clients secure the house of their dreams and how to educate buyers and agents along the way. By continuing to grow myself, this has created a confidence in my skills and knowledge so that I am confident that I know how to navigate almost any situation that comes across my desk. Read more>>

Stephanie Shar

Ironically, my confidence and self-esteem were developed because these were things I struggled with as a young teen and I was determined to overcome it as I grew older. I was bullied constantly for years, especially in late elementary school/early middle school. These are pretty formative years and so it was burned into my brain that I was ugly, stupid, had no friends, etc. I let those remarks stay with me from a long time, but fortunately in high school, I was introduced to theatre and everything changed. Read more>>

Illana Raia

I developed my confidence and self-esteem largely thanks to the incredible women who’ve been part of my life. My grandmother, for instance, graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1936—a remarkable achievement, especially for a woman at that time. Her determination and pioneering spirit left a lasting impression on me. Read more>>

Susan Sandler

“What could you accomplish if you didn’t let fear stand in your way? What would you learn? What would you try? What would you allow yourself to experience? Who might you become?” This is how I open my theatrical keynote/one-woman show called, ‘WINGS’: How to Find Your Voice on the Other Side of Fear. ‘WINGS’ is about a young girl (me) raised in a family characterized by emotional chaos and financial uncertainty. She gives up her voice in exchange for her father’s adoration, which makes her feel safe. Read more>>

Kellyt O’malley

Developing my confidence and self-esteem has been an ongoing and evolving process, deeply intertwined with learning how to honor my needs and boundaries. For a long time, I believed that being there for others (whether personally or professionally) meant putting myself last. But I’ve learned in order to make a long-term commitment to showing up in my relationships, advocating for change and helping those in need, I had to tune in with myself first. Which was so scary! I’d become so accustomed to ignoring my own needs that I didn’t even know how to identify them. Read more>>

Jeremy Carr

My mental health journey has been one of the most challenging, disorienting, nauseating, & eye-opening of my life! It has also been the most educational, empowering, and given me a much more open mind. I suffer from abandonment, ADHD, Manic and Clinical depression, and anxiety that regularly test my patience and mood all while being Disorganized/Fearful-Avoidant Attachment. These conditions took several years; to more or less half my life to uncover; I’m 37 currently. Read more>>

Gaby Covarrubias

Confidence for me didn’t come easily, especially since I spent much of my childhood and teenage years being bullied. It left a mark, and for the longest time, I let those negative voices drown out my own. Then, in a past relationship, I completely let myself go, and my self-esteem hit rock bottom. Read more>>

Francisco Javier Haros

Building confidence and self-esteem is often a journey that involves a mix of experiences, reflection, and growth. For me, it’s been about setting small, achievable goals and gradually building on successes. Breaking down larger goals into smaller, manageable steps helped me gain a sense of accomplishment, which naturally boosted my confidence. Instead of viewing failures as setbacks, I saw them as opportunities to learn. Each failure became a steppingstone toward improvement. Replacing negative thoughts with positive affirmations was key. I constantly reminded myself of my strengths and past successes. Read more>>

Angel Guijosa

Confidence and self-esteem in this industry didn’t come easy or overnight. It was built over years of working in kitchens, getting destroyed night after night, and still showing up the next day. In the beginning, I failed—repeatedly. But every mistake was a lesson, and every service was a test of endurance. I learned to embrace the grind, to take the hits, and to get back up every time. Eventually, through persistence and dedication, I started to get better. The more I improved, the more I believed in myself. Confidence wasn’t something I woke up with one day—it was something I earned, one service at a time. Read more>>

Evan Rosdahl

It took me a while to really gain my confidence and self-esteem as a person and an artist. I used to always keep my head down and fit in with the pack, until I started to take control of my life and pursue what I really wanted. I always knew I wanted to be an artist, but it wasn’t until I started pursuing jewelry that I found what I was truly passionate about. After I began focusing on my health and strength, those ideals carried over into my art as well. After a few years there was a big change in the way I carried myself personally and professionally. Read more>>

Allison Dawkin

I’ve had countless trial & errors during my creative process that I’ve learned from that have helped to build my confidence with what I’m selling. And bringing my products to markets & chatting with customers over the last few years has boosted my confidence & self-esteem as a seller. Read more>>

Victoria Komu

Building my self-esteem and confidence as a female photographer has been a journey of self-discovery and resilience. Growing up, I wasn’t the most confident person, but my passion for photography always stirred up a desire to stand out. I envisioned myself as an outstanding photographer who could go out shooting in high heels and freeze moments as well as visually tell important stories. I knew i always wanted to break boundaries and statistics. Read more>>

Jen Harri

My journey in building confidence and self-esteem began when I started teaching yoga in 2015. Despite being fun and charismatic, I was terrified of speaking in front of others. But my love for yoga and my desire to share it pushed me to face that fear. For me, it’s been a process of practice, passion, and creativity. The confidence developed through teaching many classes, where I learned to be bolder with the tone and volume of my voice. Over time, I began to share myself more authentically in my teaching. Read more>>

Devinair Mathis

Developing my confidence and self-esteem has been a journey deeply rooted in self-awareness and personal growth. It began with embracing my true self and understanding that my worth isn’t defined by external validation but by my inner strength and values. I made a conscious effort to focus on self-love, recognizing that the relationship I have with myself sets the foundation for how I navigate the world. Read more>>

Kelley Donnelly

Throughout my entire life, up until the last few years, I held this solid and relentless belief that I was worthless and did not deserve a single positive thing to happen to me. I held on to this belief with dogged determination because the idea that I could live to see my purpose come to fruition was so blatantly terrifying and contradictory to what I knew to be the “truth”. However, I always knew, without a doubt, art was in my blood. Read more>>

Spencer Burson

The moment I can say when we developed our confidence was at our first show. It was a bonfire event hosted by our school so it was big deal to us as this was the first time our school would hear us. We rehearsed as much as possible even hours before the gig to make sure our setlist was perfect. However, when we arrived, that’s when the school let us know that are setlist wasn’t approved and we would have to shrink it down to just 3 songs instead of the 6 we were promised and to keep it under 15 minutes. Read more>>

Kemi Fasheyide

I’m the most confident person in the world… said no one EVER! Ok maybe unless your like Beyoncé lol. Ever since a young age I was taught to be proud of who I am and where I come from. It took ALOT of growing to truly find myself and learn to be comfortable in my skin! I come from a big multicultural family with German, Nigerian and Spanish heritage. Let’s just say growing up, I hated my curly hair and always wanted straight hair. Now, you won’t catch me with straight hair hunny! I embrace this big, wild, crazy hair God gave me. Read more>>

Candace Johnson

My confidence was not self-taught. From birth, my parents instilled a firm spiritual foundation. My extended loved ones helped me freely discover fun and my passions. School teachers helped guide my talents and skills to maturity. Read more>>

C H — N O Villatoro

This took a long time for me. I always entered every project thinking that I wasn’t good enough for it. I kept going though, mostly because I wanted to prove myself at each gig. What I found helpful was to look thru my past work before I did a shoot. I would see the work I did and be proud and feel better going into a shoot. But, I think what helped the most were the people that I eventually surrounded myself with. Read more>>