We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adrianna Munoz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Adrianna, 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.
Imposter syndrome looks different for everyone, and I hope that my story helps other professional women feel less alone. My journey to leadership and owning a business is not straightforward, I stumbled into both!
When I was a new registered nurse (RN) I lacked confidence in my skills and I was also a people-pleaser. I had a few notable failures in navigating interpersonal challenges due to lacking confidence and they taught me more than any success did. My failures included coming home feeling defeated and feeling like I needed to wear a mask or be hyper-professional, it was exhausting. That compounded with feeling like a minority at work as a Mexican-American woman.
I noticed I was allowing myself to feel small, so I started doing small things every day to help me develop confidence and step into a mindset where I owned my professional skills.
-I spoke up in meetings
-I asked my bosses for help
-I set boundaries with work and individuals
Over time I became better at owning my professional skills as a nurse and leader, and I started bringing my genuine self to work. That repetition of owning my skills and being authentic helped me shed the imposter syndrome mindset and into a new mindset. In this new mindset, I was willing to be vulnerable with people, authentic to myself, and confident in my skills.
My big takeaway is it takes time and intentional repetition to help change mindset.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I help women with big brains solve big problems as an executive coach.
It has taken me over a year to niche down and identify who I love helping most and how I help them. I started out as a communication coach to help individuals show up more assertively, throughout that coaching I found myself working best with women in leadership roles and I decided to gather more skills to help them best!
I’m not someone who jumps into big projects and hits the ground running. Yes, I like to make quick decisions, but since I want to make sure I can really help someone as a coach I wanted to put in as much work upfront in myself.
I promise to each of my clients that I’m as invested in their goals as they are. I bring 10 years of my own experience to help you maximize your impact at work while not losing yourself in the day-to-day.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Great question, for me these are the 3 skills:
-Resilience: healthcare is TOUGH, patients and staff can be harsh. I had to learn how to not take things personally and pick myself up after tough situations. This skill translates across my personal and professional career. This skill has helped me keep pushing forward when things don’t go my way; failure is fine, but I always got back up.
-Learning: I LOVE learning. The joy of learning new things has helped me reframe tedious tasks into opportunities to grow and refine new skills and new ways of thinking.
-Persistence: my dad says I learned to run before I could walk as a child, and when I fell I’d get back up. That story makes me chuckle! Now persistence looks like not taking “no” for an answer if my intuition is telling me to keep going. I also know that opportunities are endless, and each “no” I get brings me closer to the 1 “yes” I need.
My advice is something I wish I knew 10 years ago:
BET ON YOURSELF!
You don’t need a fancy professional title or years of formal experience to start pursuing your dreams.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Thank you for this question!
YES! I’m looking to collaborate with more women in leadership roles. I am releasing a podcast geared towards women in leadership roles to help my audience learn from their journeys and give people an opportunity to speak to the amazing work they’ve completed.
If you’re a:
-A women leader in STEM, I know work can feel lonely and you may be the only woman in the room- I’d love to chat.
-A small business owner who manages 5+ employees, I know it can feel overwhelming to manage the business and employees- I’d love to chat.
I have a lot of free resources and would love to feature YOU on my podcast.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ogdenpeak.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ogdenpeakcoaching/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriannamunozcoach
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
