BoldJourney is all about helping our audience and community level up by learning from the experiences of others. One of the most important topics we’ve been focused on sharing insights and lessons on is confidence building and self-esteem. Below, you’ll find some brilliant entrepreneurs and creatives sharing their perspectives and advice.
Malika Maxat
Honestly, it’s still a work in progress. In a world that’s always rushing, I’ve found that staying grounded comes from being kind to myself, appreciating my growth, and learning to value both my successes and mistakes. Confidence, for me, is about embracing the ups and downs, knowing that every step forward—even the tough ones—shapes who I am. I move forward with gratitude and a lot of enthusiasm, trusting that the path I’m on is the one that keeps me inspired and growing. Read more>>
Kelcie Johnson
Developing my confidence & self esteem was not always an easy journey. I grew up with loving parents who instilled those things in me but after two years in an abusive relationship, I had to rebuild my confidence & self esteem through prayer, meditation, self care & self help. I thank God for that I was able to rebuild myself because a lot of people never overcome. Read more>>
Anna Astarte
Building my confidence and self-esteem was a gradual process. Like many people, I had moments of doubt early in my career. But with each successful client and every challenge I overcame, I started to feel more confident in my skills and knowledge. Read more>>
Jill Labieniec
Feelings related to our worth and self-esteem can be tricky to navigate as creatives. We often tie our creative output to our identity and view our worth as intrinsically linked to our creative success. I’ve spent a lot of my career wrestling with my identity as both a person and an artist, often believing that it was mentally healthier for me to view these as two separate identities. If I failed at art, who cares…I’m still a kind and cool human… right? Read more>>
Umberina Rao
I built my confidence and self-esteem through a blend of habits and self-discipline. Some will argue that discipline is for the army, not for artists, but the discipline I speak of is one you would want to consider, regardless of your profession. One key lesson was realizing that keeping promises to yourself is just as important as keeping them to others. We often focus on accountability to others but neglect self-accountability. Did you get that workout in like you said you would? Did you finally schedule that appointment you’ve been avoiding? Did you start that book you’ve been raving about to your friends? When we consistently break promises to ourselves, we undermine our self-esteem and ultimately our confidence. Read more>>
Li Zhang
It is such a long process of developing my self-esteem. After experiencing various difficulties, I established my evaluation system. That’s quite important. And I have learned self-respect. It is essential to stay away from people and things that consume you. One last thing, physical exercises can help a lot. Read more>>
Brandon Harrison
To be honest, I’ve always been a pretty confident person. When it comes to the content I put out, I was already very confident in the way I dressed outside of social media. Whether that be from people complimenting my outfits throughout the years or me just feeling really comfortable and confident about an outfit I put together. There are times when I step out of my comfort zone that could make me feel not so confident because I’d be worried about someone’s opinion on the outfit. But I always would tell myself that just because someone doesn’t like what you’re wearing or doesn’t understand it, who cares. Read more>>
Alicia Benoit
I developed my confidence and self-esteem through a combination of education, practice, and positive reinforcement. By investing in my personal and professional development, I built a solid foundation of knowledge and skills. Read more>>
Dana Waldie
This is a really great question! When I think about it it comes from curiosity. Growing up in a small town in Michigan I wasn’t exposed to much. At a pretty young age, I knew I wanted to move to California. I was curious about life outside of my small town in Michigan. At 20 yrs young I packed my bags and moved to Los Angeles, CA. Looking back, I realize what a fearless move that was for me… courageous act #1 which ultimately helped me build my confidence and self-esteem. I was living in a big city with SO MUCH competition. Read more>>
Deby Kelley
my confidence was instilled in me by my mother. She taught me at a young age that as long as I set my mind to do something I could achieve success. Read more>>
Gayane Melikyan
I fell in love with Las Vegas back in 1999, when I was working at a travel agency and we received the brochures about tours in the US. I had no idea I was going to immigrate one day , but I knew for sure I was going to visit the city of my dreams one day. 3 years later, here I was walking the streets in real life and initiating a lifelong romance with Las Vegas. Through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, the challenges of immigration, single motherhood and the struggles along the way , I met my now husband who miraculously happened to live in Vegas. He embraced my sons as his own , we moved in , got married and had our precious boy together. Read more>>
Allison Ciarlone
I have been a stylist for almost 18 years and I was given the opportunity to work with some crazy talented women during a time that was very crucial in my career. My husband was injured on the job about 5 years ago and in need of surgery causing him to be out of work for 2 years. At the time I was a part time stylist working 16 hour weeks, balancing being at home with my children while my husband worked his full time job. This caused me to reverse roles, work really hard to enhance my career, my hours, and build my clientele. When you surround yourself with inspiring creative artists, you grow in more ways than you can imagine. Read more>>
Mia Alexandra
Oh boy. Before I start I think it’s important for me to say – it comes in waves. I don’t spend every day feeling super confident, I don’t know that is even possible, and for me, accepting that is the first big step towards being content with myself. There will always be ebbs and flows, but I think for me, it always comes down to building a relationship with myself. I’m very passionate about my alone time. It’s very important to me to make space for myself to sit with my thoughts and feelings. I feel my best when I’m doing things I’m passionate about. It can be anything from art to dancing to going to my favorite coffee shop to read a book. Read more>>
Ashlye Fleming
I have found in my life that there is a deep unsettling from doing something you aren’t meant to do. When I was younger and following a more traditional corporate path, this would eat away at me. I started to take some risks, and I found that with each one- whether or not it worked out in my favor, my confidence, self-esteem and resilience grew. There was a feeling of truly following my heart and being authentic that helped me overcome so much internal and external doubt. Read more>>
Heather Savikas
I feel like I’ve always had good level of self-esteem & confidence, but dance fitness has definitely help me grow them more! I will never forget the first class I took. I stood in the back corner because I didn’t want people to see me exercising/dancing. I was so self conscious of how I would look and what people would think of me. I felt like that for numerous more classes, but the more I did it the easier it became and I didn’t care what people were thinking of me. In reality, we all felt like that in that room. I quickly learned that I was there for myself- to be healthier, to have fun, to take a mental break, be confident in myself, be proud of myself- I wasn’t there for anybody else. Read more>>
Annie Holman
By the time I turned ten, I had moved fourteen times, each relocation placing me in a new school system, often in the middle of the academic year. During this tumultuous period, I was diagnosed with dyslexia, long before it was widely recognized or understood. As my academic records trailed behind me from one school to the next, I was frequently placed in special reading and math classes, which took a toll on my grades. In an attempt to help, doctors prescribed Ritalin, but it left me feeling disconnected from myself. Read more>>
Danny Rose
I would say my mom. She is the strongest person I know. I’ve always known in the back of my mind the things I’m capable of but she was always there letting me know I should never stop trying to be the best. Read more>>
Camm Lewis
Its so crazy because you would think that a person who choses to get up and sing in front of people would have a lot of confidence and self-esteem, but in my case its really the exact opposite. Its definitely got better over the years, but its still not great and in some ways really holds me back. I believe its important to not let the fear of failing stop you from doing something you really love so that belief is what really gives me the confidence to continue to put myself out there. Read more>>
Connor “the Conman” Hauser
Through constant failure. The ONLY effective method I’ve seen to help alleviate things like performance anxiety, low confidence and a negative attitude towards yourself is exposure to things you are uncomfortable with and to fail. Through failure you only birth the drive to do more and be better. It is also tantamount to have a good support system. Rally people around you who will push you and inspire you to do better through those failures. Read more>>
Vanessa Gelacio
I used to base my self-esteem on my performance at school and based on how many boys liked me. but those are all flawed principals, I am still trying to deconstruct social premises instilled in me because I like to question everything, I find confidence attaining knowledge and I make a list of what my core values are and make choices based on that. I also have a great therapist that I work with and we do cognitive restructuring to treat BDD and it has opened up the doors to so many questions I never even thought would be necessary to advance in life but they have hugely impacted my self esteem and confidence. Read more>>
Jordan Arrasmith
Growing up as a young, queer, mixed boy in a small Illinois farm town, I struggled because I always knew I was different. However, I really didn’t want to be. Even as an adult I have always felt that it’s been hard to find people that inspire me and words and things that truly resonate with me because I feel I’m so vastly different from the rest of the world. Because of this, I’ve always felt like an easy target for criticism: “Because other people are doing great at this, if you want to be great, you should do this too. Just like them.” Read more>>
Irina Kabak
I haven’t been this confident all my life. I was a very self conscious kid and young adult. Looking back I realize that it was coming from being poor and having only mother to raise me. However I was always ambitious, striving for better life. When I moved to USA I assimilated pretty quickly and saw many opportunities here which gave me some confidence to do what I like. In my opinion confidence is directly related to support system as well. If someone believes in you it makes easier to believe in yourself. Only years later I learned to believe in myself regardless of support system. With the help of therapy and constant self reflection I slowly developed self-esteem well enough to live the life I enjoy. Read more>>
Antony Chang
I love this question. This is the most important thing to start a business. I’ve been in sales for over 10 years and what is the most common thing in sales? Is that you will be facing tons of no’s each day. That’s how I develop my confidence and self-esteem. Only you believe in yourself can make others believe in you. As long as you believe the product you build is good for the world. It will sell itself. Read more>>
Phoenix Rodríguez
I developed my self esteem and confidence by realizing that this is my life and if i have to life it worrying about what other people think of me, i’d rather just not live at all. Read more>>
