It’s okay to be scared, often that’s a sign that you are pushing yourself towards greatness. However, it’s equally important to build up your confidence and we hope the conversations presented below can help provide some food for thought around how you can level up your confidence and self-esteem.
Fanisha Davis
Building my confidence has definitely been a journey, and honestly, it’s something I work on daily. It didn’t happen overnight, and it’s not like I woke up one day and suddenly felt unstoppable. Confidence for me has been a consistent practice, kind of like a muscle that you have to keep strengthening. Read more>>
Mansi Mehra
In 2009, when I first arrived in this country, I experienced significant culture shock. I went through a period of self-discovery, trying to figure out where I fit in, which affected my confidence. Being in a new environment and starting a new chapter in life, I struggled with both self-confidence and self-esteem. Coping with self-esteem challenges involves recognizing your self-worth and actively working to nurture it. Read more>>
Charlene Holmes
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” – Les Brown . Confidence, for me, wasn’t something I was born with. It’s something I had to cultivate through hard work, deep self-reflection, and an unwavering commitment to heal. For years, I allowed fear and unresolved childhood trauma to keep me small, to make me feel unworthy of the success, happiness, and love I truly desired. But as Les Brown so powerfully reminds us, fear can hold us back from living fully, and I refused to let that be my story. Read more>>
Jason Hopcus
I developed my confidence and self-esteem through a transformative process of embracing vulnerability, self-compassion, and authenticity, as I share in my new book Get Unstuck and Move Forward With Your Life. For many years, I believed that external success—whether in the form of financial gains, professional achievements, or validation from others—would heal the deep emotional scars I carried from childhood. However, after my world crumbled following personal and professional ruin, I realized these outward symbols of success were a facade, masking my internal struggles with self-worth and emotional pain. Read more>>
Jen Cadet
Developing my confidence and self-esteem has been a journey shaped by a few key experiences. Firstly, I had to learn and practice self-compassion. Putting effort into treating myself with kindness during setbacks and repeating positive affirmations helped foster a healthier relationship with myself. This combination of strategies has helped me cultivate a more confident and resilient mindset over time. Read more>>
Georgia Lyman
I was an actor for many years. I trained as one, I always wanted to be one, and I never thought I’d do anything else. As an attractive, young woman with some talent, I grew used to many eyes on me, and praise for my work. I felt alive when I was performing, and relished and respected the applause and acclaim. Read more>>
Neva Healer
Developing confidence and self-esteem has taken time for me (like over 40 years!). After more than 10 years of working in the field of Chinese medicine, I looked around and thought, I can do this. It is my time to create my signature style of medicine. As well, what helped me was my own healing journey. I learned through healing my own childhood trauma and regulating my own nervous system. I saw myself feeling better in my own skin, being able to relax, being able to help others with more ease. I finally saw that I am worthy and I am deserving. Read more>>
Josette Gastonguay
In a word, practice. I wasn’t born confident. For me, confidence isn’t a natural talent, it’s a well-developed and frequently practiced skill. I’ve had to work hard and practice regularly to strengthen and maintain my confidence “muscles”. It’s possible if you were to ask someone who knows me, they may say I’ve always been confident, but I would say I’ve always been passionate and that can sometimes come across as confidence; but if I appeared confident in my younger years, it was most likely a mask I was wearing. True confidence didn’t come for me till I hit my forties. Read more>>
Veronica Gutierrez
By nature I have always been confident. The key to confidence as a quote I heard when I was very young. Was in a book tilted “What other people think of me is none of my business” by Terry Cole-Whittaker. Read more>>
Kenyatta Hudson
I developed my confidence and self-esteem by focusing on myself and not what others are doing around me, I became my own competition. My goal is to be a better me by the day, a lot of meditation and prayer was also involved with this, on the other hand, I had to put in my own work as well. Meaning, fighting my own demons and past trauma, knowing that’s what makes me who I am. Choosing to Let it bring out the best of me and not the worst. I had to understand that it takes confidence and great self-esteem to even be able to present myself to people. When it comes to confidence, people can smell it on you like dogs. Read more>>
Jenna Hernandez
My peak moment of self-confidence and self-esteem came after hitting my lowest point. The pandemic, a toxic relationship, and burnout from constantly helping others left me feeling lost. As a school counselor, I often encourage my students to advocate for themselves and embrace their emotions, but I realized I wasn’t living up to that advice. I felt like I was being fake, which drove me to work hard on fixing my broken parts so I could continue helping my students authentically. While my students often thank me for the kindness, love, and care I show them, during this time, it was me thanking them. They helped me find myself again and learn how to love this new me. Read more>>
Janet Navarro
The question is in the past tense as if my confidence is already developed. Yet, my answer is that my sense of self-confidence, my self-esteem, my sense of self, as it were, is very much an ongoing project with peaks and valleys, highs and lows, ebbs and flows. For me, acknowledging the ongoing nature of it, I think, has been my key to developing it. Meaning, I have to work at it. For me, working at it includes 1) making sure I try new things and continue to work toward goals that take me way out of my comfort zone, Read more>>
Seth Garrington
For me it was a slow build over time. I spent a lot of my life worrying about what other people felt about me. I worried about how I was being perceived, and before coming out I spent a lot of time wondering how I identified. After I came out and started expressing myself, I realized people treat you differently if you are confident in yourself. Each time I tried something new and explored myself, if you go out into the world with your head up and even faking it until you make it, people are receptive. And I’ve had many experiences in my life where people have told me “I wish i could express myself like you.” and I am always so stern about anyone can. Life is too short not to have fun decorating your avatar, is what I always say lol. That gives me more motivation to keep being myself. Read more>>
Twila Mcgee
From a young age, I developed a strong sense of self-awareness which has grown my self-esteem and still is growing, along with an understanding of various topics (my confidence) which I utilize to assist myself and others. An essential aspect of my self-esteem and confidence stems from knowing myself and recognizing the power of choice. Unfortunately, many individuals either relinquish control over their lives, allowing circumstances to unfold on their own, or they base their lives on others’ expectations rather than their own. Read more>>
Jaejoon Ha
I always wanted to participate in many competitions, and when the competition ended and the winner was announced, I always had low confidence and self-esteem. I was always depressed. But, I had to keep upgrading my work. To build my confidence and self-esteem, I went out to the streets and walked around New York City. I tried to overcome myself by walking every day and taking pictures with people in the city. Read more>>
Nicholas Benassutti
Developing unbreakable confidence is crucial when building a business from the ground up. Confidence isn’t just a trait you’re born with, it’s something that grows through consistent, diligent action over time. The journey of entrepreneurship has its highs and lows, but the key to prevailing is staying confident in your abilities, no matter the setbacks. Read more>>
Suzette Bologna
I developed my confidence and self-esteem through the profound love and unwavering support of my father, who always encouraged me to explore my creativity. From the moment I took my first steps, I felt an irresistible pull toward the kitchen, mesmerized by my father’s exceptional Italian culinary skills. I vividly remember the excitement of pulling up a chair to assist him, starting with something as simple as cracking eggs. That small act was a gateway to a lifelong passion for baking and cooking. Read more>>
Leanna Williams
Like a lot of us, I spent most of my life hating my body, and myself. I could never look in the mirror and say I loved or liked myself. I was born in 1995 at the height of diet “skinny” culture and was surrounded by addiction, neglect, and abuse until I could fend for myself at 18. All those factors led to me having a very negative mindset and belief system in place for my survival. My upbringing had made me believe that I was lazy, stupid, ugly, and worthless, as a child when you are told these things by the adults around you, of course, you are going to believe it, and I did until I was 24 years old. Read more>>
Betty Encinales
I developed confidence and self-esteem by consistently practicing and facing the things I don’t want to do every day. It’s only by stepping outside your comfort zone that you truly build confidence. Self-esteem is an ongoing journey; you have to keep loving who you are and where you are in life. Be kind to yourself while continuously striving to improve. Progress comes from practicing, working, and evolving little by little. The key is putting in the effort every day. Read more>>
Maria Sampalis
Confidence comes from within. I believe that the obstacles we face and failure we overcome makes us successful over time. I am usually hard on myself. I set high expectations and goals. I plan out goals 1 week, 1 month 1 year and 5 years. Reaching each goal I gain confidence. Self esteem comes from myself. I can delay gratification which I feel is important in business to continue to focus on the journey. I don’t need validation from others to justify my goals. When you don’t compare yourself to others then don’t feel bad. The only competition is in the mirror. Am I being the best version of what I can be? I focus on the hard things so I am prepared for whatever is thrown my way. You wanna be a CEO than get in a room with people that are doing more than you compete up stop competing down. See if you can match the same intellect, strategic thinking, reading the room, handling conflict and rejection. I have become confident in my decisions because of all the rejection, it can only go up from there. Read more>>
Marcy Bullock
Growing up, I was fortunate to have strong role models, especially my mother, a Navy veteran, who instilled in me a sense of resilience, and the belief that I could achieve anything through hard work and perseverance. She loved me with every fiber of her being, and I learned that my potential was unlimited. She taught me the importance of trying, making mistakes, and learning from each failure, always encouraging me to get back up with more wisdom than before. This mindset shaped my self-confidence and self-esteem, as I embraced the idea that growth comes from taking risks and learning through every experience. My upbringing was a foundation of strength and adaptability, allowing me to navigate life’s challenges with determination and grace. Read more>>
Lara Frazier
Last year, a week after I broke up with my boyfriend at the time and moved into a new apartment, that apartment burned down. I lost about half of my stuff. About a month later, my car got broken into and more of my stuff got stolen. I was a peak self-hatred at that point. I think having such extreme things happen to me made me realize that hating myself was only causing me more pain and suffering, so I decided to try loving myself instead. I didn’t think it would be that easy, but it surprisingly did. I just kept acting like a person who loves themselves would. I told myself that I was beautiful, smart, funny, talented, and creative. I started believing the compliments people were giving me instead of thinking they were just being nice, and my quality of life improved drastically. Read more>>
Zipporah Sowell
It took countless times of trial and error for me to exude the confidence I do today. Although people assume I woke up with this confidence, I wasn’t always confident. For most of my childhood, I had low self-esteem and didn’t believe in myself enough. As a result, I always compared myself to others and believed I was either not enough or too much. While I had parents who always encouraged me and told me I was beautiful, I just didn’t feel enough despite their support. It is true that I struggled with low self-confidence for a majority of my childhood, but I was really good at pretending, so most people couldn’t tell. Read more>>
Shailyn Ramsey
Growing up, I struggled when it came to my confidence and self-esteem. I always felt like I was never good enough. I felt like if I couldn’t master something fast enough, I was never going to be able to do it. I went through many years of depression and therapy for me to finally feel like I was worth more than what I thought of myself at the time. People always would tell me that they wish they were confident like me but the reality was, I was not confident at all. Somehow, I gave off that persona but I believe it was because I never wore my heart on my sleeve. Nobody truly knew what I was going through but I always wanted to make sure it seemed like I was fine when I wasn’t. Read more>>
Genevieve Jerome
I was raised by a mother who was extremely insecure and felt that bodyweight and body image were everything. Being a naturally curvy Italian woman, I decided I needed to find the confidence within me that my mother never had. I didn’t want to bring her insecurities with me into adulthood or have them go onto the next generation. I found confidence through working out, running, spending time in nature, belly dancing, and writing. All of those things shaped me into the person I am today. Read more>>
