Meet EL A Panda

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful EL A Panda a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi EL A, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I think work ethic comes from your upbringing and where you’re from. I’m from Chicago. We’ve got grit. I won’t stop until I make it to exactly where I want to go. It’s kind of scary because at this point, I have nothing left. I’ve literally risked it all. If what I truly believe will work, doesn’t work, I’m not sure where I’ll end up or what I’ll do and that’s pretty scary. But the flip side to that is even scarier I guess. Not knowing that I did everything in my power to make this happen and quitting. That’s just never been an option. My brain just doesn’t work like that so I just live every day scared shitless- LOL!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am working towards launching my company HEEL TIP DRIP. We’re the first in the world to make high heel tips a fashion accessory. So instead of only being able to wear the plain black or tan tips that are offered now, high heel wearers will be able to rock DIAMOND DRIP TIPS, PLATINUM, GOLD, LEATHER, FEATHER, FUZZY, IRIDESCENT, FLUORESCENT…the possibilities are endless! If you love fashion, you know it’s all about the detail. HEEL TIP DRIP will allow you to customize your heels to go with all your outfits. It’s taken me over a decade to invent this new heel tip that I have been awarded multiple patents on. This new HEEL TIP DRIP TIP allows high heel wearers to swap out their heel tips without tools. So when your tips wear out you can just pull and twist them to remove them instead of trying to yank them out with pliers or having to take them to a cobbler to get professionally repaired. Now, instead of walking on worn out tips, which is super dangerous, you can switch your tips out seamlessly on the go. And now you’re not just swapping your tips because they’re worn out, you’re swapping them because you want to walk up with your DIAMOND or FEATHER DRIP TIPS on.

HEEL TIP DRIP IS CHANGING THE PARADIGM, SAVING HEELS ONE TIP AT A TIME.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
COMMITMENT. Being able to focus yourself and not give up no matter what – give it your all! Then no mater what happens, you can walk away knowing you did everything in your power to make it work. When it does work, it’s glorious!! And if it doesn’t, you can sleep at night knowing that you did everything in your power and it just wasn’t meant to be. My favorite saying is- LET GO, LET GOD.

PASSION. I don’t care what someone’s doing, if they’re talking to me like it’s the most exciting thing in the entire world, I’m not walking away from them. This is how I talk about all my projects because I honestly love what I do and explain it to whoever is asking or interested with so much passion they can feel my energy! The energy you put out is what you get back so be cognizant of that and let your good vibes shine through for everyone to feel and feed off of!

DO IT YOURSELF. If you can learn how to do something you don’t know how to, or even better, don’t think you can do, take the time to learn it. It’ll surprise you how much you can actually do if you just try! Once you learn how to do something, that’s yours forever to use in your “toolbox of life.” The more knowledge you have the more tools in your toolbox to build, create and conquer your dreams!

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
In my life, the person I’ve had to count on the most is myself. Like so many of us, I’ve had to believe in myself when it felt like no one else in the world did. Teach myself things that I probably should have already know. Love myself through the decisions I’ve made that have put me in terrible situations. Stop myself from doing self destructive shit to cover up the pain. Pick myself up when I was constantly being broken down. Build my confidence when I literally had none. These are things I didn’t grow up learning. They weren’t taught to me. This is all stuff I’ve had to learn on my own. I feel like I’m finally becoming who I’m meant to be. It’s taken me such a long time but I’ve never felt better, or closer to feeling whole in my life. No one can teach you that. It’s all about you figuring yourself out. When you become the best version of yourself you are able to do so much more for everyone else around you that you love. This is where I am right now. I’ve entered my higher self era. I know this because things that would have destroyed me before, I’m not even phased by now. I just feel like- BRING IT THE F*CK ON.

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