Adelheid Waumboldt’s Stories, Lessons & Insights

Adelheid Waumboldt shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Good morning Adelheid , it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
The first 90 minutes of my day are a well orchestrated symphony – familiar, constant, and routine. I am generally moving and getting things done before I am even fully awake, because of course – before all of my other work begins – I am a mother. The tasks are typical to all mothers in the morning – cooking breakfast, packing lunch, checking emails, and driving to school. The personal magic, though, begins after the drop-off.
For founders and professionals I find that my best morning advice is to start the day meditating. I focus on my goals, mantras, and regroup on my overall purpose after the chaos of morning motherhood transitions to agency powerhouse executive. After meditation, I head to the gym and run. Not only do I run, I run uphill and I sprint – and not because I particularly enjoy running. Rather, I enjoy the effects of running – a clear mind, a strong body, a spirit of fresh energy – where any negativity or off-track thought processes have been released and the day can begin fresh. Obviously this is more of a 2.5 hour block instead of 90 minutes – but the fact remains that once I begin my actual work around 9:30 AM, I have already uniquely addressed my home, my mind, my body and my spirit. I am able to laser focus because I have disciplined myself in these areas of my life. Discipline is one of the major keys of success.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Adelheid Waumboldt – founder of the ISET Agency. I work in the space where strategy becomes story, and story becomes influence. My work lives at the intersection of PR, advertising, and digital growth – but what I actually do is build systems that make people and brands impossible to ignore. I weave myth and reality, paving the road to the future, building foundations that last.
I’ve launched campaigns in politics, entertainment, religion, travel, and medicine — industries where timing, narrative, and perception are everything. I’ve led reputation architecture through crisis, built referral machines from scratch, and turned small businesses into destination brands. If it needs to move fast, go far, or last forever, I’m the girl. When a situation involves intense personalities, dedicated loyalty, thoughtful application, delicate subject matters, or something to happen “right now,” I usually get a phone call.
Beneath my engaged modern strategy is something older. I’ve spent years studying ancient languages and history — Latin, Greek, Old Norse — and that part of me quietly informs everything I do. I believe brand-building is a modern form of myth-making. The way we tell stories today still follows the same patterns used in temples, tablets, and scrolls. We’re not just selling products — we’re building memory, meaning, and movement.
Right now, I’m expanding into workshops and consulting — teaching the same systems we use behind the scenes to founders, PR/Ads/Marketing executives, public-facing figures, and small to medium size businesses. While my agency is able to help many people and companies throughout the world, there is something to be said for teaching the tools directly to those who need them. My particular goal with the workshop is to open this world of public relations, advertising and marketing to those who wouldn’t necessarily be able to engage my services monthly, but are looking to create the same program in-house. Send me your people, I will teach them the secrets to drive your business forward. We are creating legacy.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I chose to answer this specific question because I strongly believe in the reeducation of the human psyche regarding self-realization and reinvention. You can wake up any day and begin again, start fresh, change small or large things about yourself; if desired, you can literally wake up tomorrow and change everything. We are not beholden to the things we have experienced, as much as we can recreate our experience at any given time – and that is the beauty of this very interesting, very magical world. I often think about origin – of the individual, of humanity, of the entire universe which surrounds us, and while I strongly believe that the person we become is a compilation of our environment and experiences, there is no room to forget the immense human power of free will. You can literally decide to do or be anything, and no one can stop you when you find a state of perpetual motion forward. Will and freedom are synonymous – choose to be the best version of yourself and live your dreams, walk into your destiny – but first decide what your destiny will be!

So to answer the question, the world has given me endless possibilities. That is how we all begin – as possibility. I have tried different career paths, different environments; I have changed my mind as many times as I have changed clothes in a given day, but I am on a perpetual path forward, and the combination of all of these experiences have made me who I am. It is for this that I say: Choose wisely.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Several things I would say to my younger self include:

1) Your Moral Foundation is Everything: Never compromise your moral foundation for any person, goal, or gain. Compromising your morals is a greater loss than any gain could ever realize.

2) Never Lose Your Passion for Learning: I am lucky to be overly-excited about academic pursuits. I read often, value education, and need no encouragement to want to learn more, to be better, to reach higher. Reject discouragement of your academic pursuits in any area. Learn as much as you can about everything.

3) Have an Iron Core and a Pillow-soft Heart: Without losing your kindness or becoming jaded in any respect, be strong and resilient in your support of number one: yourself. Tightrope walk between strength and ease, find the beauty and the balance in knowing when to be tough and when to be malleable.

4) Sometimes the Best Thing to do is Nothing: If you do not have the perfect answer, don’t speak. If you do not have the right solution, don’t move. Do not be forced into action or reaction. Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing. Power often lives in restraint. Silence can be the most intelligent sound.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
My industry, like many modern industries, includes a lot of grifters. Media can be a lucrative endeavor, and lucrative endeavors are often flooded with amateur-hour interest sold as expertise. I honestly cannot tell you how many times I have had a client tell me that they have paid a public relations company well over five figures per month to receive little to no deliverables. It’s ghastly, and can really destroy a small business or personality’s responsiveness to the space. That said, the true professionals in this industry are not just capable – we are brand architects of the highest calibre – able to join lore and truth into a fibonacci spiral of success.
Here again, I have built a grand solution, because what is a grifter really, after all? An inspired individual without the tools they need. All the grifters should definitely come to my workshop – there will be four in the Los Angeles area alone in the next few months, with the first taking place on November 15 & 16. Come to me – I will teach you how to turn the grift into a real practice, I will show you how to get real media placements, build brand architecture that actually converts, and create narratives that don’t just sound good — they move the needle.
The biggest lie this industry tells itself is that perception is enough. That visibility is value. It’s not. True value is built through consistency, results, and integrity. Anything less is noise.
And I’m not here for noise — I’m here to build legends.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
I really believe everyone should be stacking Bitcoin. There’s a financial revolution happening around us — quietly for years, and now loud enough that it can no longer be ignored. I want everyone to win. And for me, Bitcoin represents long-term sovereignty, security, and a bet on freedom.

Of course, this isn’t financial advice — it’s simply what I believe.

I think more people, especially women and entrepreneurs, should give themselves permission to think in decades. Whether it’s building wealth, building a brand, or building a legacy — most of the best returns are slow and silent before they’re sudden.

I play the short gain games, but the long ones – the heritage bets – those are where dreams come true.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
John Pascha Visuals

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Betting on the Brightside: Developing and Fostering Optimism

Optimism is like magic – it has the power to make the impossible a reality

Highlighter Series
What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?

There is no one path – to success or even to New York (or Kansas).

Leadership Development
Finding & Living with Purpose

Over the years we’ve had the good fortunate of speaking with thousands of successful entrepreneurs,