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.
Amaka Marchie
I had a lot of rejection therapy, before I even knew what it was called. I learned very early that closed mouths don’t get fed, so I was very vocal about what I wanted out of life. Not everyone was able to help me, but all I needed was one person to say yes. One person turns into two, then four. Before I knew it, I had so many people in my corner that spoke life into me and supported my ambitions. My community helped me believe in myself, and now I truly feel like I can do anything I set my mind to. Read more>>
Héctor L. E. Olivencia
Developing the confidence and self esteem requires compromise with yourself. The willing to heal is the key for grow and success in every area… for the up course of your entire life. To be where I am right now required a lot of healing and still I’m healing (it is a day by day thing). Confidence was (what I believe it came from) due to my desire of adventures and new experiences. Someone asked for volunteers for a summer camp and I said: yes, why not? This helped me to get to a setting in which I was way out of my confort zone. Read more>>
Dorothy Mcmahon
My confidence comes from my upbringing. I had a very intense childhood when it came to judgement and teasing. I have been vegan since birth so felt labeled as the odd one out from the very start. Because of this I got very comfortable in being different. Seeing differences between people as a celebration rather than something that separates us. This way of viewing myself and others has built a lot of self worth inside me. I love being different and find confidence in being so. Read more>>
Thom Boy
Today, I am 25 years old and up until around a year ago, I was in a very different person than I am now. Not so much outwardly (debatable), but the way that I think about myself and the world has shifted quite a bit. Luckily for me, I can pinpoint the very ~thing~ that changed the course of my life. DRAG. In November 2023, I entered an amateur drag competition for charity. I had just gotten out of a relationship and quit my job around this time and I was ready to just go for it. Drag is something that I had thought about doing for a long time, but I never fully dove in. Read more>>
Meg Bucaro
I am no psychologist but I believe it only helped that I was raised in a household where my parents were very attuned to raising confident daughters. They were very involved, pushed us to believe in ourselves, treat others respectfully, they let us “mini-fail”, and taught us to think positively about any challenges ahead of us. Read more>>
Anyla Williams
As an adolescent, I was very shy and bullied all the time. Growing up, my parents weren’t the best of role models. It was only until I reached my senior year of high school that I started becoming confident. When I graduated, I went through a very hard breakup and decided to start working instead of going to college. I immediately realized working there just wasn’t for me (and I have a chronic illness which makes doing a lot of things very hard). So one day, I saw a quote that said something along the lines of if you’re craving better that’s because deep down you know you deserve better. Read more>>
Bushmama Africa
My confidence and self-esteem changed after doing lots of reading on our history of black people before slavery. I began to innerstand that are magical being, fragments of God. Soul power in the flesh. The original beings on earth. This over standing quality of us radiates in our being once activated and released from the imprisonment of our colonized mind. The awakening that has happed to me and within me over the last 50 years has shown me the power and resilience of my people and it alone has given me a deep seated strength and vulnerability that keeps me tuned into that power so that I have no fear to do what I was sent here to do. Read more>>
Andrew Suvalsky
I always have had a good / strong sense of my passions, interests and a desire to attain a ‘higher’ level of access to things that interested me. This is not the same as confidence, but it’s a good ‘engine’ to help develop confidence. As I pursued interests and found where my talents lie, I nurtured that and believed that I needed to be engaged in those areas of my life to feel “whole and with purpose”. This is something I also have always thought was my right, or destiny. At times my interests and pursuits were definitely not aligned with my piers, or so I thought, which in turn to some extent didn’t help my confidence. Read more>>
Taylor Howie
I never thought a color could change so much in my life, but orange really did it for me. I found my confidence—and a huge turning point in my business—through this one bold, vibrant color. I’m a professional wedding photographer, and, as you probably know, the market is insanely saturated. I really wanted to stand out but also be myself. I wanted to work with couples who loved my work but also clicked with me—my personality, my energy, and everything that makes me unique. Read more>>
Lilliebrook Perry
I developed my confidence by looking at what was holding me back from experiencing it. Confidence is something that all of us have, we’re born with confidence and self-assurance, but based off of how our environment responded in our early years, most people either develop a sense of depleted or inflated confidence. I was hurt badly at a young age, around 3 years old, and I kept it inside as a source of shame. My internal sense of insecurity was fed and nourished by my experiences in the next many years of life, I began to believe that there was something wrong inside of me. When I started the Grinberg Method as a client, I experienced more sure-footedness simply from re-connecting to my body (since my body, like all of ours knows how to be confident). Read more>>
Savanna Morgan
I learned at a young age that comparison is the thief of joy. I stopped comparing myself to others when I was maybe 11 or 12 years old, because by that time it was clear to me that I cannot please everyone. I was bullied constantly for my weight, my skin complexion, my hair texture, etc. to the point where I had to develop my own sense of self-validation and self-confidence simply to survive the terror I faced against my peers. I think lots of black women, but especially those who are dark-skinned and/or plus-size (by Western standards), can relate to having negative societal traits projected onto us even from girlhood. In order to build lasting self-esteem, I had to learn to remove myself from places and people that are not capable of seeing my personhood fully. Read more>>
Shima Oliaee
No one wants to hear this, but self confidence comes from living and fighting through painful experiences you wish you didn’t have to. It comes from surviving crushing events. Times that should’ve broken you. I did not really know myself until then. In Buddhism they say that only by defeating a powerful enemy can one prove one’s real strength. “Really? That is the only way?” I used to think. Yes. Unfortunately it’s true. A complication of that is you cannot go looking for this fight. However, if you live boldly and brightly, it will find you. I remember having this professor in a Women in the Arts class back in college. I was 19? I told her I worried I didn’t know what I was here for, what I was meant to stand up for. Read more>>
Erica Sanchez Mascio
As a witch, i’m often seen as a problem solver, someone people know they can come to when seeking advice, guidance or a helping hand. People often assume that because I’m capable of helping them with their issues that I’ve never had to deal with any of my own. Not true, especially at the beginning of my journey. Back then, I was dealing with a lot of self doubt which brought on the insidious grip of low self-esteem. Read more>>
Louis Joseph
The foundation of my self-confidence and self-esteem was laid during my childhood, thanks to my father, Louis Joseph Sr. He would constantly remind me, with unwavering passion and energy that I could be anything, achieve anything, and overcome any challenge. His words weren’t just statements—they were a force, delivered with such conviction that it was impossible not to internalize them. He embraced challenges with enthusiasm, almost as if they were a savory meal he couldn’t wait to devour. Watching his confidence and fearless approach to obstacles sparked my own journey toward building self-belief and self-esteem. Read more>>
Sara Nunez
I developed my confidence and self-esteem by embracing the strengths, knowledge, and resilience that my name represents. My mom and mentor played a pivotal role in awakening the power within me, guiding me to explore and discover my true self. My mom saw my natural intelligence in me and pushed me to focus on learning in school and becoming a professional woman. My mentor taught me to dream and visualize who I wanted to be when I grew up and I did. I believe in my dreams and I made them true by being determined, doing what is right, or developing integrity to the max while loving everything I do or every moment I live, I call that “passion”, which is one of the best superpowers I have. Love makes the imposible posible. Read more>>
Rollonda Coxx
The funny thing about confidence is that you can be confident about literally ANYTHING. Others will only pick up on the confidence, but they draw their own conclusions for what you are confident ABOUT by using their context clues. While I have been told I am “overconfident”, it is no secret to me that I am VERY confident I have no idea what I’m doing. It is scary, traipsing through the unknown we call life. Be it pursuing a new experience, starting a new job, hosting a show that was shaken like a snow globe behind the scenes before the curtain goes up, or pursuing a potential romantic partner I believe is out of my league- being confident about something, ANYTHING helps develop my outward appearance of an “overconfident” person. I think it is something we can all use in our daily lives to overcome our doubts and inhibitions. Read more>>
Leslie Jordan Garcia
Growing up, I often felt like I was swimming upstream, constantly trying to conform to appearance standards that never included me. Whether it was my natural hair, my fuller body, or even just the way I moved through the world, I always felt like I wasn’t “enough” or I was “too much”. It was a lot because I am a gregarious extrovert and was always trying to meet people and fit in! I spent years trying to shrink myself—physically, emotionally, and mentally—to fit into spaces that weren’t designed for me. Read more>>
Arohi Sawant
Building confidence for me was never an instant revelation or a single moment of bravery; it was a long, winding journey of self-discovery. I spent countless hours sketching, experimenting, and refining my skills—not just to get better, but to find my voice. There were days filled with doubt and others brimming with excitement, but through it all, I knew I was carving out something uniquely mine. Read more>>
Katie Troutman
For me, confidence comes from knowing what this program is providing. It comes from believing in the people I surround myself with and knowing that every one of them has the same goal- that each child that attends any of our Awaken Education programs will be unconditionally celebrated, supported and included.
Confidence also comes from my belief that we all have value and purpose, so there is no reason not to feel confident if we are all doing our own thing, in our own lane. Read more>>
William Trostel
This has been a very hard one for me, and still is. For many years when I had just gotten into photography and videography it was very hard to hear criticism, even if it were constructive. But now I’ve come to realize that there are billions fo people in this world, all with different opinions. You can’t win every battle. Read more>>
Mimi Foxx
I think going through my early to mid- twenties really solidified my self worth and helped me really put my best foot forward. During those years I had a lot of life lessons to learn and go through to get me to the point I am at today. As a young adult in the music scene you get a lot of feedback and constant harsh criticism, but that only made me work harder and that really helped me be confident in myself, and in my work. I used to be really hard on myself in my earlier twenties because you’re so unsure of yourself at times.The older I have gotten , the more hardships and struggles I’ve had to face. The tough times have really helped me understand who I am and have the confidence to know I can succeed at anything I put my mind to. Read more>>
Sumire Gemz
I see confidence and self- esteem as seeds we are born with. Depending on how much they are watered or how much sunlight given, determines how vast it grows. I also believe that some of us can have premature growth within our seeds which allows for faster growth than others. I for sure was NOT given one of those seeds. Confidence never came easy for me. Because I never felt physically attractive to the outside world, I always felt like I had to live up to the only gift people saw which was intellect. I was a quiet shy girl who always had their head in a book hoping for the day that I would be seen for more- as more. Read more>>
Deep Bhatia
At the tender age of 11, I was put into Bollywood dance classes by my mother along with my elder sister. I had a strong belief that dancing was only for girls, and that guys did not dance, but rather played a sport. This was also the time that I was enrolled in Cricket class, and at the time, my dream was to grow up and become a professional cricket player. I sobbed and tried to convince my mother not to put me in for dance, as I was ashamed that my friends and peers would make fun of me. But my mother was persistent, and believed that this would be really good for me, and to my surprise back then, she was absolutely right. Read more>>
Van-alan Nguyen
I had very low self-esteem and confidence when we opened our first restaurant. I
was inundated with challenges on a daily basis, some of which there’s simply no way to anticipate or prepare for. I used to live in fear of the unknown, believing that any one of these issues could ruin our business. But, they never did. After a while, I began to believe in our ability to overcome. Read more>>
Nahrin Chowdhury
In truth, confidence is none of these. The word itself comes from the Latin con (with) and fidere (trust), meaning self-trust. Confidence is a belief—a deep acceptance of who you are, an assurance in your abilities, and the trust that you can navigate life’s challenges, even in the face of fear. Read more>>
Alvaro Valiente
Developing confidence and self-esteem has been an ongoing journey, shaped by my experiences both behind the camera and through personal growth. I began my career as a programmer, which was a much more solitary role compared to photography. Switching to a creative field, especially one where you’re often collaborating with brands or capturing spontaneous moments, pushed me out of my comfort zone. Read more>>
Travis Morris Chapman
Well, I think that Confidence and Self-esteem come from One origin, Knowing Who You Are and Who You are Not. I’ve realized, that the only thing that kept me in CONSTANT confusion, fear of the Unknown (The unawakened truths about Myself & Life), and the un-sturdiness of my strength was me not KNOWING myself. By Being myself I’ve allowed a Light which is Me, experience a Life where Being me, Experiencing that, and Choosing Me creates a Limitless array of Infinite possibilities of how that can be Expressed in The World. Because You can ONLY experience what You Are. So if you perceive yourself as Infinite, you will be met with an hyper-expression of how Grand and Creatively BOUNDLESS Life Really Is. Read more>>
Yulia Bliznyukova
I wouldn’t say that I completely developed it.
But for the past couple of years I’ve been working on that actively.
It got way better and I became very self conscious about what I am thinking.
Cause everything comes from within and we shape our reality with every single thought.
Also whatever we are thinking about ourselves, the external world will mirror it to us instantly.
So if I feel unconfident and insecure, no good can come out of it – I can loose a lot of possibilities and good things in life. Read more>>
Layla Shaikley
When my 4-year-old recently told me, “Mama, someone said my teeth look big,” my first instinct was to reassure him that being different is okay. I started to say, “We are all made differently and—” but stopped myself. “That’s an interesting observation,” I said instead. “Why do you think he cared so much about the size of your teeth?” Read more>>
Stacey Lynelle
I have to say, my confidence and self-esteem developed while experiencing difficulties in my life. I think many would say they were brought up thinking well of themselves or their family instilled self-love and pride in who they are and what they do. I honestly can’t say that. Even though, I grew up in the church, Christianity was very much practiced but only to a certain extent. I realized later on in my life, my family was very narcissistic and lacked self-love and confidence in themselves, their talents and abilities, and in-turn made me also feel I was unworthy of things and being elevated. They trulywere the type of family which did things sheer out of tradition and to “keep up with the Joneses”. Read more>>
Rita Scott
Developing self confidence as well as self esteem is never an easy process. For me it was a matter of finding value within myself. I also wanted to be an example to my daughters and granddaughters that you can be who it is that God has called you to be regardless of your trauma. I also wanted them to know that in order to request and receive love from others you had to first love yourself. Read more>>
Samaria Kay Mims
Growing up, I struggled deeply with my confidence and self-esteem. I remember being bullied for my weight and hair, and how much it hurt to feel like I was never enough. It was a pain that stayed with me, making me feel isolated and unworthy. I would look in the mirror and see someone who wasn’t good enough, who didn’t fit society’s mold of beauty or success. My dreams of becoming a model and an actress felt distant, almost impossible, as if they were meant for someone else, not me. Read more>>
John Eisensmith
My confidence and self-esteem come from a life of setting super high goals, then going after them, getting feedback to do it better the next time (whether I achieved them or not), and recognizing how far I’ve come regardless of the outcome. As a kid, I was lucky to be in Boy Scouts and I had one pivotal hike that, in the first half, I was complaining, hating it, and just being negative about how hard it was. A few things happened during that hike that forever changed my outlook. First, I realized that I wasn’t going home and the only way out was to keep walking. And I could walk happy or I could walk mad, but it was going to walk regardless. Read more>>
Alejandra Garcia
My confidence and self-esteem were developed through a combination of personal growth, community support, and resilience. Growing up as a Mexican immigrant in the U.S., I faced the challenges of navigating two cultures, feeling different, and at times, facing language and identity barriers. These experiences initially left me feeling unsure of myself, but over time, they became the foundation of my strength. Read more>>
Jason Hensley
Conference comes from preparation. The way to be confident in anything is to have studied the topic and researched it. You must prepare in whatever way possible so that when you approach it, you know it inside out and when it’s time to perform all the hard work has already been done in training. Read more>>
Erica Mayr
It’s taken me a lot of time to develop my confidence and self-esteem. I think with age I have learned to not care what other people think. I uphold myself to the standard I want and as long as I am being true to myself and my mission in life then other people can pound salt. I am unapologetically myself to a fault. It’s taken a lot of years of getting bullied for being the ‘fat’ girl to people in the music scene early in my career telling me I am not ‘metal’ enough to people thinking they are just better then you in general. To all of them I say bluntly, kiss my ass. I am a thick woman who has embraced not only her singing voice but her voice as a strong independent, musician, business woman and bad ass. Read more>>
Saniya Jain
I grew up in a society where perfection was always worshipped and I wasn’t perfect. My parents inculcated a sense of confidence in me ever since I was a kid, that it’s okay to be different as long as I’m comfortable. They made sure I knew that I’m never going to be the best at everything but as long as I can make sure I’m always giving it my best, I’ll thrive! There were so many instances when the outcomes of my actions were less than desirable, however, at every step, they reminded me that failure is just another step towards success. Read more>>
Donte Watson
GOD has blessed me with so many gifts in this lifetime , and as a baby boy I remember GOD telling me I’ am going to give you all the best things & people in the world . All you need is premier confidence and self esteem. The way I developed that was through trail & error learning from what I could have gave more of not misteralistic or anything just being more of a leader in all the ways that I can , because not only does it have a great effect on my self but those around me and me and those who take it all around the world. And that can be done through various ways. Read more>>
Jojo Munroe
My confidence comes from my work ethic and my faith in God. I know the amount of work that I put in and the sacrifices I make so I trust that it will pay off. I believe that I am different from other people because of my ability to lock in and focus on the things that will actually make me successful. I have high expectations for myself and I know the life that I envision for myself so I have no choice but to overcome imposter syndrome or a lack of confidence to get there. Read more>>
Daniela Blagoeva
I believe confidence and self-esteem are built by doing the things that scare you and pushing past the limits you’ve set for yourself. It starts with taking small steps outside your comfort zone. For me, it was photography. I was shy and not naturally outgoing, but picking up a camera forced me to interact with strangers, make them feel at ease, and connect with them in ways I never thought I could. Each time I succeeded, it shattered the limiting beliefs I’d held about myself. Read more>>
Samantha Geerts
Developing my confidence and self-esteem has been one of the most impactful and transformative journeys of my life. In the past, I often struggled with self-doubt, which led me to abandon projects before fully exploring their potential. For example, my first entrepreneurial venture involved making and selling donuts with the dream of owning a donut truck. After a single batch that didn’t meet my expectations—though still flavorful—I quickly convinced myself that I lacked the skills and knowledge to succeed. This experience left me questioning my abilities. Read more>>
Victoria Lautman
I’m going to be very honest here, turn that question around, and admit instead that I struggle daily with issues of confidence and self-esteem, it’s an ongoing battle within myself starting from an early age – and I’m now in my 6th decade! But people around me always consider me as extremely confident and full of self-esteem, and I wonder about that chasm between truth and perception; what I’m projecting vs what I actual feel internally. Read more>>
Simmy Virk
I feel that I will always be a lifelong pursuer of unwavering confidence. However, I now feel much more confident in my 30s than I ever did before. In my 20s, my understanding of myself was superficial, and as the years went by, I faced the growing pains of adulthood. Through adversity, I was forced to make decisions that pushed me out of my comfort zone, teaching me to grow through challenges rather than ignore or run away from them. Read more>>
Lee Sharon
I developed my confidence and sense of self by embracing my strengths, acknowledging my progress, and practicing self-compassion. It has been a heartfelt journey, deeply influenced by my experiences and the unwavering support of my family. Coming from a modest background, I often felt the weight of my circumstances, but I was determined to create a brighter future—not just for myself, but especially for my two daughters. As a single parent, I want to be a role model for them, showing them that resilience and courage can light the way through challenges. Read more>>
Marvin Lim
It all started with a simple question while I was scrolling through Instagram reels, watching content creators whip up incredible dishes: “I wish this person…”—but then, my thoughts shifted. I remembered my relatives, talented chefs who lived paycheck to paycheck. They loved cooking, but their passion was slowly extinguished by overwork and underappreciation. I began interviewing chefs, and the story was heartbreakingly universal: 95% of them faced the same struggle. All they truly wanted was to cook the food they loved and connect with people through their creations. That realization sparked TheKitchenTable. Read more>>
