We recently connected with Carolina Campuzano and have shared our conversation below.
Carolina , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I would say my mother she thought me to be responsible and to give my best at everything I do. Also I would say that being raised in Ecuador played a very important role in my life, back in the day schools were very strict which I’m so thankful for now.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My name is Carolina Campuzano, I was born in Quito Ecuador (South America)
I moved to the US on September 25th 2000 when I was 17 years old and I was a teenage single mom who barely spoke any English, raised my child alone and worked multiple jobs to support ourselves. I wanted to go to college so bad I wanted to be an architect or a designer because I love art but I was able to do it because I had to work so much. Years later I got married and had two other kids but my ex husband was an abusive narcissist who almost took my life multiple times. My marriage only lasted about 5 years and I think that him wanting to destroy me so bad is what made me push forward so hard and make something out of myself so that I can take care of my kids while making enough money working part time here and there. Since I loved art so much I wanted to find a way to make money using art and my talent.
I started to watch YouTube videos to learn how to make things for birthday parties like piñatas, invitations, centerpieces, favor boxes, you name it I can make anything! Somehow I came across balloons man man that changed everything!!! I realize that balloons can make you a lot of money if you learn to work them correctly so I invested in learning balloon decor and I’ve been doing that for 4 years now, I am not where I want to be yet but it has definitely changed our lives and I am so thankful and proud because I made a job for myself that has allowed me to raise my children alone being a single mom. Also brings me so much joy to bring joy to others when they see my work and are very thankful that I made their events beautiful. I help other celebrate their most important and special moments in life, I create memories for them how important and special that is? I’m so lucky!!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Invest in learning, at the beginning i watched tons of YouTube videos but trust me, that isn’t enough! You must invest in learning if you want to be the best
Things won’t be easy because I have to deal with lots of different people at the beginning people didn’t believe in me so I always made sure I went the extra mile no matter what to make sure clients were happy and trusted
Don’t let anyone or anything discourage you and keep you from your dream. Believe in yourself and go!!!!
My family was the last tu support they thought I was crazy because they didn’t believe i could support my family doing balloons. Thankfully I didn’t let them stop me.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
I stop everything and just BREATHE!! To calm myself down,
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