Meet Gina Salazar

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gina Salazar. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Gina, so happy to have you on the platform and I think our readers are in for a treat because you’ve got such an interesting story and so much insight and wisdom. So, let’s start with a topic that is relevant to everyone, regardless of industry etc. What do you do for self-care and how has it impacted you?

Gina Salazar – Please correct my first name as names are important and hold a very personal story of mine.

Some people may say that Self-Care is selfish because we live I’m a society that teaches us and or show us that when you focus on ourselves, we are either conceded and or self absorbed and that we have to be a people pleasure in-order to feel accepted and seen. Society may say, we also have to think of others above ourselves, that could mean, a spouse, children, family and close friends. There is a saying, “when you are on a plane with a child, and if the air bags came down, who would you place the air bag on first?” Everyone that I have asked this question to, their reaction was to the child. I say, we have to put it on ourselves first to make sure that we are able to stay alert, alive and healthy in order to provide the support and care of the child; once we place the air bag on us, that is when we place the air bag on the child. This is a great example of honoring yourself first, so you can take care of others. That is what Self-Care is all about to me. It’s very simple; in order to take care of our loved ones, we first need to take care of ourselves. Pouring the care into ourselves is adorning ourselves with love, patience and ultimate care. This could look like, carving time out for you on a daily, it could be however long you can have alone time for, maybe as a parent running a household you may have 30 or 40 minutes to yourself, take those minutes an do what makes you happy. If that is a nap, naps are healthy, as it helps us to replenish our energy so we can do more. If you have a stressful occupation, take those required breaks to do something that makes you happy, if that’s taking a a nap (you know I love my naps) and setting an alarm so you can wake-up and refresh yourself. A packed lunch with all your favorite foods and snacks is another way of Self-Care and honoring yourself. It’s actually a reflection on how we see and love ourselves. In order to have the energy to pour love into our loved ones and how we show up as leaders, by honoring our mind, body and spirit is when we have the strength and power to pour into others. Self-Care is basically a mirror a reflection of how much we truly love ourselves. By pouring into myself, honoring my mental, physical and emotional needs on a daily basis, I have to be able to show up for my loved ones and in my organization and communities in a more stable healthy way. I like to say, I am filled with joy, like an “Optimus Prime”, yes I am a Autobots and Transformers fan, as Optimus Prime embodied unwavering courage and demonstrated true strength in character. My positive energy force is filled with joy and love, only because I put myself first. Self-Care is very simple, know who you are and what makes you happy and do just that, like Optimus Prime used to say, “Freedom is the right of all sentiment beings”, living live authentically is true freedom.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

My heart is in two places, I was born and raised in San Francisco, and got grounded in Oakland, CA. I have been in the nonprofit sector for about 18 years now, as a single parent of two for 30+ years and creating a healthy lifestyle by incorporating a work-life balance, has allowed me to grow into the nonprofit field. I started my nonprofit career in early 2000, providing support in group homes. I then have worked my way up from supervisor, manager to director level, from Operations to Compliance to designing and building new programs for organizations to now, starting and operating my own nonprofit. I have been truly blessed to be in spaces where I had the opportunity to learn, grow, level up and soak in all the knowledge, it has definitely prepared me for my life journey path and purposes . However, while working in this field, I also saw organizations who had forgotten their “why”, and fall out of line with the mission and vision. The “why do they do what they do for the community and the downfall of this, I’ve seen nonprofits fail first hand. “There are leaders and there are those who lead”, as I quote from Simon Sinek, “Leaders lead with power and influence, and those that Lead to inspire”. I have seen many leaders in my nonprofit career that had forgotten what it took to lead with inspiration and instead, abused their seat of power. This allowed me to see the cause and effects of a true effective leader, and that is not the type of reputation I wanted to start. I knew that in order for me to show-up authentically so that I can lead with inspiration and integrity was just the type of leader I wanted to be. As a founder and Executive Director of SPARC, Single Parents Advocacy and Resource Center, a nonprofit I that was in my purpose to begin with, and in order to lead with true authenticity and integrity, started by me doing the inner personal work myself; battling my inner hurts and pain from my upbringing. Which meant, I needed to dig deep to the roots of any pain and trauma so that I can fully love myself. I focused on re-parenting my inner child, and worked through my personal childhood trauma and wounds; weather that be neglect, physical and mental abuse from my caregivers, who only did what they were taught and what resources they had. Doing the deep inner work and doing what it takes to see my where shame and guilt was being carried in my life and do what it takes to do my shadow work. Doing the hard work to heal from generational trauma should be a new required framework for any social change leaders. Having the experience and understanding of how organizational toxins has a deeper root in a broader societal force of oppression. No matter what challenges we face as leaders, we have a choice to step fully into being a leader who takes full responsibility for every situation in our organization and become leaders who lead to inspire with authenticity. We know there is tremendous suffering in the world, we see it every day, and the only thing that may make a difference, is to actually lead with integrity in order to make an impact in our organization and the communities we serve.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

If I was to look back and think about my nonprofit career, I knew I had to stay true to my authentic self, no matter what I saw and the culture I had to endure with not able to use any of my power as a leader to help change, as I believe it was all in my life’s purpose for me to see, as it allowed me how some leaders show-up, and when people show you who they are, believe them! I had to keep at the forefront of my heart, to never forget my purpose in life, my passion and personal vision for myself, and the legacy of my footprints that I would leave behind for my children and loved ones. I knew I wanted to show-up in spaces as a leader who leads to inspire and make an impact in the communities with integrity, authenticity and grace. Since the COVID pandemic, it has created a huge opportunity for entrepreneurship, in which I truly believe is an amazing thing, especially for new innovative leaders to emerge and share their gifts with the world. Leaders should be thinking of how we show-up as leaders in our community, because our leadership style shapes the environment of our organization where the work take place. As organizational leaders, we need to be very mindful of who we partner-up with because having an understanding as a leader and the examples of what we do, can create a domino effect for organizational toxins and the effects it can have in our communities and the people we serve. Not to mention, that it always starts from the top down, so as leaders it is vital to stay true to who we are and lead with true authenticity and integrity.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

As a single parent, a friend and a community leader, my schedule can sometimes get hectic and I can get very overwhelmed at times. I know myself, and that I am a very intentional person, so quality time is one of my love languages, spending time with my adult children, my loved ones and friends. Being an effective leader who leads with integrity in the community, calls for a lot of personal inner work, so needing time for myself is very important, it allows me for self-reflection, meditation, reading and creating a schedule for planning out my days and weeks ahead, helps me to have real one-on-one time with my loved ones, while I keep aware of the capacity of my energy, allows me to focus on what makes “Gina” happy. From my favorite foods and places to visit, to road trips and travels, I can then pour and give to others as I have poured and given to myself first. I can then emerge into communities and surround myself in spaces where I choose and want to be, so that I can live my life to the fullest. What I love and admire about myself is that, I am aware of what makes me happy, what keeps me grounded helps me to be comfortable in my own skin, as I pour into myself, then I can pour into others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sparcjoysingleparents.org/
• Instagram: sparc49