We had a fabulous night last night, women gathered to focus on helping one another move toward doing their dreams, at our Love Your Life event in NYC.
My wonderful guest, Ashlina Kaposta, a.k.a. The Decorista, and I talked about her journey as a young college student, intimidated by the world of design, to now at just over 30 yrs old, taking NYC by storm as a blogger, designer, author, and business coach.
The nuggets of gold Ashlina’s story represents, hold true for all of us. I saw myself in her stories, and realize that all of us share common emotions and roadblocks as we venture toward new frontiers.
Here were a few of the a-ha moments where you could judge by audience reactions, we were hitting common experiences and emotions…
Fake it til you make it. This is about overcoming all the internal voices that say we’re not ready, and moving forward anyway. The ones who really achieve their goals are not the most qualified, they’re just the ones who do it.
Act like an expert. Everyone has expertise on something, OR minimally the desire to be seen as an expert. Ashlina talked about starting her blog four years ago and simply writing about her own ideas, perspectives, and thoughts on design. Little did she know top L.A. designers were reading her blogs and that’s what landed her a first design dream job.
What you love, others will love. Ashlina uses Instagram as a place to post photos that capture all things design that appeal to her. She figures what she wants to see, and how she describes these things, is what others will want to see too. She uses her own fun vocabulary, not because it’s perfect grammar, but because it sounds like her. This is why her following has grown.
Everyone can publish. With all the online tools available for aspiring authors, no reason you can’t get your work out there soon and become an author. This is what opened up many doors for her to be invited in as a design expert. I’ve found the same true in my career as a speaker. A book legitimizes your voice and is a wonderful way to expand your reach and prestige.
There was much more richness in our interview, but these highlights capture the gold. It all spawned a super dynamic networking exercise at the end, and judging by how many women lingered long after we finished, we hit the mark!
Thank you to Ashlina, and here’s to a day of dreaming bold til all your dreams come true!
