The Design Business Show 105: Conscious Leadership with Vanessa Velez

Vanessa Velez is the founder of Clarity is Crucial, where she helps brilliant women elevate into the person their purpose needs them to be. She’s a 4th generation healer and intuitive, with a Fortune 500 background and indigenous roots.

Before taking the entrepreneurial leap, she led a corporate career in a male-dominated industry as a leader, trainer and professional problem solver – a path that would be forever altered the day she resigned and dove all in to her purpose.

Since then, she’s worked with women from San Diego to Sweden – in person and online, hosted group workshops and events, taught live online and on stage, created her own products, programs and the Clarity is Crucial podcast – all with one clear aim…

To help brilliant women lead and be the person their purpose needs.

Here’s what we covered on the episode:

How Vanessa and I met because we are both in a mastermind group of Erika Lyremark’s, where Vanessa was the guest speaker recently
The reason why Vanessa is here to have a conversation about how to show up as a conscious leader when it comes to design
Vanessa tells her story of working for a electric utility provider where it was male dominated and how she felt empty even though she had all of the nice things
What changed for Vanessa when her grandma got very sick and how she realized if she died tomorrow she would have a lot of regrets
After her grandma’s experience helped awaken Vanessa, she planned her exit strategy from the corporate world which took about two years because she was hosting support groups at the same time as her transition
How in the early days Vanessa had a offer called, Soul Coaching which is how she got her start and received most her clients from word of mouth and referrals
Vanessa shares that she is the guinea pig for all her offerings so she knows that they’ll work and how sometimes they are just what she needs and then she puts them into the world
Why Vanessa teaches a very holistic view that dives into leading your own thoughts, emotions, spirituality, raising your level of consciousness, and how to handle things when you get triggered- things you don’t hear enough about
One thing that lights Vanessa up is working one on one with clients so they can get into the nitty gritty and walk with them through their transformation
After Vanessa works one on one with them in the leadership program, some clients go on with her to work on a creative project they’re bringing out into the world
How people who do the leadership programs see a difference in their business and in their personal life and how social justice needs to be the same; you need to see it not only in your business, but in your daily life as well
Vanessa shares that you need to ask yourself, what did you do for social justice today and what does social justice even mean to you
One thing Vanessa does before posting is asks herself if this is true to her and thinks about how she wants people to feel when they read the post
Vanessa explains that if you are only posting for PR, your audience will feel that, but if it comes through authentically, then you put out the intention to inspire someone to do the same
Anytime you want to make something part of your identity, Vanessa says that you should find small risks everyday that make you feel aligned with what you’re valuing
Why you need to take the small risks is because it will help you build the courage and confidence to take bigger risks when it comes to having a more difficult conversation
Something Vanessa teaches in her leadership program is to not think of leadership training as something we do once, it is your new normal
Vanessa’s belief that it doesn’t take all of us to get to a certain kind of consciousness to make real change, it just takes a certain percentage of us
Vanessa explains when you get criticism that is not valid or constructive, you can usually dismiss it because it is not given in a way that’s to help you grow
Why you should differentiate between criticism that is worth a response and where you draw the boundary of I don’t need to respond to this
Vanessa shares that we are not superior to the people we are here to lead so some comments warrant a response when they are coming from a constructive place
When replying to constructive feedback let them know you appreciate it and let them know it is something you are going to consider when moving forward
Role Model Mastery is Vanessa’s exclusive program that focuses on helping you be the person your purpose needs you to be
Vanessa explains what they go through in Role Model Mastery and how they get clear on what your big picture is and how you’re going to commit to it fully
In Role Model Mastery Vanessa shares major mindset shifts that are going to change the way you approach your goals, projects and your purpose
Vanessa shares that through her program, they do so much clearing that eventually your truth is unleashed on the world and that’s when you’re able to be a more powerful and effective leader
Check out Vanessa’s website for a product tour of Role Model Mastery
Vanessa explains that fear will not go away, the important thing is that we don’t get stuck there and allow fear to dictate our actions
Vanessa discusses the scale of consciousness and how courage is such an important part of how we lead
Tips for getting yourself unstuck is to think about a time in your life when you conquered something already or to vision a reality where that thing is already done
How Vanessa stays on top of her game is by surrounding herself with others who are going to help her grow, by journaling everyday which has given her more clarity and by checking her productivity and joy weekly
One way Vanessa shares to make sure you are being inclusive in your business is to have a team you trust look at it and give you a second opinion
Vanessa explains that perfection is not the goal when it comes to being a great leader, greatness is the goal and that means showing up when it feels difficult sometimes
Vanessa promises if you stick with it and get yourself in the right state of mind and start following through, there will be a reward because there is an impact you’re making when you show up
Connect with Vanessa through her website, Instagram or her podcast