"I don't think opportunity is found. it's built" (Marissa Garcia bonus episode)

0:00Radim Malinic:Hey, welcome to this bonus episode of the Daring Forever podcast. This is my opportunity to zoom in on a few standout moments from this week's interview to find those moments that deserve a second look and dig deeper into what makes them special. This week I spoke to Marissa Garcia, brand strategist, designer and self-proclaimed multi-hyphenate living and building a creative business in Fresno, California. In our conversation we talked about her journey from being young athletes to becoming an in-demand brand designer and strategist that she is today. The episode, published a few days ago, was titled Dare to Make It On Brand.

0:35Radim Malinic:Make It On Brand is Marissa's very much a trademark statement, and it features her trademark three pillar of personal brand, clarity, consistency, and connection. If you haven't checked out this episode, let me share with you these four standout moments. I was always the token black girl. I grew up in a predominantly white community. And the story that I give that kind of kicks off how my understanding of personal branding was with the Spice Girls. And I think everyone that has grown up with Spice Girls know exactly Scary Spice, what's her brand, Sporty Spice, what's her brand, Ginger Spice, Baby Spice.

1:19They all have these identities. and growing up I was the token black girl I was always casted as Gary Spice and that didn't sit well with me because I always identified myself not because of physical appearance but because I always identified myself as sporty spice and wanted to be sporty spice because I was heavily involved in sports growing up I did soccer basketball gymnastics dance club sports I was a runner, I did it all. And I really prided myself in that. And so when I do pretend with my friends or we dress up for Halloween, Marissa, you got to be scary as vice. And early on, I understood the notion that if we don't control our narrative, someone else will.

2:09And at the time, I didn't have the language to really speak up for myself and tell people, no, this is who I want to be. This is who I am and I kind of just went with it and led into my identity as sports and my personal branding was sports from childhood all the way through college and that's where the start of personal branding came from I was known as the girl who runs really fast and far.

2:42Radim Malinic:Marisa shared with me a story that also she mentioned in her TEDx talk for TEDx Fresno where she described herself as a token black girl in a predominantly white community when she was growing up at the time of Spice Girls and being the only black girl she was always labeled as the scary Spice even though she wanted to be the sporty Spice. She didn't like that identity that was chosen for her because she wanted to be Sporty Spice. And she became a genuine athlete until Sporty Spice was undeniable. This was a great hook in an episode because it proves that something as placeful as Spice Girls turn out into a real lesson.

3:27Radim Malinic:If you don't actively shape how people see you, someone else will do it for you. And you might not like this version. It's relatable, it's vivid, and it sets her entire adult career in branding before she's even said the word brand. I didn't come in asking. I came in first. I built a relationship with them. I talked to them on LinkedIn, through the DMs, through showing investing interest in who they are. And then when I heard that both of them are going Ken Lyons, I was like, hey, let's meet IRL. We've been talking. I've been commenting on your stuff. up. That's literally what he said because of your approach.

4:08I liked your approach. And Chris Stowe, he charges thousands of dollars just to sit down with him for 20, 30 minutes. And he did it willingly at Cannes. Now, that's one opportunity. I was like, OK, well, I still need to make back some money because this is an expensive trip. I approached three people, again, not previously connected prior to going Cans, cold pitch, and just relied on my personal brand to make a connection and had three opportunities, paying opportunities. And I was able to completely fund my Can mind trip. So all this to say is that I did not get there. This opportunity didn't find me.

5:00I had to go after it. And again, going back to my athleticism, like I have this drive, this unshakable belief that I can make it happen and I'm going to make it happen. Is that a mindset thing? Sure. maybe possibly but i just operate with this intent like i'm gonna keep working on it i'm

5:22Radim Malinic:gonna keep doing it throughout the episode i kept going back to marissa's statement which she says opportunity isn't found it's built let's be honest the more you push the more you put yourself in the lax path the more you build the more you try the more you knock on the doors something will happen and in this moment this was almost like a marissa screenshot she talked about going to car lions and she's invented her own opportunity to be there if you listen to the conversation you know what i did and what i said i use a couple of spicy words to show my excitement about what she did because it was utterly utterly genius not only she's decided to go to car line she's invented the whole opportunity how to get there what to do and throughout the episode she mentioned a lot of times how she invents these opportunities you can see anything that's not requested from you that you're not waiting for as a build opportunity because you can wait as much as you want and i always say unless you got a pot of gold that everyone wants you'll be waiting forever this theme of asking questions or knocking on doors has been showing up throughout a season of Daring Forever in almost every single episode and is very much in Marissa's approach is very much her branding philosophy about the fact that you always go and strive to find something that could be your opportunity rather than wait for it.

6:54Yeah I think for me personally and maybe that's my own belief but I very much had like singular identities. And because I did sports for so long, like that was a singular identity. And then I moved to another singular identity after retiring. And then I went to another singular identity. But now I'm coming to this realization is that no, none of us, me, you, none of us are singular people. We are multidimensional. We are multi-hypnate. And I feel like personal branding stands. You're claiming what it is that you want people to see you as. And for some people, maybe they want that singular identity.

7:47And there's nothing wrong with that. Absolutely not. But for a creative like myself, the singular identities is what was keeping me boxed in, was keeping me limited. And that I think probably that is why I've had this urge of I want to do more. Like there is always, I always came to a point in my life where I want to do more. I want to do more. And maybe that was subconsciously my personal self, my being was telling me, Marissa, you are not singular. You're not meant for singular work. You're not meant for a singular position, a singular identity. stop fighting against it and start embracing my multi-dimensional ones if that's a word

8:42Radim Malinic:this was an interesting moment where marissa was catching herself mid-conversation when she worked through the line of singular identities i wanted to know like what does she mean that you are just a whole identity whole person and she talked about the fact when she was a runner or corporate employee or brand designer each time she felt she outgrew the title and that title often felt stuck more than a proud moment and in a beautiful way she calls multi-dimensional nest even jokingly that's the real world it is a genuinely moving and interesting title that reframes something that could potentially relabel something that could feel maybe even wrong like multi-hyphenate but for people who are looking around the corners who can't sit still stand still looking for building opportunities multi-hyphenate is actually a great way of saying look I do more than you not because I want to be better than you because I really want to find out more about what this life can deliver so I have borrowed that since multi-hyphenates and people pay attention when you say that.

9:52Well, I'm going to give the advice that I give my kids is that other people's opinion, especially if they don't know you, they're not close with you, other people's opinion is none of your business. And I recently actually, in alignment with that, taking it a step further, I recently, with Spider-Man coming out, Tom Holland, he had said that you have to think of people's opinions like this if they have your cell phone number and if they don't then they don't know you good enough to make these opinions or stories or whatever so while you have no control of your personal branding and there's absolutely impossible to control the narrative in a really large scope way but I'm more concerned with where I want to build opportunity going back to that opportunity isn't found it's built and so I'm not going to waste my energy of worrying about spaces that I'm not even in and there's going to be people that misunderstand me and that's okay too I'm focusing on where I'm trying to go what rooms I'm trying to enter and I'm talking rooms as in like opportunities and how am I going to show up

11:17Radim Malinic:there this was a really good moment because Marisa was just blunt and had a really good advice on why the hell would you care about people's opinions when they've got nothing to do with you and her way she said she's borrowed this idea from Tom Holland but she's made it her own and And she even teaches her kids how to deal with negative opinions or feedback. She says, look, if people don't have your phone number, it's none of their business. And you know what? It does make sense. If you've swamped and swayed and burdened with people's negative feedback, yeah, try to use this. Because have they got your phone number?

11:56Radim Malinic:No. Why does it matter? Because that little pettiness in this is actually quite motivational when you think about it. the mix of grounded wisdom and apologetic fire is very much on brand for marisa and it's a great moment that stands out from this episode you know just make it on brand be who you are work with clarity consistency and connection and see what your personal brand can achieve thank you for joining me on this bonus episode my conversation with marisa garcia was very much a reminder of speaking with someone who is building her own opportunity you know that opportunity in the world isn't found you can potentially come across it but being a person that influences how you show up in a room what other people said about you is very much in our own hands and her conversation and her wisdoms and these you know moments that she shared with me were very much a masterclass in on how we can show a bigger and better in all of the rooms thank you for being here and i'll catch you on the next week with another episode if you enjoyed this episode and would like more accessible resources to help you discover your daring creativity you can pick up one of my books on themes of mindful creativity creative business branding and graphic design every physical book purchase comes with a free digital bundle including an ebook and audiobook to make the content accessible wherever you are and whatever you do.

13:27Radim Malinic:To get 10 % of your order, visit novemberuniverse.co.uk and use the code podcast. Have a look around and start living daringly.