The Entrepreneur DNA - How She Lost Her Voice Climbing the Corporate Ladder (And How She Got It Back) | Ilhiana Rojas

Episode Date: September 4, 2026

In this episode, I sit down with Ilhiana Rojas, who climbed the corporate ladder to become a senior Fortune 500 executive in just 12 years — often the only woman, and the youngest, in the boardroom. But somewhere along the way, chasing the version of success she thought she was supposed to have, she lost herself so completely that she burned out and fell into deep depression. We talk about what it actually looks like to reconnect with who you are after you've lost your voice, why building the right circles of people around you is one of the most important things you can do for your growth, and why 90% of women deal with imposter syndrome at some point. Ilhiana breaks down her framework for finding the confidence to speak up, owning your own narrative before someone else writes it for you, and why she's now spent her career helping unheard voices — especially women and Latinas — get heard. If you've ever felt like you're doing everything right but still not getting where you want to be, this episode is for you. About Ilhiana Rojas: Ilhiana Rojas Saldana is a Human Potential & Culture Expert, Executive & Leadership Coach, DEIB Consultant, keynote speaker, and bestselling author. After more than 20 years of global executive experience across top Fortune 500 companies in Mexico and the U.S., she left the corporate world to found BeLIVE Coaching & Consulting, where she helps leaders and teams reconnect with their voice, purpose, and authentic leadership style. She's a Certified Professional Coach (ICF), holds a Diversity & Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University, and is an advocate for advancing women and Hispanics in leadership. Ilhiana is based in Rhode Island with her husband and two daughters. Social Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilhiana-rojas7/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/belivecoaching/ Website: https://www.ilhianarojas.com/ Website: https://www.belivecoach.com/ About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What is up? The Entrepreneur DNA family. Our guest today is really impressive. And as always, these guests and this podcast is brought to you by the Entrepreneur DNA Club and community. If you want access to these guests, if you want to ask questions, if you want resources, then make sure you're in the Entrepreneur DNA Club. All you have to do is go to EntrepreneurDNA.com. Find out how to get in and you will hear from guests just like today. Now, our guest is incredibly impressive, not just because she's a female, but because she is a female who climbed the corporate ladder in executive world of the Fortune 500 and then lost her voice. And she realized that we all must have a voice.

She has worked with the biggest of biggest brands. And now she is here to share her insights with us here at the entrepreneur DNA. Ileana Rojas is here. How are you? thrilled and excited to be here. It's been a long time coming and I'm excited that we're here. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. And let's jump into your background a little bit, right?

I think there's a lot of people that are probably still in the W2 grind. They're still in the climbing the corporate ladder, trying to figure this out, trying to figure out, what do I do here? You yourself went through that journey. Talk to us about your journey from high-level executive in these big corporate companies to who we have sitting here in front of us today. Absolutely. And I see this happening all the time with the first. people that I work with, right? Like you start straight off college with a dream and you end up wherever just because you need to pay the bills, whether that's whether it was a dream or not,

but you just make it work every day. And we start growing and like that. I started growing in my corporate career. Different than a lot of people, I did not have a linear career path. I just jumped into whatever opportunity was put in front of me. And even though I like to be in control, I'm a control freak, I constantly keep pushing myself to do, you know, new things. And that was, I think, a key success in having a fast track career path in that corporate ladder. I became in only 12 years. I became a senior executive. I was the only woman. I was the youngest in those boardrooms. in the different companies that I was in, which came with a lot of different challenges, but also a lot of rewards.

And through that career path, after, you know, being global executive and coming to the U.S., because I started in Mexico, I went, I lost myself. I started to feel the pressures of meeting expectations of what being in those roles you're supposed to be and how you're supposed to behave and act and, you know, being very results driven and oriented and, you know, business focused and all of that. And in that process, I lost a lot of who I was and what had made me successful for those first 15 years to the point that I went into deep depression. I burned out. I crashed. And I had to really look back myself, who I am, and say, do I want to continue in this career path or do I want to do something

different? And if somebody would have told me way back when that I was going to be an entrepreneur, I would have said absolutely no, I like my paycheck, like I like security. But now I would not turn around. Like, I love the entrepreneur life. I love my two businesses and I love keep helping others in that way because it helped me reconnect with my, like you said, with my voice, with who I am, with my purpose, with the legacy that I want to leave behind for everybody who I represent and who surrounds me. And I'm not looking back now. So it was a difficult journey, but I think it helped me become the person that I am today and now I'm clear where I'm going. You mentioned something that I'm actually more intentional about you.

You lost who you were to get to where you got. And that you lost the romanticism and the fun of it and you lost yourself. I currently right this moment, I turned 45, two weeks ago, and I realized what got me to where I'm at was connecting with people because at the time when I started the entrepreneur journey, I was totally broke. I literally didn't have resources. there was no marketing budget, there was no business plan, there was nothing. And I did that for so long with such consistency, with so much intention, it got me to levels and in rooms and with connections that I normally wouldn't have gotten into because people don't do that.

And that feeling of getting back to what got you there or what got you success or what drives your fun and passion and love, that is really important. How do you connect back to that person? I love that question. And that's something that I think in that 40, 55 range, we all go through that come to Jesus moment of, am I really where I wanted to be? Or like, am I just going with the, you know, inertia? Right. Right. I think we're all going to live to like 120 now. So this is what I think is my quarter life crisis. I completely agree. And it's one of your multiple reinventions because we're going to be reimbushes. I think we're going to be reimbursed. reinventing ourselves constantly until the end of times, right? And in that, I think this first more intentional reinvention that we're going to have in our lives is exactly what you're talking about.

To be able to reconnect to who we are, why are we here. And I, the way that I did it and that I now help a lot of my clients to do is three things. First, as always, like, go back to what brings you joy every day. What could you do no matter what, whether you get paid for it, or you don't get paid for it. Like that is the thing that will keep you going because in disruption and in the life that we're living right now in the environment, you need that joy. You need that energy to keep you going no matter what. That's the first thing.

The second thing has to do with how do you help others? We all have this way of helping others, of making, you know, changing people's lives or changing the community that we're in or the businesses, there's something that only we can do that nobody else can do. And that's very important to understand. And you talk about, you know, helping people. And I realized in that process that throughout, no matter how many businesses I built, my zone of genius was helping leaders become amazing leaders and helping teams become high-performing teams. No matter what, that was what made, you know, my business is successful. And I realized, that's how I grew the ranks, right? That's how I grew the ranks. And that's what I now do

full time. So it's understanding that, you know, what you really, really good at. And then the third thing, and I'm just going to post the blog about it in the next couple of weeks, is who you surround yourself with, right? Because somebody, I heard once say, you know, we are the average of the people that we surround, the 10 people or 20 people that we surround ourselves with. And in that blog, I invite all of me to read it because I talk about, are we really the average or not? But the reality is who we surround ourselves with does help us or not define who we are today and the vision of who we want to be, right? Because either they challenge us or they hold us back. They encourage us or they tell us, no, you can't. And in a lot of cases,

we tend to surround ourselves with people that just keep us where we are because that's, you know, you're good there. Don't try to push yourself out of that's not who you are. And that keeps us in those moments where at some point in time we were good, but we outgrow ourselves. And if we don't outgrow that circle as well and push into these other uncomfortable circles of people that will push us, then we're going to fall into losing ourselves because we evolve over time. Yeah, you brought up kind of the circles. And you're exactly right. A lot of people want to grow.

They want to expand. But you have to be ready to be around people at a higher level that are doing things that you aren't used to yet. You also have to be ready to jump into that circle. And sometimes I will make the point, sometimes that next circle you're just not ready for yet, right? Yes. And you have to grow into that circle. into that. You have to go through the bumps, the bruises, the losses, the heartache, the, I mean, you even said yourself, you went through a deep depression kind of trying to refine yourself.

I don't want that for people. And I'm not saying everyone has to go through that. No. But there is a certain level of experience and in runway that you got to give yourself to get into that room, to get to the next level of person, that group, the Ilianas, the Justin Colby's, the people to get to us, you can't just say, okay, well, I just want to be there. It just doesn't happen that way. Yeah. So I define it as three circles. And this is what I help, you know, people define.

Your first circle is your current circle, right? The people that you already know that you have deep relationships with and that are going to help you in your short-term goals. They're going to help you achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve by the end of this year because they're going to be there. They're going to connect you. They're going to help you. They're going to give you resources. You already have a deep relationship. They trust you.

You trust them. and they encourage you, right? So that's your first circle. That's normally a circle that we all have and are recognized. But you need other two circles. The second circle is people that you already know, but you don't necessarily have a relationship with them. Like you've met them or you sort of dabbled in the past,

but we're left there. And they're the ones that, for some different reasons, they're going to help you two years down the line, right? to your point, maybe you're not ready for that relationship, but they're definitely going to be that relationship that you need two years down the line. And relationships are not something that you build from night to day. It takes time. So you need to be very intentional on identifying who those people are so that in those two years, you can start building more intentionally the relationship with those people so that in two years time, then they're there to help you. That's the leader.

that it's two levels or three levels above you, right? That's the leader that maybe is an entrepreneur and you're in corporate, but they're doing something that you're like, oh, my God, I wish in the future, maybe that's something that I'm interested in doing. So you want to start building that rapport, or maybe they became an author, and you've been thinking about, you know, writing a book.

So how, you know, getting in touch with them to see what their journey was. So it's people that you already know, but still haven't, you know, build that relationship. And then the third one, which I think is the most important one, is people that you don't know yet, but that you need to know because they're the ones that are going to help you five, seven, ten years down the line. So that's where you need to be very creative in thinking about

who are those thought leaders, who are those trailblazers, who are those change makers that, you know, I see up there in the sky and they're too far away for me to reach, but they are doing something that maybe I would have never dreamed of, but they inspire me or they empower me. Or there's something there that I don't know what it is. And start seeing, like, how do you get to them? Because it is going to take you, you know, three, four, five, seven years to get to them.

But when you build it intentionally, actually faster than you'd think, you end up being in their circles. And suddenly you go from somebody that was unreachable to somebody that you have coffee with, right? And that's how you start building. But you need to think about all of those starting today because if not, then you're never going to get there. I love this advice. You know, myself is a unique story. But I now am able to surround myself with some people that never would I have thought to be in that place.

I'm in rooms that I am in that I never thought I would be there. But to your point, your advice is the actual right advice. And I want to lean into some of the advice you gave, but let me rephrase what I was going to say. Let me ask you a secondary question. If you have, you have from the outside, you have two things working against you. Let's call it what it is. You're female and you're a minority. Yeah.

But you climbed the ranks. You got to those extremely high executive positions within Fortune 500 companies. What is the real talk that females, minorities, entrepreneurs, they're doing it all right, but they're still not getting where they want to be? Absolutely. And there's several things. One is we have this either conscious or unconscious beliefs ingrained in us of who we're supposed to be. right when you're a Latina like it's my case whether you know it or not we've been told that we need to be

silent that we just need to focus on our work you know go in and do the best that we can and that's it advocacy is not something that we naturally do because it feels like you're bragging you know asking for more pushing yourself out there is just be grateful do what you do and then magically you're going to make it there and that doesn't happen In these circles, there comes a point that, yes, working hard is going to get you so far, but after that, we need to advocate for ourselves. We need to put our, you know, show up in ways that doesn't come natural to us. And unfortunately, because we are an underrepresented group, there's not a lot of people like us. When I was growing in my corporate career, there were, I had mentors who were amazing, but there came a point that there was nobody.

I was the highest ranking Latina. I had nobody to look up to say, how do you show up? How do you become assertive without being perceived as aggressive? Or how do you become, you know, advocate for yourself without being seen as, oh, this person is braggy or, you know, she doesn't know what she's thinking about or what she's doing or what she's saying or allowing, you know, when I spoke up, other people would suddenly speak on top of me. and like how do you tell somebody, hey, no, like, stop. Like, I have something important to say and don't push me to the side. When you don't have those other role models like you to show how it's done, it becomes very challenging. So going back to these circles, I had to start to look because there are people like us

in all these levels. They might just not be in your current circle. So I had to start, you know, getting into those spaces and into those places and connecting with those amazing Latinas and leaders that have already broken the mold, that have already broken the glass ceiling and the concrete ceiling and all of these ceilings to be able to say, oh, you did it. Now I know how to do it in a way that feels authentic to me and that it doesn't be, and it's not like somebody else. because that's where when I say I lost my voice, because I started to act like other people that are not like me. And therefore, that's where I was like, this is not me. But now that I know what it looks like,

I can now show up and not only show up for myself, but now show up for other Latinas and other women and say, this is the path. You can be assertive and you can be empathetic, right? You can be advocate for yourself and still show up in a strong, you know, leader way. So there's these things, but you need to, one, embrace who you are and accept that. And two, surround yourself with people that can show you that way.

So your concept that you're talking about right now is exactly why I have the podcast and then the club. The club gives the resource to have access to people like yourself and many others. But besides the club, right, the entrepreneur DNA club is literally built for what you're talking about. what is your advice to connect with those people who have been there before, right? I think there's a lot of negative self-talk. You know, Ileana won't give me the time of day.

She doesn't know me. Why would she talk to me? Why would she give me it? That whole thing runs through their head. And the funniest part about that, and you and I both know that, this, is when people reach out to me, at least the good people, you mean and the people that care. Like, I'm very easy to get a hold of. I'm very easy to offer advice, right?

And so what is your advice for those people sitting out there thinking, I need someone, I need to get some advice. I feel like I'm doing everything right. I'm not getting aware. I'm not making the money I want. How do I connect with someone that has been there before? I think right now it's easier than it's ever been because of social media, right? We are all in some type of platform, whether it be LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, you know, YouTube, whatever it is. many of us that have understood the power of what we do and how we can help others, we are out there.

And I'm a firm believer and I tell people all the time, like for me, reach out to me on LinkedIn. Like I will, I read my LinkedIn all the time, my messages. If you reach out to me, I'll answer. Maybe it'll take me a couple of days because sometimes it's busy. But I will definitely answer. And to your point, you know, we'll set up a chat, a coffee. chat, whatever it is, but reach out to people, connect with them and say the most important thing, I think, is tell them why you want to connect with them. It's not just, hey, you know, let's have a chat.

Tell me why not. Why me? Why not? Exactly. Can I pick your brain? It's like, why do you want to pick my brain? Like, if you don't know why, then this conversation is not going to lead us anywhere. But if you tell me, you know what, you're doing this and I'm interested in doing that or I want to learn about this or, you know, I have this issue and I have nobody else to ask and can you help? Like, whatever it is, explain your why and reach out. And more times than not, I'm not going to say everybody, but the majority of us, we will answer. We will, you know, find the time to do that. And the second advice that I normally tell people is, reach out once, give it about seven, ten days, and if you hear nothing, reach out a second time. Like, don't worry about, like, people feeling that you're going to be, you know, very naggy. But the reality is we're very busy sometimes. And people reach out to me, and I literally forget. And it's not because I don't want to answer.

It's because they catch me in the middle of a conference and then in the middle of travel. And then I'm like, oh, I needed to answer this person. and it just goes lost in all the email. So reach out again a second time. And if they don't answer, maybe you want to reach out a third time, just saying, like, I get it. If you can't, like, I'm good enough. But don't worry, like, because sometimes we forget.

I'm guilty of that. But it's not because I don't want to. Yeah, you know, I've been, I just kind of mentioned this. Since my 45-year-old, I turned 45, I'm actually doing more connecting in the last two weeks with full intention than I have in a long time. And it goes back to this. It's what actually got me here when I was broke. And I just go, you know, what I want to be able to do for the next two decades is lean into creating new relationships and developing deeper relationships with one I have.

And so when people even, I'll post something. When people even comment on my stuff, like, I want to try to talk to that person. Like I do. I don't know where the conversation is going to go, but I'll say, hey, what's up? What's new? I'm happy to jump on a call. And I think there's a lot of people that don't understand when someone comes with good intentions. My new two-decade intention is develop new relationships and deeper relationships at that.

And so I think most people, if you actually take the time to just say, hey, what's up? What's new with you? I'd like to hear more. hey Ileon I see you're really working on your blogs and giving great advice on what's going on with your blogs I'm reading them I'm loving them I would love to jump on a call with you and tell you what I'm up to I could maybe use a little advice based around the blog post you just posted do you think ilion is probably going to reply to that yeah yeah and the most very very important thing 60% like research you can look at research 60% of us are introverts I'm an introvert like I

I openly say it, even though people say that's not true. And I'm like, no, yes, I am an introvert. Right. And it does take intentionality to your point to say, it doesn't matter. Like, we need to build those relationships. We need to reach out. If we are sitting down waiting for magically like somebody to help us, it's never going to happen. We need to put ourselves out there.

and like I said, I'm an introvert. I've had to lean on other people who are extroverts, who are master connectors, who do this really, really well to ask them for their help and say, hey, like, how can I approach this? What is your suggestion? Like, I want to do this. I want to go into a networking event. Like, what have been your best practices?

How do you send a message on LinkedIn to, you know, for people to answer me? Like everything that I do now, I've learned in a lot of cases because of other people that I've really reached out to and have shared with me their, you know, the way that they've done it. And so don't feel like you need to have the answers yourself, that you need to figure it out and make mistakes and learn from them, although we do. Reach out to other people that already do these things and ask them how or ask them to be your connectors. I connect people all the time. because I really appreciate when other people connect me with others. So maybe if there's somebody in my circle that you want a connection, I'm always happy if it makes sense to make that connection for others.

So asking for that, putting yourself out there is important. But to your point, yes, the intentionality every day is critical. Otherwise, we don't push ourselves. I want to give you a couple words. And I want you to give me the first thing that comes to your mind. Ready? Yes. Imposter syndrome.

Oh, women. I would say, well, I don't say it. The research says 90% of women go through imposter syndrome. It's one of the biggest things that we go through at some point in our lives and that stops us from getting to the next level. I think everyone, I mean, myself included. There's been times and even recent times of am I really this guy? Like, I don't feel like maybe I'm worthy of the praise or the things that are happening to me, right?

Like, I think most people have to understand it's more common than not. And if people are out there feeling it, men or women, understand it, sit with it for a second. And then I would tell anyone with imposter syndrome, just like myself, I feel it too. Right? Is like write it out, put pen to paper. Why? What about it is important? And then, you know, be real with yourself.

Are you offering the real value? Right? And if you are, then it's not imposter syndrome. It's just you don't quite have the confidence to realize what your value is yet. But you should. Right? All right. Next words.

Hustle culture. Catalyst. And I don't know why that can. to mind. But I think hustle culture is becoming a thing of if you're not, if you're not doing these side things, you're not going to get very, very far. Right. And the way I approach it is being a catalyst of a lot of things. We are not just one hat. We don't just have one role. we have so many things, so much knowledge, so much expertise, ourselves and our personal, professional, you know, being an entrepreneur, whatever it is. And we are catalyst ourselves

to be able to create a lot of things. And I think shifting that mindset to seeing ourselves as catalysts, I think makes it more positive and meaningful and long-lasting impact than just having things on the side to make us, you know, more money or whatever it is. Female ambition. Empowerment. We need to be more ambitious. We need to put ourselves out there and believe that we, that we can do anything that we put our minds, our minds to.

And I don't think ambition is a bad thing. I think it's, it's just been positioned. in that way, we need to feel the power, the courage that we can and should and need to, not only for ourselves, but normally women bring a ton of people with them, right? Bring their families, bring their kids, bring the people that they mentor, bring their communities. A lot of women, not all, but I want to say many are communities. Builders, whether they know it or not. And being ambitious is the way to be able to elevate ourselves so that we can then bring

everybody else along. Otherwise, we're getting stuck and we are getting everybody else stuck. Yep. And I think everyone needs to be ambitious, men and women. Yeah. But I do believe there's a line of fake ambition versus genuine. I want to build my life for these reasons and I'm ambitious around it. So what I mean by that, and I want your take on this, I have been doing this now for years

and coaching business owners and entrepreneurs and talking to thousands of them. And I think a lot of people now are in this like, I'm ambitious because I want the life that Grant Cardone has or whatever it is, the jets, the big homes, the G-wagons. they're ambitious because they're chasing someone else's life. Yeah. I want to help people understand like you need to define what you want because that's the only way you get happy. And when you find that, that level of ambition, you can't slow that down, stop it, move it. It will not stop.

What's your take on people's ambitions these days? And you're absolutely right. It has to do with aligning with our purpose, right? Grant Cardone or all of these people are successful because they've honed in on what they believe is their purpose in life, right? And to your point, we can't do something that's somebody else's purpose. It might be similar or it might seem like it's similar, but we all have our reasons. Through our journey and we started this conversation with thinking about our journey, where were we. we, where did we get lost and how do we come back to who we are? That's where we need to understand

why are we here, what drives us, what motivates us, how do we help others, how do we really change the world? I have this practice every day with my business partner for one of my businesses that we text each other every day. How are we going to change the world today? Because it helps ground us in, I'm just not going to do the day because I have a ton of things on my list that I need to do and answer these emails, because then you get lost in a ton of things. But when we ground into how am I truly aligning today on why I'm here, what I meant to do, then everything refocuses. And that's where what you're saying, it grounds in our purpose and therefore the ambition of doing more, of getting more, or of achieving more is aligned with that ultimate, ultimate through.

For me, it's elevating unheard voices. Like, that is what I realize that I do every day, helping people elevate, especially unheard voices, helping elevate their voice. So in how I change the world today is everything like this podcast, like the keynote that I'm going to deliver the weekend, the trainings, the workshops, everything has to do with, is it a aligned with helping unheard voices be heard. Yes or no? So Ileana, I want you go a little deeper. What do you go deeper on helping people get their voice? Maybe they feel like they're unheard. What do you actually do? Who are you talking to? I think there's so many people, I mean, so many people who have that feeling of I need to get my voice. I need to get my identity.

I'm not heard. I'm not showing up. All these things that are in here, right? What are you doing to help that person? There's three things. One is helping people find the confidence to speak up. A lot of people, to your point, just go with a flow. They feel that whatever they have to say either has already been said or maybe they're going to be judged or maybe they're going to be perceived in a different way or maybe they're like me, they have to process so much that by the time that they order their thoughts, like the time to speak up has already left, right? The fear of speaking up and a public speaking is right up there with the fear of dying. So in a lot of cases, for many of us, like just speaking up, it takes a lot of energy. It takes a lot of courage. So first of all,

it's helping people understand the practices and how to build that confidence to say what they have to say. and eliminate all those limiting beliefs and all of those fears. So that's one thing. Now, real quick, to hold there. Yeah. Just like kids, a lot of times kids wouldn't raise their hand in class because they didn't want to be ridiculed. They didn't want to look stupid.

Absolutely. Is that still predominant in adulthood? That's still predominant even in senior leaders. Like, I coach senior leaders that you would think they have everything, you know, tighten up and still this fear of having to say everything perfect, especially now with cancel culture, right? There are a lot of people are afraid to, what if I speak up and somebody, you know, in that moment is recording or somebody is doing something or quotes me out of place, the Twitter goes out and immediately like it comes into this thing.

So yes, the fear of speaking up and saying the exact thing that I need to say is, is, very much so living today, no matter where you are in that leadership spectrum. So let me sell you so you don't have to. If you are, I don't care if you're in corporate. I don't care if you're an entrepreneur. I don't care if you're a husband, father, son, brother. Like if you are having some of that, like I feel like I don't, I should speak up more and I don't. Please reach out to Ileana.

This is her expertise. Because I know I encounter a lot of people that think it's amazing that I can have a podcast and I can do keynote speeches and I don't I'm not a wreck and please I know it's a thing reach out to Ileana immediately regardless of where you're at in that go to her LinkedIn find Ileana Rojas because I really want that to be solved I think people need to speak up I think they need to voice their thoughts and opinions I think politicking right where you just keep saying the same opinion over okay well we heard it once but please do that so go ahead go to go to part number two. I just think it's such a... Well, actually, the part number two is, and that's how I

help people overcome that, that fear, is if you don't know, if you don't define your own narrative, somebody else is going to define it for you. Like, that is a fact of life. And normally, more times than not, that narrative is not the one that you want, right? People define who you, who you're supposed to be. People define what you think you're saying. people define who you are and that's where the getting lost part, you know, starts coming into place. And we shouldn't. Like, we need to be in control of our own narrative. We need to be in control of our message of what we want to stand for, how we want to show up.

And, you know, we have a lot of experience expertise, whether you have five years and professional experience in your belt or you have 30. It doesn't matter. We all have something to share. and it's critically important that we own it. So in that process, it's not only about the confidence, but it's helping them clarify in their mind what that narrative is. What's the message that I'm consistently going to be repeating

in different ways in different formats in different spaces, but what is it that is important that I'm going to share with the world and how it continues to evolve? A lot of the reasons why we don't speak up is we don't have clarity of what exactly is it that I want to say. And so we go around in circles and then that's where, you know, all of these things happen. But when we have clear that we have a clear narrative, then it doesn't matter where we are, we'll just come back to it. And that's how we will share. Yeah, you get to, you get to make a choice. My coach told me this back in 2024. I had

that by far the hardest financial, 23 years have been an entrepreneur. or 2024 was the hardest financial year business I've ever had, right? My coach said you get to make a decision. It's your choice. You can say nothing about it and let people think that everything's just fine. Or you get to show them what is happening, talk about it, have a voice about it so you can help people not go do that. But it's your choice of what the narrative is going to be.

and they're going to choose to make up their narrative about you. So why don't you choose to give them the real narrative, the real story, the real things that are happening? And that's what I think you're saying. I'm saying it a little differently, but like they're going to create their own narrative about you anyways. Doesn't matter. Absolutely.

So if you choose to do nothing, then you've made a choice to allow them to have the narrative about you, who you are, what you do, what you're saying for, what you stand against, all the different things, that's their narrative. You didn't help actually give the honesty behind you. So everyone has a choice.

And by not making a choice is a choice to allow them essentially to talk shit about you or ridicule you or to make fun of you without you even having your own voice in it. Absolutely. Absolutely. And the third thing, it goes back to these circles of people that you surround yourself with, right? Being very intentional on who they are and how they can become the echo. to your voice because we can just be in certain spaces. We can't be everywhere. However, if we build these circles intentionally, then they can become that echo. And now that narrative, you know, has ripple effects beyond. And this is not only about social media, which is one platform. It's about

a lot of different people and places and spaces. And when you build those intentionally have a strategy, then your visibility expands, then what you have to say expands, then the trickle and the impact that we have, because our voice has power, the words that we use has power. And you never know when you're going to inspire somebody. You never know when you're going to have somebody go like, oh my God, like that just hit me and now it's going to change the way I look at my life. We never know when that's going to happen. And that's why it becomes so important that we hone in on our voice, we're clear on what that is, and we help surround ourselves with people that are going to amplify that voice so we can truly make a difference. I want to be clear about this, because I think

if I was just listening to this, I would think you were saying, go on social media and start doing all the FaceTiming stuff and all the stuff that the influencers do. And by the way, I do that because I have a voice and I want my voice to be heard. But I don't think you're necessarily talking about it. And I want people to know that. I believe, so just so I can try to reiterate what you're saying, I believe your point is any voice in any situation, anywhere, you need to have a voice. You need to speak up. Could be in the corporate boardroom.

It could be on social media. It could be with your husband or wife. It could be with your children. It could be at a sporting event. But you need to have a voice. Clarify a little what you mean when you're saying people need to have a voice. Absolutely. And I'll give you, and I'll give you an example.

One of my clients, the work that she does, through her work, she literally saves lives. It's not only a person, but the family, like, it's impressive what she does. And when she came to me, she's an introvert. She's like, I don't know, I don't want to put myself out there. But I, after hearing you, I recognize that I need to own my voice. I need to speak up. I need to let people know what I do. because currently the circle, you know, the environment that she was in,

it was a very closed environment. So we worked on her putting herself out there, and this has nothing to do to your point with social media. This was just for her to be able to, in those boardrooms, as community leader, in different organizations, in different community events, being able to let people know that these resources were available, that what she does was available,

that there was a way to overcome, you know, whatever challenges they had, et cetera, and put herself out there. And now, you know, six years later, she is a world-renowned expert in this. And she went from just supporting a small community, right, in the U.S. to now, like, saving lives globally because of what she does. And she still doesn't have social media because that's not her style. but she's learned the power of her voice and speaking in panels, you know, speaking in events, speaking in different places, putting articles out there so that she can then reach people

so that then they can feel to what we were talking earlier, they can reach out to her so that she can then help them and the impact is just impressive. But now she's confident about her voice. She understands the narrative that she needs to talk about. And she's surrounded herself with these circles that become that echo to her voice. And now she's global, right? Yeah. I love that.

Now, now you have a blog, your website. I want everyone to go find you. So we talked about LinkedIn and Ileana, for those that aren't watching this, I-L-H-I-A-N-A. But where else can everyone find you and get a hold of you, research what you do? The easiest is definitely LinkedIn. like that's where I live. That's my digital space. I think that's the easiest.

I also have my Instagram account, which is Believe Coach, and you'll share all of those. And then you can find me on my two websites, ilana Rojas.com or Believecoach.com. Believe is B-E-E-L-I-V-E, because you have the B-2-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-E. That's part of what I want to do.

and in all of those, it'll still lead you to the same place where you can send me an email or contact me on a message. And like we said before, I'm always happy to make space for anybody that wants to chat. I really hope people listen to you and do reach out. If you're struggling to find your voice, don't know your voice, don't know what it should be, what it should look like. Please reach out to her. This is quite literally her expertise. She lived through it. and there's nothing else.

Nothing else is a better teacher than going through something, right? Absolutely. I really appreciate you spending some time here. Everyone needs to reach out to Eliana. Any last words for the greater community here at the entrepreneur DNA? I would say, think about what your bold goal for this year is going to be. And then just think who you need to reach out to to make it happen. Yeah, connect, connect, connect.

We've said it a lot. connect with intention, reach out, who can help you, and go do that. So I will have her talk to the group, the Entrepreneur DNA Club, and I'm super excited about that. And so if you're not in the club, make sure you join the club. Thank you for showing up today. I'm Justin Colby. This is the Entrepreneur DNA. We'll see you on the next episode.

Thank you. Have a great one.