Today we’d like to introduce you to Diana Lopez.
Diana, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Clarity came to me when I had accomplished a lot of goals. I got offered a dream job in the City of San Diego in the marketing department, and I would go every day to work in lovely downtown with great friends. Then I realized that this was not my path, it’s not my dream. So, I said “no, but thank you” and started traveling the world. In my travels, I met amazing people started building my businesses, some failed and some are thriving. It’s been a journey of ups and downs, but I have been collecting amazing memories and what is most important to me is having a positive impact on others.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth? Not at all, it’s been hard. It often feels lonely and you can get discouraged. My main struggle has been to believe in myself and learn about finances. I’ve invested a lot of money in a venture that is growing slowly. It’s challenging but to be persistent is key if you want to accomplish your goals.
On advice for women starting their journey, I would say to them: never give up. Ever. It will get difficult, but you are not alone, there are other amazing ladies out there that are also struggling, creating wonderful products or services. Create your circle of remarkable women, learn from them, inspire them, help each other, together we can go farther. And never doubt yourself. If no one has said it to you before: I believe in you, you can do this.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
My proudest project is my podcast Fent. Fent stands for Female Entrepreneurs. I interview ladies in Spanish and English, it’s the same brand, but two different podcast shows. I created this to get inspiration myself, learn from awesome ladies and share this knowledge with the audience.
Levering that I am bilingual, I created these two podcasts to help other women get inspired and take action.
Recently launched my creative agency Yellom, where I help entrepreneurs and startups showcase their services and products with video production and social media management. My experience includes 10 years of digital marketing, copywriting in advertising agencies in the health, non-profit and software industry.
The newest project is fundadora store, where I am creating fun products for women entrepreneurs and a portion of the proceeds go to fund women founders around the globe through a non-profit that lends them money. I am very excited about this online store, I can hardly sleep from happy thoughts!
Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
Fear and lack of opportunities. I have seen that women tend to be afraid to ask for a raise, ask to get paid more when they get more responsibilities or apply to high paying jobs.
I have seen a lot of women that don’t step up to lead because they feel that they are not quite there yet, or simply, not enough. When they have the same qualifications and years of experience under their belts. So I would say they first need to believe in themselves and then GO and get’em!
I can recall one terrible experience when I asked for a raise and I got a chuckle. That’s right, a chuckle that meant that I was not worth that amount of money. And guess what? I already had an offer of 20% more from another company. It made me sad because I was being brave by asking and that reaction made me realize there is much more than we need to do.
A nice experience that I had, and that I am eternally grateful for is that I saw an opportunity when I was in a big company. I asked my boss if I could participate more, be in charge of the events, represent the company in media interviews, and to everything that I proposed he said YES. At the end of the meeting, I asked for a raise and he said YES. He was always opened to new ideas and was very supportive. I learned a lot from him and am glad there are great bosses out there.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fentmedia.co/
- Email: hola@fentmedia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsdianalopez/
- Other: https://fundadorastore.com/
Image Credit:
By Garage Photostudio
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