Today we’d like to introduce you to Ivette Mayo.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Ivette. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am Puerto Rican and have lived in Houston since 1984. I am married to the perfect man for me. My joy and life legacies are my two beautiful daughters and my granddaughter Lola. I love to travel and try new things. I have a spirit that has always been entrepreneurial, curious, determined, and willing to take risks. Because of this energizing spirit, I decided that at the age 44 it was time to LEAP! After my 25 year global corporate career that was spent working in business development, sales, marketing and training, there came that time to go. I felt that I had achieved high levels of success in my role and area of responsibility. After much deliberation and conversations with my biggest fan (my husband), I began my journey in search of entrepreneurship.
I started attended business workshops with SCORE, SBDC, and other local business organizations. I had to learn how to create and run a business – My Business. Finally in 2004, I established Yo Soy I Am, LLC, a professional development and consulting firm. It allows me the opportunity to assist my clients to find the skills, tools, and strategies they need to grow their business, teams, and organization. My focus is to incorporate cultural awareness and competencies into all my training programs to assist participants in stimulating performance and to gain more insight into themselves and others. I’ve had the privilege to facilitate training for several Fortune 100 & 500 companies such as Shell, Direct Energy, Comcast, Nationwide, H&R Block, Nielsen, and State Farm over the years. Business people and organization face many challenges in business and cultural difference is one of them. By developing different soft skills training such as sales, leadership or presentation skills – with a cultural twist creates a new advantage. I believe that teaching people how to minimize the impact of the cultural differences they face when leading, selling or communicating is key. As I look to the future of my business, I want to continue to set myself apart. I want to leverage more technology into what I do. Finding new innovative ways to benefit my clients and meet their needs is important to me.
What really makes me smile, is the ability to help women succeed, especially Latinas. This has become my true mission. I understand who they are. I know their joy, discomfort and frustration. I can help them navigate out of where they are. I take that responsibility very seriously. Over the last 15 years, my business has garnered be countless opportunities to speak on large stages, to develop training for Fortune 100 clients, and to meet amazing world leaders. Yet, where I see my greatest impact is my one on one session with an aspiring Latina with an idea and a dream. Knowing in her heart what she wants and why. But she struggles with the “How”. The “How” is the part I get to help them navigate. As we work together, she begins to see her vision realized and she becomes POWERFUL. Because of this, I prefer calling myself a POWER Advocate over coach hands down!
In 2015, I established a Facebook Group called the Power On Heels Network. It has grown a strong following with its daily empowering message, encouraging members to share and support one another. There were networking events and conferences. The idea of doing more with our efforts took shape and in December 2017 the documents were filed for 501 c-3 status with the IRS. In May 2018, my non- profit organization was established. POWER On Heels Fund, Inc. is focused on the advancement of Latinas in the workplace and to limit the impact of pay-gap inequity by providing soft skills training, specialized programs, mentorship, and scholarships designed to enhance earning potential, accelerate professional growth and cultivate future leaders.
Where I have been blessed even more, is the number of amazingly powerful Latinas from the community that have stepped up to help accomplish the mission. In 90 days, we had 140 women attend our educational program – Latina Power Purse Program. Once completing the one day training, participants are eligible to apply for our scholarship. If awarded, the career-driven Latina is able to apply the funds to a professional development course. For a POWERpreneur, she is able to apply it to a certification and a student is able to apply funds to continue her studies. Our scholarships will be awarded at our 1st Annual Power On Heels Scholarship Lunch and Conference on November 1st, 2019 at University of Houston – Downtown. For more information visit www.poweronheelsfunds.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Smooth road it has not been. This journey has been joyful and painful. Filled with bad decisions, trust wrongly placed, bad investments of time, resources and in people. I have been denied opportunities, turned down and away. But, I would not be deterred. People forget that success is a journey. Regardless of the “NO” that was set to stop me. I moved on and found my YES. My dream, My vision, was My success. Another barrier was breaking others out of the ideas and roles they had created for me get in my way. I could not let cultural mindsets, traditional roles, and job descriptions limit my ability to grow to my fullest potential.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am a proud “serial entrepreneur”. I established Yo Soy I Am, LLC in 2004, a professional development and consulting firm. www.yosoyiam.com. Each client allows me the opportunity to assist them to find what they need to grow their business, teams, and organization. I get what is important to them, the bottom line – people, profits, and productivity. I hold many titles in my business. I am a certified trainer, speaker, author, strategist and POWER Advocate. I blend all these things with my passion to prepare women, entrepreneurs, professionals and organizations on how to achieve their success. What sets me apart with my training, I weave how to manage change and cultural elements into my programs. What we have be taught to believe, think and say impacts our ability to act. Culture is taught. Change is expected. Teaching people how to manage both is key in today’s global economy. I am a teacher to my core and an advocate for cultural awareness. I am in my zone when I can help someone navigatethese barriers that are keeping them from growing.
There are speakers, but I am a motivational business speaker. I feel so humbled when corporations, associations or organization invite me to share my story, experiences, and expertise at center stage. I love the ability to influence everyone to create new belief and action steps to achieve their most POWERFUL accomplishments! I feel my high energy style, direct approach and humor makes me a powerful motivational business speaker. My message is usually centered on these five key areas, leadership, confidence, change, courage and culture. These keys are certain to empower and unlock potential to lead with confidence in today’s marketplace. Most importantly, I dare my audiences to challenge limited thinking, to take bold action, to push past excuses, and move beyond complacency to be POWERFUL.
My book took me 20 years to put on paper. My book “A 30 Day Guide To Your Power – Powerful Outcomes through Powerful Words” won Best Self Help Book in the 2018 Latino Literacy Award. I wrote this book to share a time in my life where I had to redefine myself and what I needed to do to reclaim my POWER after experiencing a difficult divorce. I had to re-establish my self-truth, my thoughts and how I felt about my existence. But most importantly, how to change my future actions. I spent so much of my existence deferring my power to others, their needs and their success. I neglected myself. The goal of this book is to help guide the reader to rediscover their “true self” again with a 30 day process to establish their self – truth and POWER..
In addition to Yo Soy I Am, LLC, I have a line of Latina inspired stationary– Yo Soy Expressions. www.
To summarize my last 15 years as a POWERpreneur, I would have to say that my energizing spirit has made me fearless. Along the way, I have learned to do my research, analyze, create processes that make sense and to trust my instincts! I have own 2 business entities and a non-profit organization. I have learned the POWER of Ask and the POWER of Choice. When I decided to LEAP, I knew there would be no turning back. Everything that I had learned and experienced had prepared me for what would be next. Even at the high levels of success I achieved, I was not fulfilled. In the later years of my career, I had accepted changes that were not in my desired career path. Don’t get me wrong. I was grateful to have a job and have the opportunity to make a difference. The problem lies in how I felt. I was not fulfilled. (There is that word again). There had to be more. Now, I am creating my more! I am really happy now! I waited for permission my whole life to be told what to do. This half of my life, I will live by the title my friend and mentor Nely Galan gave me, “Disruptive Innovator”.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ivettemayo.com www.yosoyiam.com, www.
poweronheelsfund.org, www. yosoyexpressions.com - Phone: 713-447-5404
- Email: ivette.mayo2yosoyiam.com, ivette.mayo@gmail.com
Image Credit:
Gabriela Elizondo Gonzales – Photos by Gabriela
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