7. Lecciones aprendidas con Denisse

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: From finding a way to highlight you in an environment where everyone seems to have better qualifications

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_00]: than you, to have the courage to go from the place of ideal work to discover that the

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_00]: biggest challenges you have to overcome are yourself. These and many others were the

[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_00]: lessons learned with Denisse Rodriguez Colón, Executive Director of Colmena 66. And here

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I tell you all of them. Go ahead.

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, it is the first thing we say when we recognize another person on our way. That

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_00]: simple greeting is the one that makes us visible before the other through the word.

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, with a word of four letters we are left to see each other and from that simple

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_00]: greeting I want you to accompany me on this journey to know the stories of women who

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_00]: have known how to let yourself be seen and achieve their goals and dreams. In this podcast

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_00]: we will discover their weaknesses, their abilities and their best-seeked secrets to learn,

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: to get to know each other and to make our dreams come true. My name is Iliana Fuentes Lugo

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_00]: and this is Hola Podcast.

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to another episode of Lesson Learned in Hola Podcast. Today I want to tell you

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: the lessons that I took from the beautiful conversation I had with Denisse Rodriguez Colón, Executive

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Director of Colmena 66 and also a little more. I want to talk a little about my experience

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: in the Boricum-Emprende Fest. This is a massive event that was celebrated for the sixth time

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: consecutive to support Puerto Rican entrepreneurs. This is the main event for entrepreneurs

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: who develop Colmena 66 under Denisse's tutelage and I wanted to wait to record this episode

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: until after participating in this event because I definitely knew that I could learn much more

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_00]: about everything that this wonderful woman has achieved by participating in her event.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_00]: So look for where to note because I am going to tell you the best jewels of all this

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: experience. Here I go with the lessons learned with Denisse. Lesson number one to

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: achieve this letter in a group of professionals with more knowledge than you in the case that

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_00]: she is sure of Denisse developing the stress she needed for the position she wanted and

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: to achieve it she is also sure of having the help she needed to get to where she wanted.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Here are two lessons in one. This is very important. Denisse told us that in her first

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: work experience she was in a competition, she was doing an internship in nothing but Wall

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Street and she found that she was in a competition for a full-time job offer after summer

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and her colleagues against the ones who competed to do the best possible work were

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: in graduate studies of Ivy Leaks, high-prosthetic universities in the United States and with perhaps

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_00]: many more experiences and knowledge from which she had just graduated from the University of

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Puerto Rico, not least the University of Puerto Rico but we understand that there are universities

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_00]: that have different calibers. So she was in this internship knowing that she wanted to achieve

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_00]: that job position with competitors who seemed to be stronger than her and she knew that

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: she couldn't do it alone. Therefore she got the help through a program that helped her

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: to achieve developing the stress, the skills, everything she needed to get there and finally

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_00]: get that job position. What lesson do we take with this? Well, two, I think. One,

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: not because your competitors may seem stronger, it means they will win you, right? You can

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_00]: achieve what you want if you really look for a way to do it, if you understand what is

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_00]: happening and where are your opportunities to achieve what you want. And number two,

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: you don't have to do it alone, she didn't do it alone and you don't have to achieve your dreams,

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: your goals, your goals either. So look for the help you need to achieve what you want.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Lesson number two, the importance of taking into account the time that you want and

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: what you don't want in your life and making the necessary decisions to achieve what you want.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: For that, she tells us that she exposed herself to work experiences and life experiences that

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_00]: allowed her to see, understand and live what she didn't want in her life. This is very important

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: because sometimes we have this desire to do things or work on something or try a business

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: or something like that and we don't dare to be afraid of, I don't know if I'm going to like it or not.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, how are you going to know if you don't try it? That's like food, they tell me all the time,

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm very ticky with food. If I don't try something, I'm not going to know if I liked it or not.

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I tried it and I didn't like it because I know I don't like it, I put it on the list of

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't like it. Likewise with work, with professional career, with entrepreneurship,

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_00]: if you're learning something, if you don't try something, you don't know if that's the way.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Only when you try it you will be able to determine it. And once you try it and you realize that it's not

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: out there, have the courage to make the decision on time to move, to move towards something that is

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and this leads me to lesson number three, which is that in your professional life and actually in your life

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_00]: in general, look for what fills you, what makes you happy and then you find the place where you can

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_00]: do that. And not only do a job that makes you happy and obviously do a job that makes you happy

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: and for you to have talent and where you can exploit all your geniuses, right? And this can sound

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: a little bit utopian and you're going to tell me, Liana, but not everyone is lucky to find the job that makes

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: you happy. You have to work. Well, yes and no. Of course you have to work. Of course we need to

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_00]: generate money to be able to live. But why not do it from something that makes you happy?

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Because there's nothing more terrible than receiving someone's service that abhorres your

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: work, right? It's happened to you. You go to a store or call a customer service, your company

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: on the phone, for example, and you meet someone who is abhorred because he hates his job because

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_00]: his place of genius is not there. Maybe that person is a tremendous graphic designer. I know

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_00]: that the situation is difficult, but it is also important that we realize that the only way

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_00]: that the situation improves is because you make the decisions that you have to make for yourself.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_00]: If you are abhorred in your work or even the business that you have created, you no longer

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: get excited, you don't like it, you don't get excited, look for a way to find out what it is,

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: what it is that fills you, what it gives you happiness and don't be afraid of moving

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: to that. Obviously, I'm not saying here, quit and go look for your happiness as if you were like this.

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not that. While you're doing what you do, look for the way to find out what it is that

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_00]: fills you, what you do want to do and where you can exploit all your genius and start

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: moving towards that and you'll see that everything is going to go better. I feel that I can tell you that

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: with all my confidence because it's the way in which I have led my professional life in these 21 years

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00]: that I have been working. I came out of work that made me deeply happy, that they gave me

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: from those I learned a lot and from those that came a moment when I was like, okay, I'm here now,

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I achieved everything that I was going to achieve, I achieved everything that I was going to achieve and it's not

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_00]: generating me happiness. What is my next step? Where do I move? And I also found situations where

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_00]: and I also found situations where at no time did that job give me happiness, I learned from those

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_00]: places, of course I learned from those places but they didn't give me happiness so I moved too

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_00]: and it's something that not everyone dares to do but I invite you to evaluate it,

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_00]: keep it there as in your back in your mind so that you think if it is something that really

[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_00]: resounds you. If you are happy or you are happy in the place where you are doing what you are

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_00]: doing and how you can then look for that happiness. Here it takes me to the fourth lesson

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_00]: that I learned in the conversation with Denise and it is that at the moment when you are going to go from

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_00]: a place make sure to leave the doors open because life gives many turns, we also talk about this

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_00]: when we talk about Noemi Paesi from Ducos Paesi and both Noemi and Denise told me, look it is

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_00]: important, this country is very small, you don't know what life turns into and you find yourself

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_00]: with people that you left behind in other work later and it is important that you go well,

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_00]: right? That now you go crazy and I am going to look for my happiness and goodbye that

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_00]: shares luck and bye, see you. It is not important that you do things well with responsibility and

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_00]: that you are good from anywhere you are. Lesson number five, the greatest challenges

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_00]: to overcome are yourself. Denise asked at the end of our, already reaching the end of our

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_00]: conversation what had been the main challenge that she had had to overcome in her professional

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_00]: career and she told me that with her herself. She told me that at the beginning of her career

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_00]: her leadership style was a little abrasive, perhaps even authoritarian and that with the

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_00]: time and that with turning into a mother, she realized that that was not the best way to do

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_00]: what things happen and move your working team with harmony and enthusiasm. So she learned

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_00]: with time, with effort and with a lot of self-reflection to go from an authoritarian leadership

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and enthusiastic. And now we see that in the result of projects as big as the Borico

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Emprende Fes, which is led by her and her working team, where everything is so ingrained, everyone

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: knows what to do, everyone is happy and happy doing what they have to do and they make an event

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_00]: for about 2,000 people that is successful. So there is evidence perfectly how that

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_00]: leadership style has evolved and has been perfected. The lesson number six that I learned with Denise

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_00]: and this was like an information that gives me a foot in talking about other topics and it is that the

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_00]: rich Puerto Rican business ecosystem and I love that phrase, has a woman's face and that is

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_00]: starting to generate changes in the way we work and in the way we lead. I have

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_00]: nothing against men, absolutely nothing. But yes, I am convinced that we need more women

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_00]: leading projects, leading companies, leading directors, companies and corporations

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and infinite organizations of profit. Why? Because we can give a vision that can balance things

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_00]: to our favor but also to the favor of our society. For example, one of the changes that we

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_00]: started to see little by little and that I hope we can see more and more is that we can,

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: women can have, they can live positions of leadership, of high leadership that do not

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_00]: have to be blamed for lack or feel that maybe I do not aspire to that position of leadership because I will not be able to be for my own.

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_00]: These are decisions that men may not have had to choose because that is what awaits them,

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_00]: but we hope that we take care of it. So it is very important that we all do it.

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And we can do that by having more open working spaces and those more open working spaces

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_00]: are totally demonstrated when there are more women in the leadership, right?

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_00]: The leadership, the command. And the lesson number seven that I take from this and that

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I also take to talk a little about my experience in the Boricuan Prendes Fest is that the value

[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_00]: of the community is important to make community is that it helps us to join and support us mutually.

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_00]: How many times have you not felt alone in a project, in your work, in your job? How many

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_00]: times have you not felt alone on the job? How difficult can it be to get something

[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_00]: with what you dream, right? And when you do it and you can always not always see it, but

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_00]: on many occasions you can feel very alone on the way. So the power of community is very important.

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And that was one of the most beautiful things I saw participating in the Boricuan Prendes Fest

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_00]: this year, 2024, that was celebrated in Ponce and where there was that harmony, that unity,

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_00]: that community, right? Between all the spaces. From seeing the exporters I had the opportunity to

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_00]: accompany a friend who was with an exporter promoting his business center for whom she

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_00]: works and seeing how there was that harmony between the tables that all did the same, right? They were all

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_00]: in business centers, incubators, projects that do more or less the same as they supported each other,

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_00]: how they found ways to link each other with others, how those panels in which you had

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_00]: people talking about their experiences helped you and helped us and helped me to see what

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_00]: what it is possible to achieve, the challenges that you have to overcome, how we can be a community.

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00]: It was a really wonderful experience that I recommend that next year you attend or

[00:15:58] [SPEAKER_00]: the next event of this type you attend because it allows you to grow as a person, as an entrepreneur

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_00]: and even as an employee, right? Because the stress that this did not say to Denise,

[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_00]: the stress that a businessman also needs can also serve an employee who

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_00]: seeks to improve within his company, who seeks to create new projects, who seeks to

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_00]: create new things. You don't have to be an entrepreneur or an entrepreneur to

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_00]: start within what you are doing and with this I leave you with this

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_00]: closing this episode, but I don't want to do it too long, I close this episode not without first

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_00]: thanking you for being on the other side, for all the feedback that you have given me

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_00]: of these first episodes, I am very happy, very excited every time someone writes to me,

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER_00]: every time they leave me little voice messages, what they like, what they call attention,

[00:16:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I love listening to you so don't stop telling me what you think of these episodes

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_00]: and to continue offering you value and topics that interest you and contribute, I need your help.

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Write me on Instagram, roba, Ileana Fuentes Lugo and tell me what topics you would like me to address in

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_00]: my next interviews or what other wonderful women you would like me to introduce.

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Very important, share your list of wonderful women, see if I can interview them

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and of course share this episode with your friends, we will continue growing together

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_00]: to let us see and fulfill our goals. I see you in the next episode and I remind you

[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_00]: that Hola Podcast is a production of Podcasteras Media, if you want to create and grow your podcast

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_00]: write me and we will talk.