The Startup Sessions

November 18, 2016

Why Fear?

A couple of reasons I wrote just to remind myself why am I doing this:

Fear keeps me from enjoying life
Fear will keep me from achieving success
I want to live courageously
Life starts at the end of your comfort zone
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
NYC is not made for the fearful
Fear just doesn't make sense
If I don't do it now, then, when?

Instagram: @100dayswithoutfear

Just a reminder from @jessicavwalsh pin collection 👊🏼♥️
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Tonight I had the pleasure to meet Colombian writer/illustrator @amaliaandrade_ and there was something so refreshing about her personality... what was it?
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Oh yeah. The fact that she was far from perfect, but she embraced her quirky personality, her Colombian accent and her unique kind of humor in a way that made all of us fall in love with her #fangirlhere 🙋🏼‍♀️
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The more perfect you try to appear the more other people will wonder who the heck is hiding behind all that makeup and that fabricated smile. But, when we learn to accept ourselves as we are, and we even love the person we’ve become, we kind of make others fall in love with us too.
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Agree? #selflove #imperfections #boring

To the left is 20 year-old Michelle. Madly in love with her boyfriend and dreaming of building a future together. Will he propose one day? I hope so!
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To the right is 30-year-old Michelle, living the future she once dreamed of.
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Aging is a funny thing. We dread it and fear it, but when it comes we’re kind of thankful for it.
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Do you think I want to be where I was in 2009? The only place I want to be is where I am today. I feel so much more confident now, I am 100% my authentic self and the love I feel for Adam is greater than it has ever been.
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This challenge was an excellent way to gain perspective and appreciate today.
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My hair may not be as strong and voluminous, my face may not be as even as it was (hello @sephora 🙌🏼), and my body may not assimilate all the carbs and the sugar I still eat daily like it used to. But up here 🧠 things are better than ever, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
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Cheers for the next 10 years, together and in good health 🙏🏼♥️
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How did this challenge give you perspective? Let me know 👇🏼
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Swipe for a solo image ➡️💁🏼‍♀️ #10yearchallenge

You guys... I need help!
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I’m putting together a focus group soon and I need some volunteers 🙏🏼♥️ YOU are my audience, and my book is for YOU. So I care about what you think more than anything✨
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If you’re up for reading one of my chapters and giving me some constructive feedback, comment 🙋🏼‍♀️ below and I’ll reach out to you soon ☺️!!!
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Now go show @underpantsandoverbites some love for this AWESOME illustration 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 #help

They say you are the average of the people you surround yourself with. Have you heard that before?
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When I heard that line for the first time just a few years ago, I made it my mission to surround myself with people that can make me a better person and complement me in the best way possible (and vice versa)
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And so I did. I realized I needed more doers around me to help me put my ideas into action 👊🏼 — but also, I noticed I needed more kindness in my world, to help me become a more compassionate human being 🙏🏼 So I joined TYS (Top Youth Speakers), a team of exceptional humans driven by impact and fueled by purpose (tap the image for names). These guys are so ambitious, such doers and so accomplished that is intimidating to be around them. But at the same time, all they want is to change the world for the best, help the next generation of leaders and share their values so we can all live more fully 🙌🏼✨
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SO thankful to be part of this amazing group of individuals that make me a better person every day.
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Now, I’d like to challenge YOU to find the people that can help you become the best version of yourself. Who inspires you? ♥️
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Post inspired by @oliviaherrickdesign :)

Powerposing is my kind of posing 😂
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If you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about... check out @amycuddy TEDx Talk and you’ll be #powerposing in front of the mirror too!
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If you also practice powerposing from time to time, comment 🙋🏼‍♀️ below! Btw, there should be a powerposing emoji, just sayin’ 🤔

Humans are so interesting to me. We go from considering our parents our heroes, to being embarrassed by them to accepting them as the human beings they actually are — and hopefully, still loving them with their flaws and all.
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For me, the most challenging stage has been the 3rd one #adultingfears — How about for you?
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But, after spending the last 20 days with them in Panama, living under their roof, traveling the country with them and eating all four meals together, every single day (dessert is a meal in my family), I’ve come to actually, genuinely enjoy their company. And what I thought was going to be too much, it ended up being not enough 💔🙏🏼
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Parents are far from perfect, and the generational gap makes it even harder for us to live in harmony and get along. But if we are able to accept that, and move past it, I can assure you, you will be able to build a new kind of relationship and make the best out of it 👊🏼
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Now, our relationship is built on gratefulness, unconditional love, transparency, our all-time memories, and the new ones we are intentionally creating along the way, as adults who enjoy each other’s company 🙌🏼
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We cannot choose our parents, but we can choose to work on our relationship to make it an enjoyable one. Anyone else working on that too?
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☺️ Thanks mom and dad for these incredible 20 days, for spoiling me, for telling me stories about the family I had no idea about, for listening to some of my book chapters and helping me make them better, for touring me around beautiful Panamá, for trying hard to learn how to use Instagram, Spotify, Alexa, Siri and Google Drive, and for being in all of my thousands of photos I took! Love you now more than ever ♥️ And that is #thewholestory

For some, being home is their routine. For me, it’s the opposite. My routine is being on a plane, sleeping in a hotel bed and packing and unpacking every two days. And even though I love what I do, being home feels good.
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When I’m home I just want to be there and pretend I have a normal life for a few days before my next trip.
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I’ve been away from home for 23 days already, and I still have 11 more days to go (and two more destinations).
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So, while you may wish you were where I am, I wish I was where you are, home.
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And while your plan may be to work really hard to travel more, our ONE goal for 2019 is to travel AF so that in 2020 or maybe 2021, we can spend more time at home 🙌🏼
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It’s a matter of perspective 🙏🏼 And my ask for you today is: if you are home, enjoy a home cooked meal in my honor, water your own plants with love and hug your own pillow really hard ♥️ #missinghome #speakerlife #goals
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Image by @britandco
Quote by @cleowade
Shoutout to @dpoler for watering my 🌿

New year, same me! And I want to take this opportunity to re-introduce myself to all of you! Maybe you already know some of these things, maybe not! Let me know which one surprises you!
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🇻🇪 I was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where I lived 19 years of my life (and I miss my country daily)
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 My parents are still married, and I only have one younger brother @dpoler
🎂 I turned 30 in 2018!
✡️ I’m Jewish, but not orthodox
✈️ I’ve lived in Savannah GA, in Miami FL, and now in Brooklyn NY. But last year I was nomad!
🌶 I’m a very picky eater
🥭 Dessert is my favorite meal and mango sticky rice is my favorite dessert 🙌🏼
🧀 My favorite pasta is caccio e pepe
🍵 Matcha is my obsession — and bubble tea
🍜 I can talk about food for hours if you let me
🙋🏻‍♂️ I love @stramhacks more than anything. We’ve been together for 13 years and married for 7! ♥️
🗽 NY is my favorite place in the world. My dream is to stay there forever and my fear is to have to leave
😬 I faced 100 fears in 2015, and went viral
💩 I’m still afraid of large dogs, confrontation and roller coasters
🎤 My full time job is to speak about courage and inspire people. I say I have the best job in the world
👶🏼 I’m looking forward to being a mom in the future, but I’m terribly afraid of that too!
💪🏼 I admire ambitious women who are not afraid to defy the status quo
🙏🏼 I value authenticity and transparency
✨ My passion is branding and content creation
👩🏼‍💻 Before speaking, I used to work in advertising as an Art Director for @hersheys @wendys @revlon and @winndixie
⚾️ I don’t like sports, but I’m good at foosball
🏆 I used to win every spelling bee in middle school, except one time where I forgot the last “e” in chocolatE 🍫
🎬 My favorite tv show is @maiseltv
🎵 My favorite music genre is regueton 🙈
🎨 My favorite color is millennial pink 😂
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Thank you for being here and for allowing me to be who I really am! That is the person I like to be the most 🙌🏼☺️ TAG here someone who - you think - should follow this account ⤵️
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📸 by @caravisionnyc ♥️ #hellofears #aboutme #courage #newyearsameme

My best 9 are not defined by the amount of likes I got. I decided to choose my best 9. And I chose 9 messages I received this year as a sample of what matters most to me.
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👍🏻 Likes is what let us know you like the content we post. It’s the motivation we need to create more content.
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✨ But impact, THAT is the best way to show gratitude. My ask for 2019: don’t give me likes, unless you plan to take action. I want my likes to turn into real acts of courage. From now on, I rather have less likes and more of those messages 👆🏼(Swipe ➡️)
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I store those images on a folder and go through them whenever my “WHY” gets blurry. Those messages are the best gift you could ever give me.
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That is my kind of success. Cheers to more of those messages in 2019 🍾
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How do you measure success? 👇🏼✨

Here’s a good New Year’s Resolution for ya 🙋🏼‍♀️♥️⤴️
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Be The Heroine Of Your Own Life:
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👊🏼 Take full responsibility over your actions. Only YOU can change your life. Own that power
👊🏼 Practice self-love daily
👊🏼 Give instead of taking
👊🏼 Contrast instead of comparing
👊🏼 Show up, every time! Mostly when you don’t feel like it
👊🏼 Forget about the past, focus on the NOW
👊🏼 Be there for others
👊🏼 Create something that makes you PROUD
👊🏼 Make plans that excite YOU
👊🏼 Value what you already have and make the best out of it
👊🏼 Smile to the world
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What’s the BEST that can happen?
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Loved this image by @oliviaherrickdesign ✨ #heroine #newyearsresolution

In the last three days my parents lost one of their dearest friends to cancer and my sister in law lost her father 💔 — Life can be so limited and as meaningful as we make it.
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Today I’m alive, and I’m here ⤴️📸 with my parents, taking a few days off from my hectic life.
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As a way to enjoy this trip to the fullest and make it a memorable one, I set up a couple of rules for myself:
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✨ Hold their hand or hug them whenever I feel like it
✨ Take a deep breath before answering poorly or getting frustrated
✨ Take advantage of our conversations to learn something from them or teach them something
✨ Try not to complain
✨ Take as many photos as possible
✨ Check my phone as little as possible
✨ Be present. Live fully.
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Am I missing something? Let me know 👇🏼♥️
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If you’re spending time with your family this holiday season, embrace the moment and be mindful of how lucky you are today. #Happyholidays guys ✌🏼🍾

Having the opportunity to present in Spanish, reminds me of the courage I have by giving 95% of my conferences in English. Who here also works in a different language?
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Yesterday, as I was speaking in front of entrepreneur women in Panama, I felt so... comfortable!
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I was able to expand on my stories, go out of script, give better examples, make up jokes as I go and be 100% me!
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I now kinda feel jealous of Speakers who get to present in their native language. But at the same time, that makes me feel so proud of myself! The fact that I’ve been able to connect with people all over the world in my second language makes me realize that having an accent is not a weakness, it’s a superpower.
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Here’s a shoutout to everybody out there who not only knows more than one language but who also works in their 2nd language 👊🏼💥 That requieres so much courage! So cherish your accent and feel proud AF of yourself today 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 #courageis #hellofears #ESL

My new phone wallpaper, by @lucialitman 🙌🏼
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Today I challenge you to #sharethewholestory ✨🙏🏼 + tag me! 💪🏼

What are your SUPERPOWERS?💥💚
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In movies, some superheroes can fly, some can vanish, some are inexplicably strong and others can control things with their minds. 😳 Surprisingly, #superheroes are not the only ones who have powers. WE ALL have #superpowers too, and in order to make good use of them, we need to recognize what they are 👊🏼✨
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During the last year (2018), I’ve been able to tap into my superpowers — which helped me feel more confident about myself and my path (instead of comparing myself to others).
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These are some of the superpowers I discovered I have:
✨ Storytelling: the power to share compelling stories as a way to convey a message
✨ Connection: the power to build long-lasting, meaningful relationships
✨ Vulnerability: the power to influence others through my humanity
✨ Creativity: the power to innovate on a constant basis
✨ Courage: the power to make good use of my powers 👊🏼
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I would love to read here 👇🏼 What are some of YOUR superpowers? ♥️ And, how do you use them? #superSHERO #hellofears #michellepoler
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Photo by @thesiegfriedgroup