"Nothing's ever your only choice." A mantra shared by Carol Umanzor, educator and creator of Born to Be Seen a platform dedicated to building a practice of emotional wellness.

Join me on this episode where I feature my first guest and co-host! Carol shares how she walks along her entrepreneurship journey while being firm in the values that she holds. She talks about how she builds and connects to community to help guide her journey and how you can always figure out different ways to be an entrepreneur even if you don't know what they look like yet.

Follow Carol Umanzor on Instagram at: btobseen and visit her website at borntobeseen.co

and for the books that Carol mentions follow the links below:

1. The Big Leap
2. Your Money or Your Life

Remember to stay in touch for her upcoming podcast! Called Born to Be Seen: The Podcast.

Want to explore coaching with me? DM me on Instagram @beabosscoaching or book a call.

Carol: [00:00:00] So I had a double major. And I remember being in my sociology classes mixed in with some business majors and just some of the stuff that they said would be like, For me, I was like, wow, business is evil.

Bea: know like you have no heart.

Hi everyone. And welcome to another episode of the Beaboss coaching podcast. My name is Beatriz I'm an entrepreneur coach for women of color BIPOC and queer entrepreneurs who want to embrace their entrepreneur identity and walk along their journey with a bit more ease. And I'm really excited to share with you this episode today. It's my very first guest episode and I want to share this conversation with you because we talked about what it looks like to not compromise on your values and to continue to walk along this journey while still keeping true to who you are and yourself.

All right. So let's get into it. My guest [00:01:00] today is Carol Umanzor

or she is the creator of born to be seen. Where they provide education, workshops and knowledge on building a practice of emotional wellness. So I'm excited to share this conversation with you And i hope you enjoy

okay. I wanna know, first off Who are you? Carol? who are you? I do wanna say that. so I met Carol in a, co-working virtual space, that Kita Zuleta hosts on, on her , I think on her Cafecito platform. and it's just been a very awesome experience to meet other entrepreneurs and other women and doing their own journey, because it is, at least in my experience, had been isolating up to that point and.

And it was just [00:02:00] perfect that even with this podcast coming out, I was able to find a community of people and other entrepreneurs who were also doing the same thing. So I'm glad we met and I'm so excited to share in your story who you are and what your business is and your entrepreneurship

journey and overall identity. But yes, tell us. Tell me more. Tell me more. Tell us who you

Carol: are. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for having me here. Super excited. Definitely love, all those spaces that I feel like that's definitely one of them that I've been able to connect with folks and build community. So definitely understand the countering isolation, especially you know, right now during kind of these covid times that we've been in.

So it's been nice to find a community but also. I'm actually a former classroom teacher, so I'm coming from like a whole different world and, into kind of entrepreneurship and business. My, [00:03:00] my background's been education. I've been in some sort of education capacity for the past 17 years, and so this is the first time that I'm doing something like, of that.

I still take up space or I'm still working in that area too, but, but yeah, this was like, I. Me trying something different. But, in terms of who I am, I was gonna say, I'm just a random person. I'm just kidding. Everyone's,

Bea: everyone's just random.

Carol: I feel like that's such a big question, but in the training they, they asked the same thing and I was just like, I'm a woman and I'm Salvadorian.

And you're

Bea: Salvadorian? Yeah. Oh, my,

your family from, my dad is from San Salvador. the capital. And my mom, she's like from a very small town. I, she said it before, and honestly, when I tell other people where my mom is from, they're like, I've never heard of that. But she says, Quin.

Carol: Quin. [00:04:00] Oh, okay. it's like It's in,

Bea: yeah.

I don't know exactly where, but I visited. A couple times in my life. So I, I don't know El Salvador, but I think it's super small because when I tell other people about it, people often don't really know where it is. But I think it is part of a bigger Yeah.

Area.

Carol: Okay. Okay. Now makes sense. Yeah. My family's also not from, the capital. My dad's from a little town called Paquin. Oh yes. Yeah, my mom is from, which is in, so like these two different regions. Yeah. But. I'm Salvadorian.

Bea: Nice. I'm so excited that you're, I didn't know, I really didn't know you were Salvadorian either.

Oh, wow.

Carol: Ok. So funny. Yeah. Yeah. and I was, born in the Bay Area, so I was born in San Francisco and raised in San Francisco and I've been in the Bay area pretty much my whole life. I did all my college and [00:05:00] graduate school in San Francisco and now I'm just like over the bridge in the East Bay, but I've been here pretty much my entire life and, I've been a lot of my kind of like adult life and work has been rooted in a lot of kind of social racial justice, working to create new spaces of liberation and learning the systems of oppression to be able to identify it and, build something new.

So I did a lot of that through education and, a lot of the framework that I have been building around, like my. Business that's focused on building a practice of emotional wellness takes all of that into account and really rooted in this liberatory practice of, like and really understanding it from this sort of lens that's free of all these sort of oppressive, Forces, that are always pressed up against us.

so the piece that I do for my business. And I also, the other work that I [00:06:00] do is in, in science education. So I was a science teacher, for Milton High School for seven years. and then, now I'm like in higher ed. So I've done teaching for, programs, so for a credential program for folks who wanna be science teachers and then also for, A, program for folks who are pursuing biomedical science, community engaged biomedical medical science.

So doing research and support around that. So that's all the buckets that I'm a part of.

Bea: Oh my goodness, that's wild because. I knew there was something that drew me to you because I love talking about systems of oppression, like racial lens, all of that. I had the same sort of, Like curriculum.

So as a social worker, the reason why I talked about that or learned about that really was because in social work education in general, that is not talked about. Like we don't talk about systems of oppression [00:07:00] and lens and perspectives and different types of systems that we're embedded in. and and that's when I started my own coaching business with that lens in mind. It was difficult to figure out what it looked like to be an entrepreneur, having that lens and having that perspective. and I'm curious for you as someone who's in education and provides this type of like workshops, how do you incorporate I.

This lens and like this sort of, perspective into your entrepreneurial journey, what does it look like for you? Because I feel like it's been a question for me that I'm trying to answer and I'm slowly like here and there, see what that can look like for me, but. And what that's looked like for me is meeting other people like you, who are in this space and who also have that type of lens.

So what does it look like for you to incorporate that into your [00:08:00] business and in your journey?

Carol: Yeah. No, I appreciate your question. I think it's super important because, I feel like for me, coming into this space, from that background, it was like non-negotiable. You know, I'm not gonna compromise my values to start business or to be an entrepreneur like it needs to be.

Mm-hmm. Not just my values with my spirit. Like I'm in a constant sort of feel like my practice of continuing to be in alignment with who I am and my spirit is super important to me. That was like first and foremost, like I wasn't gonna. I was like, gonna do what other people were doing, you know? Or what?

Yeah. And this is coming from okay. When I was in, I did biology and then I added sociology. So I had a double major. And I remember being in my sociology classes mixed in with some business majors and just some of the stuff that they said would be like, For me, I was like, wow, business is evil.

Bea: Like I know how [00:09:00] do we, like you have no heart.

Carol: Like you don't even consider the humans that are part like That's right. And then going into education, like I had that same like lens, like business is just evil and I really had to understand, I feel like pull apart because I think that time I saw it just as one big kind of conglomerate, and I'm thinking like corporations that are just like these big chunks that come in, have no regard for humanity, are not really people focused or. So I think I had to really understand for myself first that business, existed before capitalism,

Yes. Happened before this system that is so dehumanizing and it can, there's other things that can exist. Parallel to it, I know capitalism is like a huge thing and whatever. Like people, some people are all for it. Some people are like, it's evil and like it can, it could be both.

And I feel like there's other ways too that you can do business that don't necessarily have to fall in line with it necessarily. my, [00:10:00] a lot of my work I think in my life has been to kind of, Deconstruct these systems, you know, and to really understand them, pull 'em critique.

And I feel like now my energy is more towards building something new. as these, as folks are becoming more aware of what it really is. where I'm at, is like, how can I build something that's in alignment with who I am and my values, and my spirit, to share what I have to share with the world and I. My, so my, I'm a Capricorn and so my, yeah, a piece of who I am, what my learning. A lot of times like when I wanna do something new, I try and go, like I go knowledge, like intellectual kind of first, okay, well books to read, what do I need to Google what videos, And so when I started that, with business, cuz like my whole network is pretty much just folks in education, so they don't, it's like a whole nother world. I to like figure out. is it? And a lot of these [00:11:00] books were by folks who were just like, so far off from who I am that I was like, no, I'm not doing that.

That's not alignment with myself. I need to find other resources. I need to find folks who are doing this. And like a way that feels aligned, more aligned.

Bea: Hello, everyone. I wanted to take a quick pause here to remind you to come on over to beabosscoaching.com and sign up for my newsletter. Well, you will receive any updates and announcements on brand new episodes and even opportunities to send in questions, sending any thoughts that you have.

Come on over to beabosscoaching.com or you can send me an email at Beatriz that is B E A T R I Z @beabosscoaching.com now, back to the show.

Carol: And so that's when I just started looking for books mostly like [00:12:00] for by women of color, communities. like we all grow community, like the community, just, just to be in alignment with folks, just to see what they're doing, just to kind of learn and That was one of the things that I really, I felt like really helped me in teaching was having community of folks who were in alignment with what I wanted to do. Like I wanted to create and deliver curriculum to young people that was humanizing that they could see themselves in and help them feel like creators of knowledge, and science and so, that was my community. that was who? I'm in community still with that was my network. And so that's what I wanted to do. and then like in the process of doing with this new world, with entrepreneurship and, and business cuz folks are just like, so creative, you know?

So just listening to podcasts, just listening to, just reading books and just learning how folks are doing it and you know, it's not always perfect. It's like some things feel good to me and I'm like, that works, some don't. And I'm like, take the best, leave the rest. You know, so Exactly.

Yeah. And that's kinda [00:13:00] how I've been managing,

Bea: through it. Wow. I love everything, that you said, just because I feel, it feels like very isolating to be in a journey like especially entrepreneurship and business. And you see the way that. It's done regularly, right?

unquote done like with all the different selling and marketing type of techniques and what people say but when I first decided to start my business, I had talked to a friend who started their own business and she had purchased a, business school curriculum that was self-paced online.

And, it was very basic. You know, it was like, who's your I C A and how do you start thinking about a product and how do you do research? And those are all very, of course, important things. but the very notion of. Okay, I do have this lens where I understand that we are embedded in systems, right?

And like capitalism exists And so I think with having this [00:14:00] view around how systems of oppression impact our lives and like how we're embedded in it. Mm-hmm. Having that knowledge firsthand before starting this business, I think. Was blocking me because I couldn't figure out what it looked like to start a business.

that felt genuine or authentic. And I was like, I don't, what does that look like? Because everything that I'm reading and everything that people are saying, at least just like the most basic information and knowledge about business and how to start one didn't have any of these perspectives.

So how can I bring that in and humanize this experience for myself? Because it was really hard to think about can I, I guess exist in this capitalistic world. Can I be involved? Can I involve myself in this, in capitalism this way is like, how do, what does that look like? But in my, [00:15:00] in, in what I wanted to do was, I wanted to build a business. I want to make money, I also have these views. how do I align that? And I love that what you said about. You were just not gonna compromise your values. And that's something that I think for me, had I had to come to that realization late, like way later, like I didn't know what that, that that was even what was going on for me.

that was the block for me there was a lot of things that I feel like I couldn't compromise and yet, and that's why I didn't know what it looked like for me to move forward or continue to stay in this journey. and so I love that you're like, yeah, I'll, I had to find community. I had to stay true to what I believed in spiritually and finding actual other people who also thought the way that I did.

And I'm wondering was it difficult for you to [00:16:00] come to that realization, or was it like, have you always been that person that's no, my, these are my values. I'm gonna find a way to figure out what this looks like.

Carol: I think part of it is,like the stage I am in my life because mm-hmm. I feel like when I was younger, I was still trying to figure out what it meant to be me, you know? And. What it meant to be in alignment with myself, whether that meant someone was gonna be happy with me or not.

I think there was a lot of things I had to let go of to get to a place where I that was just a non-negotiable anymore, And to really feel like, really have the space and time to feel what it is like to be in alignment with myself, to honor my boundaries, to, really not betray myself, you know?

And I think in the PA when I was I felt like I almost had to, that wasn't like, I didn't have a choice. You know, and I spent years trying to figure out, what it even [00:17:00] feels like to be in alignment with myself. And once I knew what that was like, I was like, I'm not giving it up again.

You know, I'm not, yeah. It's not something that I'm willing to, it's not, like I said, it's not negotiable. It's not for sale. I'm not gonna, it's not, I'm not gonna trade it in. You know what I mean? the choices that I make, Are always like, what is it that feels in alignment with me?

I think

and I'm, I think this also like goes back to, even like my upbringing because I feel like, I don't know if you had a similar experience having parents from El Salvador, they fled, my parents fled the war. And were, mode. You know, like it was like emergency mode.

You just left the country that you knew your whole life and now you have to live here in this new system. New language, New everything. And, and, then they had kids and now you have to take care of your kids. And so it was always almost like an urgency and like scarcity and because [00:18:00] there's no other choice.

Like we have to just almost live under this And I don't think that, For maybe even decades. They had the opportunity to sit and feel like it's not urgent and there's no more urgency. there's no more need to be in this kind of heightened state. And even though I didn't experience the war, the chemicals my body, that became to me, Yeah. So when I was growing up and becoming an adult, I almost chased that same what situation, those same scenarios, to flood my system in the same way. Like this sort of need of like this always urgency, always going, always there's never enough kind of thing. And um, I feel like it took a long for me to realize.

there's nothing that I need to, you know, be worried about right now. there's nothing that I have to run for too, or there's nothing that's running out. like that scarcity and [00:19:00] urgency. Like my parents absolutely had a situation that was of that, and now it's over, And now, I get to have abundance and I get to operate from this place of abundance. So that kind of really shifting. That mindset, or shifting even like that experience from scarcity to abundance really helps me see that nothing's ever my only choice. I used to have a, one of my admins when I was a teacher used to say that.

She's nothing's ever your, yeah. And like when she said that, I was like, wow. That was not even a concept in my mind, Yeah. But you have options always. Even when it seems like. There's only one thing, one option. There's always more. There's always more than one. I think that also having, left teaching and gone to pursue this.

I already had that mindset in, in place. So in my mind it was already like, that's not my only choice, So I don't even feel in [00:20:00] conflict with it because I know that I, there's other ways, even if I don't even know what they are yet, I know that they're out there or I'm gonna find them.

So it doesn't really feel like, I don't feel like the urgency of I have to compromise my values or myself, or, Just overall, you know, existence to do anything. like I, I get to just be, and it, this also reminds me of this book, I started reading that talks about like your life force, the book was about like finance and things like that.

And the ladies start off the book with how do you wanna use your life force? This is about your life force, your life energy, and you could decide how to use it. And at that time too, I was reading this other book about, the Big Leap, I think it's called The Big Leap, and it talks about your zone of genius.

You know, it's what is it that kind of gets you into flow and just coupling that, like what is it that really lights you up, gives you, energizes you, and how can you do more of that? Like, how can you. [00:21:00] Choose, I'm gonna use my life energy to do this because it brings me energy, it helps me support others, helps me be present, everything else is maybe if I wanna do it, I'll do it.

If I don't have to. Yeah. Yeah. That's how I think of it cuz I, I think I don't, I don't think of it as there's limitations. Like I think that there's always gonna be. Multiple ways to be able to do.

Bea: Yeah. because I think that's one of the biggest challenges when you decide to start a business in general.

Like I, I think when you come from. Like I, and especially education, right? and I think education and social work are both service professions, right? Like you're giving back to people and they're not, you don't think of that and then business together. Mm-hmm. it's hard to think of those two industries coming together and you are essentially redefining what.

Entrepreneurship can look like for [00:22:00] you with your background and then with being in education and being, knowing that it doesn't have to look this specific way just because that's how it normally looks. Or that's how you've seen it play out. In your life, how you mentioned with your parents, like you, you saw their life play out and the it you adopted that, but then there was a point in time when you realized it doesn't, like the way that you proceed doesn't have to be the same way that they proceeded.

and. it's a whole lot of redefining for yourself. your own unique experience about what it looks like to just simply do what you wanna do. And in this case, you're starting your own business and you're providing the information in the way that you wanna provide it

And I think there's a lot, especially in, in business, there's this whole tactic right around urgency. Mm-hmm. Even around marketing, right? And like selling, it's buy now before time ends. there's just so [00:23:00] much unnecessary urgency or stress and like ways around how to even sell, and they place urgency on a lot of these types of tactics.

And I realize like that's, that didn't feel good to me because it's not in alignment with, like you said, it's not in alignment with who we are and our values and how we want to provide and serve our communities. And, and so I like that. You came to that realization, like it doesn't need to look this way.

it can just be, you can just make it however, and you have all these books, right? And I think that's one of the, Also points that I wanna point out is like you started reading books by other women of color, right? And other people who are doing things differently. and maybe you can share like a list of books.

maybe after this you can send me any sort of list of books that you've read. I don't know if you've ever heard of, [00:24:00] Rachel

Carol: Rogers? Oh, yeah. yeah.

Bea: Yeah. So I have that book and I liked it cuz it was like one of the only other authors that was from a black woman author that was around business and finance.

Yeah. and, but now there's so much more, there's a lot of people, who are Latinas or women of color bipoc authors who are writing their own stories and their own journeys. And, I think that plays to the importance of how important it is to find that community because, It's not easy to find.

I think

Carol: yeah, definitely not. It's not front and center. Even if you go to the bookstore, that's not what you're gonna see. I

Bea: know. Yeah. So it's not, I mean, like I said,I just found this community where there's all these people and then just to even work together, because I think when you're starting a business, especially as, I mean I'm a solopreneur, I don't plan on doing it all on my own forever. But, in your journey, are you also still a [00:25:00] solopreneur or do you have a team that you rely on? Like how do you I. What does your team look like, if it or if it's just you? what does that look like?

Carol: Yeah, it's just me right now. I think mostly what I've been focusing on is figuring out like what model fits best for me.

I think also kind of coming from teaching and burning out. someone told me this when in one of the communities that I was a part of, don't be your own, worst boss, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah, so I've been trying to move slow and really just figure out like what feels good to me, like what energizes me, what, um, what model is gonna be best for me, and may do I need to create a new model?

that's what I've been doing mostly, is just moving slow and trying different things out here and there and, having like my, I still have a full-time job, so having that helps me just be able to experiment a little bit and not to fully rely or figure out right away what it is that I want to [00:26:00] do.

So that's what, I've been doing. I have joined a lot of Groups that are mostly women, I joined Rachel Rogers group she has. Okay. Yeah, so I was part of that, which is mostly virtual. I also joined like the, we all grow and like a lot of kind of little circles that have to do with like business and we'll do meetups and things like that in the Bay Area.

Which has been nice to just hear what people are doing and how they're doing it. I've also, joined this other community that is a mix of folks who are just interested in changing the shape of business. that's what it's called, changing the business. Oh,

Bea: wow. Okay. So there are people out there

Carol: yeah, that's been like my.

main mode is just like building community and networking and just kinda learning like what folks are doing and how they're doing it and trying to support, people's events and especially if it's something that resonates with me and yeah, just going from there. I

cuz I'm also just on my own figuring it out and I, I do figure it [00:27:00] out, it'd be nice to have a team or just, some, something to expand or, work on.

Bea: Yeah. Yeah, that, that's how I think it, it starts, and the fact that you still have your full-time job, it definitely helps to, like you said, explore, experiment.

Especially right now because You can have some things and use them or some other things, you can let them go because you can try them out and you realize they don't really work out. Mm-hmm. You know?

And maybe, a phrase or two. what does it look like for you to embrace your entrepreneur identity in a

Carol: A phrase or two? Yeah. Uh, okay, let me see. what does it look like? I would say it would look like, Just living authentically and using my life energy to fill myself up and those around me.

that's it. Yeah.[00:28:00]

Bea: where can we find you? I know you gave me a couple of your IG links and your websites. Oh yeah. so I will definitely post them on the show notes, but if you like to tell us here, just so that people know and what, can you help people with what sort of.

services or products can you help people out with?

Carol: Yeah, so can mostly find me on ig, at b2b, seen, and you'll probably add it on the notes. And, that's where I mostly like post and things. I am starting a podcast too, so I have my episodes ready to go where, I just need to set them up.

And start releasing them. But it's all about emotional wellness. It's all about building a practice of emotional wellness. that's, mostly where you can find what I'm offering and things like that. further down the line, I'm gonna be, expanding that and, moving into more of the science of emotional wellness and also [00:29:00] just what that looks like in that space.

but yeah, those are kinda like the main things that I'm working on right now. Okay.

Bea: Gotcha. So Born to Be seen.co. That's your website? Yeah.

Carol: yes. Okay. I think the podcast is gonna be called Born to Be Seen, the Podcast

Bea: Born. I know, I would say definitely don't spend too much time on thinking of the name.

At least I, you can always change it later, which, yeah. I've learned.

But I just wanna thank you for being my first guest, for sharing your story, for sharing your journey, and just how you really embrace that identity for yourself.

Yeah, yeah. No, definitely. I love that.

Carol: Yes. Thank you for making the space.

Bea: All right. Yeah. So thank you for sticking with us, and I hope you enjoyed this episode. Took something away from it and I'll see you again next week. Bye. [00:30:00]