A: What I am most passionate about is my mission to empower and encourage women to navigate through the ups and downs of life, while seeking the promises of God. This passion came from a personal traumatic experience after the loss of a child, which left me seeking God for answers. During that time, I established a women’s ministry that I felt would be both relatable and transformational. Beauty for Ashes Ministries Inc. is now a faith-based nonprofit organization.
My focus with this nonprofit is to be a bridge that helps women impacted by life’s challenges to find meaning and purpose. The mission is to provide resources to encourage, empower, and educate women. The ultimate goal is to help women develop a positive outlook and self-image. This is done through seminars, workshops, and support sessions, using various tools and literature such as my published self-help book titled A Walk Through the Valley, which deals with grief and healing. The vision for Beauty for Ashes Ministries Inc. is to be recognized as a premiere holistic resource for women from all walks of life.
To ensure that my work is effective, I am continually working on my personal enrichment. I am currently pursuing a certification as a Christian counselor as part of my commitment to changing lives and leading souls to Christ.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I was brought up in a family that was centered around spirituality. Although diverse in religion, the message was universal: seek God first. I feel that my faith has shaped my thoughts and perspective on life as a whole. Along with the belief in the scripture, that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, my parents always encouraged me to be my true authentic self. That sheer vote of confidence landed me a lot of opportunities in various activities, such as modeling and pageantry, which I feel adds to my desire to help other women boost their confidence.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: What I have learned through my journey through life is that as you keep going, you will come through on the other side and there’s life after.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: To me, feminism means the support and advocacy for the rights of women to remove barriers and eliminate discrimination because of gender.
Q and A with LaurenM. from Chicago, Illinois, living in Jacksonville, Florida
“Having a solid circle and choosing to not give up is what got me through.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I am passionate about serving others in an excellent way. I’ve been this way since I was a little girl. Today, I happen to do that via legal services as a business attorney. In this role, I help business owners protect and monetize their businesses. Through international business law, I help with setting up entities, mergers and acquisitions, trademarks, contracts, copyrights, and employee law.
I also love to travel and experience cultures. I think this yields different perspectives on life which provides a greater sense of appreciation and understanding of people. Jacksonville is where I currently reside, but I am a digital nomad, so I travel often. My business is 100% virtual.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: My mom had a big impact on me regarding my career because she would always tell me it was good to be a doctor or a lawyer. My stepdad told me about a dream he had of me being a lawyer years later, and I was from then on set on becoming an attorney.
I was always advanced. I started school one year early and skipped a grade. This positioned me to go into high school at 12 years old and graduate high school at 16.
A funny story my family often tells me is that I was meant to be an attorney as I’ve always been outspoken. At the age of four, I was riding with a family friend and she was speeding, I told her to stop but she didn’t. Eventually, she got pulled over and was talking her way out of the ticket, when I piped up and told the officer that she in fact did know she was speeding because I told her.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: I’ve learned that once you say yes to your purpose, purpose will chase you down!
I want others to know that there are no limits to the things you can achieve and do.
Even though I knew I wanted to be and felt called to be an attorney, the road to becoming an attorney was not easy. There were many moments I wanted to give up. I had a solid circle of encouragement and those who believed in me even when it didn’t feel good for me. Having a solid circle and choosing to not give up is what got me through. Anyone who puts their mind to it can do it!
Q and A with Maria Z. from Bogota, Colombia, living in Palm Beach, Florida
“I believe loving what you do has the biggest impact in life. I try to live every day with purpose.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I’m very passionate about my work. I believe that love is a force that guides us, and I love the human body and the human experience, and I love the magic that there is in how we were designed. The human body is such a simple yet complex system that is fascinating to me. I come from a medical background of 18 years. I went to school for surgical technology and health services administration. After everything changed with COVID, healthcare was never the same, however, people still need healing and I love healthcare so much that I decided to further my skill set and obtain my certification in Manual Lymphatic Drainage, ultrasonic cavitation, radio-frequency therapy, and laser Lipo.
Though I was familiar with the treatments from experience with my first child, the aftermath of my second child and the challenge that I was having to get rid of the “saggy skin,” despite exercising and keeping a healthy lifestyle, was what really pushed me to dive deeper into alternative treatments other than surgery. I also have a fairy hair and children’s entertainment business that is my heart. I started this project in 2020 inspired by my little girl and my friend and mentor who introduced me to fairy hair. Nellarina’s is a project based on magic and love, and I am known as the Fairy Hairmother, or the Queen Fairy as my friends call me [she laughs]. I believe in sparkles, and my inner child has healed tremendously with this project. I love to serve the community and have had the honor to work with foundations like Hands and Feet, which helps children in foster care, and the Palm Beach County Schools as a volunteer for their school events, and I am obsessed! I love to sparkle the kids, and their smiles when they look in the mirror is the best payment I receive!
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I am the youngest of two sisters, and I come from a big family. I went to an all-girl Catholic school and moved to the United States when I was 16. It was a huge culture shock to be quite honest. My father’s health wasn’t so great growing up, so my upbringing was a little different. My parents worked in sales; my mom was one of the top Realtors in Bogota during the 90s, and my dad worked in sales. With both parents being entrepreneurs, it is only natural that I would develop the same mentality, so I grew up hustling! I would bake and sell my cookies in my building and candy to my friends.
After I graduated high school, I went to college and worked in healthcare full time while attending Keiser University, where I graduated with my degree in health services administration. Then I pursued a second degree as a surgical technologist from Keiser College, where I graduated with honors. I obtained my national certification with the highest score in my class and had the privilege of being a part of the advisory board for the student leadership body. I believe loving what you do has the biggest impact in life. I try to live every day with purpose.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: If there is something I would like others to learn from my story it’s that only we are responsible for our destiny. Sometimes, we tend to get in our own way because we’re scared of failure, but understanding that there is no failure only lessons to be learned, we realize that we can always start again and do things differently.
I feel like the most valuable tool I have and what has helped me the most has been prayer/meditation. Being able to ask for divine guidance and really taking the time to listen will help you take the steps needed that are in alignment with your true purpose.
Remembering that we all put our pants the same way in the morning keeps me humble and grounded; it allows me to expand from a more authentic and empathic place, and to really take the time to listen to others…sometimes it’s important. To be of service is important. Walking without judgment is growth. Everyone is their own world, and oftentimes, we forget people are fighting battles we don’t know about. Being kind is important. A life of service is a life well-lived.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Well as the proud granddaughter of a widow with seven kids who raised them by herself and a mother who hustled to provide due to unfortunate circumstances, I believe feminism as a term has been misinterpreted by many.
I feel like being a feminist is embodying the soft side of what makes us a woman while balancing the strength, courage, determination, and fearlessness that women carry without trying to be like our male counterparts (I know personally I wouldn’t want to be like a man). As women, we are sacred portals of life and even men come from women; we are the ultimate creators, we are sovereign and powerful! We are the ultimate warriors and even Earth is a woman. We run the world!
MORE from Maria:
-I’m only 4’10”
-I am a Clair
-Cooking and exercise are my mental health
-I was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia, and currently reside in Palm Beach County, Florida
*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.
Q and A with Lisa Maslyk, Winnipeg, Manitoba
“I truly wish I had gotten into it when I was younger, but it felt like such a big leap that I wasn’t ready to take at the time. Now that I am in it, I realize that it wasn’t such a big leap at all.”
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I was born in England and moved to Canada when I was 10. I grew up in an entrepreneurial family. My mom and dad were always trying new businesses from full-size kit cars to online t-shirt designing. This is probably where I got my business mind. I ended up going the college route into a steady job but always yearned to do something else. It wasn’t until my kids were old enough and didn’t need me or my time as much that I finally ventured into network marketing and acting. It’s funny because both of these careers have really served each other!
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: [Because of] acting and learning, I am way more comfortable presenting myself online and doing videos. My network marketing business has given me an income stream when I am in between acting jobs. Currently, I have several streams of income online. I have one direct sales company that I have been with since September of 2019. I am with this company because I absolutely love the product, so it made sense to me to sell it. I also am an affiliate for several other companies.
My main focus for my business development and growth right now would be Pinterest and YouTube. I do like Facebook and Instagram, but feel there are too many restrictions in place, and Pinterest is growing so fast that I think everyone should be there! I am very seriously thinking of putting a course together to help other entrepreneurs understand how to use Pinterest for their business!
Pictured: Me on set, ready for acting! I played a doctor in the 2020 movie, “Rage Can Kill.”
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: I absolutely love network marketing! I truly wish I had gotten into it when I was younger, but it felt like such a big leap that I wasn’t ready to take at the time. Now that I am in it, I realize that it wasn’t such a big leap at all, in fact, it runs very parallel to the business world that I stepped away from. It’s just that now the earnings and the income go to me instead of the company that I work for!
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: To me, feminism is being able to earn the same amount of money as any other person for the job that is being done. I like what I do because the effort I put into it gives me the same rewards out of it. There is no discrimination of any kind.
*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.
Q and A with Carly, Melbourne, Australia
“I used to give up on projects too early without enough feedback to see it through, and I attribute my giving up too early mostly to self-limiting beliefs. You can have the best business model and the best-looking website and great marketing strategy, but if you don’t believe in yourself first, you will fail every time. So for me, first and foremost is get your mindset right in the beginning, and set the foundations to build an amazing life for yourself and stick at it! The only way you will stick at anything is self-reliance, discipline, and self-belief.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I am most passionate about creating personal and financial freedom for not only myself and my family, but also empowering women to create the same for themselves. For me, it’s always been about being able to live my best life on my own terms with the flexibility and freedom to be able to help and inspire others in my own unique way. I have always been passionate about the online business space, and I started my own affiliate marketing site back in 2002 and never looked back since. From there, I went into web development and search engine marketing and helped businesses grow their online presence. I also studied personal and business coaching and assisted a mentor of mine to build an online course that helps people to change self-limiting beliefs and mindset coaching. I now own and operate one of Australia’s largest Christian dating websites and have just started compiling all my knowledge to build a platform for women to grow personally through an online business called InspireHer Online. InspireHer Online will help positively change the lives of millions of women around the world giving them the most effective path to their personal and financial freedom on their own terms.
Q: What is something valuable you’ve learned that you’d like others to know?
A: I love to share my skills, failures, and successes with others in an effort to help them avoid the pitfalls and misdirection that is rampant in the online business world.
One of the most valuable lessons I have learned that you can apply to both personal and business is consistency and self-belief! Never give up on your dreams! Realize that lots of failures lead you closer to success. I used to give up on projects too early without enough feedback to see it through, and I attribute my giving up too early mostly to self-limiting beliefs. You can have the best business model and the best-looking website and great marketing strategy, but if you don’t believe in yourself first, you will fail every time. So for me, first and foremost is get your mindset right in the beginning, and set the foundations to build an amazing life for yourself and stick at it! The only way you will stick at anything is self-reliance, discipline, and self-belief.
This was a big one for me, and it is what lead me to learn how to remove and change the old belief patterns I had and replace them with ones that align with my values. Developing a set of values for yourself is so important; they are your foundations and backbone that guide you through your life. Having no/a poor set of values or compromising your values to suit your needs at that moment will always create self-doubt, lack of direction, lack of purpose, and anxiety for you. Not correcting your old beliefs that don’t serve you will have you chasing your own tail and repeating the same old behavior and ultimately, lead to self-sabotage. So, I would say this is the most valuable lesson I can pass on and teach with my passion to help others finally achieve the long-term success they deserve.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I grew up in a small town near Melbourne, Australia, as an only child, and my mother was a hard-working single mum. During my younger years, I was always painting and drawing and ran art classes for other younger kids to raise money to go on a 12-month student exchange trip to Sweden which had a huge impact on my life—showing me that life experience and experiencing different cultures and people are things you can never learn in a classroom. I backpacked all around Europe afterward and have now traveled to 21 countries and counting! I started online marketing back in 1999 and developed a long-standing background in I.T. and digital design and marketing.
I combined both talents and first began designing websites in 2001 as a web designer for a Melbourne-based company, then started my own business developing online businesses for clients, and then later studied and taught coaching and consulting. Since then, I have been married and divorced, I have a wonderful 12-year-old son, and I have started many businesses (some that failed, some that succeeded). I have been flat broke, I have had wealth, and I have come through it all into total prosperity now, and I feel so privileged to be able to help other women achieve the same and more.
Pictured: Carly and her son.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: I have never been a fan of labels, so to me, feminism means being a good human and treating each other as equals. I don’t believe women should have to be a certain way due to societal beliefs, and I also think men should be able to show emotion and cry without being perceived as weak. We are all human in the end—no matter what kind of body parts we have, I hope in time we can love and respect each other for the individuals we are and celebrate that.
Carly’s collage to remind herself of her path to success.
