YPA Failure Friday Panel (in-person) AVL

About the speaker:

Alex Cardona started his career in social work after graduating from the University of South Florida with a degree in public health. After a few years of frustration with the mental health system, Alex transitioned from social work to teaching. As a middle school physical education teacher, Alex thought that he had found his life’s purpose. Alex Created a physical education curriculum that was focused on total comprehensive fitness and was supported by local businesses in the community. After a few years in education, Alex realized that his vision was to impact youth on a national level, and focused on opening his own youth training facility. In the beginning of 2020, Alex was in the process of obtaining his personal training certification when the pandemic came. After losing his income and his career path, Alex was presented with an opportunity to own his own legal service business. Without hesitation, Alex took this opportunity to help empower individuals with access to the justice system. Since starting his business in Asheville, Alex has helped both individuals and businesses get access to the justice system, started a local radio show named the Golden Key, and has become a respected business developer in the community. Alex currently is serving on the board for both the Young Professionals of Asheville, and the People’s Community and Inclusion, subdivisions of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce. Alex believes that the journey of entrepreneurship is a journey of self-development fueled by the balance of faith and self-confidence. 

Session description:

Networking is like oxygen to our business. The connection and people you need to grow your business are all in front of you. The doors of your future can be open with knowing what problem you fix, what solution you offer, and who is the person you help. Having an elevator pitch isn't enough in networking, one must also know how to earn their business PTO through using PTO- presence, tone, and objective. With the ingredients in this session one will learn the value of networking, why networking is a part of your divine business plan, and how to be in the rooms your business name is already in. This session will be interactive with the opportunity to do a one-minute elevator pitch to almost everyone in the room. 

With a background spanning social work to financial services. My goal is to help create a more mindful marketplace. 

About the speaker:

Meet Gillian Hailey - founder of Bloom Embodied Wellbeing. Gillian is an Authentic Living Embodiment & Empowerment Coach for wildly ambitious, secretly sensitive, soulful women, creatives, change makers, and truth seekers. Bloom is seeded from her lifelong personal and professional exploration of the delicate dance of “doing” and “being” in the world. She draws from over a decade of personal and professional experience & exploration as an international adventure and cultural immersion travel guide, holistic wellness practitioner, energy healer, and feminine embodiment & empowerment coach to curate offerings and experiences that promote personal & collective health and wellbeing, authentic connection and expression, and soulcentric living. She passionately guides her clients into the landscapes of their inner & outer worlds to reconnect with & reclaim their inner wisdom, creativity, and vitality so they can embrace, embody, and empower the vibrant expression & essence of their souls in the world.

Session Description:

 Failure Friday Panel Discussion - how learning to embrace failure cultivates trust & resilience, realigns you with your vision and illuminates the path to growth & expansion. Failure gets a bad reputation. As a recovering perfectionist, I spent many years avoiding failure, criticism, and rejection, tirelessly stressing, planning, and holding myself to unsustainable standards & expectations. I would often leap into passionate endeavors and inspiring opportunities with zest and fervor only to find myself spiraling quickly into mental exhaustion, stress, overwhelm, burnout, swimming in an internal sea of self-doubt. 

The truth is, perfection arises from good intentions - to deliver or serve an exceptional, inspiring, impactful product, service, or experience - whether in our personal or professional lives - that ultimately unconsciously get hijacked and manipulated by old wounds, limiting beliefs, and ungrounded perceptions. In this discussion, we will look at misinformed cultural conditioning around failure & particularly how it leads to the perfectionism trap, illuminate the wisdom of failure, and establish a more generative way to relate to failure so you can cultivate a deeply fulfilling and thriving business.