Overcame invisibility wounds and built a personal brand to fund her mission

Before this program, I had no respect for social media. I associated it with addiction, isolation, disconnection, depression, and suicide. I gave social media terrible reviews and avoided the very tool I should have been using to grow VisitRico, the organization I built in 2014. At the introduction to the Masterclass, Vishen spoke about how we — the Mindvalley community — needed to contribute to the noise of social media worldwide, to add goodness and light instead of adding to the chaos. He talked about surpassing our invisibility wounds. That hit me hard. Even as a model and actress, someone companies pay to use my image and talent, I still wasn't comfortable using that same visibility to grow and support my own mission. I learned that social media isn't a random act — it's a craft. We became creative scientists. When Trump came into power, I watched financial opportunities I'd been counting on disappear, one after another. I spiraled into depression and paralysis. That's when I told myself: it's time to leave the cocoon and build a personal brand identity that can actually fund my work in Puerto Rico. There was a point where I wanted to quit — not because the program wasn't valuable, but because I was moving through a personal challenge at the same time, one that ate into the time and bandwidth I needed to keep up with each new layer of content. I reached out to the Mindvalley team and told them the truth. In sharing it, something shifted — I relaxed. I made peace with posting imperfectly and gave myself permission to get fully organized after the program ended, not before. With so much feedback and so many skills to absorb, the only way I could break through my perfectionist block was to "sloppy post" — to stop waiting for "good" and just begin. I trusted that it wouldn't stay sloppy forever, because every teaching builds on the one before it, even when each of our paths look different on the way to the same place. Thanks to this program, I began to understand the many ways systems can help me bypass my own fears — to remember that it's not about me, it's about the message, and the message needs to be consistent, loud, and clear. Clarity was its own challenge for someone as multipotentialite as me. Should I talk about MS and disease prevention? Agriculture? Regenerative tourism? Not yet. And should I talk about the most vulnerable parts of me — the little girl who was bullied for her ears, called Dumbo before she ever knew what self-love meant? The girl who dreamed of becoming an actress, but whose speech and the bullying that came with it kept her in silent movie mode — modeling, acting, being seen, but never quite finding her voice? Not yet either. First: practice, practice, practice. And then, with love and patience for myself, I'll get there — and when I do, I'll bring all of her with me, words and all. One of the greatest gifts of this journey was the people. I got to study alongside so many incredible humans who were figuring out their own versions of this at the exact same time — and somewhere along the way, we became cheerleaders for each other. —And now, my life has wonderful new friends who are on this journey with me — practicing, trusting a proven process. No more guessing. The block I used to carry — the one linked to addiction, isolation, disconnection, depression, and suicide — is now linked instead to what Brené Brown calls "being in the arena." Not sitting in the cheap seats critiquing the people brave enough to try. I'm no longer a spectator. I'm a conscious creator of light and love, showing up in the arena, willing to get knocked down and get back up. Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu — may all beings everywhere be happy and free. 🌱