626: Be Who You Want To Be With Grace Lanuza

Grace Lanuza brings over 18 years of experience in business specializing in brand strategy, shopper marketing, employment branding, and large-scale events. Her parent company, Grace Lanuza Brand Strategy + Consulting Group, houses three subsidiaries; Brand Apiary (branding and digital marketing), Clickruit (employment branding, training & curriculum development) and Pelota (influencer and sports sponsorship brokerage). The companies have offices in Vancouver, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Her work has been featured on numerous press outlets, such as Business Insider and is featured as an official partner on the AMA Feed. Mentorship, especially for women is an important part of Grace’s volunteer sphere. She’s currently serving as a Mentor for Young Women In Business – both SFU and UBC Chapters and the Forum For Women Entrepreneurs (FWE).

Grace shares how the dark moments in her life made her realize that she can be whoever she chooses to be which has helped her become the powerhouse woman that she is today.

Bio

Grace Lanuza is the founder of Brand Apiary.

Cultural Background

Grace is of Filipina descent.

Favorite Self Confidence Quote

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Definition of Self Confidence

Self-confidence is that feeling where a fire is lit within you. When you can conquer the world!

Her Life Before the Discovery of Self Confidence

Ever since Grace was a little girl, the expectations were high to “perform” whether in a school play, dance class, pageants, etc. She remembers her adult front teeth coming in and her parents taking her to get veneers so that it “looks great on stage”. She thinks they meant well, in a twisted Asian Tiger Mom way, but actually those were the experiences that really come up when she get impostor syndrome, when she gets the feeling of not good enough or lack of self-worth. It was as if she needed to always perform and bring her “A Game” otherwise mistakes aren’t good or don’t even bother. So she really took that and made it the reason to be unapologetic about the way she wanted to do things, the way she wanted to shape and mold herself as a human and a woman of influence.

The “AHA” Moment

Throughout her life there were some sparks, she tried out to be a CFL (Canadian version of NFL) cheerleader by herself on a whim! She got there and there were close to 200 girls doing splits up the wall and she was like “omg!” but she thought “hey if I don’t like it, I’ll just leave, no one knows me here!” but she made it!

Those were very defining moments in her life, where she felt she accomplished things on her own terms. And then there were very dark moments that again she used to propel into self confidence and decide to power through. For example, she got married at 21 and by 23 she was divorced and she thought “holy crap, who would want me now?” but the realization there was “wait, now is my chance to decide whoever the hell I want to be” and she did just that. She thinks that moment was a turning point on how she began to truly love herself and be unapologetic about it.

Her Life After the Discovery of Self Confidence

Grace was coming out from a very broken place. She was desperately trying so many things on for size so to speak because she didn’t really know who she was to begin with. She was living a life where she was doing what was expected of her and not what she really wanted to be or try to want to be. After going through divorce at such a young age, she really was grateful for that learning experience. And spoiler alert… her ex and her are still business partners to this day! They are great friends, total honesty and care for each other as individual people.

The One Self Confidence Tip For the Listener

Be kind to yourself. And also the best is yet to come! Try things because there will be no regrets, just lessons learned. Be real and if someone tells you you’re “too much” or “wears a mask” or “too plastic” fuck em. Just do what makes your soul sing and what nurtures your entire being. If it doesn’t spark you, leave it. What is coming around the corner is so so much better.