Amanda Carrasco

Life has changed so much. I have changed so much. Growing up, politicians, celebrities and the like all seemed so distant and untouchable. I don’t know if it is age or technology (likely both), but they are now real people and less like an elite class that is unreachable to me. I have gotten to interact with all kinds of people that I never would have thought possible as a child. I didn’t see that I related to them. We also didn’t have email or social media platforms that make contact so much easier. It has brought them down off of a type of pedestal. I didn’t idolize them, but they lived a life so foreign in concept to me that I felt small and they appeared big.

I was driving home the other day and stopped at a red light. My radio was loud because it almost always is. I glanced over to the lane beside me and on the back of a bus was an advertisement for my company. At first I didn’t think much of it, but after a few seconds a light bulb went on. That was MY company on the back of that bus. I would never have thought that it was anyone else’s, but the significance was that most people don’t own companies and even those that do, don’t often have ads on the back of the bus. I understand that it might not be an ideal place for some companies to advertise but, even still, my company has grown to the level of advertising on buses. That’s not common. I built that.

I always strive to find the balance between humility and confidence. I don’t want to think too little of myself, nor too much, but I have lived for far too long on the too little side. The confident side can be a challenge because my gender is often accused of being aggressive and not assertive even though the same actions by a man would be considered assertive. I am caring less and less about those types of people that make that mistake. I am starting to own the fact that I am a bad-ass business woman who is making moves in this world. That matters to me for two reasons: 1) I never would have thought I could achieve all the things I have 2) the business moves I make enable the social justice moves I am making. So every success in business helps my family and is helping me facilitate the change I want to be in the world.

Building a business so that all your rewards are kept in your own treasure chest is meaningless, in my opinion. I live a modest but very comfortable life. I don’t want a mansion, though I would like a Camaro. The impact that I get to have through my non-profit, my workshops and speaking engagements and those types of endeavours are the crown of my success. It’s not just that I own a thriving company, though that is great. That company has it’s own positive social impact and is a vessel for changing lives. It also supports work that the world needs. It touches lives that include young people who see themselves as small and the world as big. It’s reaching people who are where I used to be and helps them see themselves as the gifted creative beings they are and supporting them to make their own positive social impact. It’s an incredible thing to build.

I built that.