00;00;02;08 - 00;00;30;09
Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to Building Leadership Community Podcast. I'm your host, Dora Mendez. I am the founder and CEO of Coach Store, LLC. Our guests will be entrepreneurs. Small business owners and community leaders that drive social impact. It can be lonely at the top, but it doesn't have to be.
00;00;30;11 - 00;00;58;05
Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to Building Leadership Community Podcast. I'm your host, Dora Mendez. Thank you to our listeners and viewers. And if you're new to our podcast, please like, share and subscribe on YouTube by clicking the subscribe button with the little bell on it to get notified when new content gets posted. Since launching Building Leadership Community Podcast, the journey has been nothing short of transformative.
00;00;58;07 - 00;01;37;10
Speaker 1
As a champion of inclusive leadership growth and connection. With 6000 unique YouTube views and a thriving community of listeners. Season Two is all about deepening the conversations and expanding our impact. At its core, the Building Leadership Community Podcast is about fostering authentic leadership and empowering professionals to build stronger, more engaged communities. Every episode dives into strategies, insights, and personal stories that help leaders navigate their leadership journey with confidence and purpose.
00;01;37;13 - 00;02;07;29
Speaker 1
I'm thrilled for today's episode as it allows me to share a special connection with our guests. The inspiring Priscilla Guasso, the visionary founder of Latinas Rising up in HR. Priscilla has been instrumental in bringing my own vision to life, and this conversation is just the beginning of many powerful stories I'm eager to share with you.
00;02;08;02 - 00;02;39;00
Speaker 1
As someone deeply passionate about both writing and speaking talents, I'm fortunate. Fortunate enough to weave into my coaching and HR consulting business Coach Dora LLC. I was thrilled to embark on the journey of authorship and ‘Latinas Rising Up in HR, Vol. III Executive Edition’ is the book that helped me realize that dream. As my book sisters know all too well.
00;02;39;01 - 00;03;11;03
Speaker 1
The world of HR is anything but predictable. This book, our collective voice, is an investment in the phenomenal talent that Latinas bring to the table. We are living proof examples of how to rise to executive levels in HR by overcoming any obstacle. If we can do it, imagine what you can achieve. We'll add the link to purchase your copy of the book in the episode description.
00;03;11;05 - 00;03;26;04
Speaker 1
But let me tell you a little bit more about today's guest. I will do that in a moment. Let me bring her on. Hi, Priscilla. Hi Dora! Can you pronounce your last name for me and make sure I got it correct?
00;03;26;06 - 00;03;27;09
Speaker 2
“Guasso”
00;03;27;12 - 00;03;50;07
Speaker 1
“Guasso”, Priscilla Guasso, thank you so much for doing that. I am so happy that you're here. And, you're going to be. You might be a little embarrassed. Don't get red, because I am going to say so many nice things about you. I want to just read your bio for our audience. Just to, have them learn a little bit more about you.
00;03;50;10 - 00;04;23;09
Speaker 1
Before we start talking about your leadership journey. So, let me tell you all about today's guests, Priscilla. A proud Chicago native. Now living in Miami is a dynamic HR leader with 19 plus years of global experience. She doesn't look at me passionately coaching Latinas to unlock their potential through the power of community and connection. As the Amazon best-selling author and founder of Latinas Rising Up in HR and owner of Manifesting Leadership Group, LLC.
00;04;23;10 - 00;04;51;24
Speaker 1
She believes everyone is destined for greatness and is dedicated to helping high achieving leaders reach clarity in their careers and discover their next. She is a proud four time published author and two time coauthor. When she's not transforming company culture, you'll find Priscilla traveling with her husband, Jorge, and thier daughter, Amalia, soaking up the sun and spending time with her family.
00;04;51;27 - 00;04;54;17
Speaker 1
Welcome to the stage, Priscilla.
00;04;54;20 - 00;04;57;22
Speaker 2
Ah, thank you so much, Dora.
00;04;57;25 - 00;05;28;06
Speaker 1
So, first of all, I'm. I'm so glad that you're here. And I had the pleasure of meeting your lovely daughter. When, last Fall at the book launch in Chicago, which was fantastic. It was a really wonderful experience and just a true testament to how you bring community together. So I'd love for you to share with our audience, a little bit about your unique career trajectory.
00;05;28;08 - 00;05;49;04
Speaker 2
Thank you. Dora. First off, thank you so much for having me here. And Dylan, shout out to you behind the scenes. It takes it takes a lot, right, to come together and to make this happen. And, I will say thank you for bringing me on to share about what's so important to me, which is community. When you reached out to me, this is actually you and many others that said, hey, I want to share my story.
00;05;49;07 - 00;06;10;00
Speaker 2
That's so important to me. And that's been something I think that has to honestly lead me throughout my whole journey, in my profession and in my personal life, too. I started off in hospitality many, many years ago. I've been around for 19 years and, my jeans are for my mom. I say thank you, Mom, for keeping it going.
00;06;11;14 - 00;06;14;03
Speaker 1
Brown don’t break down, brown don’t break down.
00;06;14;05 - 00;06;36;05
Speaker 2
Like, I hope to keep this going. That's okay, I will. I will probably hold on to the crow’s feet that come from smiling. It means I've been living a good life. But I started off in hospitality, a long time ago. And it was something that gravitated me, being around so many people and and saying, okay, well, you get guests that come in and out.
00;06;36;12 - 00;06;55;03
Speaker 2
The impact you can make in their lives. Some stay for a night, some stay for weeks, some don't ever go away. And so I figured, you know what? I really love being around others. And it was a journey because I just I said, all right, let's go into hospitality and found my way into the hotel industry, through through community.
00;06;55;03 - 00;07;14;26
Speaker 2
Actually, we could talk about that in a minute. Then from there I decided, well, I love this, and I grew my career into HR and then I moved it into diversity, equity, inclusion because it was separate as far as a career there. And then, it touched employment and I everything in HR, I was like, oh my gosh, I can I can take my career anywhere in this.
00;07;14;29 - 00;07;31;14
Speaker 2
And I had some really great leaders and some not so great leaders, but I learned a lot and I learned to really, really love the company that I worked for. And then I got to a place where I felt like I could do more. And sometimes when you grow up in a company, they see you the same as when you first joined.
00;07;31;17 - 00;08;00;07
Speaker 2
And I knew that I could do so much more and I, I thought I was ready for that next step. And so then I went into, my next role, which is my actually my executive in HR role, where I went into, healthcare. And, whew! That one was a doozy. That one was not easy. It was right around Covid, right before Covid, and I was doing a lot of employee relations, probably one of the toughest jobs because of it just took so much of my soul and from there realized, I don't know if this is for me anymore.
00;08;00;15 - 00;08;16;17
Speaker 2
I also had three miscarriage is and things happening in my personal life that I realized maybe I need to take a pause and we don't talk about that. So I'm happy to open up about that too. And I decided it's time for me to take a pause. And I walked away and took care of my health and my mental health and my physical health.
00;08;16;19 - 00;08;28;20
Speaker 2
And then Latinas Rising Up in HR was born right after that. And when I when, when I realized, oh my gosh, we could do something so great together. And then the pandemic hit.
00;08;28;22 - 00;08;30;16
Speaker 1
Oh. Oh, yeah.
00;08;30;18 - 00;08;31;02
Speaker 2
Right.
00;08;31;03 - 00;08;54;25
Speaker 1
Well, first of all, thank you for sharing about your miscarriage. And that's something that a lot of people don't don't talk about. And I, I've had my own issues with, fertility. I have two beautiful ones to, a ten year old and eight year old, but yeah, that is that is something that takes a toll, especially when you're working in healthcare.
00;08;54;27 - 00;09;27;03
Speaker 1
I, I really appreciate it. What you said about, sometimes when you go up in a company, they don't see you, and, I, I would love to you to talk a little bit about, that, like, obviously you were ready because you did take on a chief role, and it just so happened that circumstances outside of your control made it made it tougher.
00;09;27;05 - 00;09;53;26
Speaker 1
Yeah. Like most of us, you know, I was also in a leadership role during Covid, and I, I did the whole great. But I was part of that great resignation. And I moved up also, I went into, chief, you know, an executive position, like, right at that, at the same at the same time. So can you share a little bit about that, about that journey?
00;09;53;28 - 00;10;12;09
Speaker 2
Yeah. Happy to I, I worked for an amazing hotel company, and I just want to start off with that. And they do so good at growing you and developing you. But there's only so many roles at the top. And we talk about how lonely it gets right. And especially when you're trying to break in and there's only so many.
00;10;12;12 - 00;10;28;06
Speaker 2
It's like a funnel, right? There's only so many spots and and places where you can go. And it was a matter of, well, you may have to wait a little bit longer. And if you know me, I'm not very patient. I can be for some time. But then I'm like, okay, I got to move. And then personal reasons were also moving me.
00;10;28;08 - 00;10;49;23
Speaker 2
I had moved to Miami. I had was going through we were trying to decide if we could even create a family or not. And the whole personal side that you're always sharing at work. And I realized I really need to go home because I made this trip to Florida. I made this move to Florida for this, it was a role to oversee Latin America and the Caribbean for all their talent acquisition.
00;10;49;23 - 00;11;18;10
Speaker 2
And which was it was my by far still my favorite role. I would go back to it in a heartbeat. But what I realized, too, is when you know you're ready, you have to go with that gut instinct because and there's things you have to also consider. One, I had to consider leaving a company I really loved, which is the hardest thing to do, because as Latinos too, we're very loyal and we're very, just we give back and we want to be there.
00;11;18;10 - 00;11;34;07
Speaker 2
And, and I wanted to do that. And I love the people I worked for, and I love the person I work for directly. But at the same time, I knew it was time for me to move on. And I equate it to it was the hardest breakup.
00;11;34;09 - 00;11;39;04
Speaker 1
The one that I feel like was hard to do in one is it is.
00;11;39;07 - 00;11;57;09
Speaker 2
But when that happened, I had to believe in what I was feeling in my gut. And later I realized, oh my gosh, it's just intuition, right? It's who I know myself most. And so when I did make that switch and I left it, I'm like, I don't know if I'm gonna find this next job. I don't know if I'm going to find something that I know I'm ready for it.
00;11;57;11 - 00;12;19;29
Speaker 2
And a month later, I found this role, this executive role in HR and and overseeing nine different states than I was their, their, I was leading the HR function for for that part of the business. And it was so validating to what I was feeling inside me. But it was hard because I wanted to stay with this comfort of the previous company.
00;12;19;29 - 00;12;42;02
Speaker 2
I wanted to stay with them, and I know they wanted me to keep me too. But again, there was only so many opportunities and I knew if I stayed any longer, I had already put in my head; “Priscilla, you can stay here no more than two more years.” And those two years was when all this was happening, and that's when I said, okay, I gave it time for me, and now it's time for me to take take that leap of faith for myself.
00;12;42;04 - 00;13;00;07
Speaker 2
And I wouldn't change it for the world. Right. A lot of things happened in that next role. For instance, with my mental health and with my daughter, my my kids. I should say that I lost during that time. But it was also a lesson of knowing what's important in your life, too. It's not always about climbing up either.
00;13;00;09 - 00;13;21;22
Speaker 2
Which again, I'm very laser focused on things and have little patience. And then I realized, oh, maybe we need to slow down a little bit. And that that's when I decided, you know, it's time for me to focus back on me because I was so enthralled in my career. Again, nothing wrong for that. For those of you that want to do that and and families aren't in your future, I get it.
00;13;21;25 - 00;13;39;14
Speaker 2
But for me, I realized that work wasn't everything and I had to find other ways to to focus on. I do have many leaders around me that did that. I think that's the other part too. Every movement I everyone but a lot of leaders around me, really good ones and not so great ones. We, we kind of all enthralled ourself in work.
00;13;39;14 - 00;14;01;25
Speaker 2
And that's just what it was. And later did I find out, “oh, you were going through that or oh my gosh, your marriage is not doing great. Or oh my gosh, your kids. ” It just you start unraveling what's happening at home too. And I remember when I was younger I said, I don't ever want to be so focused on work that I forget to live, that I forget what's really important.
00;14;01;27 - 00;14;30;03
Speaker 2
And I had almost lost myself in that healthcare role. I was around some leaders that were the healthiest for me. Those they say, you know who you're around, who you're surrounded by, is a reflection of you. And a couple friends of mine were saying precisely, kind of changing. I don't know if we like it. And I'm so glad that you were very honest with me, because it created this moment of spark for myself, of I don't want to be a leader, that I don't ever not want to work for me.
00;14;30;03 - 00;14;50;11
Speaker 2
I want to be a leader who I do want to work for. And what are those values? And I had to go back to my foundation. So there was a lot of things that made me take that pause. And that's when I realized; “Priscilla, you can go down this path”. And that's what I love about leadership. You can always change it and evolve and get better at it and learn.
00;14;50;14 - 00;15;21;06
Speaker 2
Sometimes we think this is it. This is who I am and deal with it. And I've realized more than anything that even good, even good leaders can fall to. And and I did, I did, and I, I was able to get back up. But I was also because a community that came around me and said, Priscilla, we don't like what we're seeing or how you're even talking about work or how are you even talking about yourself and talking about situations, and when somebody doesn't when when your own person is not talking the best about where they're at, I'm going that's that's a problem.
00;15;21;09 - 00;15;35;02
Speaker 2
So I had to re-frame everything and go back to “Who is Priscilla?” and what was, you know, she was aspiring so much to get into these HR executive roles. But why what was the reason behind it?
00;15;35;04 - 00;16;08;00
Speaker 1
And, I think, you know, this is, podcast about building community. And I think you just gave a real good example of why it's important to have community, having, perspective, getting those perspective, but also having a good community, a healthy community. And so this is one of the reasons why, you know, I'm so grateful to be part of Latinas Rising Up.
00;16;08;03 - 00;16;32;14
Speaker 1
All of the women in this group are amazing, that they're so willing to help each other. And it's safe space to be like. Listen, I don't know, I'm. I'm really frustrated with this. Does anyone know as we have this resource I'm around here, so it's been really great and it's been wonderful to hear that that that's how we got born.
00;16;32;14 - 00;17;02;22
Speaker 1
It got born out of, you know, adversity really. And so, that's part of the reason why we're doing this. And so if you could share some advice with the next generation of leaders, I heard a little bit about, you want to be the leader that you would want to work for. Like that is, right.
00;17;02;25 - 00;17;11;14
Speaker 1
And what would you tell, the next generation of leaders or your younger self, someone starting out in their career about leadership.
00;17;11;16 - 00;17;27;14
Speaker 2
That's such a good question to reflect on. My goodness, I say stay here. I'm like, can I one day maybe I'll write myself a book and then I could help somebody else, and go from there. So don't run there from all the things I've learned. But I would say for me, what I would share is.
00;17;27;16 - 00;17;47;09
Speaker 2
Is to stop. Especially with social media. Right now, everyone's trying to be an influencer. I feel like that. That's just my perspective of I again, they're just trying to be seen and build their business, which is are great, right? But as we have this younger generation, they're seeing all these people and for me, I want to say don't forget to focus on you.
00;17;47;12 - 00;18;11;11
Speaker 2
Be the influencer for you. Don't focus on anybody else. And the number of followers and the likes and and I'm going back to now myself 20 years ago, where there wasn't that social media. And it's still I think it's still resonates.; “Priscilla, focus on being that influencer for yourself and focus on your foundation. Focus on your values. Focus on what's important to you.”
00;18;11;14 - 00;18;33;10
Speaker 2
Because I think of us like a tree. If you have very strong roots, you know I'm here in Miami. We've got palm trees everywhere. But if you have firm, a very firm foundation of your palm tree, and we have hurricanes that hit here, unfortunately. Right. But what regardless of whatever hurricane comes your way, it's never going to break you.
00;18;33;10 - 00;18;54;07
Speaker 2
It'll bend you. It's going to test you. It's going to make you feel like, oh my goodness, I can't make it. But to trust that because you have that foundation. And for me, that was community. That was one component. The second, being my faith, and then the third being family. That community is what's going to help you through any storm.
00;18;54;09 - 00;19;14;01
Speaker 2
And so that's what I would say is just to keep focusing on building your foundation, what that is for you, because the storms are going to come. That's I mean, change is inevitable. We see it all the time, whether it's, at home in the family dynamics, whether it's in the political dynamics, whether it's in the professional dynamics.
00;19;14;03 - 00;19;33;20
Speaker 2
But if you have a firm foundation, you're you'll find you'll find ways to get out of it. Right. And if you will, to what you're doing with this podcast, you'll continue to be resilient, to continue to be and persevere. And I will tell you that's that's what I feel like I've seen as the common denominator of all our leaders, that we have at Latinas Rising Up in HR,
00;19;33;22 - 00;19;44;05
Speaker 2
is we're very firm in our foundations and but we have different flavors to it. And so, I think that that is, for me, what I think is important.
00;19;44;08 - 00;20;11;12
Speaker 1
I like what you said about “Be the influencer for yourself”. I really like that kind of analogy towards, with social media. So there you have it, folks. Priscilla says be the influencer for yourself. It's kind of reminds me of, like, you have to put your mask on first. Like you put your mask on first before you put it on anyone else.
00;20;11;15 - 00;20;31;25
Speaker 1
And so you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others. We can go on and talk and talk and talk, talk. I know we can talk and talk and talk forever. We might even do a part to just bring it back. Talk about, wellness. But, we don't have all that time.
00;20;31;27 - 00;20;53;17
Speaker 1
But I will, I do want to say, just to wrap up that, this has been, you know, in the short learning about you, I think our audience are going to get a lot of value about learning about you and and what you've been through in your struggle. And, can you just share a little bit how people can, become a member here?
00;20;53;20 - 00;21;11;26
Speaker 1
I have here just quickly, I want to show if you are listening. You'll see it in the thumbnail. You'll see a lovely picture and a thumbnail. And then in description, how to buy, the book. Here's my lovely face on the, if you're watching, you'll see. You'll see the lovely faces of our author and the book cover here,
00;21;11;28 - 00;21;26;23
Speaker 1
for ‘Latinas Rising Up in HR, Vol. III, Executive Edition’. And then, so can you tell folks a little bit more about how they can, stay in touch with you, join the community, and anything else you'd like to share?
00;21;26;25 - 00;21;44;18
Speaker 2
Well, thank you, Dora, for giving us the platform to share this. I agree with you. We're community that really, I wanted it to be a place. As you mentioned, leadership can be lonely and especially in HR it can be even more lonely. Like you feel like you're this little palm tree on an island all by yourself. And I wanted to change that.
00;21;44;18 - 00;22;04;25
Speaker 2
And thanks to you and others that said, yes, let's do this book with you. We've built where we are today. And so, if you're if you want to learn more about us, just go to LatinasRisingUpInHR.com. We're also on LinkedIn. We're also on Instagram and Facebook. And, to connect with me directly. I'm not a rock star or anything like that.
00;22;04;26 - 00;22;09;24
Speaker 2
Like you can never reach and get Ahold of. Trust me, it just may take me a little bit because of my daughter are.
00;22;09;24 - 00;22;12;21
Speaker 1
You are a rock star...
00;22;12;24 - 00;22;33;12
Speaker 2
Thank you, Dora! But I feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn. I like to be able to see where everyone's coming from and keep my connections alive. There again, that's one of my communities I stay connected to. And and really, I'm here to build and, help build greater leaders within HR, focusing on the Latino community and our allies that want to help join us.
00;22;33;12 - 00;22;56;20
Speaker 2
We need we need the support of everybody. And I think that's what makes us special, too, is we're very inclusive of everyone joining us. And we have so much diversity as Latinas that, I mean, we're also seeing the hybrid of just all different cultures coming together and backgrounds. And I somebody told me recently they're like, yeah, I married a Latina that's in the great get her connected with us.
00;22;56;22 - 00;23;21;10
Speaker 2
So things like that where I'm like, our world gets very small. But feel free to connect with us on any one of those means. And you can either become a member with us or just decide that you just want to follow us. But or even just purchase our book. That makes a big difference. It helps our scholarship that we're building and really, if you want to make a change in the HR space or even in leadership, I think just come join us.
00;23;21;10 - 00;23;23;22
Speaker 2
We're we're building something pretty neat.
00;23;23;24 - 00;23;39;15
Speaker 1
All right. Thank you, Priscilla, for your precious time. I know, Amalia, is she in bed yet? Because, I know, mine aren't. We put her upstairs, We’re like “Stay quiet. We’re recording”.
00;23;39;17 - 00;23;45;29
Speaker 2
Tried busting through the door. I'd have one of those, like Zoom opportunities happen.
00;23;46;01 - 00;23;59;22
Speaker 1
So thank you again to our listeners and viewers. Don't forget to like, share and subscribe. Priscilla, hang on a second. I'm going to launch our outro. And, thank you everyone for joining us.
00;23;59;25 - 00;24;00;14
Speaker 2
Thank you.
