It’s Not Always How You Envision It w/ Yari Blanco

This week, Lauren sits down with marketing executive, confidence coach, tarot practitioner, and the founder of The Girl Mob, Yari Blanco. 

Yari reflects on lessons learned during her year-long sabbatical, from navigating friend breakups and confronting her people-pleasing tendencies, to relinquishing the idea of control and changing her relationship with money. 

We discuss being the hero - or the victim - in your own story, how to avoid self-sabotage, and the importance of risk-taking and having a toolkit. Yari lays out a legitimate guidebook to approaching a career pivot, and shares details on her recently launched confidence coaching practice.

“Being a beginner is really f*cking hard, and it’s going to trigger the sh*t out of you.” - Yari Blanco

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Learn about Yari’s offerings here
Check out Yari’s writing here


Email the show at advice@dontfckthisup.com for your questions to be answered on an upcoming episode!

Transcript

Yari Blanco (00:00)
Lauren, thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be one of your guests.

Lauren Alvarez (00:04)
It's really great to have you here. And I mean, just knowing that you've been in so many different spaces and you've been through so many transformations, both individually and your career, I mean, so exciting, even coming from New York to LA. I mean, that's a big move too. Before we get into all that, how are you doing?

Yari Blanco (00:18)
Mm -hmm.

I am doing good, you know, I am feeling really grounded at the moment. I'm feeling, I practice gratitude every day, but I'm always in deep gratitude for the things that I do have. And I'm also feeling really excited about this year and like just rolling up my sleeves and getting some shit done. So.

Lauren Alvarez (00:24)
Good.

I love that approach. And I saw recently on your social that you shared that you went home to the Dominican Republic to visit with family. And you had some really poignant thoughts on aging that I thought were just really special, just around kind of like family and appreciation and coming full circle. I feel like you mentioned you start each day with gratitude, but I also feel like you're really in the zone on reflection.

Yari Blanco (01:11)
I I I'm always on reflection mode and before when I was younger meaning in my 20s I think I did it more around like my birthday and like the end of the year which I would guess that a lot of people do right because it's like in your face. It's like a big turning moment But as I have gotten into my 30s and I'm 37 it is

I am in constant practice of being reflective of the things that I'm interacting with, the things that are coming up for me, the things that I'm observing. And again, I think it ties back into being able to have gratitude and also something that I know we'll talk about in this episode, like pivoting and just being connected to self.

Lauren Alvarez (02:00)
Yeah, yeah. I think knowing where we come from is such an important piece of also knowing where we're headed or when we don't know where we're headed, we can kind of lean back on our roots and who we are and who we were. And I find, you know, I don't have a lot of people in my life who have known me for, you know, even my entire adult life. I have a couple people that...

Yari Blanco (02:19)
Mm.

Lauren Alvarez (02:21)
have known me since I was 18 or worse, 16 or something. And then I have some family members, of course. But the people who really know your guts, there's something really, yeah, it's humbling for sure. Because I can be like, remember when you had braces? I'm like, let's not. But also, there's the other side of it where they're like, I've seen you transform. I've seen you go through these changes. And you've done it so many times. Why wouldn't you do it this time? And I always find that to be.

Yari Blanco (02:26)
Hehehehe

I'm

Hmm.

Lauren Alvarez (02:47)
sometimes what I need to hear when you're in those moments of transition and pivot.

Yari Blanco (02:52)
Yeah, I agree. I actually had a girlfriend of mine, shout out to Teresa Simpson, because I love her. I mean, love all my girlfriends. But she sent me this really beautiful voice note yesterday.

She was doing her daily walk and she was like, I just want to say she was sorry she was listening to an episode of I think a Jay Shetty podcast and He was talking to Esther Perel and she was saying how people who? remain Like joyful in dating and in like in life pursuits despite of like the things that come up You know the difficult challenges that come up for them?

are like really special people. And Teresa sent me this voicemail talking about that. And she was like, I just admire you so much because you, it's not resiliency, it's like there's an eternal optimism in you, both in dating and in the way that you approach life. Even when things feel like you're just falling through the void and you're like, I don't know when this is gonna stop. And.

Shout out to girlfriends. I just felt very seen in that moment. So going back to what you said, yeah, it's very humbling, but it's also, it feels like a warm hug when somebody is able to see you and the growth that you've had. And that for me is just so special in interpersonal relationships.

Lauren Alvarez (04:22)
It's really beautiful just to think about that moment of being seen. I think that's something that hopefully we get to experience in different parts of our lives, whether that's romantic relationships, friendships, in our queer environments. And you definitely feel it when you're not, when people don't get you or when you're not around your people and you're like, hello, is anybody there? I'm trying to do this thing. Am I falling into the void? And so yeah, it really brings you back to.

Yari Blanco (04:42)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Lauren Alvarez (04:49)
poetry normal, I'll say, it's interesting you mentioned dating and in life, I think there's like a lot of parallels between dating and career. Like I often draw them myself as a coach, you know, and I'm working with people and I'm like, well, think about this interview as like a first date, you know, maybe even texting for a bit, but like you're about to go on, you know, not.

Yari Blanco (04:59)
Mm -hmm.

Lauren Alvarez (05:08)
putting you on blast in any way, but like you really have been open about having some really interesting experiences. You've been on sabbatical for the last year and you talked a little bit about like the differences of like you went to Europe and you went on dates there. What are some of like your biggest, you know, and I would love to link your sub stack too, because I think you have such a beautiful way of writing about your experiences. Like I feel like I'm there. It's very trans -portive.

Yari Blanco (05:15)
Yes.

Oh, thank you.

Lauren Alvarez (05:32)
But what would you say, you're welcome, what would you say is some of the biggest takeaways of those experiences that you're carrying through, not just dates and romance, which are fun too, but even into the rest of your life?

Yari Blanco (05:44)
Whoa.

I think so being in sabbatical for a year was partially something that I planned. I wanted to go away and live somewhere else. That's something that I've wanted to do for quite some time. And it's funny, there's this interview with Jill Scott where she's like, artists, creatives need to go live life.

in order to be able to be creative and to share back with the world, right? And so like go cook a meal, go for a walk, go travel somewhere, make love, have a breakup. Like if you are not living, then you can't really, like what are you really talking about? And so I feel that I am in constant pursuits of that, of like living to the fullest in the most boldest, most authentic way that I possibly can.

And sometimes that's just me sitting on my sofa and watching TV or reading a book. And so with the sabbatical, partially planned it in terms of like the travels that I wanted to do, but I also didn't give myself a timeline of like, okay, at month four, this needs to stop and you need to find work again. You need to get back to corporate. It was kind of like, I'm giving myself full permission and carte blanche to do.

whatever I want at my own pace. And so I would say that one of the things that I've learned through the sabbatical is to really tap into the, like my own internal rhythm and like to really learn, to really listen to when my body's like yes and no, right or left. And in order to do that,

I already was someone, going back to what you said earlier, I'm already someone that is very reflective. And being in LA taught me to be better at sitting with myself. And going to a different country, which the majority of the time, I'm in Madrid, my home base, not knowing anybody there, is like another level of sitting with yourself, right?

Lauren Alvarez (08:00)
I love that.

Yari Blanco (08:01)
So the second thing I would say that I learned was like really being okay with the unknown.

which is something that none of us are very good at. It feels really scary. And so the third thing that it taught me or that it focused, made me focus more on was to trust.

So again, there's like listening to my own pace and not being caught up with the people around me. Learning a new level of like sitting with myself in a place where like, I don't know the rules here, I don't know the people here. But not seeing it as like, as constricting, seeing that as so liberating. Like I get to make up whoever I want. And I don't have to be like Yari Blanco of New York or Yari Blanco of LA. I get to be...

Jari Blanco of Madrid, Jari Blanco of Paris. And there was so much play that came from that. That was so lovely. And that allowed me to trust, to be more trusting, I should say, of being okay with the unknown. I don't know what tomorrow's gonna look like.

I hope to continue to foster those things and to nourish those things because the truth is that all of life is unknown. We're just making it up as you go. And I think this idea, something that constantly came up in my therapy with my therapist, was this idea of control and controlling for the sake of safety. And there's ways that you can control things, sure, like the place that you live.

the job you say yes to. But overall, like we're kind of like, it's a free fall. Like life really is a free fall. And so like doing the sabbatical just pushed me further into accepting that and like trusting that. And that's not to say that I haven't had days or moments or weeks where I'm like, what the fuck am I doing? Like, it doesn't mean that I don't feel fear or like I feel scared.

Lauren Alvarez (09:54)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (10:15)
But it does mean that like whenever those things come up for me, one, I'm practicing being the observer in my thoughts and in my feelings, showing myself compassion. And two, I can now quietly, and it is my intuition, quietly remind myself or listen to myself and be like, hey, that's okay. Like, we're gonna be okay. Things always work out. They might not work out in the way that you envisioned it.

Lauren Alvarez (10:40)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (10:45)
But if you just let go a little bit, you'll see that there's so many other possibilities here. So yeah, there's been, the sabbatical has been like a big trust fall exercise for me with, as I say, source with the universe. And there's been so many learnings, which I write about in my SubStack But also there's been so much like unlocking of potential and like freedom.

you know that I've that I've been able to grant myself um on a spiritual and mental level that I just feel I'm gonna say it again but I just feel like deep gratitude for for like Yari of the past who saved her money and was able to like grant herself this and Yari of the past who meaning like last year who like continued to walk

Towards the thing that scared her the most whenever that came up versus running away from it And Yari of the present who continues to try to practice those things that we've learned and like how do we make them? How do we commit to them for the rest of our life?

Lauren Alvarez (11:55)
Yeah, that's so beautiful. I just want to pause and appreciate just how open your response was to that. And I think it really shows there's these kind of clarifying events that happen in our lives. When things happened for me, like having a kid, I had no idea how much I would shake things up, everything from friendships to like, you know.

Yari Blanco (12:15)
Mm -hmm.

Lauren Alvarez (12:16)
all of the things, career, like all of it, like all the houses shook, shook it to its core. You know, and I think that it is, yeah. And other things too, I mean, you know, I got laid off before, you know, I went through, you know, a big move, you know, getting married was like a really exciting, cool change. I didn't think it would feel different. It totally felt different. Like all of those things were really interesting.

Yari Blanco (12:22)
I bet.

Mm -hmm.

Lauren Alvarez (12:39)
You know, one thing I remember reading in your kind of roundup, I think you called it a syllabus for the year, for last year. And yeah, and you talked about friend breakups. And I wanna just touch on that. So I think that's something that, has been unfortunately an experience that is a shared experience. I think especially with other women that I speak with. And I think it's also something that...

Yari Blanco (12:45)
Oh yeah.

Lauren Alvarez (13:02)
many people go through and they feel super isolated because the person that you'd normally talk to about it is that person who you just went through that friend breakup with. Can you just like share your thoughts and you know, commentary, you know, and if you don't want to talk to specifically, it's totally okay. But you know, just kind of what that experience has been like for you and perhaps like what you moved, you know, toward when you were going through that.

Yari Blanco (13:24)
Oui, it is a big topic. I think it's funny because I see it being written more about and I'm like, yeah, we're all like 34 to 42 and everyone's like having a similar experience here. Which that in of itself gives me comfort because it's not just like you dealing with this thing. Yeah, I for context for the audience, I dealt with four.

Lauren Alvarez (13:35)
Please.

Yari Blanco (13:53)
friendship breakups in one year. So let's just say one a quarter. And I was just like, by the third one, I was like, what is happening? Like time out, because I haven't even recovered from the first one. And they were all for different reasons. And they were all friends that I had for different lengths of times and different dynamics.

Lauren Alvarez (13:56)
Wow. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yari Blanco (14:18)
and some of them were with women and some of them were with men. So it wasn't just like only women. And I felt like I was put through like the fire. It was like I somehow signed up for an advanced course in dealing with this or like working through this and.

I don't think that there is enough advice in the world to help prepare anybody for dealing with it because every relationship is different. Every relationship has different context. What I will say,

Two things, one is in all the relationships I tried to have a conversation with folks. Some of them we did have conversations and it just landed where like this is just not the best time for us to be in friendship with each other.

So I don't believe that like you have a friendship with someone you get upset and then you just like stop talking to each other. That for me is really triggering because that brings up a like child wound for me. Cause my family, that's part of like the thing that my family did growing up where like you somehow did something to somebody and that you were not probably aware of. And then the person would stop talking to you for like eight months and you were just like, okay, I guess all of us have to exist

with you and I not talking to each other at home. And that for me is just like, I...

Lauren Alvarez (15:49)
I wish I could say I didn't relate to that, but I do.

Yari Blanco (15:52)
I would like for nobody to relate to that, but I feel like that's probably, again, a common experience for people. And I think that's probably where a lot of us people -pleasing people come from, because you're like, oh my God, how do I fix this thing? And thankfully I've unlearned that, which is really uncomfortable, because your default is to figure it out and fix the thing. But it's not for me to fix, it's for us to fix if you're interested in that. So.

I don't do just like, I'm not gonna talk to you. If you were an important person in my life, whether that was for a year or 17 years or 22 years, a conversation or multiple conversations should be had. And so I tried that and it just was not, you know, it did not work. There was a clip I just saw of an interview on a podcast with, I think her name is Cleo Sol.

And she was talking about soul contracts and I love the way she put it. I've heard of this. I'm very much into like the esoteric and I've heard of, you know, soul contracts, but she was saying how soul contracts could be really short or really long. And sometimes when you are in a long soul contract with somebody, let's say with your parents, you, as you grow as a person, you, you like renew this contract and the terms of the contract. And I thought that was really interesting to like think of in friendships, right? Because sometimes we're like,

Well, fuck, why didn't this just end like this? Even if it's been happening for a while, it still feels abrupt. It's a breakup.

There's nothing fun about a breakup. Even if you feel liberated, which what's, you know, sometimes that's how you feel, it's still painful and sad. You have to like mourn the death of something that meant something to you for a really long time. So like there is not enough strategic tactics that I can give you. And I don't mean you personally, I mean like to anyone that's listening, to be able to like work through it in a way that you're going to come out.

Lauren Alvarez (17:40)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (17:55)
Immediately feeling good about it. It's just I have I did not experience that Even if Yeah, no, it's not and I think even if like the Experience was toxic right? Let's say the person that you were in friendship with like cost you harm That's still painful even if you're like good riddance, but you're still really sad about that so there has to be like time for that to process that and I

Lauren Alvarez (18:02)
Yeah, I think it's really non -linear too.

Yari Blanco (18:25)
Going back to my experience with sabbatical versus here in the US like we are always on the go here Like it's not you just never when do you people don't make time to like pause? another thing I Really hunkered down on in my sabbatical and honestly in the past few years since since the pandemic since 2020 like there's so much power in pausing And so to tie back into the friendship stuff is like let me pause like what is coming up for me like?

what is no longer okay for me to be dealing with in this relationship? How do I bring this up in a constructive way? And then ultimately, what is the outcome? If we are not in friendship, am I gonna miss this person? And in my sub -fact, I wrote about friendships, right? And one of the things that I wrote about was different types of friendships and how...

Ultimately like what I'm in search of and what I have with the with the friends that I have that I've maintained is That is that of a friendship of virtue where we can challenge challenge each other Where we can bring things up and be like hey that hurt my feelings or that makes me uncomfortable or like I know we've Functioned in this way for a really long time, but it actually no longer Works for me and like how do we move through that even if it's really uncomfortable for both of us? And then the second thing I was gonna say

Lauren Alvarez (19:34)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yari Blanco (19:49)
about friendships that I learned through a dating experience. It was like two things were happening. It was like a friendship fallout, a breakup was happening, and it's like...

I was seeing somebody and things just were not working out. And so it was very interesting that like one taught me about the other. And that is that often when we are in breakups with people, friendship or romantic, we very quickly make ourselves a victim in the situation.

Lauren Alvarez (20:08)
Mm -hmm.

Yari Blanco (20:22)
And with this guy, there was a lot of like misunderstandings happening via text, via voicemail, as it does. And at the same time, this thing was happening with a friend and I paused and I was like, oh shit.

Lauren Alvarez (20:35)
Mm -hmm.

Yari Blanco (20:44)
This friend does not want to have a conversation with me. They assume that they have all the information that they need. They have chosen to no longer be friends with me, which is I respect your boundaries. If that's a boundary you want, I respect that. But they get to...

be the hero or the victim in their own story.

What happens when you open the door to have a conversation with that other person, is that you don't get to just make up the role that you played there. And you have to hold yourself accountable to the role that you actually played, as does the other person, hopefully. And so with this guy, I ended up having a conversation with him and...

Lauren Alvarez (21:22)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Yari Blanco (21:28)
For me, it was just really, really important to make sure that I was not making up the story about him in my head. Because how unfair was that to him and to the moments that we shared together? And what ended up happening was that we both said what we had to say. There was not just acknowledgement, but accountability and apologies. And it was like, wow, OK, cool. I understand you differently. And I'm so glad that we had this conversation.

After that call, I was like, I'm ready to do cartwheels in the street. Like I just felt so joyful. It was so like, it was like this thing had been like, you know, taking off my chest. And so that was a really big pivot for me moving forward in terms of the way that I interact with people. Like, no, you don't just get to make up the story. You know, now my only caveat is.

practicing discernment and in knowing yourself and being tapped into your intuition there will be people that you're like, yeah This doesn't deserve a conversation Why I'm good, like I you've already shown me who you are. There's been multiple interactions. Like I'm okay. So like I'm not saying that every single time something happens this is the thing but I think that

Lauren Alvarez (22:31)
Sure.

Yeah.

Yari Blanco (22:42)
it is a prompt to think about. It's like, am I making up, do I get to be the victim here and this person gets to be whatever I want them to be? Or do I have enough information here to be like, oh no, actually the harm is being caused to me and I need to remove myself from this situation.

Lauren Alvarez (23:03)
Listen, I think there's a lot there. And I think that we, I think as naturally curious people want an answer for most things, but as humans, our nature is to write the dialogue and to write the story. If we don't have information, I mean, as an HR professional, I always tell my clients like,

silence breeds insecurity. And if you can't share information, people are gonna write their own dialogue. And it's the same thing with these, you know, friendships or breakups or even like functioning good partnerships. Like if, you know, if you don't have communication, then the other person is just gonna invent what's happening, you know, for better or worse and, you know, hope for better, but usually for worse. And I think, you know, even with, you know, with, you know, professional situations, you know, being, I mean,

Yari Blanco (23:28)
Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Mm -hmm.

Lauren Alvarez (23:51)
I've been fired before, I have been laid off before. And it's really easy to, we've all seen the LinkedIn posts, we've all seen everyone, you know, kind of shook to their core. My least favorite, I will say, are the like, you know, survivors' guilts, I'll put that in air quotes, you know, posts of people who didn't get impacted, but they just want to talk about it. Because it's like, I don't know, it's like when someone dies, and all of a sudden, everyone's like, they were my best friend. I'm like, well, that's really weird, because like, I don't even know.

Yari Blanco (23:53)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah, that's just weird.

Thank you.

Lauren Alvarez (24:19)
y 'all knew each other anymore. Like, I'm sorry for what you're going through. But like, with a company, I feel like, you know, we do kind of, we were taught, I think, in the like, mid 20, like 2015 to 2019 pre pandemic, there was this kind of attitude of like familial, you know, creative environments, especially of like, we're a family, like we work this way. And obviously, that's not true, because it's your co workers.

And so learning that the explanation may not always be there when things happen and we can't control what happens to us or as a people manager, like I couldn't control things that were happening to my teams in the past, things like that.

Yari Blanco (24:44)
Yeah.

Lauren Alvarez (25:01)
What I could control was myself, my poise, hopefully I was able to navigate it and the ability to be there for other people and to continue to choose to be vulnerable as a leader, which I think is very hard in these moments. But that is something that I think learning those lessons in our personal lives, you do translate them over to the professional sector.

I mean, you've been in a lot of unique environments. I definitely want to talk about that. I want to go back to like your early career because you started in the editorial space and you started out, in a lot of different types of publications. What an interesting time. It was still sort of the heyday of editorial and actually publishing, which like, oh my gosh, RIP pitchfork, right? The latest to bite the dust, but.

Yari Blanco (25:27)
Yes.

I did.

RIP.

Lauren Alvarez (25:47)
But I mean, talk to me a little bit about kind of your entry point into that world. Was that something you always wanted to do? How did you even go in that direction?

Yari Blanco (25:56)
Yeah, I really, so as a kid I wanted to be a fashion designer and then my jeans were crushed. No, I mean, sort of, yeah. I interviewed for a couple schools and I was never, I didn't have the technicality in terms of the drawings, but I had like the designs in terms of the ideas and the colors and.

So anyways, I was told maybe you should pursue fashion merchandising and ultimately once I got to college I was like, oh my God, it'd be really cool to be a fashion editor or someplace like that. Something I would love to do. Fast forward to graduating in 2008, right when the economy had crashed. And I was just like, like most people at the time that had graduated were like, again, what the fuck is this? Like we are thousands of dollars in debt, you know, et cetera.

So I wasn't even expecting to land a job at a magazine. But again, it's not always how you envision it. It's like, sometimes it's just what it is. And I ended up getting a job at People en Español magazine, which was not a magazine that I read at all. Definitely something that my mom read. But I was like, this is my in to this world.

Lauren Alvarez (27:04)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (27:21)
It was in the, I think the life building. So I would get in the elevator with like the women that worked out like essence. And these women were so beautiful and dressed to the nines. And it wasn't in the editorial team, but I was like, I am a hustler. I'm from New York. I'm gonna get in. I was working on the sales side. I was an assistant for this woman who sold pharmaceutical ads.

Lauren Alvarez (27:41)
you

Yari Blanco (27:49)
So the least sexy publishing job. No, no, there really isn't. Also, it was so funny because she was on maternity leave. And so originally I had someone else I was covering for her as my boss. And people kept telling me like when she comes back in, she is a tough lady. Like she is not fun to work for.

Lauren Alvarez (27:54)
Yeah, there's no fashion in pharmaceutical.

Yari Blanco (28:14)
And the first day she came in, she looked at me like out of double worse products. She looked at me up and down. Mind you, it's not that she had style. She just was like a very buttoned up lady. She looked at me up and down and was like, made a comment about what I was wearing. Like alluding to the fact that it was maybe inappropriate. Even though I wasn't like showing anything, I just was like a 22 year old kid wearing sneakers and like a sweatshirt. Like I'm like, I'm not front facing. I'm here to like.

Lauren Alvarez (28:24)
Right.

Yari Blanco (28:44)
you know, book your stuff and print your thing. Anyways, I will share that I ended up winning that lady over and she loved me so much. She like fought hard to keep me for, cause I was a contractor, to keep me for as long as possible. And anyone that messed with me, she would bring them into the office and she would give them an earful. So you could win people over y 'all. Anyways, so that was, that was the entry point. I didn't work, I didn't end up working in editorial at all.

Lauren Alvarez (29:05)
I love that.

Yari Blanco (29:13)
those people were not nice. I don't know if they're still there, but they were not kind to the to the non editorial people. It was very clickish, which for me, I was like, oh, I don't like that. And yeah, I just was like, oh, yeah, no, I'm good. Like those are not my people. But I was cool with the marketing director and I am a very curious person. And so I would always go into my office whenever I had like a moment and I would just be like, oh, what are you working on now?

Lauren Alvarez (29:13)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah, very elitist.

Mm -hmm.

Yari Blanco (29:43)
She was the one that really taught me how to put together like a deck and like what a pitch deck looked like and like, you know Shout out to Rachel Strauss because she was really really kind to me in that way and that was my like Really my entry point into marketing and I was like, oh this I like this I get this I can do I could also do the editorial but I was like those are not my people like I could see that my people are here so yeah, so that was my entry point and then I

Lauren Alvarez (29:57)
incredible.

Yeah.

Yari Blanco (30:11)
You know, again, as a New Yorker, you just kind of like whoever you meet, if there's someone interesting, you follow up and you're kind of relentless about it. And so from there, I ended up working at the Latino Film Festival, which I genuinely think my year was like one of the best years that they had and probably the last year that they had, that was like just like absolutely phenomenal. And I knew that when you felt it, right, you know, when you're just like, wow, this is really special. I imagine is what people who.

make music and are in a studio and they're like, this is gonna be a bop, this is gonna be a hit, this is gonna last for decades. That was the energy at the festival. And I heard it from people that had been working for the festival for like anywhere from five to 10 years where they were like, wow, it just like seamless the way that everybody was just like in synchronicity with each other, the films that we had, the brand partnerships that we had, the parties that we had, just like it just was so magical.

Lauren Alvarez (30:44)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (31:07)
And that job was really special for me because it was such a small team, I would say like kind of like a startup that if you believed in something enough and if you pitched it, they said yes. And so that was my entry point into using social media to like promote something. At the time it was Facebook and I had pitched us having like our own, host on the carpet because they had never had that.

Lauren Alvarez (31:28)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (31:34)
And so I did like a call to action, people sent in their videos, but they had to do it through like our website. So I drove like traffic up and then it became like a whole thing. And so that was the first time that I really used digital to drive something and to promote something. So yeah, those were like very early on the kind of roles that I had where to your point, it was kind of like, it was that moment of.

Yes, people were already using the internet, but not in the way that we use it now. And so there was a lot of opportunity in terms of like getting creative with it. And it was really exciting.

Lauren Alvarez (32:07)
Yeah.

That's so cool. I mean, knowing that, I mean, from my vantage point, you've done such a tremendous job of showing how effective, a solid, maybe well thought out, maybe like you fought your way into the room, but from the outside looking in, it looks really confident the way that you have pivoted in your career. What advice would you give to our listeners who are kind of career pivot curious? I think that's a question I get a lot is people who want to pursue a different path and they don't know where to begin.

Where would you recommend that they start? Let's say they're working in a company.

Yari Blanco (32:49)
The first question is like, do they want to stay at the company that they're at or they're trying to do something completely different? I like to give, I try to give things that are tangible to people.

two things. The first is that my career has been driven by the things that like spark me up and get me excited. I love money and we need money for things. And even my relationship to money has changed a lot now in my late thirties. A lot of us, if you're a compliment immigrant family, maybe first gen.

Lauren Alvarez (33:13)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (33:22)
If you live in a city, there's expenses. Money is a driver, but usually is because you're on survival mode. But that's maybe for a different podcast. But I will say that's like, I understand that I would acknowledge that because I was always in the back of my mind. However, the way that I moved in my career has always been, does this game get me excited? And if the answer is no, then that's probably not the job for me or the company for me or the people for me. Because sometimes you might be.

You know work you you might say yes to a job that's out of startup So you don't really know the people and you don't really know The evolution of where the thing is gonna end because it could start as one thing in three months from now It's a completely different company, but there has to be something

within the umbrella of the brand, the founders, the people, the actual job, the purpose that is a driver for me that makes me go, yes, this is something that I want to be a part of. So going back to the money thing and money being a driver in terms of like survival, I think that a lot of work needs to be done there so that you, if you are trying to pivot, if you are curious about pivoting in your career, you are not doing things from a place of fear.

Because if you are doing things from a place of fear, then you're never really making a choice based on the thing that you actually want, based on the thing that actually sparks you up. And so you have to sit with that.

Lauren Alvarez (34:47)
I love that.

I had a guest, Mary Connolly, who is an executive coach. And she spoke about that specifically. If you aren't honest with yourself about the importance of the financial picture or your priority is on title, you're going to lose.

Yari Blanco (35:00)
Okay.

Lauren Alvarez (35:02)
then you take something in that lesser state, you've not been honest with yourself, you're not gonna feel motivated, or maybe you're gonna be really stressed financially and feel like you need to pick up a second job or take something on on the side and you're not able to give it your all, then you're doing too many things and you're not doing any of them well. And so I think just having those sincere conversations about your financial picture, like taking a pay cut is always something that I'm like, is there any way you can avoid it? Of course.

Yari Blanco (35:19)
Yeah.

Lauren Alvarez (35:31)
But if it is an opportunity that you've saved for or that you've planned for and you feel like you can do it, absolutely. But if you put yourself in a situation where you are taking steps backwards financially and it's going to increase your anxiety or your stress or the way that you spend your time will not be as balanced, that is a huge consideration that I think a lot of times

I disagree with when others coach that way of like, take a pay cut. Like if it's, if it's your dream job, like that might not be feasible. And certainly wasn't for me. Like I didn't have a plan B. I didn't have a fallback. I didn't have parents who were going to bankroll my, you know, bad decision until I made it right again. Like I just was on my own. So, you know, and if you're relating to that too, I mean, I think that there's something to be said about a lot of people who listen to the show are also in that situation where they didn't have an option to like.

Yari Blanco (35:55)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Thank you.

Same. Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Lauren Alvarez (36:22)
say, okay, let me just take a gap year for, you know, my parents are gonna pay my rent, my phone, I'm good. I'm just gonna like figure it out. Maybe I'll go to business school. Like that was not an option. Yeah.

Yari Blanco (36:27)
Mm -hmm. Yeah. That is not an option here either. That's why I'm nodding my head because I'm an only child, Dominican mother.

I've probably made more money than my mother has ever seen in her life. And that is both sad and also I feel really proud of the amount of work that I've done and the amount of support that she has given me. She has been able to support me to the best of her ability. So I totally agree. So yes, like really honest conversations with yourself and then knowing like what are the stakes here?

Right? Like, yes, look at your financials. Yes, look at like, where are you emotionally at this moment? Right? What can you handle? Do you have a toolkit for like when things get really rocky and like you're feeling anxious because you're working through this new thing, right? Because being a beginner is really fucking hard and it's gonna trigger the shit out of you. So it's almost like taking an inventory. Because I did not take that sabbatical.

just willy -nilly. I wasn't just like, oh yeah, I am not a fly by the seat of my pants person.

Lauren Alvarez (37:41)
and I was surprised to see you were taking the gap year. I was like, oh, okay, like go off. But like, I mean, those are the things that like put me like not at ease. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so type A, I'm trying to relax, but like it's hard. And you said letting go and I was like, oh, that's been like my message these last few months have been let go.

Yari Blanco (37:45)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. It's hard. It's hard when you've created safety for yourself. And again, it can be tied to like the way you grew up or like all the things, right? Because it's always like you open one, you double click on one tab and it opens 30 ,000 other tabs. So like, this is not, you know, this is not like light work. I think that pivoting in my career,

Sometimes opportunities just arose at the right being at the right time at the right moment Right and and saying yes, even if I didn't have it everything figured out And that happens sometimes and if that does that's beautiful and I want that for you. That's wonderful and other times It has to be more thoughtful more strategic more more of that pause Which again feels really uncomfortable because if you if you are already thinking about a pivot?

chances are that you've been really unhappy with whatever you're doing for a while. So the urgency now is like triple the amount and you're like, if I don't get out of here right now, I'm gonna explode. And so your job is to pause and be like, okay, maybe quitting tomorrow is not an option because you know what, I only have enough money for the next three months. So I think like...

being really, really honest with yourself about those things is important. And that's a, that is a, with the word I'm looking for, that is a exercise that I have to do, that I continue to do, that I continue to do because I'm not working full time right now, right? And then there's bills to pay and there's things to be done, right? So I'm not over here being like, yeah, just take a year sabbatical and like, live, love, laugh.

Lauren Alvarez (39:37)
Yeah.

Absolutely.

Yari Blanco (39:48)
Even though I do love living and loving and laughing. But this was something that has been in the works for a while. I think that one of the things I will say for myself is for many, many, many, many, many, many, many years, I was almost like militant about the way that I saved money. And I'm not gonna, I would be lying if I said that it was because I knew 10 years from then that I was gonna take a sabbatical.

But there was just like something about it that was like, you know, let's be smart about this. And this is why I'm so, so thankful to pass Yari because I would not be able to be where I'm at right now and like take a pause and really be choosy with the next work that I want to do if she had not busted her ass and like been militant, like militant about the way that she saved. So if you're thinking about a pivot,

think about your future self. Like what does that person need so that they're not anxious, so that you can pay the rent, so that you, you know, are able to pause, like whatever that composition is for you, think about that person and then work backwards as to like, okay, what do I need if I want to leave this company in the next six months? What do I need to do in the next six months? And then commit to that. But.

Be willing to be flexible because life is still gonna happen. Things are still gonna come up. And sometimes you might be like, well, this is happening in the next six months and guess what? Maybe it takes nine. And be patient with that, right? Now if you're like, absolutely not, I need to leave tomorrow. Only you know best. I don't know, I personally don't know you. We haven't worked together. Again, I'm talking to the audience. So I don't know you the way that you know you.

Lauren Alvarez (41:30)
Hmm.

Yari Blanco (41:41)
And this goes back to like really sitting with yourself and getting to know yourself and being honest with yourself and like being the observer of your own thoughts because those things lead you to be able to practice a sermon. Those things lead you to be able to like know yourself in a way where you're like, actually, I do know what the best choice is right now. I need to leave right now. Or actually, if I do these three things, I can hold off for another six months, save that money, invest it, do whatever I need to do so that.

Ashley from six months from now can like breathe easy. And instead of stressing about how do I pay this rent, I can focus my time on building that new website, going on those meetings, you know, pursuing whatever certification I need so that I can become an engineer. So it's like, how do you set yourself up for success? And like, you have to take that inventory. You have to have that honest conversation with yourself and.

I was going to say about people that do fly by the seat of their pants. I admire some of that because if you are truly living boldly and you are trying to pivot, that requires some risk taking. It's just never going to be like safe enough unless you come from like generational money, which most of us don't.

Lauren Alvarez (43:04)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (43:03)
So yeah, you have to, you have to know or like mentally start prepping that like inevitably there will be some risk taking here and that that's probably gonna be hard and that's probably gonna like shake you up a little bit, you know? And so again, it's like, What's in your toolkit? Is it when that happens, I need to go for a walk. Is it, you know, coloring? Is it whatever, is it calling the best friend? Like.

you really set yourself up for success, however that looks. And I don't think a lot of us are methodical about it in that way. One, because there's so much shit happening every day. Let's just look at the muse, right? There's so much stuff that we're taking in.

A lot of people are working minimum wage jobs. Like there isn't like time and time is what you need to really be able to like do the pause, do the, you know, whatever. So that is also something that I want to acknowledge because in many ways that feels like a privilege and I hate that for us. I think that not having a moment to really like disperse the mind and to again, to sit with yourself and all those things, that fucking sucks.

And I think that if we had more of that, there was less distraction, less numbing, less escapism, and we were able to really like tap into ourselves, I think a lot of things would be a lot different, you know? People wouldn't be exhausted all the time.

Lauren Alvarez (44:39)
Yeah, I feel like, you know, it's interesting because I want to get into knowing that like you're navigating into launching your own brand. I mean, even before that, like you're you're really grounded and, you know, you've obviously done the work to get there. You're also like very stylish. You're cool. You just like have a vibe like it's shoddy. Like, yes, absolutely. But I think there's

Yari Blanco (44:56)
Lauren, thank you. So cute. You're so cute.

Lauren Alvarez (45:00)
friendliness and there's also this lack of judgment that comes from I feel like people being able to ask you questions about the industry, about, you know, confidence and things like that. And so, you know, I want to talk about what you're up to, what your offerings are. But first I'm going to ask you, like, did you have anybody like what you're offering for you in past work environments?

Yari Blanco (45:21)
Wee.

I think in a official capacity now, I believe that you can learn from anybody. You can learn from the person that works at the front desk, from the cleaning person. You can learn from the intern. And yes, your boss, as you hopefully, right? They have some knowledge. Sometimes we get stuck with people that were like, how did you even get this job, my guy? But I, but I can't say that I've,

Lauren Alvarez (45:28)
Yeah.

Hopefully.

Yari Blanco (45:52)
had someone, I'm being really, I'm like, in my head I was like, making sure, I can't say that I've had someone in my life that I can really be like, this person was like a mentor or this person was, yeah, this person was a mentor in a way that was like, this is what I'm doing for you, you know? I think I've had people that I can go to for questions, but not someone that was really invested in like my growth as a person in my career.

Lauren Alvarez (46:14)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (46:22)
consistently or in an, and again, in a capacity where like, we both know what this relationship is. It is this thing. So, so no.

Lauren Alvarez (46:33)
And I think when we don't have something, it actually that absence makes us go, oh, yeah, look, wow, there's a gap here. I can't be the only person experiencing that lack of, let me do something about it. I mean, you know, let's talk a little bit about like some of your offerings, you know, one of which is confidence coaching, which I absolutely love. I think it's, you know, you describe it as like a transformative journey. You know, you're, you know, in this scenario, a coach, like you got certified as a life coach with it, it's awesome. But you also talk about like looking at like this kind of

Yari Blanco (46:43)
Yeah.

Thank you.

Lauren Alvarez (47:02)
looking in as well as practicing out. And so I'd love to hear a little bit about your theory around this and you know, what might be an ideal client for you in confidence coaching.

Yari Blanco (47:04)
Mm -hmm.

Oh my god, such a good question. So this is all very new for me. I just got certified last year, but I've been doing a lot of like community work for a long time.

And yes, going back to what you were saying about mentorship and all that or just like guidance. I think for a while I was like, why do we all need a life coach? And then I was like, let me pause here. And it's like, not everyone has the confidence that you have. Not everyone is built the way that you are. And that is not to say that I have everything figured out and I'm perfect. No, that's not what I'm saying. But I think that a lot of times when we are really good at something, we're like,

What do you mean? Like, it's hard? Like, why don't you just go up to the guy and like ask him to dance? And it's like, that's not how everybody feels, you know? And I will say one of the things that I learned at a previous company was precisely this, which was, I remember we were discussing membership and how we had different people in the community. And I was like, well, we were talking about an event. I was like, well, what do you just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah? And.

Lauren Alvarez (48:00)
Mm -hmm.

Yari Blanco (48:18)
One of the women in the room was like, you would do that. But we have to think about people that are introverts or people who aren't as comfortable in those like social settings. And that really is something that I've taken with me where whenever I'm doing work with people, I'm like, who are we forgetting here? Right. Even if it was a brand campaign, even if it's like something that's supposed to be fun and silly, but I'm like, who are we missing in this conversation? And like, do I have enough information to?

Lauren Alvarez (48:39)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (48:48)
be an advocate for that group or do I need to tap into people that are in that group? Often I think the latter is always good regardless of how much information you have. So in terms of this work of coaching and confidence, I really want to be able to help people tap into that part of themselves. And if they...

don't have that, if they're scared to like tap into that, I want to explore with them like why that is and like how do we create smaller tangible things that you could work towards so that you can, and this sounds really basic, but so that you can speak confidence into yourself if there's no one around you that does that. Because for me, the one thing that my mom absolutely got right was that

Lauren Alvarez (49:19)
Hmm.

Yari Blanco (49:43)
My mother has always spoken confidence into me. And again, going back to like lived experiences, you're like, well, isn't that what everybody dealt with? And it's like, no, right. And so like, if you don't have that confidence, because I have a surplus of it, I want to be able to like, pour that into people in a way that is sustainable to me, but also in a way that like gets their engine going, right? It's like, I'm going to give you a little bit of my gas, and I want you to build on that.

Lauren Alvarez (50:10)
Mm -hmm.

Yari Blanco (50:12)
And I think that if we have, you know, people that are more confident in themselves in a way that also has like intellectual humility tied into it and that there is spirituality, I had to throw this word because I feel like it's so overused, but it's like, it's more holistic and it's more sustainable. And it's not just like, you're having this moment when things are good, that you're like, I'm feeling really confident, but it's like, you could carry that with you when you are making that career pivot, when you are.

Um in that relationship that you've been wanting to be in for a really long time, right so that you do not self -sabotage So that you not you do not even if you your instinct is to fall into um You know your default mode. You're like, oh wait a minute like I Again, I have this toolkit. I have these tactics to be able to work through this um, and so like those things are really important to me because like those are things that I do in my life and I and I've seen the

Lauren Alvarez (51:06)
Mm -hmm.

Yari Blanco (51:11)
kind of success that I've had with the way that I'm able to work through things. you know, you asked like what my ideal, my ideal coachee would be, like client. And I don't have one. I thought that it would be, you know, certainly women because that is, I think my audience.

But in my training, I had a guy as one of my, in my training, I had to do a certain amount of hours where I coached folks. And so I had six people. I was surprised that one.

I had over 50 people sign up in 24 hours for this free coaching. Only one guy signed up, which I was like, okay, I have to like, I was like, I have to make sure I get this guy in. Hopefully he says yes. But I was surprised by the age range of people. The women I thought would be maybe around my age, but I had women from 19 to 50s that had signed up. And I was like, oh wow. And again, this goes back to like, you don't,

Lauren Alvarez (51:52)
That is, that's humbling.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yari Blanco (52:15)
You can learn from any, you could be, student teacher is like a way of life, right? So that was one. And two, people originally signed up for things and people were like, I wanna be more confident at work or I wanna pivot on my relationship. And then after like two sessions, it was like, oh no, actually I need to work on this other thing first. So like being able to use my curiosity to...

go on this adventure with people is really exciting for me. And then going back to the experience with the one client that was the guy, I really loved working with him. And it was a completely different experience. So I don't have one specific type of client. I think that it'll be interesting to see the people that do end up coming to me now that I've launched this. And I think naturally they'll be like,

Lauren Alvarez (53:01)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (53:12)
the niche will pop up. But what I originally again thought was it was gonna be like woman, maybe 24 to 34. And like specifically maybe for career or like again dating, but it really has ran the gamut. And in just that experience of like doing the call out to get people to sign up for some of my training.

it's interesting to see where people need confidence in their life. I think there's like the most obvious places that we think of. But then there's other pockets of things where people just don't feel as, as confident in. And I'm just like, okay, let's work through that. How do we work through that? And also like for me to learn, right? And like, again, you learn from everybody and.

Lauren Alvarez (53:56)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (54:02)
I feel like in every session with my clients that I had, I would come out of there just being like, oh shit, let me sit with that for myself. So no ideal client, all are welcomed. Uh oh, that's just what we think of years ago, whenever at Harry Potter, I took the test to see what house I was in, and I really wanted to be Gryffindor, I think like most people. Unless, I think Slytherins usually are like, no, I wanna be a Slytherin, but I really wanna be Gryffindor.

Anyways, your girl is a Hufflepuff and Hufflepuff all people are welcomed in the house and that is truly I think the way that I just am in general in terms of like my friends groups the places that I you know, just like all the things that I do So I am not surprised that in terms of clients. I'm just like all are welcomed And we'll figure out if we like each other and if we want to work with each other But I'm interested in and really helping you

Lauren Alvarez (54:33)
Ha ha ha ha ha!

Yari Blanco (54:55)
unlock the thing that's holding you back from being your most authentic self and figuring out what steps can we take to do that in a way that's comfortable for you, feasible for you, sustainable for you. And the last thing I'll add about coaching is when I told my therapist that I was going to do the certification, she was like, why don't you just go to school and become a psychologist? I was like, absolutely not. At least not in this iteration.

And I'm like, because one of the things that I really enjoy about coaching is that it is focused on the present and it is focused on action items. And I don't think that is like as linear as you would want it to be. I think because again, growth is not, you know, it's like a curved bell, but I like the idea of working with someone for a limited amount of time, getting things done and like sending you off because at the end of the day, like,

this is your life, it is meant to be lived, and I wanna hold your hand for a little bit so that you, again, have that confidence that maybe you didn't have before, but ultimately, the secret sauce for confidence is you just have to do the thing, and you have to keep showing up for it. And then eventually, you look back and you're like, oh my God, I'm really good at this thing, it no longer scares me. And the only person that can do that is you.

Lauren Alvarez (56:10)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (56:17)
That's just, that's the deal, you know?

Lauren Alvarez (56:19)
I mean, thank goodness, like the only person you get to be is you. So you've got to do the thing for yourself too. It's funny you mentioned about like being asked to become a therapist. I actually have that in like my coaching contracts. It's like, I'm not a, I'm not a psychotherapist and like just I'm a coach and like, I'm also not a financial advisor, like, you know, just making sure we're aligned. Um, because I do think that sometimes people conflate and I think that there's

Yari Blanco (56:23)
Yes. Yes.

Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm. Yes.

Lauren Alvarez (56:43)
I'll say like different practices that feed different areas of our life. Like I think therapy is a really great thing. I also think like, you know, sometimes like you need a break or you need to change therapists or you need, you know, just like coaches, like some coach might be really great for you at one point in your life. And then you might realize that like, okay, I'm ready for another person. And I think that that, you know, for me is like, have more than one coach, have a coach that you can call on when it's like, I'm negotiating an offer and you have a coach you can call on and you're like,

Yari Blanco (56:47)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Lauren Alvarez (57:12)
I just lost all confidence because all of my clients are doing different things I thought they were renewing, whatever that is. And so I just think that there's such an opportunity there to see the difference and try it. What's the worst that happens? You have a session, you're like, oh, that wasn't a vibe. It's all dating. It's all chemistry. It's all figuring out if we're meant to work together. So yeah, no harm in that.

Yari Blanco (57:26)
Absolutely.

Yep.

Thank you.

Lauren Alvarez (57:38)
What are some of your favorite brands right now? Who's doing business right in your eyes? Because I think you have a really amazing perspective on community and you've been in these roles where you're looking at partnerships. And I think there's a lot of companies that don't get it right. But is there anyone that is exciting to you right now that just you want to point out?

Yari Blanco (57:53)
Mm -hmm.

I mean, there's so you as an HR person, as a coach, an executive coach, I'm sure you've seen all of like the DI things that are happening of companies removing, you know. So I'm like, getting it right.

I'm an astrology girly and I'm just like This is not gonna last like it's already been this way for a really long time I'm like, it's the changes of the guards are happening astrologically. So like godspeed But who is getting it right?

Duolingo is having a moment and they're leaning into, I love when a brand leans into humor. Like that for me is my favorite thing. Um, and so whoever's running the Duolingo account is like,

Lauren Alvarez (58:37)
Yeah.

Totally.

Yari Blanco (58:44)
extra spicy, extra funny. There was a tweet that I saw where I think it was the official account for the UK that was like, we're no longer going to learn new languages. I don't know. And Duolingo was like, learning languages is important for you, colonizer. Or something. The point is that they called that account a colonizer. And I was like, this is very spicy.

But then they've been doing this whole collaboration with Dr. Miami on TikTok that I was like, I would have never thought this was going to be on my bingo card, but here we are. And it's actually really, really funny. So I do like when brands lean into like humor and don't take themselves so seriously because doing community is really hard. And, you know, as someone that has worked in those spaces,

Lauren Alvarez (59:24)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (59:39)
you're never going to please everybody. Inevitably something will go wrong. And so you're always you're always having to like dot your I's and cross your T's. And so I think like for brands who want to get in that pocket is like, you have to be really intentional and you have to be committed to it. Otherwise, like stick stick to your lane of just being like light and funny and like silly and doing TikToks. So anyways, Duolingo is the one that comes to mind because I've just seen a lot of funny things coming out of their account.

Lauren Alvarez (1:00:04)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (1:00:07)
It gives a little bit of like a sigh of relief amongst all the horrible news that we were constantly seeing.

I will give a shout out to two of my friends that have.

Lauren Alvarez (1:00:16)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (1:00:20)
brands that are based in community. One is my friend Deborah Rosenteria and her partner Bree who have La Nueva Link which is focused on Latine creatives and I just really love them and all the work that they've done. And then my friend who is the founder of the creative collective who do culture con.

They just announced some really cool things, projects that they're doing. And she was really interesting because she was the head of PR, I think, over at Bravo for a really long time, very successful, and decided to part ways so that she could pursue building this company and being the CEO of this company. So.

those two but the brand is like based in community. You know what I mean? It's like community first and then everything else afterwards.

Lauren Alvarez (1:01:18)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (1:01:19)
I've had the gromop for a really long time and I was just like, okay, what is the next iteration of this? And can I take this community along for the ride? Which is really scary because often you're like, I don't know if people are gonna like this other thing that I'm gonna do, right? And it's funny because I went to an event in Brooklyn where Lauren Ash, who's the founder of Girl and Numb was talking and I asked her like, how are you pivoting that community?

And she she gave some tips. But ultimately, it was just kind of like, you just kind of got to do it. And like whoever is going to, you know, roll with you, they will. And like you and whoever is like, yeah, it's not for me. You got to like make peace with that. And so, again, going back to like surrendering and not being like this needs to be perfect the way that I wrote this out. So, yeah. So Blanco Studios came to me while I was in my sabbatical last year in Europe because I removing myself from the US. Truly, I feel like a lot of like the.

Lauren Alvarez (1:01:59)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (1:02:13)
creative blockages that I've felt since 2019, like lifted and all of these ideas were coming to me. Like the coaching thing came to me. I also offer tarot reading, which I've been doing tarot for me and my friends for a really long time. And I was like, okay, I'm gonna take this even more seriously now. There's like, you know, my sub stack, I really enjoy writing. there's two book ideas that I have.

Lauren Alvarez (1:02:33)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (1:02:37)
There's like I have like an ongoing list and I'm like, where would this live because some of this stuff Makes sense with each other but some of it doesn't and so I'm like what I'm like what tent do I need to build? That's big enough for all the things and so that's where like Blanco Studios came from because I want to have space to one play And to allow myself to pivot as many times as I want, you know and

Lauren Alvarez (1:03:06)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yari Blanco (1:03:07)
that for me is really, really important to not, you know, I, I, the way that I grew up, my mother is very much a like hippie dippy type of person. And there's so many things now as an adult that I appreciate that she did for me growing up. But there's other things that I've had to make peace with. And one of them was that in many ways I had to self -parent because she was so like easy breezy cover girl. And so I gave myself a lot of parameters.

So you're talking to someone that grew up with giving themselves a lot of structure and a lot of discipline. Sometimes I would want to go do something that's like, no, we're not allowed to do that right now. We need to do this other thing that's really responsible.

And because of that, especially in my 20s, which part of it was because I was in my 20s, sometimes when I needed to release some steam, I would really go off the fucking rails. And so again, now in this iteration of my life, I'm like, I don't want to do that. I really care about balance. And I really care about giving myself enough room to be playful, to fail, to figure things out.

Lauren Alvarez (1:04:13)
Hmm.

Yari Blanco (1:04:20)
while also not losing the learnings that I've had from being someone that is structured and someone who is disciplined, right? There has to be room for both. And so Blacko Studios, my hope for it, my wish for it is that it allows me to do both of those things, right? Which is ultimately be a full person, right? Not just like 25 % of Yari, but that I get to be 100 % of Yari every day. And that that might look different.

Lauren Alvarez (1:04:31)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (1:04:50)
this year, it might look different next year, but it's, the sandbox is big enough for me to be like, so many things I wanna do. Like, under coaching, I also wanna do a retreat in Spain, because I loved traveling there. I loved spending time there. And I had so many DMs from women last summer, being like, I've never traveled by myself.

Lauren Alvarez (1:05:05)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (1:05:14)
do I do that? It just looks so much fun. And I was like, well, if I give women, and men are welcome, but these are women, if I give women a bridge that connects them to this life of adventure, where maybe the first three days you're at this retreat, but you stay for a week, right? Then I'm giving you a starting point so that you don't feel scared, so that you do have confidence in the things that you want to go explore.

Lauren Alvarez (1:05:43)
Yeah.

Yari Blanco (1:05:44)
So those are like the ways that I'm thinking about things. It's like how am I bridging gaps for people so that then you could, you know, then you could go off, fly away from the nest and go explore and like, you know, have your own adventures and your own experiences and your own heartache because then that makes, that allows you to be a full version of yourself,

Lauren Alvarez (1:05:52)
I love that.

That's so important. And I mean, second to last question, because I could just keep going. where can people go to learn more about you to sign up for coaching, to have some tarot read, D, all of the above, learn about Blanco Studios? Where should they go? We'll put it in the show notes too, but let's promote it.

Yari Blanco (1:06:12)
Ask me all the questions.

Yeah.

Yeah, of course. Website is yariblanco .com. That's Y -A -R -I -B -L -A -N -C -O .com. Very easy to navigate, very to the point. But if you're just like, I just want to know the offerings, literally click on Offerings. And then you can find me on socials, on Instagram. I mostly use Instagram and TikTok. And that's going to be the Jadiblanco. So same name, just T -H -E at the front.

And the girl mob will officially saying it will be transitioning into Blanco studios in the next few weeks So if you follow the girl mob now, which is THG girl and I'll be you will be seeing that transition happening as well and if you're like interesting interested more in my musings about life and you're like this this person sounds intelligent and interesting you could Find me on sub sack same thing Johnny Blanco

pretty easy. If you Google, if you just Google my name, all of this will work. It will come up. I am proud of my SEO.

Lauren Alvarez (1:07:32)
what is one final thought that you would like to leave our listeners with today?

Yari Blanco (1:07:36)
Do it even if you're scared.

which I know is really hard in practice, but do it even if you're really scared, like pull at that strength, whatever the thing is that's calling you, do not ignore that because it's only gonna get louder. And ultimately that ends up showing up in your body and we want you to be healthy and we want you to be happy. So if it's something that's calling you, say yes to it and.

you will see that solutions will arise, information will arise, clarity will arise, but do not say no to the thing that scares you, because that's where the growth happens. So, say yes.

Lauren Alvarez (1:08:23)
That's so, I love that and can maybe I'll say a little more yes in 2024. Yari, thank you so much for coming on the show and for sharing your thoughts and I mean, so much of your experiences are so inspiring to me. Like I'm really, really happy that we could do this.

Yari Blanco (1:08:39)
Thank you for asking me. I was, you know, I think I told you this over email, but like one of the things that I really want moving forward is to like get back into having conversations and, you know, facilitating things. And that comes along with the coaching as well. Cause I did a lot of that prior to like 2020. And so you asking me just like warmed my heart and I was like, Oh, this is going to be perfect. So I really appreciate you taking time and asking such good questions.

Thank you.

Lauren Alvarez (1:09:10)
Yeah, this was really, really fulfilling for me as well. So when it goes both ways, it's a win, win, win. This has been another episode of Don't Fuck This Up, the podcast answering the ultimate question, how the fuck did you land that cool job? I'm your host Lauren Alvarez, and we will talk to you next week.

Yari Blanco (1:09:16)
Absolutely.