Spark and Hustle

Finding Purpose: A Journey into Corporate Mindfulness with Rafael Puebla founder of OnBeing Mindful

• Karina Rojo • Season 1 • Episode 8

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Discover the transformative power of mindfulness with Rafael Puebla, the visionary founder of On Being Mindful. In our latest episode of Spark and Hustle, Rafael kicks off with a soothing one-minute guided meditation, setting the tone for a discussion on how mindfulness can radically improve both personal and professional realms. Rafael shares his compelling story of shifting from a high-powered marketing role at American Express in Mexico City to championing emotional intelligence in corporate America. His journey is a testament to the profound impact mindfulness can have on leadership, productivity, and human connection in the workplace.

Rafael provides an insightful look into his relocation from Mexico to Miami, detailing the cultural and professional challenges he navigated. He opens up about the critical decision-making moments that led him to prioritize family over career when he chose to remain in Miami instead of moving to New York with American Express. His transition from MasterCard to founding OnBeing in 2017 is a lesson in following one's passion and the transformative potential of integrating mindfulness into everyday life. Rafael’s experiences underline the importance of human connection, empathy, and emotional intelligence in creating a more humane corporate environment.

Our conversation also delves into the unique hurdles of solopreneurship and the essential role mindfulness plays in overcoming these challenges. Rafael shares practical advice on preparing for public speaking and managing anxiety, drawing from his role as a mindfulness teacher for the Eczema speaker certification program. His anecdotes, including a heartwarming story about how mindfulness saved a marriage during a workshop, offer listeners tangible examples of mindfulness' benefits. Tune in to gather actionable insights from Rafael’s remarkable journey and learn how to infuse mindfulness into your leadership and daily hustle.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Spark and Hustle. Today we have an inspiring guest joining us, rafael Puebla, the founder of On being Mindful. Rafael is a pioneer in integrating mindfulness and emotional intelligence into our daily lives and workplaces. In this episode, he'll share his journey and practical wisdom on how we can all cultivate mindfulness to lead more balanced, fulfilling and effective lives. Whether you're new to mindfulness or looking to deepen your practice, this conversation is packed with insights that can truly transform the way you work, lead and live. Let's dive in.

Speaker 1:

Hello, welcome to Spark and Hustle, the podcast that ignites your inspiration and fuels your hustle in the dynamic worlds of career and entrepreneurship. I'm your host, karina, a marketing junkie on a journey of exploration, conversation and empowerment. In each episode, we dive deep into the stories of professionals, entrepreneurs and thought leaders, discover the spark that ignites their journeys and the hustles that propel them to success. Whether you're navigating the corporate ladder or building your empire, follow Sparking Hustle for inspiration, practical advice and why not? Occasional homework. Get ready to spark your ambitions and elevate your hustle game.

Speaker 1:

We believe in the power of connection. Join our community on Spotify, itunes and Instagram to share your experiences, learn from others and become part of a supportive network of dreamers and doers. Again, rafa, thank you so, so much. I am very grateful for you to be joining and giving the time of your day, because I know you have a busy schedule. So I appreciate your time to be here and I'm looking forward to continue learning, because I know I've already learned so much from you. So again, thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 2:

What a pleasure being here with you, sharing these experiences about mindfulness, leadership and all the topics that we're going to discuss during our time together. So thank you very much for the invite.

Speaker 1:

Well, we have the honor for you to do a one-minute meditation to start off this interview.

Speaker 2:

Yes, of course we can do that. So why don't we do the following let's find a posture that allows you to be relaxed, yet alert, with a sense of presence and dignity. Perhaps you want to relax the shoulders shoulders, if that is available to you. Closing your eyes, if you are in a place where you can do that. Let's begin this short meditation just by noticing the presence of your body, sensing the weight of your body, sensing the weight of your body, the shape of your body, noticing the sensations of your feet touching the ground, becoming aware of the touch points with the chair and bringing your attention to the sensations of your breath, noticing the breathing in and the breath out. Breathing in and the breath out. Breathing in I know that I'm breathing in, breathing out, I know that I'm breathing out.

Speaker 2:

You don't need to change the way you are breathing, you don't need to think about your breath. The invitation is just to become aware about your breath and, if there's a distraction, notice the distraction and, in a gentle way, return your attention to the breath. It doesn't matter how many times we get distracted in the practice, it's the same number of times that we return to the breath with kindness and curiosity. And before finishing this practice, I invite you to acknowledge yourself. Recognize yourself for investing these couple of minutes just to practice this profound skill of being present, of simply being aware. Whenever you are ready, you can open your eyes and bring your attention back to this space and place that we are sharing.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, thank you so much for the meditation. Rafa, I really appreciate you guiding us through this meditation practice and as one day I had a workshop with you. Ever since I was introduced to meditation, and after the workshop, it's a practice that I tried to implement throughout my daily routine. So thank you so much for sharing that meditation with us.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1:

Can you let us know a little bit about your background, your journey, what inspires you, what are the passions that drive you and how do they influence your approach to both life and work?

Speaker 2:

Yes, of course. So my name is Rafael Puebla. I was born in Mexico City many, many years ago. I grew up there, I went to college there, I got my first job in Mexico and then, in 1997, I made a decision to come here to the States because at that time I was working for American Express and they made a decision to open the regional office to manage the Latin American countries from Miami. And I was invited to come to Miami. And it was a difficult decision for me to make because I was extremely happy and satisfied with my life in Mexico. But anyway, I made a decision to take a chance and to try the experience of living here in the States to manage a different type of work in terms of the scope of the regional responsibilities.

Speaker 2:

And the original plan was to stay here for a couple of years and then get back to Mexico and continue my life as I used to know it. But life had a different path for me and two years became three, three became five. I met my wife, we got married, we have two beautiful daughters and then up to now I have never returned back to Mexico to leave. Of course I have returned many times to visit, for work and for pleasure, but not to return on a permanent basis. So I have spent most of my time working in marketing and product related roles and then, six years ago, I did a change in my career path and I made a decision to focus most of my time, my energy and my commitment on sharing the practices of mindfulness and emotional intelligence, mainly within big corporations, in order to create a different type of leadership, a more human type of approach to what it means to be a leader in the modern world.

Speaker 2:

And that's what really inspires me the human connection, the capacity that we have to experience empathy, and how we can use the deep connection that we can create with ourselves to connect in a more meaningful way with other human beings, and how we can use that connection and that relationship to thrive together in a corporate setting, in a team setting, in a setting that you feel comfortable enough to really be who you are, because I think that's the highest aspiration that we can have as human beings to truly be who we are.

Speaker 2:

When we talk about purpose, for me that is the highest purpose to really discover who you are and embrace that deep knowledge of yourself and show that in every single aspect of your life, which can sound kind of obvious, but it is not that obvious, because in order to know who you are, you need to have a deep understanding of yourself, and when we go to school, we learn so many things, but we are never taught how to knowledge ourselves, how to have a deep understanding of who we are. And then you need to learn that in a different setting, and some people have the privilege of learning about that, some others not. And that's what really inspires me to guide people on how to have a better understanding about themselves, how to use that in order to thrive and to be more happy, more content, to experience more inner peace and joy.

Speaker 1:

No, I totally resonate and agree that whenever we feel our best selves, we perform better in all aspects of our lives, and I'm very need to continue to learn about myself because it's an evolving process. I think it's never ending. We are always discovering, we're constantly changing and that's what makes us human, because we can start something new at any day, any time, and we can always become ourselves better version. And we can always become ourselves better version and I have noticed myself whenever I feel best with me, I perform better at work. So it's very critical, for I encourage everyone and a lot of people who work on themselves, and I do it myself. I try to do it every day, so then we can just be better humans in all aspects of our lives.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for sharing and making the big move from moving to Mexico to Miami. I mean it's a big change, especially because you only thought you were gonna be there temporarily and then life happened and now you've lived there for many years. Do you have any plans to eventually maybe one day, if the opportunity comes move back to Mexico?

Speaker 2:

I have thought about that, not recently, but I don't think that's going to be the case because, as I mentioned before, my daughters were born here. One is already in college, the other is in high school. So I really want to be close to where they are and I'm assuming you never know what's going to happen in life, right, assuming you never know what's going to happen in life, right. But I'm assuming that they are going to stay here in the States or maybe they are going to go to other parts of the world. We don't know, but I think, like chances are, that they are going to stay here and we as a family prefer to be closer rather than living in different countries. But again, you never know what is going to happen in the future and we always need to have an open-minded approach and to be flexible and to have resilience to adapt towards whatever the situation might be. But if I had to make a plan, I think that Mexico would not be in the part of my plan yet. But you never know, right, right.

Speaker 1:

Yes, definitely plan yet, but you never know, right. Right, yes, definitely. So just staying closer to where your daughters will eventually end up, because you don't know where they will end up. It sounds like you're gonna follow some of their paths as well. That's very good. I love how strong together your, your family, sounds to be. And moving on to a little bit more of your corporate background, so you've had an extensive experience with different corporations, like American Express, as you mentioned, and I also learned that you work with MasterCard. Could you walk us through your professional evolution? How did you experience these organizations and how did they shape your perspective and values?

Speaker 2:

Yes, of course I started working in American Express as an intern right after college. My original idea was not working for American Express. I wanted to work in an advertising agency, because my major is in communications and in advertising and I really wanted to work in an ad agency. But it was very difficult to find a job in an ad agency if you don't have internal connections in those agencies Right. At least in Mexico at that time that was like the rule In order to be hired by an agency right after college, you needed to have connections in that agency, and it was not my case and although I interview, I would say, in the most prestigious agencies in Mexico, I was not able to find a position. But the other alternative was to find a role in marketing, in the client side, and the advertising agency that I really admired at that time was Ogilvy, and American Express was one of the key clients of Ogilvy. So I made a decision to start approaching American Express and I started there as an intern doing direct marketing, direct mail, started there as an intern doing direct marketing, direct mail, selling insurances health insurance, accident insurance, life insurance and I learned a lot doing that internship for six months and then they offered me a position, and I was thrilled when they offered me a permanent position. A permanent position. So I started as an official employee, managing all the communication strategy below the line, which means direct mail, newsletters for the different car products that American Express had at the time green, gold, platinum.

Speaker 2:

And then, a couple of years after that's when I was invited to join the regional marketing team for Latin America, based in Miami, managing communications for the entire region. And at that time I was 26 years old, so I was kind of young, but it was the right time for me to make the decision to embark in a new career path that included that international experience. So that's why I made the decision to come to Miami. But I realized very quickly that the working style in the States is completely different than in Latin America. And although I was responsible for Latin America, the culture here in the States was so different in terms of how people behave in the office. Right, because in Mexico we are very loud, we love to talk to each other, we are always like in the good mood, like life is a celebration. And here, the first week that I was in the Miami office, it looked to me like I was in a library because everyone was so quiet, so focused on the work. So it was kind of a shock at the very beginning.

Speaker 2:

But then I think like I got adjusted to that working environment and I stayed in American Express until 2007 in different roles, mainly in marketing, also in product management, and the last role that I was responsible for was managing all the international marketing communications for American Express. And it was a dream job for me because that's what I really like to do. It was international. I was traveling to London, to Japan, to Singapore, to Mexico, to Brazil. So I really loved that position and I didn't have any intentions to leave American Express. But they were moving the headquarters from Miami to New York, to New York City, and I know that a lot of people would love to work in the Big Apple. But it was not my aspiration. My oldest daughter was a newborn at that time. I didn't want to go to New York and live like two hours away from the office and spend four hours in the commute. So I didn't want to go to New York and that's why I moved to MasterCard, because the role was here in Miami.

Speaker 2:

And then I spent 10 years in MasterCard in marketing and in product roles A similar organization in the sense that operate in the same industry, which is the payments industry, but very different in terms of working environment, in terms of culture. So it was a good learning experience for me to do that shift from American Express to Mastercard and I enjoyed my work at Mastercard also a lot. I met super intelligent people. I still have a lot of friends from Mastercard people. I still have a lot of friends from MasterCard.

Speaker 2:

But, as everything in life, sometimes you need to end certain relationships and there was a time that I was not truly enjoying my work anymore. I really wanted to do something different. I really want to focus on something that was more meaningful to me, where I could add value to the corporate environment in a different way, and that's when I made a decision to start focusing more on human development, mindfulness, emotional intelligence and, given the fact that there was a reorg at Mastercard and I left the company, that's when I made, or I had, the opportunity to focus on mindfulness and emotional intelligence and human development thank you so much for sharing your trajectory through these, um, both big corporations, uh, very well known, and that you had many different roles.

Speaker 1:

You grew a lot within these two companies and I have two questions. The first one is how was the process of you making the decision to move from Mexico to Miami? I know you mentioned it a little bit, but were there any roadblocks that you thought? Did you second guess ever that? You weren't sure, or were you just young and wanted to have a different change and have more responsibilities and try it out temporarily, like you mentioned? And then also that's for the first question when you moved from Mexico to Miami? And then the second one is how was the process of you deciding not to move to New York with the company that you were enjoying and it sounds like it didn't fit your lifestyle? But I'd like to learn a little bit more of how these decision-making processes were.

Speaker 2:

So in the first move that I did from Mexico to Miami, of course it was a difficult decision for me because, as I was mentioning before, I was extremely happy in Mexico. I had a very good position within American Express. I had a good family life, good friends. I was enjoying my life fully there in Mexico. But when the opportunity emerged, that was something that I had to consider Because there were different times. I think like maybe right now it's easier to move to different countries. At that time was not that easy, right, and it's always like nice when you are offered the opportunity to move from Mexico to the States and specifically to Miami very nice city being part of a regional team that is being creative. Not everyone got invited, so it's something that I have to consider. The good thing is like Miami is not that far away from Mexico. So I said okay, if I have any regrets I can always get back to Mexico. So it was not like a super risky decision. Of course it included a lot of considerations, but it was not a risky decision in the sense that I was not moving to the other part of the world on anything like that with Brazil, with Argentina, what it would be to work here in the States to learn a different way of approaching work, a different way to approach marketing, and I think that played a major role in terms of making the decision to move to the state. It was kind of a safe bet, if you want to call it in that way, because it was with the same company. It was not of a safe bet, if you want to call it in that way, because it was with the same company. It was not that far away from Mexico. It was in a role that I was kind of familiar because it was the same position that I used to have in Mexico, but with a bigger scope in terms of including other markets or other countries. So it was not that difficult in terms of making the decision.

Speaker 2:

Nevertheless, the decision to move from American Express to MasterCard in order to stay in Miami, it was, I would say, a tougher decision because the only company that I knew at that time was American Express and I was extremely happy in my position, and I was extremely happy in my position. Actually, if I review all my career, I think that the position that I have enjoyed the most is the one that I had with American Express in my last role. That's the best position that I ever had, staying no to move to New York, even with a promotion, because I was offered a promotion To stay in Miami for family reasons. It was a difficult decision because I didn't know anything about Mastercard. Of course I knew about Mastercard, but it was the first time for me working there.

Speaker 2:

I didn't know a lot of people there. I was not familiar at all with the culture of Mastercard. Mastercard at that time was in a transition period from being a private company to becoming a public company. So it was like a difficult decision from a professional perspective. From a family perspective, it was not difficult at all because we wanted to stay in Miami. It was tough in the sense of my professional ambitions and professional development.

Speaker 1:

It sounds that your decision-making was based more in your values, and in this case, your family values, outweighed your decision of moving cities and continue to work with the same company. I truly admire your decision making based on those family values. Is there any particular project, something that stood out to American Express, to choose you to move to a different country and to oversee the regional at a regional level? Was there something in a specific that brought you that opportunity?

Speaker 2:

That's a good question.

Speaker 2:

I don't know if there was like a specific reason, but what I can tell you is that when you are happy and when you love your work, it's pretty obvious that's the case because you are enjoying what you are doing and, as a result, you drive great outcomes with the work that you are doing in a daily basis.

Speaker 2:

And the role that I used to have in Mexico was another role that I truly enjoyed a lot. It was also like my dream job when I was in college. If I had a dream job, it was like the job that I had in American Express before coming to Miami, because I was responsible for doing all the marketing communications for below the line, doing all the communications of every single product that American Express had at that time car products, gold product that American Express had at that time car products. It was great to create all the communication strategy for the platinum products for Mexico, for the gold products, for the green card in Mexico I introduced the credit card in Mexico also from a marketing communications perspective. So I really was enjoying that role and I think that was kind of obvious and I was having good results. And I think that due to the good results due to my attitude at work, how I engage with the agencies, how I engage internally. Maybe that's why the manager who brought me here to Miami that's maybe what he saw in me.

Speaker 1:

Yes, of course. Of course, and especially being so new to the corporate world, I believe that as the younger we are, the more hungry and eager we seem to be about the roles that we take on. Do you have any kind of mentors within, within your roles, or within the organization or outside the organization that supported you and help you through your career?

Speaker 2:

yeah, at that time I didn't have any mentor. I think, like I was very new into the corporate arena, that I really didn't have any basic understanding about what a mentor was, so I didn't look for any specific mentor or a formal mentor. But I learned from a lot of people, right, especially people who had roles above mine, gave me like a lot of direction, gave me feedback. So that type of conversations, I think, are extremely helpful, especially at the very beginning, and then as you grew in a corporate role, you start to understand that it's good to have a mentor or someone who can give you honest guidance and honest feedback when you need it.

Speaker 2:

Right and through my career path, I have different mentors, different people who I used to approach, depending on the situation, or people that I used to look for their advice, based on their experience and based on their career path, and that it's always useful because it gives you a different perspective. When you engage in those type of conversations, you always learn something and you can use that information in order to make better decisions. You can use that information to understand how the corporation operates. You can use that information to gain insights that you didn't have before. You can use that relationship in order to open new doors. So it's extremely useful to engage in those type of relationships, either formally or informally. But I think making relationships and creating your own network in the organization and outside the organization, it's always a good recommendation, I would say.

Speaker 1:

Moving, transitioning a little bit more into mindfulness, which is OnBeing the company that you founded. So you founded OnBeing a company focused on bringing mindfulness to the corporate sphere, and what led you to make this leap into the mindfulness? You mentioned it briefly earlier, but I'd like to know a little bit more on what was the decision driver to take you and to found this company? How did the idea come to life? What motivated you to merge mindfulness into the corporate environment, into the corporate environment.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so since I was in high school, I was deeply interested in understanding psychology, philosophy, have like a deeper knowledge in terms of why we do the things that we do and how we can grow, or how can we grow as human beings, right? I think like the first time that I read, for example, Seneca, which is an stoic philosopher, it was like a game changer for me. But I didn't know how to incorporate that in my daily life. And then I became aware about some development courses in Mexico that I used to attend. I learned a lot. I was keeping like two lives my corporate life and all the human development knowledge that I have, like in a separate sphere of my life.

Speaker 2:

In my last role at Mastercard, there was like a lot of things going on. My team was going through a difficult phase due to we were responsible for introducing a new project that it was like a multi-million project, multi-million dollar project. There was like a lot of stress when I saw like my team was really suffering, not due to my leadership style, but due to the context that we were operating under. I came with this idea of starting facilitating mindfulness sessions at work, at least with my team, not like an open sessions for everyone, but with my team, and we started doing those sessions every Monday, 9 am in order to start our week. And then my team started inviting some other people outside the team to join the sessions. And then people started asking me why we couldn't have, instead of once every week, twice every week. So I added Friday to close the the week, so we have one session to open the week, to start the week, one session to close the week and to prepare ourselves for the weekend. And then people start saying, why don't you put like a plan together to create like a program or something? Because we are truly not only enjoying the sessions, but it's like managing stress better, learning so much about ourselves. And that got me like inspired in terms of focusing more in that type of activities.

Speaker 2:

And when I left Mastercard, I said, okay, I have different choices. I either return to another corporate role or I focus my energy, my time, on spreading the benefits of mindfulness and emotional intelligence in the corporate world. And I decided to do that. But I got certified. I have different certifications because I wanted to do this in the best possible way and that's how I founded on being mindful, and since then I have had the opportunity to train leaders in different countries in big organizations Uber, american Express, of course, mastercard, nike, united Nations, lenovo, capital One, a lot of organizations. I have had the opportunity to work with the leadership in those organizations in order to incorporate mindfulness and emotional intelligence. So it has been a pleasure and a real privilege having the opportunity to share these tools within organization in order to increase the consciousness and change and shift the leadership style a more human leadership style, I would say wow, congratulations for creating a company that has a positive impact on every human being, and it's been.

Speaker 1:

It's been quite a while, a few years now, that you've started, right. How many years.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I started at the end of 2017. So six years. Congratulations.

Speaker 1:

Congratulations for that, and I know I always try to show face and pop in in the sessions that you host sometimes and they're very enjoyable. I really appreciate the work, the kind of work that you do for all corporations and also outside corporations. Do you also do work with outside individuals?

Speaker 2:

Yes, I do, I do, I do so I open the sessions. For example, when we were going through the pandemic, I opened daily sessions, free sessions virtually for like three or four months. Free sessions virtually for like three or four months. Then I open another type of community every Saturday morning. Then I open another one every Monday. So I have opened a lot of communities in order to share mindfulness, emotional intelligence and to increase the quality of our life. Now, when I'm not training leaders, my focus is viewing your life in a more holistic way and how you can use these practices to improve your well-being, your inner peace and experience more joy in your life.

Speaker 1:

I love that and resonate. How can people learn more about OnBeing and how can they get more information on how they can be involved or part of the OnBeing community?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, they can go to my site onbeingmindfulcom, but I would say the easiest way is if they follow me on Instagram at Rafael Puebla, and I publish a lot of content and all the information related to these communities and when I'm offering a free workshop or a free program et cetera, I publish all that information mainly through Instagram.

Speaker 1:

Okay, thank you. Thank you for sharing that information. Are there any specific topics that you focus on or what the the point of focuses of these sessions that you hold?

Speaker 2:

depending on the on the program, right? So, for example, when I open mindfulness sessions, the main objective is just to practice together meditation. But in order to practice meditation together, you need to provide a context, right? It's not like you just go there and meditate and what? What I do is I explain one benefit of the mindfulness practice and what is the science behind that benefit. Then we do a mindfulness meditation practice and then we close with comments, with questions, and we create a sense of community. But I cover different benefits and different topics from what are the key benefits of the mindfulness meditation practice? What are the attitudes that we can adopt in our practice? What is empathy? What is the difference between empathy and compassion? So that's what I tend to do in the mindfulness sessions, and then sometimes I offer workshops with specific topics in mind, like the three strategies to improve your well-being, or how to manage transitions in your life, or how to reduce stress effectively, or how to create more meaningful connections.

Speaker 1:

So different topics, but all have in common this objective and this purpose to increase your well-being, to get to have presence in front of this type of corporations? Was it through your network? How was the process for you to get in front of big corporations like Nike?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, through my network. I think that's why I was mentioning before that having a network is so important, because when you cultivate, in an intentional way, meaningful relationships, you can always get back to those relationships for support because they know you, you know them and they know the value that you can have role to mindfulness. I started to publishing content related to mindfulness and emotional intelligence in LinkedIn. So people who I work with, either at American Express or Mastercard or the agency partners, started reaching out to me oh, what are you doing now and why you are doing that, tell me more, etc. So that's how I how I started. Actually, my first client was mccann eddickson, which is the advertising agency that mastercard partners with, but since I used to manage that relationship and they knew me quite well, they invited me to facilitate a mindfulness program for their employees here in Miami. So it was like due to that relationship I would say that is the main way that I engage with those big grants through either previous relationships or due to different recommendations within my network me.

Speaker 1:

Rafa and I truly admire the way you present yourself, the way you're public speaking. I've learned so much from how you carry yourself within public speaking. Have you always been good at being in front of the camera?

Speaker 2:

No, not really. That's another skill. You need to learn that and I think, like in my case, I remember when I was in college, even studying communications I remember this very clearly that we were supposed to record a radio program. Right, we had to create a radio program, a radio show, and then record that show. And we were in the radio in the cabin I don't know how to say it in English and we were in the radio in the cabin I don't know how to say it in English and I was so afraid about speaking to a mic because I didn't know how to conduct myself. It was like a whole embarrassment.

Speaker 2:

I really struggled a lot, but then when I started working, I was like afraid about presenting, because presenting sometimes is not easy, right, it's like you feel judged, you feel exposed. But then I started like attending trainings in terms of how to do that. Then, through the different certifications that I did, related to mindfulness and other related programs, I learned how to present ideas, I learned how to structure your message. But it's a practice. It it's a practice and I think, like the other important element beyond practice is the mindset that you have when you are presenting something, either in a podcast or in a classroom or in a corporate setting.

Speaker 2:

I think like I was having this conversation with my daughter the other day because she was doing like a public speaking class at college and she had to deliver her speech.

Speaker 2:

She was telling me like she was a little bit anxious about that and it's normal. Everybody feels anxious before doing like a public speaking gig, right. But I was telling her instead of thinking that you are going to be judged, think about the value that you are going to be delivering to your audience, because that's the focus. Because when you focus on the value, then everything is going to become easier and you are going to enjoy the fact that you are there sharing, because what you are doing is sharing value. That's the main role when you are doing any public speaking. And when you have that mindset and you prepare your public speaking to really add value, then you engage and you carry yourself and you embody what you need to say in a different way, because you have this level of confidence that whatever you're going to say is going to provide value at least to someone in your audience. And if even some couple of people or just one people take out something of that engagement, it's great.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. I'm definitely taking notes about that, because so I've just started to this podcast and at first I thought, no way I'm gonna do video, I'm only gonna do audio. But then as I I tried it out, I did the first one and I I just said, okay, I'm gonna turn on the video, just to give it a try. The podcast podcast in Spotify it's audio. Completely. I haven't done video yet, but eventually I'd like to introduce the video whenever I feel more comfortable. But would there be any advice for me and for others who are out there who are working on their public speaking, who are working on being better in front of the camera, who are working on articulating their communication or how to structure their verbiage when they speak? What kind of advice would you give us? Break that barrier of being scared and how can we get to practice more?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and how can we get to practice more? Yeah. So I think, like the first invitation that I would offer is to have a clear understanding about what is the common thread of your message, because there's always a common thread and when you identify that common thread, then you feel more comfortable because you know, like if you forget something or you feel like unease, you always get back to that common thread and that common thread is going to guide you through your presentation, through your podcast, through whatever you are doing, because sometimes we don't like to see ourselves in front of a camera because we perceive that we are not 100% confident, and we might not be confident because we are extremely harsh on ourselves, right, and in order to increase that self-confidence, you can identify that common thread and always get back to that common thread. The second invitation that I would offer is to practice. For example, when I recorded my first podcast, my first episode of my podcast, the intention was not to publish a podcast, the intention was to practice my teaching related to mindfulness, because I was in the middle of a certification and I said, okay, now what I'm going to do is I'm going to do a rehearsal how I would communicate what mindfulness is what the benefits of the mindfulness practice are, what is the difference between mindfulness and meditation, what are the key steps in a mindfulness meditation practice. But I'm going to do that without any script, without any guideline, just based on what I know, just to record myself and see if it's clear or if it's not clear. So that's how I recorded my first episode, but it was not supposed to be a podcast. And then when I listened to that recording, I said, yeah, I think it's clear enough to add some value. It's not perfect, because perfection doesn't exist, but it's good enough to be published and I publish it. And then I started recording another episode and another episode, and another episode, and that's it. But it's just practice, just practice, just practice, and then it become like a second nature. But I would always say that it's very important to get prepared. Even if you have a lot of practice, you always need to be prepared based on the topic that you are going to cover.

Speaker 2:

For example, I participate, I'm one of the teachers of a speaker certification called Eczema, and my role is not to teach how they need to speak in public. My role is to be the mindfulness teacher of those speakers so they can incorporate mindfulness and they can manage their anxiety and their stress before going into the stage. That's my role, being a teacher of that program for a couple of years now and delivered the same content 20 times. Every time that I'm going to teach, I prepare myself as if it was going to be the first time. Every time, as if it was going to be the first time, because that gives me confidence. That gives me, I would say, a sense of credibility in front of the audience, and when I review what I'm going to share, a new idea might come to my mind and I incorporate it. So that's something that I will always tend to do.

Speaker 1:

Okay, very good point. And noting 100% to prepare as if it was your first time, all the time, no matter how many times you've done it. Very key and important to note that for myself and what's your podcast.

Speaker 2:

My podcast is Presencia Plena. It's in Spanish and I tend to focus on mindfulness, emotional intelligence, well-being. I have not recorded the podcast for a while. I actually need to resume publishing the podcast, but I have 45 episodes, I think.

Speaker 1:

Good, good, no, that's really good. That was one of the also motivations for me to do this podcast because, one, I want to share stories of other people, because I believe I'm a big learner from when I hear different experiences from others around me. And two, because I would love to get better at my public speaking and my communication and how I articulate everything. And then also three, because I want to practice on how to get better at teaching, because one thing it's for you to know, it's another thing whenever you teach what you know.

Speaker 1:

Teaching it's been quite a challenge for me. It's a little bit out of my comfort zone, but I believe the more I do it, the more I'm getting better at it. So thank you again for teaching and having that I don't know how to say it in English a blessing. I guess it's a blessing that you have to be able to teach to others. Moving on a little bit towards the balancing personal fulfillment and corporate reality, many people aspire to align their passion with their career. How did you navigate the transition from a corporate role, building a company based on your passion and mindfulness?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's another interesting question, and I think when you grew up professionally in a corporate setting, you already adopt a way of being, because corporations have a way of being. Right, it's very structured. You need to deliver results, you have a network of support. You are not there by yourself. You have team members to rely on, you have colleagues, you have a manager. If you have the privilege of leading a team, you have a team to guide and they are there also to provide support. So everything is kind of structured in different levels. Right, because there are corporations that are very well structured. There are other corporations that might not have that structure in place, but in general terms, there's a system and you can rely on that system. For better or for worse, you are part of a system and you are there.

Speaker 2:

When you create and you found your own company, especially when you are a solopreneur, you are by your own and there are so many things that you don't know, many, many things that you don't know the most basic things you don't know. That's the reality because you don't have that support network. For example, when I sold my first project, I didn't know how to issue an invoice because I had never to issue my own invoices. Right, that's taking care. When you are working in a company, it's like someone is responsible for issuing that invoice and for making sure that invoice gets paid. But when you are your own boss and you have your own company, you need to learn the most basic stuff as issuing an invoice and ensuring that the invoice is paid. You need to open a banking account that is not your personal account, but it's a business account. So there are so many things that you need to learn that require a mindset shift, because the context is completely, completely different. It's a different context and if you don't understand that, you are going to struggle a lot Because, again, in a big corporation, there are roles and responsibilities.

Speaker 2:

A lot Because, again, in a big corporation, there are roles and responsibilities.

Speaker 2:

Someone is responsible for marketing, someone is responsible for selling, someone is responsible for implementing, someone is responsible for managing the budget. When you are in your own company, you are responsible for every single role and you need to have that mindset. You need to learn how to sell, you need to learn how to implement things. You need to learn how to sell. You need to learn how to implement things. You need to learn how to manage taxes. Of course, you're going to rely on a CPA, but there are a lot of many things that you need to take care of that you might not even know, so that requires a mindset. And the other thing is the flexibility to understand that you are not in a big corporation any longer, because when you are in a big corporation, you use that big name as your last name to open doors. When you are on your own, it's your own name that you need to use and your own reputation in order to get those doors open, and that's also a big shift and requires a new mindset.

Speaker 1:

You basically are the person in charge of all the roles of the company and wear many different hats On the impact of the employee well-being. Your mission with OnBeing involves creating workplaces where individuals thrive. Can you share some example or stories highlighting the positive impact of mindfulness on employee well-being and engagement through the different corporations that you've done workshops with?

Speaker 2:

that is very important to understand that mindfulness is not a magic pill. It's not that because you attend a program or a workshop or a course that your life is going to change magically. Right, in order to experience the benefits of mindfulness and emotional intelligence, you as an individual need to make a commitment to incorporate those practices in the way that you work, in the way that you live and in the way that you live your life, because if we as an individual don't do that, then there's no benefit to be able to experience. It would be like going to a restaurant with a lot of hunger and just getting satisfied by reading the menu. Right, if you read the menu, you're not going to get satisfied. You need to order the food and eat the food. The same happens with mindfulness. You need to practice in order to experience the benefit. One of the things that happen is like a lot of people who attend the mindfulness programs not only mine in general is they see a benefit when they are in the program because they are doing the practices. They can understand the fact of being more present. They can understand the fact that there's a lot of stress and when they learn certain techniques, they feel better. But then the biggest challenge for them is how to continue the practice. Some are really committed and continue with the practice, and the people who continue with that practice I have seen many benefits.

Speaker 2:

I think that the benefit that caught my attention the most was in a big corporation I did one program and maybe like six months later I returned to the same corporation to deliver another program and I was in the cafeteria of that corporation and some of my former students from the first program saw me and approached me to say hello and we engaged in a short conversation and I was telling him that I was there because I was conducting like the second wave of the program with a new set of students and that we were covering just day one etc. And he was telling me Rafael, I need to tell you something. Actually attending the program saved my marriage because I was about to get divorced before joining the program and I know that is a leadership program before joining the program and I know that it's a leadership program. But when I attended the program I noticed and I realized that I didn't know how to listen. Especially I didn't know how to listen to my wife, and in the program we teach how to listen. So he told me I made a commitment to apply what I learned and listen to my wife and to have more empathy, and that saved my marriage.

Speaker 2:

So that is life changing right. So that is an extreme example from a personal perspective, but you can apply that also to a leadership perspective. You become a better leader when you know how to listen, because sometimes we as leaders want to impose our point of view, because we think like we know every single answer to every single question that we know better than our teams and we prevent ourselves to listen in a deeply and meaningful way to the different people that we work with. So a different type of benefit. But again, I think it's extremely important to continue with the practice, because if you don't practice, then there are no benefits to enjoy.

Speaker 1:

Yes, true, wow, that's very powerful. It does have a very powerful change within people, in personal life and professional life. Hopefully, in personal life and professional life, hopefully, everybody will be able to learn. I always think if we live in a world where everybody is mindful, the world would be extremely different. So I really encourage others to be more mindful and, like you say, not only to attend one workshop but to continue the practice through the daily routine. One last question, which is advice for those who are trying to find their purpose. There's a lot of people still searching for their purpose. What advice would you offer to help them discover their passions and navigate a fulfilling career and personal?

Speaker 2:

path as well. That's also a question that we can spend a whole workshop in order to answer the question. But I would say that the first step is having self-knowledge, because if you don't understand who you are, you will never find what your purpose is. In the big scheme of things, each of us have exactly the same purpose, which is to be who we really are. That's our purpose, who we really are. That's our purpose Because we are so highly conditioned through our family, through our society, through our educational process, that sometimes we have lost sight of who we really are.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes we pursue a career and then we realize that when we achieve what we thought it was going to be what we wanted, we don't experience any sense of fulfillment. And the reason why we don't experience fulfillment is because that was not my dream. It was the dream of someone else, not mine. Why? Because we are highly conditioned. So, in order to reduce the level of conditioning, is to have a good understanding about who you are. That could be very complex and it could take us a lifetime to master, but, as I always mention, the first step is to have a good understanding about your way of thinking, your way of feeling, the way you make decisions and the way that you act in your daily life. If you really want to have a deep understanding of who you are, just notice how you live your life. And when you start noticing your thoughts, your emotions, the decisions that you make and your actions, you start undercovering what is really meaningful to you, what are the activities that you truly enjoy, what are the things that you are very good at? And with all that knowledge, then you can identify what is the area that is going to bring you more fulfillment, more sense of accomplishment.

Speaker 2:

Because in my mentoring programs or in my one-on-one consulting that I do, it's shocking to see that when I ask people what are the activities that you enjoy the most, most of the people don't know how to answer that question, which is kind of basic question what activities do you enjoy the most? What do you mean? What are the activities that you enjoy the most? And they struggle to answer that question that you enjoy the most. And they struggle to answer that question. And the struggle could be either because they are highly focused in their working sphere of life, meaning that they don't do too much outside work, or because they really don't know. They really don't know what are the activities that they enjoy the most? It's highly related that sometimes we don't have a good understanding of who we are as human beings.

Speaker 1:

That summarizes some of our questions, but there are two closing questions, and that's the last thing I promise, so I can be respectful of your time.

Speaker 2:

One is what ignites your creative flame good time one is what ignites your creative flame. I think creativity, in the way that I understand creativity, is different than the regular perception of what creativity is. For me, creativity is very, very intentional in the way that I act, because we are very used to live our life in very automatic way, in autopilot, very reactive, and through creativity is to identify different options and different alternatives and choose the alternative that is the best for you at that given time. For me, that is through creativity and in order to be creative is to be present. So that's why everything is related.

Speaker 2:

So it's not like if I see like a landscape, I'm going to get creative, or if I go for a walk, I'm going to get creative. No, you can get creative anywhere, anytime, if you are truly present and if you have this clear understanding that you always have options. But you need to see those options and to choose the best option for you. That's how I see creativity. But sometimes we don't see options because we think that we don't have options and then we are very robotic in the way that we live our lives.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so I understood that what ignites your creative flame? It's by being present at any moment in life. Good, good and lastly, if you could tell us a trade secret.

Speaker 2:

I don't know if I have any specific secret. I think, like the secret, that perfection doesn't exist, self-development is a journey, like sometimes you are up, sometimes you are down. Even the most enlightening or enlightened teachers have their ups and downs and, as a consequence, don't put anyone like in a pedestal of perfection because such figure doesn't exist. And with that comes the realization that all of us are human beings with our own struggles, and we need to have self-compassion for ourselves, right, treat ourselves in a more realistic way, in a kinder way, so we can flourish as human beings. That's what I would say.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for reminding us because, especially myself, I'm always too hard on my own self. Like I said, I need to be reminded that perfection doesn't exist and all the others that you just mentioned. I truly appreciate you sharing all your knowledge with me and with everyone that will be listening, and if it sounds like an extraordinary trajectory that you've had, and thank you for always enlightening the way of you live your own lifestyle, because not only you share with others, but you also the way you carry yourself. It's contained.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, thank you. Thank you very much for the invite. I enjoy our conversation so much.

Speaker 1:

And there we have it. I'm so glad we had this conversation, a profound exploration into corporate mindfulness and finding purpose with Rafael. His journey is a testament to the transformative power of aligning one's passion with their professional life. If you found inspiration in this episode, be sure to subscribe for more enlightening conversations Until next time on Spark and Hustle, where we continue on revealing the complexities of career, entrepreneurship and personal growth. Thank you for being part of our journey.