How do you juggle many hats, navigate mission-aligned work and take care of imposter syndrome? Sonalie Figueiras spills all…
Meet Sonalie Figueiras, the unstoppable power behind Inexperienced Queen. Because the mastermind behind this game-changing enterprise, she’s on a mission to shake up the sustainability scene along with her media platform. Not solely is she a veteran within the business, however she’s additionally a sought-after speaker and trendsetter, spreading her knowledge throughout TEDx and Harvard Enterprise College.
Regardless of her success, Sonalie additionally offers with imposter syndrome and limiting beliefs. In our convo, she will get candid about her entrepreneurial journey and occasions that led to her beginning one of many greatest local weather media platforms on the planet.
5 issues we learnt about Sonalie Figueiras, the founding father of sustainability and influence media platform, Inexperienced Queen
#1: Inexperienced Queen was conceptualised because of her undiagnosed well being points
Inexperienced Queen got here to life as a result of Sonalie was coping with well being issues that medical doctors couldn’t put their finger on. Seems, she was going through what she’d name “medical misogyny,” the place medical doctors, typically males, didn’t take her signs critically ’trigger she was a younger lady of color. They brushed it off as IBS, a generic prognosis for feeling crappy with no clear trigger.
Sonalie determined to take issues into her personal arms by doing her personal analysis. That’s when she found the connection between meals, well being, and the setting. She went down a rabbit gap, realising that what we eat and the way it’s produced can mess with our well-being and the planet. She thought it was mind-boggling that she hadn’t been taught this primary stuff about her well being. So she began a weblog.
It rapidly remodeled right into a media platform centred on well being and inexperienced dwelling and expanded globally. With the load of Asia’s inhabitants and restricted agricultural land, she felt the necessity for an Asian voice championing local weather, sustainability, and future meals techniques.
#2: Working with deprived communities formed her journey
Again in her teenage days, Sonalie volunteered for NGOs, began {a magazine} referred to as “Peace of Thoughts,” and delved into social and human rights points. Her ardour took her to South America, the place she labored on public well being tasks in rural communities. They constructed flooring, improved stoves, and constructed outhouses. It was exhausting bodily labour, however the actual reward was what she learnt from the wonderful individuals she met. Residing in Brazil, she taught in deprived areas, witnessing the struggles and resilience of the ladies and youngsters. In India, she discovered a a lot happier, upbeat group of individuals regardless of dwelling in a slum.
This profound expertise left an indelible mark, shaping her perspective on capitalism, international techniques, and injustice. Rising up within the period of self-reliance, she confronted the tough actuality that these resilient people had been removed from lazy or unmotivated; they had been merely victims of circumstance. As she later delved into the world of banking on Wall Avenue, she discovered myself questioning all the things.
#3: She stop the monetary business as she struggled to discover a job that matched her mission
Sonalie entered a college that churned out funding bankers. Again then, it was the image of success. She wished to show herself, and she or he did. However inside six months of every job, she questioned all the things.
“What was I actually taking part in?”, she thought. She felt conflicted, torn between the necessity for cash and the guilt of privilege. “It’s like what number of Gen Zers really feel as we speak, looking for a job that aligns with their mission and objective. This wrestle haunted me 20 years in the past, as I wrestled with the moral dilemma of promoting insurance coverage to susceptible people. I needed to break away from that mentality, realising the pervasive ethics compromise within the monetary business, a subject we don’t focus on sufficient,” she provides.
#4: She struggled with catching as much as the success of Inexperienced Queen
Sonalie’s greatest wrestle is discovering the braveness to pursue her better imaginative and prescient. “Individuals don’t realise that Inexperienced Queen achieved success earlier than I totally embraced its potential. I had different companies and noticed Inexperienced Queen as a facet venture, a missed alternative that I remorse. Now, others see me as forward of my time, a local weather pioneer in Asia. However internally, I battle emotions of failure and doubt,” she says. She generally wonders if she ought to have chosen a standard profession path for a picture-perfect life, however deep down, she is aware of it’s not true.
Now, she needs to alter this notion, giving Inexperienced Queen the credit score it deserves and recognising its influence. She says, “I really need 2023 to be the 12 months that I totally give myself permission to go, ‘let’s rule the world’.”
#5: Sonalie isn’t wanting ahead to a time in her life when she doesn’t must work
Except for Inexperienced Queen, Sonalie additionally manages two companies: Ekowarehouse, a sourcing platform for licensed natural merchandise, and Supply Inexperienced, an organization that sources 100% bio-based and compostable supplies for companies.
When requested how she juggles many hats, she stresses the facility of getting an amazing crew. Success doesn’t come from working alone; it’s about constructing a supportive crew. Delegation and discovering gifted people who share your imaginative and prescient are essential. She has an unbelievable co-founder for Supply Inexperienced, and collectively they shoulder the duties.
She additionally loves working. “I discover happiness in work and really feel uneasy after I’m not working. Not like these searching for a lifetime of leisure, I thrive on interplay, studying, and juggling a number of endeavours. It’s not disturbing for me; it’s my pure state of being.”
Be taught extra about Sonalie’s inspiring journey on Launchpad’s Good Enterprise podcast episode.
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