Ep. 109 - Diana Palacio - Choosing Family Over Titles

Diana Palacio grew up in Latin America, moved to the United States for university, and immigrated to Canada as a young newlywed, trying to break into the job market without “Canadian experience.” She shares why pursuing an MBA became a pivotal career development decision, how her years in consumer packaged goods shaped her approach to classic marketing strategy, and why the most difficult transition wasn’t professional at all; it was internal. Leaving corporate titles for consulting forced an ego check, a rework of identity, and a new definition of sustainable success and work-life balance.

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Transcript

Welcome And How To Connect

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast. We are a community of leaders with a network in over 350 cities around the world dedicated to optimizing our personal, professional, and spiritual livestrive impact. This show is where we have a chance to listen and engage with leaders who are living this out. We love talking with leaders, so if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions to make this show even better, please let us know. The best way to stay connected in Canada is through our newsletter at leaderimpact.ca or on social at LeaderImpact. If you're listening from outside of Canada, check out our website at leaderimpact.com. I'm your host, Lisa Peters, and our guest today is Deanna Palacio. Deanna is the president of Drive and Passion Consulting, a Toronto-based marketing and strategy consulting firm. With over 20 years of experience in the food industry, she has helped both global consumer packaged goods, companies, and entrepreneurial businesses build growth strategies rooted in consumer insights and sound business planning. Her career journey has been shaped by a desire to align professional success with her faith values and God-given purpose. Deanna loves to share lessons on leadership, career development, and trusting God's guidance through life's transitions. Welcome to the show, Deanna. Thank you, Lisa. I appreciate you having me here. Oh, it isn't it is nice to meet you. I love that you use the words guidance through life's transitions. Um I love the word transitions because I think if you're living a purpose-filled life, you are transitioning from 20 to 30 to 40 to 70 to 80, like there's purpose. So I love that. That's great. That's right. Um so thank you for joining us. I'm I'm excited to hear more about you. And my first question, just because um I I under I see you have a bit of an accident, your accent. And so I want to tell us a little bit about yourself first and sort of what shaped you as a person and a leader.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Absolutely.

Deanna’s Story Across Cultures

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Um, so my accent is uh from uh Spanish speaking. So I was born and raised in Latin America between Colombia and Venezuela. And um after high school, I moved to the US for university, and almost 23 years ago, I moved to Canada after getting married. So for me, living in different countries and cultures has really shaped me and taught me uh lots of lessons in resilience, adaptability, and just a lot about navigating change, both in life and leadership. Yeah, uh, it's a big part of who I am. And then also, obviously, growing up uh in Latin America, um, there were also some lessons that I learned a lot, um, like seeing my parents work incredibly hard to build a better life for my brothers and I. Um, and watching them do that gave me a lot of strong work ethic, determination to keep going, even when things were hard. Um, my dad was especially a huge influence in my life. I saw from him a lot of tenacity, honesty, humility, always like a can-do spirit, uh, which really stayed with me. And uh, those values have really shaped me and uh helped a lot when I when I came to Canada as a newcomer. Uh and I would say kind of like one of the biggest uh things that have shaped me as a person, as a leader as well, has been my parents' example of generosity expressed through their servant leadership. I I always admired their willingness to go the extra mile to help others and to give freely of what they had. And now I try to do that myself as well.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Oh, I love it. Thank you for sharing that. I I uh it's always interesting. I mean, I we jump right into the professional, but when I hear someone that's come from another country, it's like, you know, tell us a little bit about coming here. So I appreciate that. Um our next question is more about your professional journey and sort of how you got to where you are today.

Breaking In Without Canadian Experience

SPEAKER_00 3:49

And it's I'm sure it's a long story, but if there's a pivotal moment in there that you can share with us.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Absolutely. Yeah, I would say uh my professional journey obviously really started when I immigrated to Canada. I was just 23 years old after I got married. And at that point, I didn't have a job. So, like many newcomers, I kept hearing, oh, you need to have Canadian experience before anybody can give you a real job. So to try to get that, I took an internship at the Colombian Trade Commission. And I find that that ended up being uh a place where it opened a really important door for me. Through that role, I met a few business leaders who connected me to my first paid job, which was at the Ontario Food Terminal. For anybody that lives in this uh in the Greater Toronto area, they would know that the food terminal is a really tough, male-dominated environment. And stepping into that as a 23-year-old girl was really a stretch in every way, but it also built a lot of resilience and uh gave me a good start. I would say that was um uh one really important milestone in my life, and then came a really big turning point for me, which is my parents and my husband, but especially my mom. She kept encouraging me to go back to school and get my MBA before having kids. I remember I was so done with school when I graduated, I was like, I don't want to go back to school. But she kept going, no, you have to go back, you need to do your MBA. And looking back, I'm so grateful that I listened because that decision really changed my trajectory, the trajectory of my career. Um, I remember my first few weeks into the MBA, which was at uh Rotman School of Management in Toronto, and I met some executives from uh General Mills, and uh something just clicked for me. I was just drawn to the company and to the idea of a career in marketing. Before that, I had no clue what I wanted to do. Um, but from that point on, I just fell in love with it. I knew that was my career, that was my calling. Um, and so I became very determined to get a summer internship there. Even though they told me they were not hiring interns from my school, that's where my Colombian uh resilience came in, and I didn't let it go. I just kept networking, kept emailing them, kept asking, eventually got an interview, which uh led me to a summer internship. Um, and by the end of that summer, I secured a full-time position for after graduation. And that was the beginning of a fantastic career in marketing. It became the doorway to a whole new chapter. It changed my earning potential, my uh opportunities. Honestly, it shaped who I am today. It's uh one of the reasons why I always, whenever newcomers or immigrants tell me, where did you start? I always go back to I invested in my higher level education, and that opened the door to a whole network of uh companies and and people that that would I wouldn't have access to otherwise. Um and so I at General Mills, I spent about 10 years there. I kind of quickly grew through the the marketing ranks and I had the chance to work with exceptional marketers. It really was a fantastic school, I call it, of classic marketing. And they the the leaders there were people who are still very close friends and role models to me. Um, and I will I will forever be grateful for that opportunity. And then after that, I joined Lactalis, which uh at the time it was called Parmalat. Uh it's uh one of the largest dairy companies in the world, if not the largest. Uh and there I had a great experience and a privilege to work with uh a wonderful caring

The MBA Decision That Opened Doors

SPEAKER_01 7:48

boss. His name was Paul, and I'll forever be grateful to Paul, because that was another absolutely pivotal moment in my career. Um, because part of my story, and we can maybe dive into this a little bit after, is that I've gone through seasons of being really overstretched trying to juggle work and life as a young mom or a mom in general, but I feel like many women in uh careers uh with children, they could find themselves here. And I found that that story really resonates, it tends to be very common. But during one of those seasons, my my manager Paul at Parmalat helped me to see another option, a pivot in my career. And uh what could have ended up in my resignation and the end of my professional career became a pivot that opened the doors into working as a consultant, which is what I do today. And uh what that allowed me was a much more flexible way of working, a way of being able to be a full-time mom and a full-time uh workforce person. Uh, but that was not easy. Like I tell you, that took a lot of courage because moving from full-time leadership roles, you know, feeling great about climbing the career ladder, going into part-time consulting was just a major turning point. Um, on the surface, it looked like, oh, easy, like you're gonna have more flexibility, more independence. This is great. But underneath, it really meant um giving up a lot of certainty. Obviously, a steady job that's like contracted like for an indefinite period of time versus a contract that could end at any point in time, having benefits, bonuses, stock options, you know, the works of compensation. Um that was one thing. But more importantly, it really challenged my ego because I had to let go of that constant drive to achieve, to climb, to be recognized, and to kind of tie my identity to titles and external success. And um, you know, LinkedIn is an enemy in this sphere because you see everybody getting promoted, and now I'm the director of this and the VP of that and the president of that, and it's like, oh, and I'm just a consultant. But it wasn't just a consultant that was, you know, now I was the president of my own company. Okay, big title. Yeah, but it really was a shift that gave me something far more valuable back. It really gave me my marriage and my family, which I was about to lose to my career. Um, so I feel like that's been the biggest pivot is uh really moving into this consulting model has allowed me to keep doing really meaningful work, um, stay professionally and mentally really engaged, uh contributing financially to our family, but doing so in a more healthy way, in a more sustainable way for me. It's not for everybody, but for me, this was like my mechanism. And so I would say kind of that's a bit of my professional journey and uh some of the pivotal moments in it.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Oh, there's so many good points there, Deanna. I think of um, you know, uh, because I hear of immigrants and their mothers or their parents, like you need to be a highly educated. And so I hear that from a lot of immigrants. They came here and their parents expected to be doctors, lawyers, MBAs. Like, so am I hearing was this very common for you? For are there other members of your family that were sort of yeah, very common.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Yeah, very common. You know, your parents uh kind of put this big dream on you and they kind of invest in you, and and I really owe them a lot. Like my parents really invested in me. Um, obviously they they saw the potential, but they also kind of had this expectation that like you're gonna reach more than we did. Yeah, um, so you feel a bit of that pressure, but I I'm very grateful for that because uh the the life that I have today I wouldn't have had uh otherwise for sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Yeah, and I love that you mentioned um leaving the corporate life to the consulting and the ego that we had to the ego. I did the same thing and it was hard. But it made COVID really easy because I was already at home being awesome at working at home and I knew how to do it. But um the ego is is like yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

It's a big one, it's a big one. It keeps a lot of people kind of in their current jobs, really struggling through burnout, through the same way of working, just because they don't want to let go of either the financial security, but also the recognition and the kind of the praise, the pat in the back, I call it, uh which is hard when you're working for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

You gotta look in the mirror and give yourself your own praise. That's right.

The Consulting Pivot And Ego Check

SPEAKER_00 12:43

All right. Well, we're gonna talk about your best principle of success if you have one, and if you have a story you can share about it.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Yeah, for sure. Um so I would say if I had to name one principle of success, I mean you can think of many, but one of the ones that I live by is to serve others well and consider others more significant than yourself. And what I've seen uh again and again is that when you lead by serving, when you really understand your team, you support them, you help bring the best out of them, people just naturally become a lot more engaged. They do their best work, they go the extra mile, the whole team just becomes stronger. Uh, but I've seen that when leadership becomes all about you, your own agenda, your own recognition, kind of trying to muscle through everything yourself, it has the opposite effect. People disconnect, motivation drops, you kind of end up carrying far more than you were ever meant to carry alone. So for me, success is deeply connected to the idea that we're here to kind of love people well and serve them well. And um, one example I can think of uh living through this most recently was in my last consulting role, which uh wrapped up this past uh January. I was working with Mondeleys, which is a multinational snacking company with very well-known brands like Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Ritz, Cadbury, like you name them. They have the oh um, and there I had the privilege of stepping into the uh marketing director role on the Halls brand in the US for a three-month period. I was covering up paternity leave. Okay. So if you think about this situation, you see unique challenges for any leader. You come in as a newbie, on top of that, an outsider from Canada. You're not American and you have an accent. Uh, you're not familiar with the cough drops category. I didn't know the category, had never worked on Halls. And you inherit a team of marketers to manage directly, plus a large cross-functional team that you need to actively collaborate with on a daily basis to get things done. So, where do you begin? So for me, like the question was okay, how am I going to quickly ramp up and start posting results in a short amount of time? I only have a three-month runway to learn the business, contribute, and help the team. So I was like, oh boy, okay. But um, this is where my principle of servant leadership and considering others more significant than yourself really came into play. I focused on building relationships quickly with all the key cross-functional team members and my own team. I set up introduction meetings with everybody uh during the first two weeks. Um, and during those chats, I not only introduced myself, but I also asked about their roles, what projects were they leading, but most importantly, I asked, how can I help? How can I contribute to the team? Where could my leadership make a difference to you? Because I'm like, I don't even know where to start. But like, where can I make a difference? And so this gave me a quick way to meet everybody, learn the business, get up to speed on the projects, but at the same time build that deeper relationship with one another. And I would say I also took interest in getting to know them a little bit more personally, uh, beyond their work. I also asked about their background, their family. You know, do you have kids? There were a couple of uh hockey moms, there were a couple of people with no kids, but they had a pet. Some others, you know, we we kind of bonded over our faith. And so we built connection quickly. And so to cut a long story short, by the end of the three months uh with the US Holes team, we were able to get approvals for projects and investments that had been denied before and they had been working on for months. Uh, we were able to secure a multi-million dollar deal with Costco, and most importantly, I was able to motivate the team to just achieve goals that they didn't think were possible and build relationships that last a lifetime. I'm still in touch with many of them. They text me, oh, you know, the Costco project is advancing, it's almost in the market. I'm like, yay! So it's it's been amazing. And uh I would say that's one of the examples of like how that servant leadership can really go a long way.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Sometimes I think people think they're gonna bring you in for three months. Just hold the line, please. Just don't, you know, just you know, hold the line. And here you go, and you know, million-dollar deals with Costco, and you're just how do you not get snapped up and and go, you know what, would you like to come work for us full-time? Do you know what? Like, because you leave after three months and you know, just kind of wash your hands and on to the next job.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

No, so so they did. They're like, oh man, you should just join our team full time, uh, you should stay. And um, and it's not out of the question. Um, I I have a really good relationship with the hiring boss there, with the HR people now, with the team, and they're constantly messaging me, when are you coming back? So I know there will be another opportunity to work with them, but that that's what happens when you go in, uh, you leave a good mark because you serve the people first, you serve their needs first rather than yourself. If I had gone in looking after myself, trying to impress others, trying to like, you know, probably just take all the credit for myself so maybe I could get hired. Like, I don't think it would have ended up being the same. They just really felt that I came in and I just kind of helped them to achieve things and for them to succeed, and by virtue of that, it just kind of comes back to you. So I've seen that in my career uh time and time again, and and it's been a blessing. That's been part of the blessing of uh consulting, is that I've really never gone for a long period of time without uh one of my previous bosses calling me to help them on projects. So right now I'm doing a little bit of a lull with purpose because I'll be relocating. But uh my boss is like, okay, call me when you're done uh moving so we can get started again. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

So I we always love hearing about your successes, and this just leads right

Rubber Balls Versus Crystal Balls

SPEAKER_00 18:56

into it. But I think we all know we learn more from our failures or our mistakes, and I'm wondering if you have something you could share and uh the mistake and then how you learn from it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Yeah, biggest mistakes. So those are the hard ones to uh come clean on. But uh I would say throughout um my career, I would say one of my biggest mistakes uh has been to focus too much on uh on my career and uh to strive for perfectionism uh because it it has had like deep consequences. So I'll give you a little bit of background, but like ever since I was a child, I've just had this deep instinct to do everything right and to give 120% in everything that I do. I I've concluded this is my DNA, as much as I've tried to untrain myself so that I don't burn out. I had to do different coping mechanisms, like consulting for a set number of hours. So I cannot go above that. That's been my coping mechanism, because otherwise I just go all in. But um I would say when I started my career, I just uh kind of emulated that example of hardworking, discipline, give everything you've got. And uh that's how I approach it. So I worked incredibly hard trying to just climb the corporate ladder, and somewhere along the way, work started taking priority over family and really over everything, including like God. So at the same time, I was trying to be the perfect mom, wife, daughter, employee, just too much. And that led to a really a lot of heartache. I was trying to do life on my own strength and pursue career success, but I was compromising on some of the relationships that really mattered most. And again, it was Paul, that manager, uh, who was such a caring leader, who gave me really the language to kind of rationalize what was what I was experiencing. He shared an analogy that I'll never forget, which is the analogy of the rubber balls and the crystal balls. He said, You know, Diana, I remember vividly I was in my office and came in, and he came with a piece of paper and he sat down and he handed me this piece of paper and he said, you know, in life, you're always gonna be juggling two types of balls, rubber balls and crystal balls. If you drop a rubber ball, it's gonna bounce back. But if you drop a crystal ball, it's gonna shatter. And most of the time, there's no getting back at it the same way. And that realization was really ultimately what led me to kind of wake up to the big mistake I was making, which was to put career at the top of my priorities pyramid, um, family at the very bottom, and God not even in the picture, to inverting that pyramid and saying, okay, God's gonna be my number one, my family follows right after, and I'm not going to compromise anymore on that. So that means. That my work and my career need to come further down, and I need to figure out a different way of doing this. So that's when that move to becoming a consultant really came about. He spoke to me about it. He shared that you know his wife had done something similar many years ago and explained the how because I couldn't even see how this could work. And basically, I ended up being able to stay in the same industry, which I'm passionate about, but engineer a completely different way of working and living. And so that was pivotal. Now I'd be lying to say that I did this all out of my own strength. Looking back, I recognize that along the journey, God has really played the most pivotal road role. Sorry, opening up doors that I could have never opened for myself. Like, you know, having these conversations with Paul, just inheriting phenomenal bosses who have called me up time and again and again. Like that just doesn't happen by fluke or by any of my effort. It's really God that's been guiding me when I've been so lost. And I'm just so grateful that He's been so good to me.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Yeah. Um, a couple things I think of when you said crystal balls and rubber balls, crystal just seemed so much like I think I've heard it with glass balls and rubber balls and glass breaks, but crystal just seemed so much more important, so much more treasured, which is ridiculous, but I I felt that. And um the whole the um God opening doors for you. Uh sometimes I wonder if we if we always see it. And I had a conversation, my daughter and I get up very early, five in the morning, and we we we read and we we have prayers together, and talking about seeing God work in your life. And she's 23 years old and she can see it. And she we pray and we pray, you know, God open a door. And but in the mind, it's like, I have no idea what door you're gonna open. But you know, and I I think we have to realize that that you know, sometimes our prayers are not specific, but it's I I need a door open, I you know, and when you when that door opens, recognize it as as God opening that door and and praise God. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, I agree. With such a good conversation. Thanks. Thanks for that little reminder.

Faith As A Leadership Game Changer

SPEAKER_00 24:21

Um so at Leader Impact, and you are a part of Leader Impact in uh Ontario, you know, we you know we want to grow personally, professionally, and spiritually for increasing impact. So I'm wondering if you're willing to share a story or an example, how the spiritual makes a practical difference in your life as a leader.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Absolutely. I think for me, what I've learned uh throughout this last few years of uh of my life, since I've uh uh deepened my relationship with uh Jesus is that the spiritual dimension is really the game changer. It's that missing piece, it's the part that really makes everything else make sense. Um I share uh during one of my talks that I give with uh Leader Impact whenever I go on Global Exchange, that it really is that trifecta. Like personal and professional are missing that third component, which is the spiritual life. And um, for most of my life, I would say, especially in my career, I relied on my own strength. I was always, as I just shared, managing everything on my own, trying to control everything on my own. But after having two kids, life just became overwhelming. And for me, the biggest part was anxiety and insomnia really started slowly um taking over my life. I was like not sleeping. I would wake up in the middle of the night with my mind just racing, like thinking about work, family logistics, I how I was gonna be in five places at the same time. And I just kept pushing past my limits, and that that's what was leading to my burnout, time and again. And even though I had moved from full-time work to consulting, like nothing that I did uh myself ever really became a permanent solution. Um, you know, I ended up always in the same place, and that breaking point really came uh in January of 2021. It was about nine months into the pandemic, and I was working at Western Foods, which is a national bakery at the time in Canada, um, like the parent company of Wonder Bread and many other famous brands. Um, and during the pandemic, if you can think of like what people did, they ate a lot of bread. So demand went through the roof, which meant I was working 15, 18 hour days and homeschooling the kids at the same time, which I was completely drained and on the edge of a mental breakdown. But the thing that changed was around that time I had started attending a Christian church and reading the Bible more and really learning more about Jesus. Uh, because I grew up in a Catholic home and I knew about Jesus and I had a faith, but I didn't really know him personally. I didn't quite have a relationship, I didn't have a habit of prayer and things like that. Um, and so one night I remember waking up at like 3 a.m. in a panic, couldn't fall asleep again. So I decided, okay, let me go downstairs to my living room. And I had been there many, many times before, but this time was different. Uh instead of sitting there just in frustration, I picked up my Bible and uh I just said, you know what, God, like if you're real, like speak to me. Just you need to guide me, you need to get me out of this hole. I don't know what to do next. Like I've tried everything, you can see it. Like I've changed ways of working, I've changed jobs, I've changed bosses, like it's not working, and I don't know what to do. So at the time I didn't really know the Bible very well. So I opened it almost at random, and thankfully it landed on Isaiah 41, 10, which says, Do not fear, for I'm with you. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you. And in that moment, just reading that, I just broke down in tears. And uh, I just knew God was listening. I knew that he was speaking to me, and I knew that that's what I had been missing, is actually listening to what God had to say to me. Instead of trying to do it all alone, I understood in that moment, He is with me, He's the one who's gonna help me, He is the one who's gonna uphold me. And so from that moment on, you know, I decided I'm gonna follow you, I'm gonna do what you say, I'm gonna come to prayer first and leave it all to you. Like, example, what do I do next? Because I am burnt out, I need a change. And uh, and so that's when I realized, okay, that side of me is what was missing, that spiritual dimension. And don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean I've stopped working hard, it doesn't mean I've stopped sometimes uh from stressing and waking up in the middle of the night. It still happens, but I'm no longer um trying to control everything myself and trying to figure it all out by myself. I've learned to trust in God and put things in his hands. And you know, my first response to anxiety, like before I knew God, it was, let me just have a glass of wine. I need to wind down. Yeah, and uh now instead I I would rather go into prayer because the wine wakes me up in the middle of the night and makes me feel terrible the next day. That's a sign of aging, too. But prayer works much better. So now I really treasure my mornings with God, like you said with your daughter. I have a similar routine: 5 a.m., alarm goes off. I go downstairs, make my coffee, sit in my favorite chair, I do my reading, I talk to God, and that routine just really grunts me. That's where I hand over my worries, and then throughout the day, I'm in like constant conversation. Sometimes I look probably like a crazy lady talking to myself in the car. But I'm just talking to God. I'm like, okay, Lord, you know, I don't know what to do next. I've got this big meeting, I've got a big presentation, you carry me. I don't know. I've done all the work that I can, I've put in my best effort, but it's yours now. Yeah, you carry me through. And and that's really been a complete game changer.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

I have to laugh when you said talking in your car because um I when I used to go when I used to go to the gym at like five in the morning, that was my quiet time. I would talk to God and I'd be like, and I thought, well, people think I'm on my phone. Yes, that's right. That's right. 24-7, 365 is open. Um that's right. So it's funny because earlier when I first asked you a question, you talked about the seasons of over like you have overstretched yourself. I'm sure that still happens for you. And and you know, the anxiety comes up, and you know, and I I think you answered the question, but I I just want to confirm like it still happens to you, right? Like you're a normal person.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Oh, a hundred percent. I mean it right now. I'm uh I'm busy moving, we're gonna be moving to uh God willing, to uh a new country for a year, and I'm completely overstretched. There's so much to do. My to-do list is growing, yeah, and some days I just feel that pressure here in my chest and in my stomach gets like a pit, and I just go, okay, just breathe. Um, I've learned to do like prayer breathing and um just pray. I go to scripture, I go to prayer, and I just take a minute, and uh, I have a coffee mug that I love that says, be still and know that I am God. And that's my be still, know that I am God. And I repeat that, and uh, I just take a moment, have a little coffee, have a little tea, and and do that, and uh that that's been huge help for that. Yeah, but yeah, it still happens on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

When you said you read Isaiah 41, 41, 10. 41. Um, I just so I'm in Isaiah right now, and I just read Isaiah 45 this morning, and I just brought it up, and uh, it's about God calling Cyrus. Cyrus? Cyrus, yeah. He and what I didn't realize was Cyrus didn't know God, like at this point. And God says to him, I will go before you and level the mountains, I will break down the gates of bronze and cut through the bars of iron. And I just think God's working back there behind us. We have no clue. We we're in the darkness, but God's working and he'll move things for you. So to you, um, while you're in this time of stress, God's working and he's making those plans. And sometimes we don't see it because we're in it. Yes, but God's working around you. So 100%. Ah, I knew I could use that reading today. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

I agree. Yeah, I agree. And and I feel like you know, that reading is also so applicable to people who don't know anything about Jesus yet, um, that are curious, because um, you know, sometimes you have no idea what he can do until maybe you believe or you start to reach out uh to him. And and that may seem overwhelming for somebody who doesn't know, but it's just a prayer, like, hey Jesus, I don't know you, but uh if you're real, like if you're here, if you're listening, just would you you know be with me, make me, you know, comfort me, help me, strengthen me, and uh and the peace that comes that follows often surprises. Yeah, surprises me daily how calm I feel after I say a few words to the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Yeah. I think I I wanted it to happen so quickly. It's like, look, I'm gonna pray and it's gonna happen. Yes. Um, it doesn't, just saying, you know, put the prayer out there, and then you know, if the door is meant to open, if the experience is meant to happen, whatever it is, God's working in the background. He'll move, it might take a couple days, just saying. So yeah, I agree. Uh so leader impact is is about leaders having a lasting impact.

Legacy, Joy, And Pointing To Jesus

SPEAKER_00 34:16

So as you continue to move through this amazing journey that sounds what's coming up and through your life, um, what do you want your faith legacy to be when you leave this world?

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Oh, that's a tough one. But uh, I think uh I as I reflect on that, I would love for my faith legacy to be that I lived in a way that pointed people to Jesus. That I love people well, I serve them generously, and I reflected Christ with authenticity, both at home and in leadership. I would say that's I would be my I would love for somebody when I pass at my service to say, you know what, like that's what she did. I believe that is Diana.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Yeah, I that's amazing. Um and what brings you the greatest joy?

SPEAKER_01 35:07

I would say it's along the same veins, uh just helping to lead people to Christ and sharing the story of what he's done in my life. I love talking about how he has completely transformed who I am and how he could do that for for anybody. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Wow. Well, it has been um just an amazing time spent with you. Thank you so much, uh, Deanna. Um, you've made my cheeks hurt, you've made my heart full. I I love showing up, just I feel like it's just between me and you, but I know there's other people that are hearing your story, resonating with it, and and just

Where To Find Deanna And Closing

SPEAKER_00 35:41

loving it. So if anybody wants to find you, connect with you, I and I know you're super busy, but I'm sure you'll, you know, find time. How can they connect with you? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

Uh they can find me on LinkedIn, uh Diana Palacio. Um, I'm there, and uh I would love to connect and share more about my story or help in any way that I can.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Awesome. Um, so before I go, uh I have accepted to travel to Cali, Colombia, um to speak with Leader Impact Global. And I are you from there?

SPEAKER_01 36:13

Yes, that's actually my hometown, Lisa. So I uh I am so excited for you that you're gonna be going to the Global Exchange. Uh that's that's gonna be a dream for me. It's it's a tug in my heart. I know Roy has uh pointed that out. He's like, well, maybe you should come. Um, but I already went to Panama this year and uh and we're moving and everything. So but I am so excited for you. I can't wait to see what you and the group that goes to Cali will do there. Um the Jesus and your message is so needed in our hometown and in our country for sure.

SPEAKER_00 36:51

It well, it's been interesting because I've been asked for a few years and I have just it hasn't felt right. And now it was like it just it felt right, it felt good. And then and then here you are from Cali. Like it's just thank you, Lord. Like it just things happen. So it's been a pleasure meeting you, Deanna. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 37:09

Oh, likewise, Lisa. Such a pleasure. Thank you so much for inviting me on the podcast. I really appreciate it. Oh, you're welcome.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

All right. Well, to all our listeners, we thank you for joining us today. If you're part of Leader Impact, you can always discuss or share this podcast with your group. And if you're not yet part of Leader Impact and would like to find out more and grow your leadership, find our podcast page on our website at leaderimpact.ca and check out our free or check out our free leadership assessment. You can also check out groups available in Canada at LeaderImpact.ca, or if you're listening from anywhere else in the world, check out LeaderImpact.com or get in touch with us by email, info at leaderimpact.ca, and we will connect you. And if you like this podcast, please leave us a comment, give us a rating or review. This will help other global leaders find our podcast. Thank you for engaging with us. And remember, impact starts with you.