The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson

Breaking the Confidence Killer: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome With Roxi Nicolussi

• Jennifer Ann Johnson • Season 3 • Episode 33

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Ever felt like a fraud despite your achievements? That quiet fear that you’ve fooled everyone into thinking you’re more capable than you are? That’s imposter syndrome—and you’re far from alone.

Meet Roxy Nicolussi, founder of the Big Bold Company. Her life shifted with one “accidental bold move”—a misunderstanding in a job interview turned her into a six-figure business owner overnight. More than just a financial leap, it changed how she saw herself.

Roxy’s journey highlights how women often downplay their value, from apologizing too much to shrinking into the background. But you can break that cycle. Build a “brag bank” of positive feedback, reframe challenges as growth opportunities, and rethink your pricing with Roxy’s advice: “Take what you think you're worth, double it, and add tax.”

Whether you’re starting out or scaling up, this episode offers tools to quiet self-doubt and step confidently into your power. Ready to trade “Why me?” for “Why not me?” This is your invitation to go bold.

Visit us at jenniferannjohnson.com and learn how Jennifer can help you build the life you dream of with her online academy, blog, one-on-one coaching, and a variety of other resources!

Jennifer Johnson:

Today, we're diving deep into a topic that resonates with so many of us in the business world imposter syndrome, that nagging feeling that you're not quite good enough, that you've somehow fooled everyone into thinking you're more capable than you really are, and if you've ever felt like a fraud, despite your accomplishments, you're not alone, and you know exactly what I'm talking about. I have felt this way myself. In this episode, we're sitting down with Roxy Nicolussi, and she's a strategist, a futurist and a change coach, and the founder of the Big Bold Company. In 2018, an accidental bold move left Roxy with a six-figure business owner. It changed the way that she moved through life, and she hasn't looked back since. With a master's of design and strategic foresight and innovation, roxy has helped companies like Shopify and Spotify confidently navigate change.

Jennifer Johnson:

After eight years of helping businesses of all sizes confidently navigate change, roxy started to apply similar proprietary strategic frameworks to help women make bold moves towards the empowered and unapologetic lives that we've always wanted, be it starting a new business or moving abroad, or coming out of the closet or taking up space in other ways. From speaking on international stages to teaching college courses, roxy is on a mission to spread her message about the power of bold moves in life and in business. We'll explore the roots of imposter syndrome, why it's so prevalent among entrepreneurs and, most importantly, how we can overcome it. And we all of us have seen people who've battled this silent confident we call it the confidence killer right and emerged stronger from going through, talking about it and working through these strategies. And she's going to share with us some of her own experiences with imposter syndrome. Whether you're a seasoned business owner or you're just starting out, this conversation is for all of you, so let's go ahead and peel back the layers of self-doubt and discover the competent entrepreneur that's within each of you. Let's get started.

Jennifer Johnson:

So, welcome, robyn. Thank you so much for having me. Yes, I am so intrigued. I want to hear your story because, as a small business owner myself, and having coached many small business owners, we all face this. It doesn't matter how small your company is or you're running a Fortune 500 company. Everybody, I feel, faces the imposter syndrome thing. Why?

Roxi Nicolussi:

Absolutely. I mean to start. There's self-doubt. No matter what industry you're in, there are going to be things that you're less confident about. The problem lies in when we let that become our identities and we decide that because of that doubt, we don't actually deserve to be in the places that we are. Um, commonly this comes up a lot for perfectionists who have extremely high expectations for themselves excuse me, um and they'll never be able to reach their own expectations, so they assume that everybody else has the same expectations for them. Also, I think women in general downplay their accomplishments and are almost trained to play small, so we have been programmed to not take credit for things that we've worked very hard on, or to be the humble one. So people will want to work with us, but in reality we tend to downplay the things that we have done very independently.

Jennifer Johnson:

And I can attest to that. I agree, I think we do downplay, you know. Oh, it's just a thing. Yeah, you know, I'm just staying in my own lane. I'm just doing my thing when someone compliments you on some accomplishment that you've had, you know.

Roxi Nicolussi:

I lucked out beginner's luck or something like that.

Jennifer Johnson:

Right it's, we temper it right. We temper it to where we're comfortable. Maybe, I don't know.

Roxi Nicolussi:

We temper it where other people are comfortable, because they don't like a strong woman that's proud and powerful.

Jennifer Johnson:

That's a good way to put it. That's true, I can see that. And then we feel uncomfortable because we know it's making them uncomfortable and it's like a snowball it doesn't get any better, right.

Roxi Nicolussi:

And for that reason we're playing small.

Jennifer Johnson:

Right Playing small, exactly. So what is your story? Your imposter syndrome story?

Roxi Nicolussi:

I love telling this story. So I finished my master's when I was 23, 24. And I had a year of experience. After that I was in an internship where I was quickly promoted to be a strategist, like the rest of the team, and I had quite a few freelance clients. This is not the imposter syndrome part. Let me say I knew my stuff. I was good. I was often invited to mentor or to judge startup ideas and competitions. So not only did I know that I knew my stuff, but also people knew that I had a great reputation and I was good at what I did. However, not everybody saw it that way.

Roxi Nicolussi:

So when I was 25, I was working in a place where I was bullied by a woman that I thought was going to be a mentor. She would call me the intern when I wasn't. Tell me her master's is better than my master's. Who says that? When I sent an email saying hi, jen, I'm Roxy, I'm working with name on this project, she pulled me into a room and slammed the door to say you don't work with me, you work for me. Oh, yeah. So on top of the bullying, I was offered a salary of something like 54k brought in the signed contract, only for the manager to rip it up and hand me a lower one. Oh, oh my gosh. Definitely illegal, but I didn't know better at the time, so I was really disappointed by that. Um, I fought for them to honor the original contract and won, but needless to say, I was not valued at this place and it really had me doubting do I know my stuff? Why do some people think I know what I'm doing? But in the place that I'm paid to do the work, people don't seem to respect the work that I'm doing. So that's where I was.

Roxi Nicolussi:

Then I started interviewing at a new place with a different title. It was a contract role and I really wanted it. So when it came time to salary negotiations, I thought I would be happy with 60K. Ideally I would get 65K. So I'm going to say 68K and then they can talk me down and we'll see where we land. That was my strategy. So in my head I have 68K, 68k.

Roxi Nicolussi:

And then the recruiter phones me and, instead of asking for my annual salary because it was a contract position, asked for my hourly salary. So I just blurted out 68. And then he said hmm, did some calculations. Okay, so that's a hundred and something thousand dollars, and I just went bright red. I was on the phone thank god, not video call, um, but I went bright red and I just went oh well, when you put it like that and he just I didn't want to take it back, but I just went pretty quiet.

Roxi Nicolussi:

And so he said I'll see what I can do, and hung up the phone and I don't know if I cried or I laughed, but I just assumed I blew it. There's no way that I'm getting this job, because I just asked for an exorbitant amount of money to me without knowing it yes, without knowing it. So I assume that I'm not getting the job. But then they came back to me with $62 an hour, which was still over a hundred thousand dollars. Wow, and it was in that moment that I realized everything is fake. You get what you ask for, but that's not all. When I was talking to the recruiter, he asked if I was a sole proprietor or a corporation, and I didn't really know the difference. I had never even thought of anything like this. So he said well, based on your salary, you should probably consider being a corporation. So in one accidental, bold move, I became a six-figure business owner and I started to move through the world differently.

Roxi Nicolussi:

I started to operate like a business owner. I looked into investments and much other things that you do when you become a business owner and become responsible for the amount that you're taking home Right. So I was both an imposter in that moment, but I decided that this was my opportunity to fake it till I make it. And I made it, and I've been a business owner ever since. It's been about eight years now and I made it. And I've been a business owner ever since it's been about eight years now, sometimes as a part-time side hustle, sometimes full-time like that contract role, and it's just completely changed everything for me.

Jennifer Johnson:

That's a wild story. You're just like yeah, 68,. Not really thinking that he was thinking per hour?

Roxi Nicolussi:

Not at all, and again I was making like 45 at the time, so it was more than-. Oh my gosh.

Jennifer Johnson:

Right, but I can see, I mean that's definitely, that's a confidence booster. It's like, yeah, I'm worth that. Exactly you know where. You have company A over here who clearly didn't even see you know $45,000. Right. And then this company B over here is like sure, we'll give you 62 instead. Yeah.

Roxi Nicolussi:

And I probably could have fought for more, but I was just thrilled to get 62.

Jennifer Johnson:

Oh my gosh, so that was like your foray into what you do really.

Roxi Nicolussi:

Yeah, I don't think I would have ever considered myself a business owner. Before that I had worked on little projects, but once I had registered as a business, I realized that working on projects was actually freelancing. So I'd even just changed the language and the way that I talk about myself and the way that I saw myself. I don't work at blank company, I'm an entrepreneur and they're my clients, and so ever since then I've been trying to get every woman in my life to fight for more and to know that she's worth so much more than she thinks.

Jennifer Johnson:

Because that's what we do. We dim it down, we go. You know, I've been in that place so many times in my life and not just for any particular reason. But somebody asks you to do something new, consult on something new, and you're like you're thinking in your head I've never consulted on that before. I know that area, but I've never taught that to someone else you automatically start dimming it down, going. I don't know, can I do this? How will I know what to do? And all of a sudden you've talked yourself out of it or you've talked yourself down in less money, where you're like well, you know, I've never done this before, so I'm going to do it for free, and stuff like that. I mean, when you're talking to women in your life, what do you see? What are signs and symptoms? Like as if we're talking about a regular health condition, right? What are signs and symptoms that people can see in themselves to kind of gut check themselves? To go wait a second. This is imposter syndrome. I know what this is, so they can identify it.

Roxi Nicolussi:

Let's see. The example that you just gave is great Finding reasons to give yourself less or that you are less deserving of anybody else. I know a common stat that's quoted and I might get the number wrong, but I think it's men, or 80% of men. Men will apply to a job when they have like 60% of the qualifications, and women will only apply when they have 100% of the qualifications.

Jennifer Johnson:

Isn't that interesting? Yes, I mean, that resonates. Yeah, interesting, yes, I mean that resonates. Yeah, because we feel like we if we don't have it we can't even aspire to get there.

Roxi Nicolussi:

Exactly what else is there? Just, I think language is very powerful. As I mentioned, I went from I work at Blank Company to I'm an entrepreneur, I'm freelancing, this is my client, and I think we downplay ourselves even in emails when we say sorry to bother you. Or, of course, I just wanted to know, I just wanted to remind you about that thing that was due last week. Sorry to bother you.

Jennifer Johnson:

You're right, you're apologizing. What's that book Girl? Stop Apologizing. We shouldn't apologize for stuff. Yeah, exactly, but I do that. Now I'm going to be watching how I write my emails. Sorry to text so late, or sorry to bother you so early, or I do that.

Roxi Nicolussi:

I mean, I'm sure sometimes it's warranted, but maybe not in every email. Another one is just overly friendly to try to not make people angry. In emails there's a lot of language.

Jennifer Johnson:

Like a voiding conflict kind of thing, exactly Okay. Like a voiding conflict kind of thing, exactly okay, and okay that I. That makes sense. You don't want to rock the boat.

Roxi Nicolussi:

I think confidence overall is something that we tends to take a hit when we have imposter syndrome. So the posture when you walk into a room something I used to do that I'm grateful I had a manager of mine point out at one point was I would like sit in the corner of the room because I was like I'm the intern, I don't deserve a seat at the table. And I didn't even realize that that's what I was quite literally saying with my actions.

Jennifer Johnson:

That's you know. Now you're talking about seat at the table brought something up in the back of my mind. Not too long ago I was sitting at a table of a bunch of people who were really well-versed in economics and I had a seat at the table, I think, at the back of my head. I'm like what am I doing here? Why do they want me at this table? I don't belong here, because my saying forever has been I don't like numbers, I don't math, I don't love numbers. I don't.

Jennifer Johnson:

It's the truth, but I was using that to again dim my light, to push me down a little bit so that nobody in the room would ask me a question that I couldn't answer. And I feel like halfway through the meeting, as I'm sitting there, I realized, yeah, they all have experience in the same area, which is finance. That's not my area. My area is things that they don't know anything about, but I do area my area is things that they don't know anything about, but I do.

Jennifer Johnson:

That's why I have a seat at the table. When I realized that I'm like I just it blew my mind. I couldn't believe that I brought myself to that place of you know in a matter of an hour going. I don't belong here to, oh my gosh, I belong here. How do we become more self-aware of those times when we're doing this to ourselves, when we're the ones that's sitting in the side of the room because we don't think we belong? How can we self-correct ourselves?

Roxi Nicolussi:

I love that story. I have one very similar when I was in my master's. I was the youngest woman and so I had just finished my undergrad, and I remember there was a moment where I was sat at the table and on my right was a Brazilian who had worked for Google and on my left was Canada's first fair trade jewelry company founder. Wow, and I'm like these people are so impressive. Who let me in this room? Was there another Roxy that was supposed to get my letter? I don't understand, and over time I decided to believe that there was a reason, even if I didn't see it yet, that I was in that room, believe?

Jennifer Johnson:

that there was a reason, even if I didn't see it yet, that I was in that room. Yeah, so you just have to gut check yourself, brain check yourself, just kind of go hello, why are you doing this?

Roxi Nicolussi:

To be able to dig out of that hole. Right, you bring something invaluable and we need a certain level of confidence to realize that and actually bring it. So when we start to tell ourselves there's a reason, we're in the room and the people in the room need your perspective, that's when we can truly add the value that we're meant to add.

Jennifer Johnson:

So do you have strategies that you suggest that we can infuse in our everyday lives going forward? Are there things that you do or things that you suggest to other people to break out of the cycle? Because I do believe that some of it is a cycle, and I mean because, again, you can draw on your own perspective, your own stories, and I see it happening time and time again around certain topics for me and a lot of the women that I work with. I see the same thing, and sometimes it's somebody from the outside who sees it, but you don't see it. So what kind of strategies do you have that we can draw on every day?

Roxi Nicolussi:

One that has been so powerful for me has been a brag bank. So I have a little folder on my desktop or my phone of positive feedback that I've received. So when there's a day that I feel I'm not good enough or oh, they didn't like my presentation, I can go back and say look at these hundred screenshots of people that did like my work in the past Love it.

Roxi Nicolussi:

Even if I did absolutely horrible on this one little thing, that means nothing about the quality of the work that I do, so I call it drag-bang, and I had a bold moves challenge, actually related to the cycle that you were mentioning. The idea is to practice these micro bold moves to increase your confidence. Practice to do one little bold move per day, and so one of the days was creating a brag bank and I said send me a screenshot so I can see that you've created a folder and put screenshots into it Positive feedback or things that remind you that you are worthy. Maybe it's your family, maybe it's something else. For me, it has a lot to do with work and coaching. I like to look at testimonials of the impact that I've had and that reminds me that I bring value.

Jennifer Johnson:

I love the brag bank. I love that idea. That's very, very cool. What else can we do?

Roxi Nicolussi:

One of them is viewing challenges as opportunities. You can call this cultivating a growth mindset or positive psychology, or whatever you want to call it Basically knowing that if there's something you don't know, you're capable enough to figure it out. So when it comes to knowing 60%, having the confidence that you can learn the 40% I like. I'm actually practicing this right now. I'm training for a triathlon.

Jennifer Johnson:

Oh my gosh. Saturday I just signed up and I said I'll figure it out, and it's happening in a few days, yeah, I mean, I signed up a while ago, but yes, a few days.

Jennifer Johnson:

Wow, you can do hard things. I can and so can, you See, and you know I love that what you just said, because I recently went through something in my life where my husband, who's the CFO of our company, ended up in the hospital for an extended period of time and everything fell on me to figure out financial stuff and like I don't, okay, this is. I don't like numbers. We've already established that right. But I took that hard time where I didn't have a choice. I had to pardon my language, I had to figure shit out. I figured it out and now I'm going to say to myself I'm never saying to somebody again I don't math, even if it's a joke, because again it's that negative, I'm feeding the monster, if you will.

Jennifer Johnson:

I'm feeding the monster. So I love the. Cultivating your growth mindset and using challenges as opportunities. I call them hiccups. If I have a failure in something, I call it a hiccup, because failure is never final.

Roxi Nicolussi:

You're always learning from it, and that's kind of what your challenges are right and you have to try something in order to learn that it's not right for you. I might never do a triathlon again, but I would have never known if I didn't sign up for one Right, Because you're always.

Jennifer Johnson:

Then you're stuck in the what if? What if I would have? And then you're not going to know the answer because you didn't try.

Roxi Nicolussi:

Absolutely. And going back to my bold move story, if I had asked for a lower number, I would have never known that it was possible to get so much higher.

Jennifer Johnson:

So many people are there, they don't know.

Roxi Nicolussi:

So my advice is to take what you want, what you think you value yourself at, double it and add tax.

Jennifer Johnson:

I love it. Okay, so you take what you think you're worth, double it and add tax Exactly, and you did that girl.

Roxi Nicolussi:

Yes.

Jennifer Johnson:

I did. You know you have to ask for what you want. You're not always going to get it, because asking isn't always saying that you're going to receive it. But the bold move you were talking about, you know ask.

Roxi Nicolussi:

I'm sure they valued me more because of that. They knew that I saw myself as valuable and they saw me as valuable accordingly.

Jennifer Johnson:

But it goes back to you need to love yourself before someone else is capable of loving you, and it's kind of that whole realm right. You need to think you're worthy enough before somebody else is going to think that you're worthy.

Roxi Nicolussi:

Absolutely.

Jennifer Johnson:

And there's another one that I know that you have. What is the other one?

Roxi Nicolussi:

It's finding inspiration in those that have come before you. So, first of all, I think jealousy can be used as fuel. It's very easy for us to see somebody that has what we want and tear ourselves down because of that. I think, instead, we can look at that as inspiration. Look, she did it. So I can too. Visibility is so important, and we're in a time where there are more women that are entrepreneurs and are leaders in so many ways. We can look to them, we can tell them that they inspire us, because I'm sure that would go in their brag bank. You're right and learn from them, accept their mentorship and know that it's possible because they did it Right.

Jennifer Johnson:

And that's great advice, because you're not just fueling your cup or filling your cup, you're filling their cup. You're not just filling your cup, you're filling their cup as well, you're filling their brag bank. Because, you know, you're like, hey, you really inspired me. And you know what, maybe someone's never said that to them before. Maybe that's something they've never heard.

Roxi Nicolussi:

I think a lot of inspiring people don't get that feedback because they assume that everybody's giving them that feedback.

Jennifer Johnson:

Exactly. Oh, they don't need to hear it from me because they get so many, you know love letters from people all the time. Exactly.

Roxi Nicolussi:

And you get it. 101 is always better than 100.

Jennifer Johnson:

Yeah, I mean, and and to learn from people that have come before you is because when you're learning from someone that's come before you, you have to. That kind of puts you in the mindset of people are going to learn from me. It's the pass it down kind of thing To know that, no, I'm not on a pedestal, but I know that I'm setting examples for other people as well. And if I teach, you know whether it's my child, somebody that I'm mentoring to dim their light, that's just going to keep on going. But if I show them how they can take all their time and their talent and bring them up in the world, now we've got something. Now we've got a positive train going forward. Now we have a movement. Yes, Empowered women. I love that. I love it. I love it. Is there anything else that we're forgetting to talk about in this space that you want people to know, that you want my listeners to hear?

Roxi Nicolussi:

that you want people to know, that you want my listeners to hear. I think if there's something you don't think you're worthy of, you think why me Flip it, why not you?

Jennifer Johnson:

Amen, yeah, it's the power of words. It really is, because words can change so much either way, why not? Why not me? Exactly, I love it. Well, I loved our conversation, loved it. If our listeners want to get a hold of you, Roxy, how can they do so?

Roxi Nicolussi:

My website is thebigboldco and my Instagram is the same, including theco.

Jennifer Johnson:

Fabulous. Thank you so much, Roxy, for being on today. I so appreciate your wisdom and all you've gone to to get through to where you are today. It's very inspiring for people.

Roxi Nicolussi:

Thank you so much for having me. This has been so fun.

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