29. Knowledge that never goes to waste + Looking at your career as an experience and not as an end goal w/ Maria Burgos

In this episode, we have a special guest, Maria Burgos, who is a mentor willing to share her knowledge, experience, and personal journey with us. Maria provides valuable insights on career exploration and encourages us to think outside the box. She discusses the latest trends and highlights the unique characteristics of our generation compared to previous ones when it comes to careers. Maria's own career path is a testament to combining passion, skills, and purpose, as she has started three companies and held sales and marketing positions aligned with her passion for helping others. Her experience of living in four different countries has given her a deep understanding that despite our origins, we share more similarities than differences.

Maria's expertise in problem-solving with a creative approach, gained from working in diverse industries and challenging economic environments, adds value to her mentorship.

She is the founder of Trendy Seconds, a company that promotes responsible fashion consumption among women. Maria is a firm believer in the interconnectedness of people and advocates for second chances, a topic she addressed in her TEDx Countdown talk in Houston last October. Without further delay, let's begin our insightful conversation with Maria.

Connect with Maria:
Instagram: @trendyseconds
Website: trendyseconds.com
Twitter: Trendy Seconds
Book Recommendation: Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cijWHMscv_I
Favorite Playlist: by specific years to travel back in time

Connect with Sonia:
Instagram: @sonia.cacique
sonia.cacique.ccr@gmail.com
Facebook: College & Career Ready

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JOIN OUR CAREER NEWSLETTER here.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the College and Career Ready podcast. You go to resource for all things related to preparing our students for success in their college and career journey. My name is Sonia Casique and I will be your host and guide on this exciting journey towards a bright future. Our mission is simple to empower our parents and students by elevating their confidence and resourcefulness. We believe that you deserve all the tools and support necessary to open the doors to endless possibilities of success and, with our community, you don't have to do this alone, so come with me and let's get started. Hi, friend, today I will be sharing a mentor with you, a mentor who has gone before you and who is wanting to share her knowledge, experience and journey to help you in your own quest. I have an amazing guest. She will share with us ways to think outside the box when it comes to career exploration and walking your own personal career journey. There are so many golden nuggets of advice shared throughout this episode. Are you wanting to know some of the latest trends? Learn how your generation is different even from previous generations in regards to careers. Are you interested in finding a career where you can combine your passion, skill set and purpose? Well, look no further.

Speaker 1: 1:31

Maria Burgos has started three companies, held corporate positions focused on sales and marketing, always aligned with her passion for helping others. She has lived in four different countries and experienced diverse cultures, which has made her understand that we all have more similarities than differences, regardless of our origin. Having worked within different industries in difficult economic environments, both on corporate and an entrepreneurial level, maria has given her expertise in problem solving with a creative approach. Maria is the founder of Trendy Seconds, a company helping women easily become responsible fashion consumers. She deeply believes in her interconnection of people, regardless of the place where they live, because, in the end, we are all sharing this planet as our common home. She's an advocate of second chances, and she was able to talk about this during her TEDx countdown talk in Houston. So, friend, without further ado, let's dive right in. Welcome, maria. Welcome to the College and Career Ready podcast. How are you today?

Speaker 2: 2:46

Good Sonia, how are you? Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 2:48

I'm great, thank you. I'm really excited to have you here today to share a little bit about your career with our audience. But why don't you introduce yourself to our audience and let us know a little bit about who you are, about your family?

Speaker 2: 3:06

Yes, so my name is Maria Burgos. I'm originally from Venezuela, lived my whole life there until I got married and I had to move countries, so I have part of my family there, some of my family here, and currently I'm living in Houston, texas. I've been here for about five years now.

Speaker 1: 3:26

Share with us a little bit about your career life. Where are you at today in your career? Oh?

Speaker 2: 3:33

so today I'm the founder of a sustainable fashion company called TrendySeconds. It's an online platform making responsible fashion consumption easy. Our mantra is choose better clothes, keep it for longer and repurpose it at the end. So our main goal is to educate people in one hand and, on the other, make access to responsible fashion a lot easier than it is today. So we basically curate secondhand clothes and prevent sustainable brands and put them together in one place.

Speaker 1: 4:11

Ooh, I love that. I love that and we're going to come back to that a little bit later Tell me a little bit about where you thought originally what your career plan was going to be. So let's go a little bit back in time.

Speaker 2: 4:26

Yes, so my career plan had nothing to do with what I'm currently doing. So it's one of those topics where, you know, looking back, I find really interesting to think that kids 16, 17, 18 years have enough information to make a live choice, that it's going to be so definite. So, you know, back in my country, at that point I had this idea that I needed to choose one particular path and then I was going to dedicate my whole life to that until I retired, and then I was old and that was it. You know, when you're 16, 17, you're basically discovering yourself. So it's, how are we putting all of these pressures into these kids and then, once they go out and make a decision and then try it out and maybe they don't like it we make them feel that they failed Right, instead of letting them know that it's a beautiful moment to experience and to try things and that it's okay if you don't have all the answers at the beginning, because I believe that you will go figuring that out as you go. So it's not that you're not going to make decisions, but it's about understanding that those decisions might change and it's completely fine. And something that I've learned is that, when it comes to knowledge, nothing really goes to waste.

Speaker 2: 6:13

So my original plan going back to your question was to become a dentist. So I went to dental school. The reason why I chose that was very light. I mean, I had no dentist in my family other than one cousin. It was more about what I heard. It's a good career. It's good for women because you have flexibility once you have kids so you can decide your schedule. And then, of course, I always had this thing that I wanted to help. So I was always inclined towards like. My answer for helping at that point with the information that I had, was that oh so I need to go into a healthcare career. That's how you, that's the only way that you can help people. Right? That was in my mind. So I said, okay, so it's not medicine, I'm going to go with dentistry.

Speaker 2: 7:15

So I went in into college, but in the middle of those years I started my first company and it had nothing to do with what I was learning in the classroom, but it has a lot to do with a side gig that I was doing with one of my brothers who's a graphic designer. He used to design this magazine and I helped him to create this and I eventually got hired by the magazine to become the assistant editor, because I was always, like, very strict with grammar. So I helped them correct the articles and everything. So I was involved with that project actually for some years about four and without knowing at that moment, I fell in love with the process of creating something. So I would go with my brother and help him decide the concept of the magazine. I mean, he's the creative one and I would just watch him and then out of nothing I would see this product being read by dozens of people over the next months and I thought that was magical. I was in love with that.

Speaker 2: 8:30

So eventually the magazine went out of business and I had this thing where I missed it. So a year later I came to my brother and said let's do our own magazine, let's do our own project. And we did it. We started it and we came up with this cool concept of a film magazine. We went through the whole process of entrepreneurship without knowing anything. We all had our main activities. I was a student, he was working full time. We assembled a team, we pitched it to the biggest movie theater chain in my country. They loved it. We were about to secure a deal with them. It was amazing. We worked for about I think, a year, a year and a half, on it. We even had an investor involved that wanted to fund the project, but eventually we couldn't launch. Too many things happened. We didn't know how to pivot, we didn't know how to move forward.

Speaker 2: 9:37

But it was the aha moment for me that made me realize that there was something else, that I felt that I was missing, that I was not getting with my career. So I graduated. I had my plan. My plan was supposed to get a master's degree in dentistry because I was good at it, I liked it. It was not like I didn't enjoy it. But this other thing that I didn't know what it was, I was passionate about it. So there was a difference there and at the moment I couldn't put into words, I just had this feeling right. One thing I really loved and I would go and I would create projects and I would be curious and learn. And the other thing was okay, I need to do this, I need to get the grades. Yes, I'm learning, but it's what I'm supposed to do instead of what I want to do.

Speaker 2: 10:40

So I remember that I had this conversation with my mom because it was super hard for me to accept and I thought that because I went through all of those years studying, I had to follow the path. So I felt like I didn't have a choice and I had this conversation with my mom because at the moment I was also learning about the stock market for fun and I was doing financial courses for fun. And my mom was like you don't have to make a decision, like a rushed decision right now. Just give yourself some time. You learn a lot through your college years, not just about the specific technical aspect of your career, but also about yourself. So just give yourself some time. You don't have to rush yourself into anything. So that was an enabling moment for me where she told me like you could perfectly go and instead of getting a degree that is specialized in dentistry, you could go and get an MBA, for example, which opens up the opportunity to explore business. That conversation was so impactful that I still remember where it was. You know what I was wearing. I mean one of those defining moments in your life and with that I let myself the permission to give me a second chance and explore.

Speaker 2: 12:16

I knew that I liked business. I didn't know what it was. I mean, still, I had this project, I had to create an idea and I had to come up with financial planning, but I didn't know with marketing and sales. And I didn't figure that out until a couple of years when I came here to the United States and started this company, because what happened after that was that I ended up my first job was at a financial institution. So it's like nothing to do with what I learned, but I remember that they called me for the interview. It was someone that knew, someone that I knew kind of thing, and he was like, well, okay, let's, let's do the interview, but it's more like a fun joke before launch.

Speaker 2: 13:09

And then when he talked to me, I told him all of the things that I was doing on the side that were not on my resume, right? So I'm learning about the stock market, I'm learning about financials because I want to, because I enjoy them. They were not courses by universities, they were completely hidden from my resume, and they still are, by the way. It's like, well, no, I cannot put that because it's not something like official, but I feel that happens a lot of times. So if you don't have that opportunity to either send a letter of introduction which was not typical in my country and you wouldn't get even the chance. So when we spoke, I told him how you know everything that I've learned about people treating with patients and how they are customers, but in a different light. They don't really know what they need. They think they know what they need, but they don't. So you have to be really mindful about how you talk to them and how you present different solutions, etc. Long story short, they hired me.

Speaker 2: 14:22

I moved out of my city to get this job.

Speaker 2: 14:25

I was there for about a year. I loved it. It was in a bank, the biggest financial institution, so I was learning and I was being paid for it and I loved it. And one of the things that was an advantage for me and I understood that years later throughout my career is that because I'm not coming with the typical background, I don't have the typical boundaries and limits yes, right. So I was the one that would be daring enough to try this new plan, because everyone else was afraid, because last year they tried something similar and they failed, and so I was coming with a fresh mindset and I was like, yes, I'm going to do it, but because I don't have limits that are typical for the industry or for everybody that goes to college and study X, y and Z, then this is what they do. So I was different. They're different, one of the bunch.

Speaker 2: 15:28

So after that I went and I got an MBA degree. I had the opportunity to go to Spain for that, and after that my career was focused on sales and marketing in big corporations, and during my last corporate job I actually started a second company with some friends, impulse to Create. But at the moment I still thought that it was a side thing, like a hobby, and after that I got married so I stopped working for some years. We moved to Brazil because my husband was working there. I couldn't work because of the type of visa that I was granted. Since I became a mom, I had my first daughter and then we moved to the United States about five years ago. And here I am.

Speaker 1: 16:21

Oh, my goodness, wow. You know I appreciate you sharing your story, your career journey. You have pointed out a lot of things that I am a huge advocate about, so I'm going to go a little bit back and bring back to light the importance of really allowing our young community to know that when you're 16, 17, 18 years old, it's a time to explore, it's a time to know yourself, it's a time to apply your skills, learn skills. There is a lot of pressure, especially in our country, to know what you want to do for the rest of your life at the age of 17, when actually not even the brain is fully developed at the age of 16 to be making these types of decisions. And now there are some I have interviewed some that know what they want to be. It's something they identify from a very young age and they are passionate about. We know there's always an exception, but for the general student population, I don't think that's the case, and sharing with them to learn to enjoy the journey as they're learning about themselves is should be exciting and not daunting and frustrating.

Speaker 1: 17:43

The other thing that you that you mentioned is limiting beliefs. You said you wanted a job that was about helping people, and our limiting beliefs goes immediately to healthcare, where there are so many ways to help and to really make an impact. Sometimes we think big, like we want to make a difference in this world, if that's your passion and that's your goal. But honestly, we can make a huge impact with small, little changes and, yeah and I think that's something that we want to share with with our young community is you can make an impact in this world in very small ways. You don't have to think you know big, of course, dream big, reach for the stars, but you can help. You can have a flexible job. Nowadays, flexibility is really found in a lot of careers, so you don't have to. You don't have to limit yourself because of what you want, thinking that this is the only job that's going to provide that.

Speaker 2: 18:46

Yes, and especially in this day and age. I mean most of the careers that my kids are going to, or I'll phrase it different Most of the careers that are going to be needed when my kids are grownups still don't exist. That's correct. So having actually flexibility, the ability to learn and to adapt, is going to be one of the most value skill set. I think it's. It's currently one of the most valuable ones, but we'll we'll see that more clearly in the near future.

Speaker 1: 19:23

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 19:23

Because things are progressing rapidly. We can see things with AI right now. There are new jobs that didn't exist last year, related to AI, for example, and they will continue to appear. So I think that things have changed and that idea of having to find the job and keep that job for ages is more of our parents, because their options were different, the economy was different and, you know, we are basically inheriting this belief when the reality already changed.

Speaker 1: 20:09

Absolutely, absolutely. And something else that that you mentioned, because this happens a lot, especially in certain general broad degrees. You know students graduate with a degree in psychology or a degree and you know very, very, not very specific niche job that they feel like they're limited and it's the application of the skills, of the things you've learned, of what you acquired during the education that you pursued, that you can really put a twist on it to apply it to a lot of opportunities, a lot of job opportunities out there.

Speaker 2: 20:50

Correct. That's called, I think, transferable skills. So that's the thing that I have learned with my own experience that you know you can transfer your skill set from one job to the other or one experience to the other if you pay attention right. But the thing is that I believe that if we don't have the title that enables us and gives us that approval, say yes, you know about this subject, you can go. Of course there are some things that you need to learn, like if you're going to be a doctor, you need to go to medical school. That's like that's no brainer.

Speaker 2: 21:37

But psychology, for example, marketing, has a lot of psychology. So there are a lot of psychologists that work for marketing, for example. And then if you want to mix that with purpose, then you can find maybe an NGO or a company that has a mission that resonates with the way that you want to create an impact. And then you are combining those three circles between you know your passion, your skill set and your purpose. And that's the optimum place for everyone. And it takes time to discover and we shouldn't put pressure on us also to want to get there fast but the fact that you have an open mind to pay attention to and say okay. So going back to the psychologist example, that's a set of skill set that you can apply in many areas.

Speaker 1: 24:51

Absolutely, absolutely. And you know. This actually brings me to my next question to you, because I know you personally and I know you're really good at this networking, building a community. If you have a group of high school, college students that you are sharing about the importance of networking and how to do it, what would you recommend? And let me backtrack a little bit, because I also want to highlight that you moved to our country just was it five years ago? Yes, five years ago. So you're new to a, to a different country, right, and now you are learning to network and build community, to expand yourself. So tell us a little bit about that.

Speaker 2: 25:37

Yeah, so I moved here five years ago didn't know anyone other than a few family members Really difficult situation to be in because you feel like you're outside of absolutely your comfort zone. But again, I've lived in other countries before, so the resiliency is there. So I started the company two years ago actually again no network, not anything. I started it from my house, actually in the middle of the pandemic, so everything was done with my laptop. I believe that we have all of this again believes about one correct way of networking, and I think the most important aspect of it all, to me at least, is to be authentic in the type of relationships that you want to build.

Speaker 2: 26:32

I have been lucky enough, I guess, maybe because some I'm reaching out from a genuine standpoint, because maybe I want to learn something about someone that has the expertise I want to understand better what they're doing, or I want to learn about their experience because it's similar to something that I'm building. Then that's a very different approach to the interest of what's in it for me. So how I started the business was I went to Google basically and we can talk about that later but I went through an acceleration program that helped me develop the idea and launched it and I was meeting people there and it's one of those things where you will get exposure to some people and it's up to you whether or not to reach out to them later, and the way and the why to reach out is very personal. Again, when it comes to business, it's more about understanding who might be a valuable person to have a conversation with, where you can learn from.

Speaker 2: 27:52

This is a very good question, because I haven't thought about that before. It's kind of like organic, right? I started reaching out to people to learn from that perspective and then, when it's genuine and they understand, and if they resonate with you and they want to help, they will introduce you to other people. And then they will say, hey, I remember you because I was talking with so-and-so, I want to introduce you to this person. And then it's a multiplying effect, the network effect, right. So when you build from that standpoint and with the authentic interest of wanting to learn, wanting to improve, wanting to be better, then the connections are also genuine and also authentic and they tend to help you. So now it's like a flywheel, right? It's not-.

Speaker 1: 28:50

Like an attraction.

Speaker 2: 28:51

Yeah, so I reach out still to people sometimes, but it's more about the people that reaches out to me because someone told them about something specific, or someone that I already know introduces me to someone else and, honestly, it's really cool because when you do it from an authentic perspective, then you will attract the same.

Speaker 1: 29:17

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 29:19

So in my case, I have been very lucky, I think, because of that, and then I have a very, very nice network right now that I know that I can reach out to us for help and I will help them as well. So it's really nice.

Speaker 1: 29:35

Yeah, I love that. I love that because you're right. Starting and building a conversation with someone or reaching out to them is just being authentic and honest and saying I want to learn because I admire you for X, y and Z or I like the way you're doing this. Can I learn more about it? First of all, it's flattering, I believe, for the recipient and second is you're going in with a humble conversation, a humble approach, because you want to be better, and I always say there's a lot of people out there that want to help, but you do have to ask and, like you said, be authentic. Not be trying to build a relationship when you're trying to just pick out things from them without just being honest and say, hey, I admire you, can I learn how you did this?

Speaker 2: 30:27

Yes, I agree, and you know it's funny because this happens with different careers or different ecosystems, where we say, oh, how to approach someone when you don't know them Like how to call email someone and then you will get this guide like hi name, my name is name, right, I understand that it might get some time to get there, but it's not that hard because understand that it's just a person like you, no matter the title, no matter how important they might be to a certain topic. They are a person. You don't approach them as they were something different. Right, they're just like you and I, and having that approach takes away a lot of the pressure, yes, and also you can create a stronger connection because of that, because it feels so authentic, and doing that will open up a lot of doors.

Speaker 2: 31:40

I will give a very good example for this. So I'm in the startup community. A lot of things revolve about how to approach investors. So investors are kind of like this different species that are thinking this way or the other way, which, of course, they are. They have a goal, they have some interests and that's what they do, but they are people that happen to dedicate some of their time to investing in companies. They're still people.

Speaker 1: 32:17

Absolutely, absolutely. And, like you said, it's those limiting beliefs. It's the limiting belief that, oh, they're so important they might not have time for me. You never know, and it releases a little bit of the pressure. Now, you and I, we know we're both extroverts, so something's come a little more natural. I'm not actually. Really yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:40

I know I'm like an on-demand if that exists, but I'm introvert.

Speaker 1: 32:46

Yes, oh, my goodness, We'll see even better, because you can definitely share from your experience being an introvert. What is your favorite platform to connect with other people? If I have someone who's graduating from college and they're wanting to network, what's the best platform?

Speaker 2: 33:08

So first comes to mind LinkedIn. Of course, that's like the de-go to. You can follow people there now as well, not just Connect 101. I would encourage people to just reach out and send the message right and be really, really genuine about it. The worst thing that can happen is that you don't get a reply, and that's fine Because, again, going back to the fact that we are all people and it doesn't even have to do in this case that you're cold reaching out to someone. They don't reply. They might be super busy, that's understandable. But also, once you reach out to them, maybe there's no follow-up or whatever. And that's also fine, because we will resonate with some people and we won't with others, so it's like natural thing, right, it's not about us specifically, there's nothing wrong.

Speaker 2: 34:01

So the other network that I would recommend to actually to learn about different topics and I will say specifically for technology, twitter is a great social media. I have learned a lot by following a lot of people there and following our own conversations. Actually, there's this term. People said tech Twitter Like tech. Twitter is like a community and if you go in and are really curious, you follow these people and then go into their following list, see who they follow and then you will get at the forefront of the technology conversations AI, what they're building, what they're doing. They are actually very generous with what they share and then you can start participating in those conversations if that's something that you're interested in, and then you can start the connection there.

Speaker 1: 35:04

Super wonderful. I really appreciate that because we're going to have students going to many different types of colleges in our audience. Right, universities and I always say and yes, universities are important and there's something for everybody but, at the end of the day, is what you do with the relationships and with the community that you're building within. It's about networking with the people that you are in contact with, or your community as well.

Speaker 2: 35:33

And also, I think one really important thing about expanding your network is to start looking at different examples of what's possible. So we tend to think that the limits are the ones that we know basically from our family, right. So we have the definition of success, the definition of X, y and Z, based on what the people that we know, basically on our circle. But once we start expanding that, you start to expine your mindset, your goals and understanding that the possibilities you don't really know what they are because you cannot imagine them, because you never saw them. So that's another thing that I will take on the network even though you might not know that specific person as a mentor, necessarily, if you're following along their journey, then it might get you inspired and you will resonate with some of those people. And if you resonate with that, it means that there's something there that you probably need to explore and in the good sense, like, oh, you're admiring that is because you want to do something like related to or similar to.

Speaker 1: 37:05

I love that. I love that. Yes, I 100% agree. I have a lot of people who have inspired me in the last year who I've never met personally and it's just me following them on Instagram. I've actually had recently the privilege to meet them in person because they happen to be in Houston and you know, it was very, very exciting to have that come to about in real life. But it starts with networking online, it starts with building that community and you know, like you said, being inspired by what others are doing, and not because you're and I'll throw the word out there not because you're jealous or your envy, but because they are proof of what's possible for you, and that's sometimes what we need to get going on our own journey, on our own success, and the success is it's limitless and the definition of success is individual to every single person, exactly yes.

Speaker 2: 38:09

That's a big topic and something that I would have liked love to learn before, like on an early age. Even though I'm super happy with my past because it's been truly organic, following my curiosity and being courageous enough to jump into completely new ecosystems and universes, at this point I'm comfortable doing that. I mean, there's always going to be some fear involved because normal when you grow, there's an uncomfortable stage right where, because you're jumping into the unknown and that feels awkward. But because I have done this transition so many times between industries, between careers, between this and that, now I'm in a better position and that's why I can say with confidence to people like, do it, do it with you know, be courageous enough to try. That's fine, that's fine. And guess what? The failures are also a very personal definition.

Speaker 2: 39:19

I see failures as learning experiences. Of course they will not feel good. It's how you learn, like when you're building a company, for example, you have a lot of failing experiences because it's normal you have to try different things and see what works. You cannot expect perfection, because that's unrealistic and that's a great way to feel like, to feel as a failure, which is different, yeah, and that will limit you into trying something else, because then you will get stuck in that feeling of failure which and it was just a learning experience you learn that that's not the way. So it's fine, like, keep going and move and incorporate that experience into your toolbox and then in the future you can have another tool and say oh okay, I learned this in that experience, so now I'm going to use this and I'm going to do it differently, but that's life.

Speaker 1: 40:21

Yeah, absolutely, that means we're human. Yes, exactly, and you know. The other thing I want to share is, especially for students, is to know that when we see someone that we look up to, we don't know all the things they had to overcome to get here, we don't know their journey. We just know where they're at now and we admire them and we up to them. But at the same time, we also have to learn the hiccups and the learning opportunities that we have to go through to get to where we're at.

Speaker 2: 40:57

Yes, we just see the tip of the iceberg. We don't. I mean we're not seeing the whole picture. And just because we see something that we might admire like oh, huge company, multi-billion exit it doesn't mean that they are successful in the sense of personal experience as a whole. Like, to me, success is not just about the money. Personally, it's more about a feeling that a particular outcome that has a number on it and then that allows me to show like in a material way that I made it right. It's more about finding harmony in my life and having space to develop as many areas as I want my family, my kids, my relationships and also my career and also my friendships. Like that to me, is the definition of success being able to do that and also having the flexibility to decide where I want to invest my time.

Speaker 1: 42:04

Yeah, and actually our own personal definition of success will change depending on the season of life we're in, right? So let's bring everyone to today, where you're at, what are you doing? And just tell us a little bit more about Trendy Seconds.

Speaker 2: 42:23

Yes, so Trendy Seconds is an online platform making responsible fashion consumption easy. I founded the company in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, after realizing how bad my closet was harming the planet. I didn't really know that and I wanted to donate some clothes. After cleaning my closet and doing that research, I started to learn about environmental impact of clothes, so that kind of stuck with me, and now I have a company that dedicates to help women become easily more responsible consumers, which is basically giving them access to second hand clothing in great condition without spending hours browsing and also curating a collection of sustainable brands that are creating a positive impact for the planet.

Speaker 2: 43:18

And with time, I expanded the concept because I understood that sustainability is not just about what we buy, but actually about the full life cycle of what we buy, so offer. I'm also connecting consumers with companies that I'm partnering with to repair and alter their clothes so they can last for longer, and also other companies that will help you repurpose your shoes and garments at the end of the life on your closet so they don't end up in landfill, which is, you know, what's polluting the planet and it's accelerating or helping accelerate climate change. So the website it's TrendySecondscom and it's a very exciting, still early stage part of the business. So I'm still bootstrapping, still learning a lot, still figuring out a lot, still networking a lot and we'll see. But I'm happy it's a lot of work but because of the fact that I'm mixing my passion with my purpose and my skill set, then it really is a joy to be able to work on this.

Speaker 1: 44:40

I love it. I love it, and we're going to have to do a whole other episode. Tell us more about that. Can you tell us what is the best advice given to you that you would like to pass on?

Speaker 2: 44:56

No, that's a big one. I would say everything is temporary.

Speaker 1: 45:05

I love it. Maria, it's been an honor having you here. We have had so great topics and conversation between both of us that I hope that it resonates with some of our audience and that they get to take some of this and apply it in their own life. Can you share with us your favorite playlist or your favorite song? I always like to end on a personal little note.

Speaker 2: 45:35

I'm a very musical person actually, so it's funny because, depending on the day, I would choose playlists that are from specific years, because I would travel back in time and relive a little bit that era. I would go back to some high school years that were amazing, or I would go back to some college years or maybe some time in Brazil. I like to travel in time with music, so I do that and it's very fun. And, by the way, I wanted to mention, since we are talking about all of these changes, I remember this book that Mike Humhundy for many people that it's called Everything is Figuratable. It's by Mary Forleo.

Speaker 2: 46:28

She's one of my inspirations, actually, and I discovered her in 2020. And someone at that point and this was before starting the company, before having the idea I was going through like a deep personal inner journey and someone recommended that book and it's amazing. So everything is figuratable and it couldn't have resonated more with it because it's kind of like I saw myself reflected on that and it's really nice to validate your experience through someone else that has had the opportunity to speak about this. She has given lots of stock and she's an advisor, she's a mentor and I think it's a great person to follow when you're figuring things out.

Speaker 1: 47:21

I love it. I'm actually a follower of her, but I haven't read the book, so I'm glad you brought it up. Oh, my goodness, thank you so much, maria. Where can people connect with you? So I'll have on my show notes the book that you recommend. But other than your website on TrendySeconds, is there any girls people who connect with you?

Speaker 2: 47:42

Yes, if you want to join the conversation about sustainable fashion, you can follow us on Instagram at trendyseconds, and if you want to send a note, you can reach out via email as well. Hello at trendysecondscom.

Speaker 1: 47:59

I love it. I love it, and we are definitely going to have you back on the show because I want you to talk to us about sustainability in fashion, specifically. Yeah, I appreciate you coming here with us today. Thank you for sharing your time. Yeah, thank you so much, sonia. Hi friend, thank you for listening in. If you enjoyed this episode, you would mean so much to me. If you share it with a friend, share it with them right now or, even better, tag me so I can personally thank you for helping us build our community. I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. Let's keep in touch and I'll talk to you soon. Adios.