Lia Valencia Key, traces her incredible journey from poverty to prosperity. Lia talks about defying societal expectations, overcoming adversity, and preferring to radiate positivity at all times. She opens up about her mother's enduring impact on her life, the significance behind her jewelry line, Valencia Key, and the inspiration she derives from her travels and encounters with various cultures and individuals. The episode creates a portrait of Lia Valencia Key's indomitable spirit and unwavering faith in the potential of the human spirit.
We wind up with a heart-to-heart discussion on the impact of energy, personal connections, and believing in oneself. These small connections over the years lead her to QVC and being able to share her jewelry line with many throughout the country. Lia Valencia Key emphasizes the importance of asking for what you desire and seizing unexpected opportunities.
Together we explore her education, career journey, and mission. Listen to her journeys, ignite your potential, and be inspired to unlock your own personal light.
If you are looking for some fabulous gifts, check out her Valencia Key below:
About Lia Valencia Key
VALENCIA KEY www.valenciakey.com
You can connect with her on Instagram: @valenciakeydesign @liavalenciakey
Connect with Sonia Cacique
LinkedIn
Instagram
JOIN OUR CAREER NEWSLETTER here.
🚀 I'll help you rediscover who you truly are, provide clarity towards your future and be your personalized coach with Multiple Service Package options. Your Coach Sonia is ready to help you!
"Stay well, be present, and enjoy the journey"
Lia Valencia Key, traces her incredible journey from poverty to prosperity. Lia talks about defying societal expectations, overcoming adversity, and preferring to radiate positivity at all times. She opens up about her mother's enduring impact on her life, the significance behind her jewelry line, Valencia Key, and the inspiration she derives from her travels and encounters with various cultures and individuals. The episode creates a portrait of Lia Valencia Key's indomitable spirit and unwavering faith in the potential of the human spirit.
We wind up with a heart-to-heart discussion on the impact of energy, personal connections, and believing in oneself. These small connections over the years lead her to QVC and being able to share her jewelry line with many throughout the country. Lia Valencia Key emphasizes the importance of asking for what you desire and seizing unexpected opportunities.
Together we explore her education, career journey, and mission. Listen to her journeys, ignite your potential, and be inspired to unlock your own personal light.
If you are looking for some fabulous gifts, check out her Valencia Key below:
About Lia Valencia Key
VALENCIA KEY www.valenciakey.com
You can connect with her on Instagram: @valenciakeydesign @liavalenciakey
Connect with Sonia Cacique
LinkedIn
Instagram
JOIN OUR CAREER NEWSLETTER here.
🚀 I'll help you rediscover who you truly are, provide clarity towards your future and be your personalized coach with Multiple Service Package options. Your Coach Sonia is ready to help you!
"Stay well, be present, and enjoy the journey"
Welcome to the College and Career Ready podcast, your go-to resource for all things related to preparing our students for success in their college and career journey. My name is Sonia Casighe and I will be your host and guide on this exciting journey to the 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. Welcome to the College and Career Ready podcast. I'm your host, sonia Casighe, and today we have on our podcast Leah Valencia Key, and I'm super excited to have her here and share her stories. Leah went from poverty to being the creator of Valencia Key jewelry, which we'll hear more about, and to sharing her story on Oprah Magazine Good Morning America, the Mill Robin's show. She has wealth of knowledge and it's a privilege to have you here. So welcome, leah Valencia Key. Thank you, it's a privilege to be here, truly at it.
Speaker 1:I can't wait to dive into your story. So why don't you tell our audience a little bit about yourself, your history and what you have going on now in your professional life?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So my stories start super rough, which I love, starting from my humble beginnings, because if you can start from where I come from, then anywhere you start from, I know it's possible. I started in most impoverished neighborhood in Philadelphia, pennsylvania. My mother, born to a single mother and one sister, one brother, so with three of us my mother, I say we were plagued by generational curse, meaning if you're not sure what generational curse is, it's my mother's mother was born into poverty, my grandmother was born into poverty and it just keeps flowing to generation.
Speaker 2:And also I feel plagued by society stereotypes. To be honest, I feel like once you're born in a certain body, skin tone, whatever economic predicament, then these things come with that. My mother was paralyzed by these things, but I feel that the beauty was she was able to speak life and speak life of life into her children's life, even if she couldn't physically break out of it. There was a moment we went from poverty to destitute when my mother broke her leg in several places and she could no longer afford this little basement apartment that we were living in, poverty, violent neighborhood. She's getting us home from school and I remember that day so vividly because there was a padlock on the door and all the little belongings were locked into this one little basement apartment.
Speaker 2:That immediately sent us what I called destitute because it was to a woman's homeless shelter. And I love visualizing the picture for you where we landed, because it's this big gym size room, huge room with metalcots If anyone knows what a metalcot is. It's like this hard folding bed that you pull open. One mother gets one cat to the entire family, so you've got four bodies trying to ball up on one cat. There's crying and sorrow and moaning in this room.
Speaker 2:I say the true definition of darkness. But I share that and paint it so clear for you because at that same simultaneous time my mother looked down at her three children, me being included, and told us your predicament does not determine your destiny. And that is so powerful for all the hearts listening because a lot of things going on, with that experience and one, you've got a mother that was physically unable to shake out of this situation and what she grabbed hold to was the power of her words and the power of her vision, beyond what she was in, to pour vision into her children. And I think when you have vision, all things are possible. And so she spoke these words of life and vision into our lives and it was just a seed for me. I didn't get it. I was young. I actually say I'm like this looks very destiny to me when I'm in it, but it was speed. So, wherever you are, the words that you share their seed. What are you seeing for yourself? What are you seeing for your life? What are you seeing for others? What words are you speaking to that vision? Because I'm a living testimony.
Speaker 2:Creating Valencia Key jewelry is. Valencia means courage and bravery, and key is to unlock. As we know, use keys to unlock things. My vision and my purpose of creating Valencia Key is to be these wearable symbolic reminders that within you is always like, always courage, always bravery. We have the keys within us. Plant it right in our hearts and in our souls. All we have to do is use them to unlock our possibility.
Speaker 1:Wow, and I like how you're sharing words of wisdom that your mom gave you at an early age and also we're very honest in letting us know that it really didn't make a lot of sense then, because I feel like I was parents or parent listeners. They're talking to their children and they're like are they listening?
Speaker 2:Are they hearing this? Because what I've shared is I didn't get to that meat, but I will share this now that you brought that out. Here's the truth. After that light was spoken to my life, I'm about age eight, super young, right, we live in a homeless shelter for several years after that and I literally became my environment. I became super negative. I started to fail all my grades in school. And here the beauty is. So you can speak life into your children's life and the seed may water later.
Speaker 2:But what happened was, I say, the true light that was turned on in my life was I remember coming back from school to the homeless shelter and I'm walking towards the homeless shelter door and I see my mother standing there and I see her face is not on the joy side of it. So I'm like what's happening? What did I do? And I get in front of her and she said I have a question for you, leah. Do you want to be a follower or do you want to be a leader? And now I'm about 10 or 11 and I'm still confused what she's asking. And she said because right now you're following the environment around you and guess what, leah, you're going to become everything or Leah. You can choose to lead. You can choose to lead your life. You can listen to the inner whisper, the divine destiny, the light inside of you, and you can choose to lead everything that your heart is whispering.
Speaker 2:And she left me with the power because she left one word you choose. And there was no ordering of it, there was no reprimanding. She told me to choose and that was a couple of things. It was enlightening because I visually saw myself being in my environment, so it was clear that her statements were true. And the other part was, I knew that it never felt good being negative and never felt good following the outside world and I knew inside of me was a whole different person that I would just push down because I didn't think that was the truth. So she gave me permission to choose who truly I really was and to lead my own self, to my own destiny, without worrying about outside influences. And that is power.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's so beautiful and I hear this actually from a lot of specialists who come to the show that they say that sometimes, as parents, we want a response like oh yes, mom, you're right. But sometimes, when we don't expect a response and we just let it set in, they hurt us, they hurt us.
Speaker 2:I heard it too. I remember vividly that was my moment of change. I must admit it didn't take. It didn't take a lot.
Speaker 2:Was everything hard after that? Absolutely. When you want to go opposite of what the norm is, it becomes harder. It was easier to follow, truth be told. Yeah, I would like to enlighten you that when you decide to listen and lead your own life and get outside of the external world, it becomes harder because now you've got to fight against the current right. But I knew that it was the truth for me and I knew that there was something beyond what I saw. And I do like just laying it out there, like she just said you choose, there was no reprimanding, yeah, and then you get the power.
Speaker 2:I feel like when we take ownership of our lives, that's when we can be consistent in it, because we're not forced to do it, we actually are embracing it for our own self and we can figure the rest out. Then I start to learn what does choice mean? What does leading me, what does leading my life mean? I start to dive more deeper because it sparked something in me. What is this inner whisper? What is life? What is my destiny? Now, I've never heard any of these things before, but I start to research more that even as a young child, the first thing I did was go back to school and ask the teacher how do I get better grades, how do I see beyond my environment? And so I love that, because when I visually look at it is there's so much you wanna do, can do, will do.
Speaker 2:But sometimes we keep it so bottled up inside of us and it becomes painful and we don't get our dreams out of us. But the power of just asking Not for direct help, like asking people and expecting them to help, expectation kills all dreams, because people aren't your savior, but people are in line to be your earth angels if they are assigned to you. Your only job is to ask meaning, put it out in the world your dreams, put it out in the world your needs, and when it flows out in the world, you are getting it outside of your body and it's giving it wings to fly. And I believe in God, but whoever you believe in, there's a higher divine source. So there's two asks that you gotta do in life you ask out to speak it out into the world and you ask up to pray it out to your creator and what your creator is gonna do is take control and while you're asking out, your creator is aligning the earth angel for you.
Speaker 1:But if you don't share a dream.
Speaker 2:How do people know?
Speaker 1:Beautiful and this is why it's so important also and we're gonna talk about this in a little bit with self-discovery but this is why it's so important to maintain communication with parents about dreams, aspirations, and for parents to open the door for the children to express freely. Yes, Free.
Speaker 2:don't follow this dream. It's like let them dream yes. Maybe, you dream that, oh doctor is the thing. But let them dream, cause sometimes they're dreams that seem so insignificant or cause I feel I'm not a parent, but I feel I know every parent's probably desire is for their children to be well off and taken care of and on the right track and finances come into play and maybe for some parents, status come into play and all these things for them to be well, coming to play.
Speaker 2:But I feel that if you just allow your child to dream that is their purpose and all of the things that you pray for them is bottled up in this very abstract dream, they could probably make more money than you could ever imagine them to make. They can probably create more status if that's your thing than you can ever imagine them to create if you take the limitations off their soul because, like when your soul can shine, oh, the possibilities are endless.
Speaker 1:Beautiful, beautiful and to our student listeners cause we have student listeners here too. If you're looking for proof, here's the proof that it can happen.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's possible and it's not old school possible. I'm four and four. So you're like, oh, that was so. Oh, have we dated out the proof of it? No, I'm living this every day to this day. I'm redreaming, I'm re-choosing, I'm redefining, I'm re-leading every part of my inside journey. I will let.
Speaker 2:When I created Valencia Key Jewelry, when it was that whisper for it to happen and it wasn't from birth I didn't know that this was gonna happen. When the whisper came into me, I said yes to it, which is beautiful. I love Tony Robbins I just was at UPW and he believes in saying say yes. And it is magic because we say no to a lot of dreams and a lot of possibility. But when I say yes to these things, then I just start to visualize them.
Speaker 2:One of my dear mentors and friends said close your eyes and see it so plain as if it's a movie, not a picture. Like a movie what are you wearing, what are you doing, who's with you, what does it look like? And see it so clear every day. And then I'm gonna add to that then speak it every day, because to me, when you speak it out of your mouth, it becomes real. It becomes so real. When you first speak it you may not believe it. So we all hear the word believing in your dreams. That's really great and it's so true. But believing is an action word which I love to make clear. If you're believing something so true, then you're doing actions towards what you say you believe in. And if you are doing actions, it can be a millimeter of action, which is the smallest measurement on a ruler which I found.
Speaker 2:Just learn that as I start creating jewelry, manufacturers would say I would hand sketch a design called rooted, a collect big statement piece of jewelry that defines what action words do you root in before the storms come Cause, then that'll allow you to stay strong in the storms. And I send it over to the manufacturer and they're like okay, so how many millimeters do you want that ring? And I'm like, oh, what? They're like oh, yeah, because a millimeter, this two millimeters is not a statement ring.
Speaker 2:Three millimeters is a statement ring. Four millimeters goes over the knuckle. So there's one millimeter. A millimeter is the smallest measure on a ruler, right, one millimeter shift drastically impacts a design. And I start to think of my life and I'm like, wow, a millimeter shift has been my entire life. It drastically impacts the impact of my life. So take the pressure off these big actions. You need to take one millimeter action towards you, what you believe in, but before you can get there, speak it out, because it plants seeds so deep for you to one day believe it and then act on it.
Speaker 1:Oh, action. It means a huge difference between staying stagnant and actually moving and doing something.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's a crawl one crawl, like, just stumble your way to it, but do something to it. Do something. The only dream that doesn't happen is if the dream that does not act on.
Speaker 1:And the first thing is speak it out, speak it out.
Speaker 2:I love that. It's easy, it's no pressure. So when I started to create Valencia Key, I started to tell people my dreams. I started to. My mother passed super early due to our society, environment and but before she passed she said Leah, I see you shining, I see you choosing to lead your life, and it's so beautiful. And she handed me these little pair of earrings and she said sometime life is gonna get really hard and sometime you're not gonna know that you have light within you. And she said put your earrings on, wear them every day, cause maybe it's just when you put them on it reminds you that the light's there. Maybe when you walk past the mirror you catch to them to remind you that inside of you is always light. But I'll take you back to remind you. All you have to do is choose it. So I started hand sketching jewelry designs based on that, but not thinking of a business, just for therapy. Once my mother passed. It was my personal therapy. What symbols would I create in jewelry that can help me to be reminded to choose these certain things in life?
Speaker 2:And through just trying different things, I got to the part of my life where I knew I was ready. I was exposed to beautiful mentors, business women. Put yourself, if you're students or mothers or whoever you are just people with dreams. Put yourself in places where you want to be, and sometimes you got to volunteer. Sometimes it's free work, sometimes it's showing up, but when you show up, people will impact what's possible for you, because I didn't even know that creating a business was possible. I didn't know it. I didn't even know how businesses were made.
Speaker 2:Truthfully, I'm from poverty, right, we don't own businesses. That's why we're in the predicament we're in because no one told us, no one exposes us, and so I'm now find myself around these business creators and I'm seeing that there's a power when you have love and intention and something that's untangible, but the core value of core promise, and you pour it into something tangible and you really mean it. When the receiver gets it, it literally becomes life-changing for them. And I knew that's when I had to create Valencia Key to bring these wearable symbols that I had been living all my life to wearers, for them to always have these visual wearable reminders that life, light, possibility, dreams, courage, it's all possible. Just keep choosing it.
Speaker 1:Beautiful and let's just slightly into your education, because you have multiple degrees. So how did you end up with starting with a first degree and thinking that's your track and then to being a creator and designer now? Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2:Don't think the journey has to be straight. Follow this with a heart. So one thing from where I grew in poverty, many people never even graduated middle school, let alone high school. So I just realized if I was at this Tony Provins event I'll keep mentioning it because I keep spinning in my ear now but it just awakened some understanding from me. He talks about defy the odds. He'll share that and I'm like oh, that's been my concept in life, defying the odds. So the odds were against me to graduate middle school. The odds were against me to graduate high school. The odds now were quadruple stacked against me to even get in a college. And so because of that, I'm like, oh, I'm going to college. I don't even know what's there, but the odds say I can't, so I'm going.
Speaker 2:It was so much so that my mother, who told me my predicament doesn't determine my destiny, and also told me to lead my life, she was living in her truth bucket. I got accepted to college and I came home and I was excited. I'm like well, many of my classmates weren't even graduating and she was excited. And then life set in her heart and her mind took over and she said oh, but you can't go to college. And I'm like what? Not the speaker of life and truth. And she said we don't have money, we can't. We can't even physically get you to college, let alone get you a book, let alone get you clothes, let alone get you food. She had never been to college. No one in our entire stratosphere knew anything about college. But look, what she did know was you had to get there. What she did know is I'm sure you got to eat when you're there, I'm sure there's cost. And the facts of the truth is we can. We don't even have food to eat at the end of the month. It's impossible for you to go. And this is why you live in truth. That was rooted into you and that's why I love my collection. Rooted Is because she had rooted these powerful words in me so much prior to this that I was so clear I said oh, but you told me to choose the whisper, and the whisper says that I'm going to college. And the proof is because I got accepted and I don't know how I'm going to go, but I'm going to get there. And she was like OK, I believe in you and I just start speaking out to everyone that I was going to college. And it was never to ask for help. Never once did I ask someone to help me go to college.
Speaker 2:When someone said, leah, what are you doing at the school or what are you planning, I would just say I'm going to college, I want to go to college, I want to go to college. And then my aunt said why do you say you want to go to college? And I said, oh, because we can't really afford to get me there. But I know I'm supposed to be there. One aunt showed up and paid for my transportation. Another aunt she whispered it down to someone else and they paid for me to get books and my first computer.
Speaker 2:And by the time I landed there, just show up. I get emotional because sometimes we wait to think that everything needs to be lined up to show up. But I know the beauty of my life is that I just show up with all incapableness. I show up with nothing, but I show up. What I do show up with is my heart and my light and my knowing that there is something possible here. And so I showed up on a campus basically with just the computer that my aunt told me and nothing. And then things just are opening up to me. Oh, there's student financial, work, study that you can get, and all these other things just are opening up for me.
Speaker 2:And so I continued my education because my mother taught me to complete and I defied the eyes of getting my undergraduate degree, which my mom thought I couldn't get because we couldn't afford it, and I consistently went past it because she says complete and I got my master's degree just because Just a little bit and my heart was not in that. Truthfully, I taught for a little bit but I went back inside and I listened to my inner whisper and my inner whisper said that creativity was where my true soul came alive and where my light really shined. And with a master's degree I decided I got to change, I got to follow where, what leads me, what lights me. And so I went back to school for a cosmetology license to follow with a master's, to follow my heart. So I wound up sweeping floors in a salon I share. All that is because your journey is not straight, but it is. It is order and every step is for you, never against you.
Speaker 2:My master's degree taught me how to methodically get through systems. I went to cosmetology school because I didn't want to ever go hungry again. So I was like, how do I create and make money? What does that look like? And I knew the beauty industry was all about colors and cutting and shapes and creativity, and it's also an economic based industry people will pay, and so that's why I chose that, just to fully live in my creativity. But that wound me in a place five years of knows. But I got there to get into QVC. It took me five years to get into QVC and I got in by speaking it out, I have to say it. I kept speaking it in the world. They told me no, over and over again and I finally got in through speaking it out.
Speaker 2:A young heart Stephanie Humphrey didn't know me. And so who are you in? The journey is what I love to share. We've got these dreams and things aren't aligning right. And five years of knows of QVC. Tell me I'm not qualified through electronic emails and but I'm showing up in the world just as joy and light and I'm bartending to survive.
Speaker 2:And a man comes to order a drink. And if you smiled at me twice, my barometer was share my dreams. It's still my barometer. I just share my dreams. If you smile twice, I believe you're friendly, so I share my dreams with him. And he says oh, my friend works at QVC. Let me see, let me just connect you. His friend texts, message me the next day and she says my friend said she never met me. Stephanie Humphrey, my friend said your heart is so full of light that do whatever I can to help you. How are you when you are out in the world, when you are communicating with people? Are you kind? Are you love? Are you joy? Are you smiling? Is your heart open that will shatter glass ceilings for you? I'm bartending. I barely make him rent, but I am full joy when I speak to everyone. And she gave me the contact person of the QVC manager, salon, the email, the person's name, and then she said you are so much a police, use my name as a reference.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Who are you that got me into the doors? Now be very clear. Five years ago I had been sleeping a Salon for a purpose I had got myself. My friend was a blessing Cezanne and she said you want to learn hair? My friend will hire you in a Salon, but you got to sweep the floors. Are you willing to humble yourself for your?
Speaker 1:dreams.
Speaker 2:Yes, with a master's degree. Are you willing to humble yourself for your dream? Do you believe in your dream that much that you will sweep a floor? Yes, so I said yes and I swept this online floor and said this is a great place for you to be. He's a teacher. Don't sweep any online floor. Sweep the floor. That's going to deposit something in you. And so the reason why I was comfortable to humble myself to sweep a floor was because she said he's a teacher, you'll learn everything you need.
Speaker 2:Oh, you got to do a sweep of floor and for those five years, I swept floors and pulled Lynn out of the dryer. That was my job. But I was standing right next to one of the top stylists in Center City of Philadelphia, watching every cut, every color, every blowout. He even brought me to train and learn different hair textures, and so for the five years and no, I was in training, and so by the time I got the yes, I was ready for any person that QVC had sat in front of me for my interview and that got me into the door of greatness.
Speaker 1:Honestly, Wow, that is beautiful. Because, number one let's go back to what you said no, no, career is a straight path and it will never be. It will never be. And sometimes we have to do the very small little humbling steps to get us to the next big one, and if we don't take those steps, those doors won't open. Those doors will never open, Doesn't?
Speaker 2:And when you take the humbling steps, you just have to know why you're there. You're not humbling yourself just to humble yourself. You're there for if you can see why you're there, there's a purpose and something for you to gain there. Then what is the cost of learning? What is the cost of proximity? Learning yourself in proximity of people is so much power. Maybe you do have to be the assistant, just to be in proximity and become and understand all of who you can be just by seeing the people around you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I'm a huge advocate for our students going to college and furthering their education. But I always tell them it's not about so much about getting the degree, but about what you're doing while you're getting that degree. Who are you connecting with? Who are you talking to? We're not going to wait until we cross the stage with the degree to connect with people, to connect with the community, connect to the people that are going to help us later.
Speaker 2:That is so powerful to share. Because the truth is because no one in my family had ever went to college. I did not know that. So the truth is, four years went by and I did none of that because I didn't even know any of this. I'm barely figuring out. What do I do? What's a court? What is this? But there is so much power, and so I'm four years after this fact and now I have a paper that really says nothing. But I got through this process. So I say, the reason why I got the degree is power for me to understand how to get through a process. But I think you can take education, if that is your path to a higher level, and utilize it. You can study abroad. I didn't know that. You can see a whole other country in college. You can find internships in different majors where companies you can assist. You really can unlock possibility within those four years. By the time you get out, you've had exposure, which is the best power.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Exposure mentorship. And what better to be a student because you were willing to do stuff for free sometimes and shadow people. Can I just come and shadow you for a day?
Speaker 2:Yes, first of all, people love free labor and the expectation is less on you. You always give your 1000%. But when it's volunteer, people are willing to teach you more because they haven't paid money to expect you to know it all. So they're willing to teach you because they know there's a fair trade here. It's beautiful volunteer work.
Speaker 1:And you mentioned earlier about smiling twice. So two things I want to add to that, To all our listeners, all our student listeners and parents, so you can encourage your child smile at least twice. That's number one and number two there's always someone watching.
Speaker 2:Always oh, I got chills. There's always someone. People are watching your being without you knowing it. Like you can show up to class every day and you think I went to Penn State Huge, Sometimes hundreds of people in these auditors. I don't know if it's changed, but you could have been in a class of hundreds, right? So they see, someone sees you, Like the way you show up to class, your energy, your disposition, your mannerism, the way you hand in your projects.
Speaker 2:Someone is watching and it is okay, but the question is, how do you want to be perceived? And I think that's the question that we should always ask ourselves, because I think one time, especially when we're younger and older let's not put an age on it Sometimes we just don't even know, we just live in a place of being. Something happens in our day, we be that, someone says something, we respond to that right, and we just allow kind of life to shift our energy in what the life is giving us, what energy life is giving us. Then we start to shift our energy out to that, and I think that's a very detrimental place, because whatever your energy you're giving out I talk about the energy is not created, it can only be transferred.
Speaker 2:And whatever energy, even if it's hand in air projects, whatever energy you're transferring, someone is receiving that energy. And so what energy do you want to be thought of as? Because that's what you're putting out into the world? The young lady Stephanie Humphrey received my energy through a whole other human being source. What energy you want someone to feel from you? You can curate that energy right at a moment's notice, and I think that's power being aware of the energy in which we're given out in the world.
Speaker 1:I love that and tell me a little bit more. So how can you express joy, how can you express positive energy, when you just had a kind of day?
Speaker 2:And here's the thing I go back to my Ruta collection because it is the core of how I am, who I am. You have to define what are action words, or you can even say what are action emotions and then, outside of your own body, looking at these action words or emotions just as a blanket statement there's anger and there's kindness, there's love and there's hate, there's believing and there's disbelief. Right, there's joy and there's sadness.
Speaker 2:These are just emotions and actions, not connecting yourself to it. And then if you look at those words, if you close your eyes and think about those words, just on their own, you can visually see a visual action to each one of those words. Right, if someone is kind, exactly what energy they're giving, what they look like, what they sound like, what they do once I'm angry or mean exactly what they look like, what they feel like, what they sound, right. And so then you can decide, and it's all your choice. It's the powers within you. The keys are there for you to lock or lock up and you decide who you want to look like in the world. Do I want to look like love? Okay.
Speaker 2:Then you shift your mind to what love looks like and you say, okay, what does love look like? Because maybe I'm not sure you go research that love is patient, love is kind, Love is welcoming, love is open, love is non-judgmental. These are ways of being, these are energies of ways that you put out in the world. Now you root into that, and so when the storms come and someone's mean to you and someone says something very nasty or they devalue you, and your human self wants to crop up and be responsive to that. If you truly visualize what you said you wanted to be in the world, you've rooted into that, then you say okay. So then what does love look like? In response to this meanness, love stands up for itself, but love says it in a different way. Love shows up in the room being very clear of who they are, but love doesn't wear a sour face.
Speaker 2:And so you can shift yourself into these ways of looking just by defining the picture that you want to be in the world, because it all has an action toward it. That's how I show up. People piss me off all the time they do Business, something goes wrong. They're the cases, and I say, okay, but do I want? Is that me? Do I want to become that or do I want to be who I said I want to be? Okay, I want to be Joy. So Joy looks like a smile, so I smile through it. Joy looks like finding a way. In no way. Then I find a way, even though someone said it's impossible. Joy gets a little shooken and then Joy says but there is a way.
Speaker 2:So then I go find it, and I'm always shifting myself back into the ways that I said I'm rooted into.
Speaker 1:Beautifully said, perfectly said, oh my goodness. So let's go straight into the birth of a lindsay key jewelry. You walk this through that journey, but tell us a little bit more about the actual valentiki star that is found in every single piece of jewelry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you. I'm in QVC salon. We made it. My mother had already passed, but she had saw my light shining, so she was smiling down that. I am out here just listening to my inner whisper. Now I'm in the QVC salon and I'm styling all the most beautiful hearts.
Speaker 2:This is where my second light. In my life I've had many blessings, many people to get me there, that far right. We could do a whole podcast to list it. But the reason why I say it's the second light, because I got to see things that I never saw before. I saw dream makers, which are QVC hosts, taking someone's dream and vision and pushing out into the world with so much passion. And then I got to see dreamers. I had never really understood what a dreamer looked like. I guess I had been dreaming this entire live but to see it outside of my body and on a bigger platform was quite inspiring.
Speaker 2:Dreamers are these entrepreneurs who create, and they have the mission of something, an intention of something, my heart. Vicky Sy, founder of Touches Skincare, told me that a brand is a promise. When you create a brand, it's a promise to the world. And so these hearts that had a promise of something and they took this promise and they cordoned into intangible, tangible products. And then they got it into the world and it became life changing to the receivers. And I'm styling all of these wonderful spirits and by the end of our styling, outfit was already picked, hair and makeup was done. The last thing that was this kind of seal of confidence was what bracelet do I put on? What earrings do I put on? What necklace do I seal in? And that was like the last movement of confidence before they went out and did something really big. And I realized the words that my mother had told me how to find these pieces and allow them to be wearable reminders to unlock your light. And my entire life is a testimony of shining light in the world of possibility. So I'm like, oh, I need to bring wearable pieces to the world that are these reminders Because, like you said, sometimes joy gets taken away from you. How do you remind to get it back? And I went on the voyage you've got to get outside your mind.
Speaker 2:Coming from poverty, I knew at an early age I had to see something different, to be something different. Yes, it's facts, it's the great equalizer. And I knew I was just in America and I'm like I think I got to go to a different country, Like I've got to see other cultures and be expired. So I went to Egypt, morocco and Spain. And Egypt was beautiful because I had a tour gentleman who had taken me all these beautiful temples and initially I was just looking at him as prettiness.
Speaker 2:And then I got to the last temple and I got this inner whisper again and it said speak, get down on this holy ground, I believe, wherever it is holy, no matter the damn nation. And they said get on this holy ground and ask. Here we go again with the ask, ask for what you want, why are you here? And so I vividly got on the holy ground and I clearly asked for why don't want it? And that was so detailed. I asked that my creation would have a name that had intention and purpose. And then I asked that I'd be hand sketching a logo which is my visual promise to the world, and that it had a message and a mission.
Speaker 2:And I got up on that ground and my next journey was Morocco. And I'm walking into the store in Morocco, small store, and it's filled with keys, ceiling to floor, and I have chills and I'm like what is this? Overwhelming. And I go find the store owner and he says I asked him what's up? Why do you have all these keys here? And he looked at me like I should know already. But he was like the key unlocks light in your life and immediately I was. It was just like flooded of knowledge and purpose and so I was like whoa, whoa.
Speaker 2:So I took that in and then I two days left in Morocco and, because I speak to everybody, I'm standing outside my little hostel room, I'm traveling on a budget and these backpackers are walking to the bus station that's across from me and I speak to them and then I asked them hey, where are y'all going? And they said they were going to Spain. I'm like, can I come? And so they say, come on. So I go grab my stuff and I follow these backpackers to Spain. I didn't know that you could get to Spain from Morocco.
Speaker 2:I love that sharing a journey, because sometimes you've got to be fluid, you've got to be losing life, because life is going to lead you places that's not in your plan, and sometimes you just got to go outside the plan because there's some goodness outside of the plan for you. I land in Spain and I say bye to the backpackers because I knew our journey was over. But I'm hanging out with locals in Spain and one of the locals asked me my name and my grandmother. When she meant serious business, she would say Leah Valencia Key, whatever she was going to say, so I could focus. And so I announced myself and what's your name? I said Leah Valencia Key and the local said oh my God, valencia, that's such a beautiful name and our local dialect slang. We use Valencia as courage and bravery.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:I get myself back to Morocco and I'm now on the plane home and on the plane home I had been seeing all those lights through Morocco and I thought about my life just being light in the middle of darkness, and I thought about my mom saying the shoes inside of me and the gentleman saying that the key is unlocks the light in your life, and that from the local and Spain, that bravery is courage and bravery and Valencia. And so I took the V's of the bravery and courage and I put them in a star form to represent the light and I placed the key in the center just to be a wearable reminder that inside of us we always have the keys to bravery, to courage, to light, to our destiny. All we have to do is choose to unlock it.
Speaker 1:Beautiful, oh my goodness. Now, and I'm wearing my Valencia key earrings as we speak. So for our audience, yeah, for our audience. I actually got to meet her in person at a conference and I got to hug her and truly, guys, what she is sharing here is her true self and she was there 100% present, with everybody, anyone who purchased. She would take pictures and hug her. I do have a picture as well, but it's truly the energy that that she is shining for the world and I love that. That's all I was like need to have her on the podcast and hearing more of your story, even better.
Speaker 2:It's energy. I'm so honored that we got to connect hearts. I was just sharing Like how are you consistent? There's two things I love to share. I'm light for myself. First, if you are trying to be light for others, you will burn out. We are light. We are light. It is our native being to be light. We don't have to become light. If you're becoming light for others, you will burn down. But if you know that you are light and so every action that you choose is from a light space, there's no way you can ever burn up. The second thing is every human heart that I'm blessed to connect with is also light, and within their light is some piece that fills my light and brightens my light just a little higher. So I am living in bottom of my own light and the other lights that I've collected around the way, and it is just so magical to see how much you can shine when you're just a collective of all of you and so much beauty of other people.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, and I always tell our student listeners and our parents you are one connection away from changing the trajectory of your life. One connection, yeah, and you never know where that one connection is going to come from. You don't.
Speaker 2:And I'd love to add to this about that no human is there for your purpose of your advancement. What that means is when I'm never looking at a being of what I can get from them or what they can do for me or what they can connect me for. I literally see you as a human. I literally see you as goodness, I see you as joy, I see you as light. The beauty is when I just see you for purely who you are and I purely connect from my heart to your heart, with no intention or need from you, but love, because that's the basis, the magic that can happen, that when you release expectations from people, the poor out becomes even bigger, because they can dream and bless you in ways that you don't even know it's possible.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely, and you don't know how many lives you're touching by just being with them.
Speaker 2:Yes, your life matters, your energy matters. If I could leave with anything, it's how are you, who are you and how are you shining? And the shining is not like a showbody shine thing, it's like where's your heart? Are you radiating from your heart or are you radiating from your mind? And if you're really radiating from your heart, shining looks different from everyone else, but your heart is one of the purest places that we guard a lot generally, because people always hurt our hearts so we put a guard around it. But we can learn from the hurts that we receive from others. But if we allow that heart to just consistently radiate from there, the beauty of life that you can get just from being from your heart has been ceiling shattering, truthfully, for me, oh, my goodness, what a beautiful way to end our conversation.
Speaker 1:And let me tell everyone because I thought about this when I was, when I, when you, when I got the earrings and then learn more about your story, Parents, this is a beautiful gift for your daughters for Christmas or graduation gift, to remind them about the light that they have within them, the courage, the bravery. So please go check out her earrings. I love also and I'm going to I'm going to give kudos here to you too I love the backings, because they're not your typical backings either.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. It's my dream, like I love when hearts wear a valentine key, oh, but I am just overtaken with gratitude abundantly when mothers and parents gift them, because it means like you can wear it. But to gift it to someone that you've created or that you're raising is just truly an honor, and I'd love it to be reminded like, if you can wear valentine key, all things are possible. If I can. Whatever your dreams are, I promise you are possible. It's the energy that you put to it. And the backs are so unique, right, they're big, supportive, they're solid, they're custom designed. So I'm so happy you saw that.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, I noticed every detail and I'm going to add something too real quick, because my dad always told my dad now has passed away it's been 10 years and he was my everything. When I hear about your mom and the wisdom and the things that she passed on to you, it just reminds me so much of my dad and he would always say, because he was, he was a true cowboy like he would love wearing his sombrero and his boots and everything. He had big belt buckles and he would say never wait for the special occasion to wear what you want to wear.
Speaker 2:That's what I believe. I believe it. My grandmother would sit in the house with her ceiling falling in and she put on the little earrings and the necklace in the ring every morning. Never wait. There's no occasion needed to shine in your pieces, because I think what you put on your outside ultimately affects your inside. They can help other out. Oh, I love you there.
Speaker 1:Oh, now I'm crying because I've never shared that story. He would wear his gold rings and gold necklace and he would say never wait for that special occasion, just wear it because you want to love that.
Speaker 2:That is so true. I love that. It's everything I believe in.
Speaker 1:I love you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. It's an honor. Thank you so much, and everybody go get your Valencia key jewelry. I'm going to have everything on the show notes so you can connect with her at your website. Is that the best?
Speaker 2:Yes, to go to Thank you Can't wait for anything in the show with the coin magical and it gives them income opportunity. They can put food on their table, they can educate themselves or their family. And Valencia Key, I pray overall to be a global mission of just bringing light in the world.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. You're already bringing light to all of us. Hey friend, I hope you enjoyed this interview. I'd love to hear from you and let me know what was your greatest takeaway. You can reach me at info at collegecareerreadyorg. Thank you for joining us, sweet friend, and, as always, stay well, be present and enjoy the journey. I'll talk to you next week, 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.