Oh em gee! I am so excited to share this interview with you!!
Image credit: Miguel Mori
Before we get to it, I just want to give you a gentle reminder, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. I reached out to this simply inspiring boss lady through email and she immediately responded back and said yes!
Wait, what?! She said yes to me??
Excitement turned to panic as I realized I needed to get my boo-tay into gear. I knew I wanted this interview to be different, I knew I wanted to have a conversation, keep it going, and record it.
But first, I needed to figure out how to record a podcast-style interview.
Whelp, there were a lot of lessons learned, new tools used, and an exciting journey ahead. But enough about me, let me introduce you!
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW!
MEET ALEXA CARLIN
Alexa is a public speaker and founder of the Women Empower Expo. Her mission and life purpose is to help create a community of people who lift one another up. Collaboration over competition. She works to inspire people through social media, online content, face-to-face interaction, and public speaking.
Alexa is truly an inspiring boss lady, and if you couldn’t tell, I’m excited to share her journey with you.
THE WOMEN EMPOWER EXPO
Last year, Alexa founded Women Empower Expo, focusing on empowering women with an entrepreneurial mindset by providing community and knowledge to help them create successful businesses.
With 54 speakers lined up for this year’s expo, Alexa is creating an experiential environment for all attendees. Offering keynote speakers, breakout sessions, hands-on panel review, and so much more. A few of this year’s speakers include previous Simply Inspiring Boss ladies, Christina Nicholson and Michelle Dempsey, seriously go check them out!
The idea for this expo came from Alexa’s experience with public speaking. She saw this opportunity to bring passionate and driven women together with one big event to create real change.
This event is unlike any other in the South Florida area. If you are around, I hope to see you there!
OVERCOMING VS LIVING IT
Alexa became a public speaker after being encouraged to share her first near-death experience with others. Once she started speaking and sharing her story, she suffered another near-death experience from autoimmune issues.
She used this platform to help others. Letting them know they aren’t alone, speaking about confidence, and overcoming her first near death experience. But the stage wasn’t always hers for the taking.
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“People wouldn’t put me on stage, so I created one myself”
– Alexa Carlin
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Already having a stage and a story to tell, Alexa suffered another near-death experience, this time an autoimmune issue. She struggled every day for almost two years. It was hard for her to share positive, motivating thoughts with her audience, when she was in that much pain.
Alexa realized there were two options: wait until it gets better and allow her illness to determine what she can or cannot do, or she could share what she was going through, how she was feeling and shifting her mindset.
SHARING AUTHENTICALLY
So, she began sharing her journey. More of it. What she was actually going through, instead of hiding it. In doing this, she realized people were (and still are) starving for authentic leaders. They want to feel like they can connect and relate to a person or small business.
One thing Alexa identified with sharing your authentic story, doesn’t mean you have to share all the nitty-gritty.
Share the feelings and the overarching struggles, not all the little details.
Alexa provided great tips to on how to share pieces of your story through your business,
- Share what you are comfortable with
- Don’t do it for anyone else but yourself
- It doesn’t have to be all of the details
Share your scars, not your open wounds.
BE NIMBLE
Just a few short years ago, Alexa was utilizing Periscope to connect with her audience. She had a consistent following and was using this to leverage her brand. Then, Periscope was no longer the “it” platform. Instead of holding onto a platform that wasn’t working for her, she shifted, became nimble and now utilizes Facebook and Instagram Live to connect with her audience.
Quoting Gary Vaynerchuk, she keeps in mind this simple rule: “don’t follow the platform, go where the people are.”
Alexa is continuing to build a brand that focuses on her mission, lifting up others. Through the various forms her business may take, she is sticking to her purpose and sharing it with the world. I love what she is doing and I’m honored I was able to share it with you.
This interview is filled with so much great information! Did you like the new format?! Let me know in the comments below!
