While still in college in 1999, my best friend and I started a training company focused on workshops for first-year students. Our goal was to help them build skills in project management and leadership.

At 19, we were a pair of naive nerds who believed we had enough knowledge to make a difference. We successfully ran many workshops and even turned a profit.

We had fun, and the students seemed to find it helpful. Eventually, we had to stop - we needed to finish college ourselves. This venture was my first experience of the satisfaction of helping others while earning money. Many great friendships came out of those workshops. It opened my eyes to what it means to try things and be courageous, even if you think you are not ready.

In 2002, I was running a skate shop with my then-boyfriend. It was one of the best times of my life. I would be at the shop in the morning and skate in the afternoon.

One day we decided to organize the first international skateboarding tour in Venezuela. We brought four professionals from Consolidated Skateboards and a photographer to visit five cities in Venezuela. The tour was successful and got ten pages of coverage in the top skateboarding magazine in the world, Transworld Skateboarding.

This experience was nerve-wracking and full of logistical challenges. I learned how to improvise without panicking and how to push through when things get stuck. Unfortunately, it remains the only international tour of its kind in Venezuela since then.

In 2004, my brother and I launched a physical magazine in Panama City, focusing on music, extreme sports, and culture. Although the project was short-lived, we successfully published two issues. We secured advertisers like Vans and other local sports brands, yet we barely made enough money to cover the costs. Eventually, our visas expired, and we had to return to Valencia.

This venture taught me valuable lessons - how to sell a concept before the product exists, the importance of content and branding, and that I was not particularly skilled at making magazines profitable. :)

In 2011, I embarked on my first and only Kickstarter campaign, collaborating with a few friends. We successfully raised over $4,000 to create a free user-generated content (UGC) site. The site’s unique feature was allowing people to send kind messages to random individuals worldwide. The project not only worked but also turned out to be incredibly wholesome.

The site remains active today, managed by a friend. This endeavor was both a social experiment and a learning opportunity in crowdfunding. At the time, crowdfunding and social

media were still emerging concepts, so it was a valuable experience to learn how to leverage these platforms to rally support for a project.

In 2011, I was lucky to meet Kimberly, a former pole-vaulting athlete who was starting a new company in London.

It was an online marketplace that connected women with learning experiences of all kinds, from flying lessons to self-defense classes. Kimberly had the drive of a true entrepreneur but needed help with product development and marketing. I started working with her and suddenly was involved as a co-founder.

I didn’t know what I was doing, but I wanted Kimberly to succeed. I didn’t have a penny, so I survived by doing additional freelance work while Kimberly tried to raise money for the platform. We worked hard for a year or so, but ultimately, we couldn’t raise capital.

This experience gave me a first glimpse into what it takes to build a complex product and the challenges of a marketplace. Most importantly, it gave me the opportunity to learn from Kimberly, 14 years my senior. She became an example of what a strong and determined woman looks like.

Working closely with a successful athlete transformed what I understood about work ethic and drive.