Welcome to the DaVinci Code, where we unlock real stories of small business owners who've battled chaos, crushed doubt, and conquered their challenges. Faith, family, and finances. No fluff, just raw, honest conversations that decode the path to victory, one story at a time. Hello, hello, and thank you for joining the Vici Code, where we're exploring inspiring journeys of purpose-driven business leaders. I am so excited to have this week's guest, Jennie Lopez, on. I don't think we have enough time to get through all the great things you've done, all your accomplishments, but let's start with NFL cheerleader, captain, chemical engineer, Fortune 500 executive, to bestselling author and speaker, all while being a badass mom and wife. Where does she get the time? I don't know. Hopefully she'll share some of those secrets with us. But I do want to say that Jennie and I, have known each other only for about a few months now. We met each other in the Dan Martell Elite Group. And if you want to know more about this group, it is amazing. It is high caliber, inspiring business owners dedicated to growing not only themselves, but the people around them. It's an amazing journey, and it's great to have met you, Jennie. In a nutshell, Jennie is a spark of fire. She's got this infectious smile. She's got this relentless passion for helping others. So she is a great avatar of the type of people you see in this group. With 23 years of leadership experience, Jennie delivers high energy, keynote on authenticity, mindset, superpower, trust, and building winning cultures. how being an NFL cheerleader and Globa Zumba master instructor, by the way, shaped her unique approach to leadership. I can't wait to find out. I just want to say that if you're looking to follow her, she is the unicorn. She is the intentional unicorn, and she's going to show us all how she found her unicorn. Welcome Thank you, Joe. I am so happy that our paths crossed, as you mentioned, at Elite with Dan Martell. And you were talking about this podcast, and you said, purpose-driven leadership. I say, I'm Absolutely. Thank you so much. And I've done enough talking. I can't wait to hear how you address some of these questions, because there's so much we can learn from you in such a short time. So let's start off with corporate ladder to entrepreneurial leap. You had a very successful 23-year career in the corporate world, climbing the chemical engineer to VP of global talent acquisition. What was the why behind your decision to leave that path and start your own Never in a million years, I thought I was gonna just own and start and scale a business. That was not in my dream. My dream was, all I knew was corporate world and climb the ladder. That's what they said, right? I will say, talking about purpose-driven leadership, it was my own experience. So as a Latina, female, bubbly, that doesn't fit the norm of a normal chemical engineer, If you see on paper my career, it looks amazing. But behind the scenes, you don't see all the challenges, all the setbacks, all the obstacles that when I look back, my peers necessarily didn't have. So I started owning my uniqueness and my authenticity about mid-career. And I made that more of a deeper why. And at that point, it wasn't about business, Joe. It wasn't about anything. It was about, what if I become the role model I didn't have? Because I still was very driven. I wanted a high level of success. I just didn't have anybody that looked or felt like me around me in the corporate world. So that key, you know, it's like Tony Robbins says, you want a better life, ask better questions. I say, what if I become that role model that I didn't have? And that drove me. to be very outspoken about being my best authentic self at work and outside at work on social media. So I started building a brand without knowing that I was building a brand. All I wanted to be was that voice that was missed in social media. And I started empowering people and helping people. And I've always loved being a leader, not because of the title, but because of the impact you have on people. And I've always been a phenomenal coach and mentor. So I said, hmm, what if this is something that I can do on the side? So this started, honestly, all out of social media, personal branding, people reaching out to me to say, hey, can you coach me? And at the beginning, I said, I can be a mentor. And they said, wait a second, I can coach you. Of course I can coach you. I have all the experience. Hey, can you come on here and speak? And I said, yes, I can go there and speak. So just saying yes, eventually that became a business that was born in 2020. And then I say, when I retire, then I'll go all in on the business. But then I say, ah, but you know, what if I let my kids down? I started focusing on the negatives, right? I have a really high salary. What if I cannot make that money? And again, you ask better questions if you want a better life. And I say, ooh, what if now is the best time that my kids are teenagers, that they can see their mom just going at it, right? Going for it. And that really became my why. And instead of waiting for an early retirement, I say, that I'm going to do it now. I'm going to do it now. I have proof of concept. I'm going to go in. I love my job, but this has a much deeper meaning and I'm all about impact and I never look back. So I made that decision last year and I'm So it started with having the courage to listen to that voice and following through and taking that leap. how many people live a full life and they say they regret not listening to that voice. It's so true. And there's reason to fear some of these things. Many people are afraid to leave a stable, high-paying job. Can you talk about the specific challenges you faced in that transition? What was the moment of doubt or a specific problem you had to overcome that Yeah, I think that what prepared me the most, if I can start there, is that I decided to focus on personal development and my mindset many, many years ago. So knowing that I had a really solid foundation, I said, ah, this is going to be easy, like piece of cake. I know exactly what's going to happen. What I was not expecting is that live at corporate is so linear, so linear. And I want to say that since I've been doing it for so long, even though different functions that you mentioned, I still have my Call it SOP, right? Standard Operating Procedure on how I tackle challenges. And I knew what I was going to expect. I set a goal and I crushed it. That's how I did it. You go to the entrepreneurship world and it's nonlinear. That drastic change, honestly, that's what caught me off guard. And one of the thing is that even in the corporate world, like numbers, you know, that even Dan teaches us to metrics, optics, right? Measure what you don't measure doesn't grow. So at corporate, I will set a number, I hit it, no problem. In here, I set a number, I don't hit it, and it will set me back, right? Mindset-wise, it will set me back so much. And to the point, I'm like, goodness, this is not you. How can you see this different? So I had to really work really strongly on being very disciplined on the execution of my strategy. That's it. And knowing that there's no such thing as a perfect strategy. You evaluate difference, pick one, go at it. And measure and make it better. What worked, what doesn't work, tweak it. Because at the end, results compound. So for example, this year, what started as a very low pacing year, I just focused on that execution, continued to make it better. And the past three or four years, it has been just Opportunity out of the blue everywhere. And it's just compounding in an amazing, amazing way. So my definition of success is change, right? Or failure. For me, success is the journey. It's not a number, right? It's not black and white. It's the journey. Am I growing? Am I a little bit ahead from where I was this time two months ago? Get energized by that and be very focused on that execution. So Yeah, there's something special on the other side of, you know, going through tough things and, you know, you grow tougher, you build to be a better person on the other side of that. So speaking of building, you know, your personal brand is built around being an intentional unicorn. What does that mean to you? And how has the idea of embracing your unique identity been a central part of your personal and Ooh, love that question, Joe. People think intentional unicorn and they absolutely think that I just love unicorns. And you have no idea how many people send me unicorns to my house. But for me, it's more of a metaphor. And it was because, as you mentioned at the beginning, I had a dual career, right? On one side, I was that nerdy chemical engineer. On the other side, I was that bubbly dancer, professional dancer. But I always felt like the unicorn that was standing out for the wrong reasons. So I always felt that I was too nerdy for a dancer and too bubbly for an engineer. Not only I thought that, I will get feedback about that. So I always felt, okay, maybe fitting the status quo of a chemical engineer, maybe that's what will help me get into success, right? And when I realized, gosh, stop trying to play different roles that are not you. When you are your authentic self, that's whenever you have the best results. That's whenever you connect the best with people, Go all in on being your best intentional self. Because it's not about like, yo, I'm gonna be myself, like it or not, because that defeats the purpose, right? That's why you don't hear me saying, be unapologetically yourself, because people take it to the extreme. Because every strength can be a derailer if you overuse it or you underuse it. So understand who you are, how you can best help, what's the best superpowers you can bring to the table and be intentional with it and have the best impact you can have. So be the best intentional unicorn. We all are unicorns. So don't hide the horn. Put a flashlight on it and I love it. I love it. God's given us all unique, amazing gifts, and we just got to find out what they are and surround us with people who, who may know us better than we know ourselves sometimes. And we just got to really lean into those gifts. And, you know, it just, when they say, when you do something you love, you don't work a day. When you find your passion, when you find your gift and you pursue that life just becomes so Yes, and Joe, it's so funny. I was just talking to one of my coaches this morning because I went to Puerto Rico to see my family last week, and then my mom said, Well, you're working more than you were working before. Like she thought that because now I have a business, I was just going to sit back, right, and and get things coming to me. But when I say, mom, yes, but you have no idea how much more energized I am because everything I say yes to, it just fills my cup. I absolutely love everything I do. Am I working a little bit harder, especially as I'm building this beast? Yes. But that cell, that sense of energy alignment is priceless, right? And it just continues to take you forward faster. Yeah, a lot of people, even myself, I was tricked into thinking, oh, be my own boss, I'll have more free time. You know, if you're doing it right, that's never the case. But if you're really doing it right, you know, you just have more energy, you're happier, you're including your family in this new life, this new world. So, you know, it's... You blend, you know, two worlds together. And in your case, it was, you know, corporate wisdom and personal passion. You know, your background is incredibly unique, blending decades of corporate leadership with your experience as a NFL cheerleader captain and Globa Zumba master. You know, how have these seemingly different worlds influenced your views on leadership, team I love it. This, I'll be very honest with you at some point because of the feedback, right? Something I'm really big is about owning your voice and owning your narrative, your own story. And feedback I will get, for example, I had a president one time who said, Hey, Jennie, if you want to be taken seriously here, you have to quit that cheerleading thingy, right? Because he had a stereotype in his mind of what cheerleader meant. And instead of, owning my voice, I didn't know any better, I would be, oh, maybe I need to choose, right? I'm either a dancer or I'm an engineer. If I want to be taken seriously, and for those who are not watching, I'm putting seriously in quotation marks. But then I had a beautiful mentor. You always surround yourself with mentors and wonderful people, right, that want to see you succeed. I say, Jennie, why not both? I'm like, I know I'm doing both, but I think they're playing against me. And he said, no, you don't understand that every side of you is making the other side better. And that's what makes you a separator, right? That's what makes you different. So all the creativity, all the... I wasn't only a cheerleader. I was the captain and choreographer of the team, one of the choreographers of the team. I led that team through different countries. different generations of cheerleaders, believe it or not, there's a big gap whenever you're leading different teams, different situations. So I learned so much leading this wonderful team of women, right, as I'm leading different generations saying, manufacturing or in quality or the business is always different. So I always take a little bit of here, a little bit of there, and then form this powerful leadership style that is very unique to me. Everybody has their own style, I applaud you for hanging in there. And I think you took a moment to think about it, right? You got some separation between that conversation that you had and who you are as a person. And you didn't just make a decision out of fear, like, oh no. you leaned even further into what your purpose is and the training and the skills that you were gifted. I applaud you on staying the course on that. Now, for our listeners who feel they have to fit in at their workplace or hide parts of their personality, what's one actionable piece of advice you would give them to start embracing their authenticity? Yeah, I think the biggest thing is really what's going to give you that energy to keep moving forward when things don't go as planned or they don't get easy. Because owning yourself in an industry or in a group that you are not the norm is not easy. So for me, it was connecting to that why. So have a why. Why is it so important to you? And then it's not just about you. So for me, if it was just about me, it would be really easy to take the easy route and just just fitting, right, because it's just easier. But for me, it was like, if I don't do this, then I don't have the impact I can have on the next generation of engineers. And again, it's not about when I said about becoming a role model, it's not about being perfect, but it's about showing possibility. You can be a colorful, bubbly engineer, a mom, a Latina woman, and still achieve the level of success that you want to succeed. So for me, it's like honesty, understanding who are you, right? What makes you operate at flow? What are your superpowers? What are you so good at? And sometimes for those of us, for example, Latinos in the workplace, especially when I started, we were like the minority, true minority. Energy is one of my superpowers. Well, that was not the norm, but really owning it, owning it and see when can I bring that energy for the better of the group so we can better get to the outcome that we want to get. So be very intentional with your superpowers and honestly on your. When people say, oh, Jennie, you're just too nice. You have no idea, Joe, how many times I heard that. You're just too nice. I actually had another person who said, hey, you're too nice. I don't know if I can trust you with a difficult job. I'm like, what does that even mean, right? But whenever I finally say, OK, I know that this authenticity is another superpower of mine. So I say, it's not that I'm too nice. It's that I care. And because of that, that makes me an incredible, inclusive, and authentic leader. That's why I've been able to transform these organizations. And then it's a little bit of a mic drop, but I always say educate, right? Because otherwise it's really easy to go back to your comfort zone, which maybe in the short term, it feels okay. But in the longterm, are you going to Yeah, and I think, you know, being all your authentic self actually helps other people around you because you lead by example, right? And it helps other people be authentic and find their purpose. And I hate to keep going back on this, but it's just so unique. You know, the NFL cheerleader thing, you know, you speak on topics like trust and building winning cultures. What's one lesson you learned from your time as an NFL cheerleader captain that has directly translated into your work helping companies build Yeah, honestly, it comes back to energy. That's such an amazing resource that a lot of us take for granted. I think the only resource you have is time and money, right? And energy is so important. So how can you bring energy to the team, to the culture in a way that is always there? The group is not in burnout, right? The group is always feeding off each other because you are building a culture of trust. where everybody can be empowered, feel empowered to give their best. And then you just feed out of each other, right? And then make sure that you are focusing your biggest asset in as a leader is your team. And a lot of people say, oh, I don't want to invest in the team. I don't have money. I don't have this. be creative, but give everything. Because without a team, you cannot grow anything, right? You cannot help your clients. So it's just bringing that trust, energy, and just really focusing on them. And how can I continue to grow them so they can operate in that? In Tony Robbins, we call that peak state, right? How can you keep everybody at that peak state? You're developing the team, everybody's giving their best, and you're all growing together. And that's been kind of I love that. And, um, in the military, we had a term called working supervisor. You know, it's like that mid management level rank in the military where, you know, you're not really the grunt anymore doing all the work you're, you're, you're having to tell your, sometimes your friends. you know, what to do. And like, we call it working leadership where you roll up your sleeves. No one's too good to pick up a broom. And I've carried that into my professional life where it's like, hey, I work for you. How can I help you win? You know, ultimately, sometimes I have to make the final tough decision, and I'm okay with that. But I come into work, ready to help my team win. I work for them, and everything just seems to work a lot better. There's more autonomy, there's less fear, there's more empowerment, and it works really well. So putting your team first is excellent 100%. Now, let's shift our focus to the future, the power of purpose and future impact. Your work is clearly purpose-driven. Can you share a story about a time when you saw your message about authenticity and leadership truly I'll give you one that is personal and then I'll give you there's several right I can I can give so many but I'm telling you one time my daughter, so I have two kids and my daughter when she was in fourth grade. She was going to this like fake career fair that you have to like interview for roles. And then she said she was nervous because she was going to interview for this role that she picked. And I said, what role did you pick? And she said, well, duh, mom, I want to be like you, the CEO of the company I work for at that time. And then I'm smiling at her, Joe. And then I'm thinking. She thinks I'm the CEO. I'm not the CEO of my company, but I like the sound of the words, so I didn't correct her, right? And then I say, well, why are you nervous? Well, all of the kids are going to go and say, hey, tomorrow you're going to wake up knowing that you're already the CEO. The way you walk, the way you dress, the way you speak, you don't have to even worry about anybody but you, and that's how you are going to be doing in this interview. Anyway, long story short, she got the role, right? And the cool thing is that For me, that was very empowering because if I take little Jennie, right, myself, when I was in fourth grade, if that would have happened, there is no way I would have looked for those roles because in my experience, those were for American boys back when I was in Puerto Rico, right? So I wouldn't even look at those roles. So then knowing now that people see role models, right? I think she got confused. I was a C-O-O at that point, but regardless, she said, hey, That role is open for me so just opening opportunities for me that's the impact that the legacy anybody can just unlock opportunities unlock possibilities for people. And that's what that's what I do, I mean I so I gosh I can go into too many too many, how do you say examples, but one very recent I was working with a. corporate leader, and she was in a very funk. In a funk, I was just now impacting also her role as a mom and as a partner in her family. And she said, Jennie, I don't even know what your process is about, but help me. And it's all about connecting to alignment because a lot of people think burnout is just lack of time. Burnout is lack of alignment. If you're not in alignment with your values, that's where the burnout is. So just getting back into alignment, understand who they are, raise that confidence, not by faking it, just by continue to double down the things that you're already good at, right? Those superpowers. I'm telling you, in less than eight months, not only she completely turned her career, like now she's an, again, a top performer, best review, all of that. She started a business. I'm like, who does that? He started a business helping overwhelmed working moms cleaning their houses, right? And she is just, that's filling her cup. And because of that, now her daughter is seeing her as a role model. Like, gosh, like my mom is a business woman. She's an amazing mom. Anyway, it's just the impact you can have on others. When it's not about you anymore, you just see that ripple effect. And that's why it's something I always tell my clients. It's not the spoiler on you on the spotlight, but it's to unlock possibilities and have impact on what a testimony of like the, everything that you've kind of like your career has gotten to you, you tell this story about, uh, another woman who's, you know, you've helped find her authenticity, but she found it through struggle. She found it by attacking her weaknesses. And when she attacked those weaknesses, she found out who she really was, what she was really made up. And then she turned that she parlayed that into helping other people in those shoes. I Yes, absolutely. That's why I, when my mom, you know, says, I don't know why you work harder and say, I just, I really love every client, every opportunity I can have to do that ripple effect is, is a big thing in Yeah. Well, it just, it just has you fired up, right? You just ready, you know, you found something that works and you want to keep helping and it's, you can't help yourself, you know, it's just all about balance. So, um, so amongst all the other things you do, you are a bestselling author and TEDx speaker. What's a big goal you have for the next year? So one year from now, I like how Dan says this, one year from now, we're toasting to something. What are we toasting to a year from now? And what problem are you most excited to solve for your audience? Problem that I absolutely love to help people is to help them create a very powerful and authentic brand that helps them unleash what's next for them. Right. And that next is very authentic individual for every person. So again, in the whole topic of unlocking opportunities, unlocking possibilities, I want to continue to amplify my message. Right. I already touching some countries in Spanish, but I want to go more into South America. and also just continue to amplify my message. At some point, I had this limiting belief when it comes to money that I cannot do this because I already reached the top, right, in corporate. And that's like the highest that anybody in my family would even dream of. And I am dreaming bigger now. And I think I'm probably the first one in my family to go for it. So for me, I'm breaking generational cycle of scarcity. And again, money just is not evil. It's not good. It's just it makes you more of who you are. So obviously, with that investment, I just want to continue to have the ability to even amplify further and have even bigger impact in our communities. So what's next is to double what I was making in salary when it comes to money and continue that role into a multimillion Let's go. Let's go. Yeah, and I think it's important. I think God gives us these gifts and we have a responsibility to help other people around us with those gifts. So I see money and currency, I see it as a way to help us continue to help other people. So it's so important to stay grounded. and reflect on your identity and what your purpose is. And sometimes those change at different points in life, but you want to always come back to that and make sure that you're having the most impact because some people can get a little irresponsible when they continue to gain wealth. And it's like, For me, it's like, how can I turn my wealth into essentially giving it away? I tell my kids all the time, I'm like, listen, you have a business coach, you have a life coach for the rest of your life. I'm happy to give you a hand up, but please know that my money's gonna go towards other people that have less advantages than you do. You don't need my money, so keep, Keep working hard, keep that vision, stay purpose-oriented. We're getting towards the end here, and I just want to emphasize some of the pieces that we've really dived into. The power of authenticity is the power of exploring who you are. you know, what's your identity? Knowing who your identity is will unleash like what your purpose is, right? And without purpose, we're kind of just drifting through life. It's hard. It's hard to get through tough times if you don't have your identity and you don't have purpose. So really take a deep soul search in you know, who you are and the gifts that God's given you and roll into that and put yourself around people like myself and Jennie and Dan and Sebastian and all these people that want great things for you and that uplift you and that will definitely highlight what your next step is, right? And there's strength found in embracing your unique journey. On the other side of struggle is something that's just so special that you'll seek it out. Once you've gone through it and you've seen the transformation, not all of us can really see the other side of that struggle. you know, once you start seeing that pattern, you start looking for it. And you know, when struggle comes my way, you know, I almost chuckle sometimes and I say, you know, God, when I pray, I'm like, God, I don't know what that day was all about, but thank you. And I look forward to what that lesson was to be learned there. Um, so I, I embrace the, the unique journey and the challenges that come my way. And, uh, I just, you know, I want to circle back on on Jennie right now. You know, thank you so much for coming on. I want to make sure that before we leave, that our audience knows Yeah. So we talk about my book. So my book is called Intentional Unicorn. And again, the same metaphor is that I'm a song bestseller and That same is the brand in every single social media. So LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube is intentional unicorn. And I will say I'm a big proponent of understanding what your superpowers are. So if you connect with me on Instagram, because that's the best way where we can really be friends, because we can DM each other. Just put the word superpowers and I'll give you an awesome tool that I came up that I can There you have it. Best-selling author. And if you missed any of that, if you go to JennieLopez.com, you can get links to all of those locations. And, you know, I just want to remind our listeners that, you know, you can find this also on, you can find this podcast on the vichycode.com. Please like us, subscribe, leave a review, visit Jennie's website, you know, get involved in finding, you know, your, your authentic self, your purpose, and go out there Thank you, everyone, for listening to Vici Code. Join us next time as we continue to explore the journeys of purpose-driven leaders. Thank you so much. Thanks for tuning in to The Vici Code, where the underdogs rise and the numbers finally make sense. If today's story hit home, share it. And remember, faith fuels a fight, and your comeback is