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Stand Tall & Own It
Something shifted. You can feel it. You just can't name it yet.
Stand Tall & Own It is for women in the second half of life who are high-functioning on the outside and quietly disoriented on the inside. You built your life inside systems you trusted completely — until you realized you couldn't tell what was actually yours from what you'd just learned to navigate well.
Host Andrea Johnson doesn't offer formulas. She offers honest thinking, sharp observation, and the kind of conversation that makes you pull over and sit in your driveway.
This is where the real work starts.
Stand Tall & Own It
Episode 121 - Own Your Non-Negotiable, with Dominique Cordero
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More than 10 years ago, working a corporate job, Dominique Cordero realized she was responsible for her own satisfaction. She sold everything, bought a one-way ticket to Barcelona and spent a year following her life-long dream of learning Spanish to better understand her heritage, opening her world to an additional 560 million people, and seeing the world through a new lens. The experience was transformational. She now runs a successful Spanish Language Coaching business. But what she found unexpectedly rewarding is how many of her students are trying to make more meaningful relationships with the people they serve – through their jobs and community. By helping students learn Spanish, they, in turn, can give an entire population a voice. They understand that being heard is a fundamental human need.
Leadership Principle:
Take Ownership.
Habits to help with productivity:
- Lists and checklists play into a bigger idea or project.
- Sunday review and weekly planning.
- Communicate about the things that are important.
- Dance!
Green Flags for someone interested in learning a new language:
- Do you hear a conversation in Spanish and are interested in learning or can you help translate? If you feel this pull or feel sad missing out on a potential conversation.
- Find your why.
Advice for anyone looking to learn a new language:
- Look for structure - a community of people on the same journey or a course.
- It can be lonely to begin with so find a local community.
Where to find Dominique:
Website: My Story | Dominique Cordero | La Mariposa Spanish Lessons
Instagram: @la.mariposa.spanish.lessons
Free Offer: Free Spanish Starter Kit
Complementary Resources:
What Is Intentional Optimism?
Andrea’s Favorite Planning & Productivity Tools
Become an Intentional Optimist!
All my links
Health & Wellness: Plexus
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You're listening to Inventional Optimists, the podcast for unconventional leaders, where you'll find inspiration, learn to discover and develop your own strengths, and fear for inspiring women just like you who are making a difference in their community. Who knows? You just might find yourself stepping up as the next unconventional leader right where you are. I'm your host, Andrea Johnson, the original intentional activist. I grew up in the international community in Seoul, Korea. I went to school with kids from 65 different countries who spoke, I don't even know how many languages. My parents spent two years attending Yunsei University full-time just to learn how to speak Korean. And we even had a woman who worked in our home who spoke virtually no English at all. Yet I managed to only pick up enough Korean to go shopping and ride public transportation. Evidently, I'm not that unusual. You see, many of us grow up in homes or communities where we're exposed to multiple languages and yet still end up only speaking English. Today's guest, Dominique Cordero, felt the call to learn Spanish with such an intensity that she quit her job and moved to Spain in order to immerse herself in it. What she discovered in the process made her a wise, compassionate, and well-rounded teacher of adult Spanish students today. Her revelations just might surprise you. I can't wait for you to meet Dominique Cordero. Hey Dominique, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for having me. How are you today? I'm doing excellent. I was uh just mentioning to you that I slept really great last night. So woke up feeling bright and happy and ready to take on the day.
SPEAKER_00Excellent. Um, well, one of the other things we were talking about is you're the first person that's ever pitched to me to be on my podcast straight from Instagram.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I am.
SPEAKER_00Go ahead.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, I I did pitch you, uh, pitch you. I've I've heard of your podcast before. And I said, you know, I think I have a story to share there that that would um, you know, really speak to your listeners.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think you do too. And um, as somebody who is learning Instagram still um and kind of picking up a little bit of speed, um, it was just really different for me. I was like, oh, what is this? And so when I looked at your story, I thought, oh, she really does have a story to tell. This is really interesting and very different in many ways. And in other ways, it's still the same story of a woman recognizing and understanding that she's got something else to give and actually pursuing that. And I said, you know what, let's definitely let's talk about this. So for anybody who doesn't know you, um, give us just a brief synopsis of who you are and what you do, and then we're gonna get into your background.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. So I would say my journey with learning Spanish as an adult started with salsa dancing. I was uh 21 years old and uh looking for a new hobby. And I saw salsa dancing at a Latin festival. And I actually have Puerto Rican roots. My grandfather is from Puerto Rico, but I didn't grow up speaking Spanish. I'm just like, I was just like everybody else, um, where we learn a little bit in high school and college, but then we can't use it anywhere. Uh, but I saw salsa dancing and I said, wow, that is beautiful. And it just called to me in a way that nothing has ever called to me before. And I dove straight into learning uh the dance. I was out five nights a week at uh clubs and studios uh learning uh this dance. And over time I really fell in love with the music, and I found myself singing uh Latin um uh salsa songs, particularly by Mark Anthony. I say he was my first, my first Spanish teacher. What's not so love about Mark Anthony? Oh and um I I found that there was this disconnect between my love of salsa, my Puerto Rican roots, um, and uh listening to this music. And I said, you know, it's the language. Uh I I don't I don't understand the language, and that was missing for me. So uh I was uh 23 at the time and um uh was in kind of a a job I hated uh a year out of college. And I said, you know what, this this sucks. I'm I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go learn Spanish. And you know what? I want to go to Europe. Uh so how do I do that a year out of college? And I found out that uh a lot of young women uh are nannies in other countries. So they're au pairs. And I found a host family in Barcelona. When they said they wanted to take me on um as a as a nanny, I hopped uh on a plane three months later with a one-way ticket to Barcelona to live with a host family I'd never met and live in a country where I didn't speak the language. Wow. Um, that was a transformational year for me. I uh spent that year diving into my language studies. I had very little money so and a lot of time. So uh I just made it my goal that by the end of that year I was going to be fluent in Spanish. And I pretty much accomplished that goal uh by the end of that year. Um fast forward 10 years later, I have lived uh lived another couple of years in Spain, in Madrid, in Barcelona, and also quite a bit of time in Mexico City. I've split my time between those two countries. Uh, and I started a Spanish coaching business about four years ago called La Mariposa Spanish Lessons, uh, where I teach other adults how to learn Spanish as an adult.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because it isn't the same as learning. It's not. Yeah. So really quickly, what does La Mariposa mean?
SPEAKER_01Ah, La Mariposa means butterfly in Spanish. And that nickel.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So obviously it has that symbolic um, you know, uh meaning of transformation. But actually, when I started uh when I first moved to Barcelona and I was doing a lot of backpacking and traveling, my friends back in back home in in Sacramento started calling me La Mariposa, uh, the butterfly. So I became the traveling butterfly. So that nickname has stuck with me ever since, which is why it is now part of my business as well.
SPEAKER_00Um, and you know, there's different ways to look at the butterfly. I've used that as a metaphor for me in in the a different, I don't know if this is the way they meant it, but I hear social butterfly or I hear like you bounced around from place to place. Um, but the other piece is the whole caterpillar to chrysalis to to beautiful butterfly. And um, so which one of those metaphors fits you the best? Or which one of those means?
SPEAKER_01It's kind of a blend of the two because I have bounced around a lot, but definitely for me personally, uh I would say that that the transformational um symbolism of a butterfly definitely uh applies to my experience of how Spanish and and uh bringing Spanish into my life was so transformational. Uh, how I became uh a more compassionate uh and more caring person, and how I how I saw the world completely changed because of that one choice to bring Spanish into my life. So I would definitely say the the transformational side of the butterfly really speaks to me.
SPEAKER_00So, what is it about learning Spanish that made you more compassionate?
SPEAKER_01So I think because uh it made me realize that learning a second language, a lot of people in the world have to learn a second language. And the experience of going through that as English as my first language made me more compassionate to others who um have to learn English as their second or third language. Um, and it was very humbling to not be able to communicate and go through those experiences, those embarrassing experiences of not being able to communicate with others, to get my point across, to get what I want. I was laughed at sometimes. And so that experience was very humbling and made me more compassionate to other uh people in the world who are learning English as a second language.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because we tend this as English speakers tend to think that it's the universal language and that everyone's supposed to learn it.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Um, so really quick, I grew up overseas. I grew up in Korea, and so I heard languages from very young. We have a story in my family of when my sister was in, I guess she was about four, and they went to a Korean kindergarten at the time, and they told my parents she we don't speak any English, so therefore she's gonna have to do everything in Korean. And as a child, you learn things very differently when you hear something and you understand it and you start comprehending it, it just makes sense to you. It's what we've discovered with her was she would come home and my mom would say, Well, what did you do today in school? And she'd say, Oh, well, they told me to sit down and do this or color a picture or cut this out. And really, how did they tell you that? Just in English, right? It's like, and what we discovered was that anything she understood was English. Anything she didn't understand, no matter what language it was, was Korean. Because we have in our minds the way things work, but our brains are very uh flexible. And um they our brain is constantly working to help us understand our surroundings. And when you can tap into that in a way that is advantageous, then you do learn things faster. And um, I think that's one of the things you realized. Is that right? Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. Um, I will say though that uh moving moving abroad or uh uh having a Spanish immersion program, um, if you don't go with a plan uh as an adult, you can actually fall into circles of other English speakers and really not come away learning anything. There's a lot of expat communities in Mexico and Spain across the world that have lived there 10, 15 years and still have a very rudimentary level of Spanish because they don't go with a plan. So it's really a blend as an adult learner, um, because we we are not children, so we do learn a little bit differently. We can tap into the way that that kids learn, but we also have to integrate that with some um some structure to our learning and um, you know, make that effort to integrate with the locals and make Spanish-speaking friends and not just fall into English speaking groups. So it's it's really uh like an integrated approach, um, taking a little bit from here and there um in terms of how kids learn and how adults learn.
SPEAKER_00You know, that's a perfect example of what we did. We were in our missionary communities, we were, I was in an international school where English was spoken. And so my understanding and my being able to speak Korean is fairly rudimentary. But because I learned it so young, it's still in there. Um, and I'm one of those who took Spanish in high school. And um, so I took the I took Spanish one, you know, because I we discussed too that you're in Texas and I'm originally from Texas, and I just got back from a trip to Texas, and I thought I'm going back to Houston to school, and you know, that is the language that if I'm going to speak another language in the United States, especially in Texas, I need to be able to speak Spanish. So I was being very logical about it all. Um, and I took Spanish one and in but right when I started the next year of Spanish two, my Spanish teacher, I think she was a new teacher maybe that year. She we were doing something very beginning of the year and we were selling things because I think I was a junior, and she said, Cuando es. And I was like, And she said, like, yeah, I mean, and it's like for anybody who doesn't speak Spanish, they're all gonna say, What do you mean? You know, and I was I was embarrassed to think, uh, I finished Spanish one, I didn't even know she was asking me how much this thing cost. And so I think that you being able to look at that from that perspective as an adult is really helpful. And um uh what is it that so the other piece that um that I wanted to ask you about was um you say that why in per you one of the things that you talk about is reconnecting with Spanish for Latino women. And because you said you have Puerto Rican roots. And what is it about being a heritage speaker that makes a difference in your family? And what would you describe that as? What's a heritage speaker?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a great question. And I do have a lot of heritage speakers who come to me with the same problem. Uh, I grew up hearing Spanish, uh speaking very little. And now whenever I go to Mexico, for example, I am laughed at by my family because I cannot speak the language, I cannot communicate. And many people, many of these people don't know that they are heritage speakers. They don't they don't know that term. So a heritage speaker is is just that. It's someone who has uh grown up in a Spanish-speaking family uh in the US who uh has spent most of their life uh listening to Spanish, understanding Spanish, but never having or being asked to use it actively. So we've got language skills, we've got uh passive skills, which is reading and listening, and then we've got active skills, which is writing and speaking. So those are two very different skills. And what happens with heritage speakers is they understand everything around them, but they are not actively able to form complete sentences or express themselves in the same way that they do in English. And that is a whole spectrum of people. Um, some people can speak kind of a Spanglish where they mix English and Spanish. Some people can barely say, you know, a few words in Spanish, and and some people can keep up like a basic conversation um in Spanish, but when we get into more diverse, complicated topics, they they can't keep the conversation going. So there's a whole spectrum of heritage speakers. Um, so for me as a heritage speaker, uh actually taking um, you know, taking Spanish learning um kind of by the reins in my in my young adulthood, uh, and going back and relearning the language to a point where I could communicate. I mean, my my grandfather was elated uh the first time I sat down and had a conversation with him in Spanish, his face just lit up. And anytime I communicate with my Puerto Rican relatives, I mean, it's just it's it's amazing to them because I am now the only other person in my family um that uh speaks Spanish beside my grand besides my grandfather, which is huge. It's huge.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was watching a I think it was a Camal Bell show, uh his United Shades of America. And it's a great show. And he talked, he touches a whole myriad of topics. But this particular one happened to focus on young Latinx people with uh some who felt like the spectrum, like it was imperative that you speak Spanish, all the way over to I don't speak Spanish and I'm not ashamed of it. And I think it's really easy for those of us with you know British or you know, the the white Anglo-Saxon type history to not even think about or worry about um whether or not we speak a different language. And you just mentioned too that people, these heritage speakers who don't speak the language are embarrassed in front of their families, but it also on the opposite end actually really promotes the the connections that you might not have had. Um where where do you fall in that? And how can we kind of, I don't know, help as a culture or help as a society kind of move forward with celebrating the culture and the language as part of the culture?
SPEAKER_01So I see uh I see um, you know, uh as a culture, at least in the the US, I see us um celebrating more of our Latin background, our Latino backgrounds than 40, 50 years ago. I mean, obviously uh we're doing um uh kind of a much better job in in from a societal perspective um of celebrating that. But in terms of the language, I don't see as much focus on um on improving our language skills, our ability to speak in Spanish, communicate in Spanish, read and write um as much as we're you know celebrating our latinones. But the missing piece there is the language for many people. They just don't realize it. And many people say, I want to be able to speak uh more confidently in Spanish, but I don't even know where to start or how to start, is normally the question I get.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So do you find so when we talk about who you serve, do you is that the one of your bigger populations or one of your bigger demographics of students?
SPEAKER_01So they are uh part of a larger demographic of students. I would say um 60 per 60 to 70 percent of my students are women who tend to be between the ages of 30 and 45, uh working in a professional space, uh, who are very invested in their personal growth and have a particular interest in travel to Latin America. And some of those women are heritage speakers. Um, I would say out of out of those women, maybe 30% are heritage speakers. But but again, they don't know that they're heritage speakers. They just know um I'm I'm half Mexican or both my parents are Mexican. I grew up uh hearing Spanish, my parents spoke Spanish to me, but I always responded in English, and that was okay. My whole life, it's been okay to respond in English, and we spoke two different languages to each other, but we communicated. And so that's the disconnect with the language and where that happens in in most households is parents, grandparents speaking Spanish to the children, and the children responding in English, but being understood. So you end up speaking two languages to each other, yeah, which is interesting. And that's where that disconnect happens.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you you said there was a difference between active and passive skills. It sounds like there's just a whole lot of passive skills going on.
SPEAKER_01Sure. Yeah, which are part of the learning process. Um, you know, uh, those normally develop first uh your passive skills. You can read and and and understand more Spanish than you can speak, right? That's totally normal. But heritage speakers, they they get to that, you know, beginner stage of of reading, well, mostly listening and understanding, but they never take that big step to speaking. Um, and writing actually is a huge, huge skill to build in Spanish as well. It's kind of like right before speaking, if you can write out your opinion, uh it's kind of a stepping stone to speaking. And many people don't think of writing that way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that is a different way of thinking about it. A lot of people want to speak it and then write it.
SPEAKER_01I know, I know, but I see it as a stepping stone, journaling in Spanish. Um, and a lot of my programs, I um, you know, ask my students to write for me because I can see a lot about their Spanish and their writing. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so um, we will talk in one of our live guest speaker series. Um, this the week that this podcast airs, we're gonna talk a little bit more about the process and how that works and how people can work with you. But let's go back to young Dominique and let's look at um how because clearly you're a leader in this space, you're a leader in what you do. And so I would love to talk about what your earliest leadership memory might be.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so my earliest leadership um experience was actually while I was in college. I I know I I was trying to think back into high school, I couldn't go that far, but I actually was a big um uh I played volleyball and other sports in college. So in college. And so I um got a job uh designing and running uh volleyball camps for kids.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And uh I was the um I was not only the coach, but also like ran the whole program. And I remember working with these kids in kind of that leadership role. And I realized that I had to tap two things. I realized that I really had to tap into something deeper inside them. I couldn't just tell them to do things. Yeah, I had to inspire them, right? To um to try something a different way or work harder. So when I was teaching these kids and leading these kids, I realized that I had to tap into something different or something deeper inside of them and really inspire. inspire them to um be receptive to my coaching and to um you know the the things that i was asking them to to do and to and to practice and so that was the first thing the second thing was um positive reinforcement lots of lots of um you know clapping congratulating encouraging uh to lift them up rather than push them down right yeah and so those two skills are something that i i really bring into my my current uh coaching of students lots of positive reinforcement and also that ability to inspire my students to reach deep inside themselves to do something hard yeah and you know if you listen to my stuff at all you know that I'm all about the encouraging word.
SPEAKER_00I mean I call myself a professional encourager and that yeah sometimes we need to check things and we need to, you know, even especially as a coach or as a parent or as a teacher we do need to check things and make sure that they um that we don't go too far off the rails or that we're actually doing something right and in both language and in volleyball I was a volleyball player in high school I know that there are ways to do things that you can get things done but it's not the effective way and it's not the right way. And if you do it the if you do it the more effective and right or right way or uh accurate way you could even say you're going to get it done better. Um but I I love that that that's the thing that you discovered that it helped you to understand how to be more encouraging. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00Um so and that's a lesson that obviously has has followed you through um was that a moment where you realized you wanted to be in a leadership position or did that come later when you found yourself completely immersed in the Spanish language and fluent and you opened your coaching practice or your school so I've always been a leader uh from from a young child.
SPEAKER_01I'm I'm actually an Enneagram eight on the if you know anything about the Enneagram and the Enneagram yes I'm a very strong Enneagram eight uh with a nine wing so I'm more about inspiring and letting people find their own path uh by also but also encouraging them along that path in kind of that strong leadership role. So I would say that you know going through the process of of learning Spanish as an adult and how transformational that was I just kind of married that with my leadership skills and my uh my constant uh desire to be an entrepreneur. I just married those two things. And now I do believe in my coaching business um I'm I'm kind of quietly leading by example, you know, quietly leading by exam um by inspiring my students. So a lot of kind of the content I put out about my business, I don't talk about how to conjugate verbs in Spanish. I really talk I really try to tap into something deeper inside my my students or future students and speak to them that way.
SPEAKER_00Do you find adults are more receptive to that? I I do but I can tell I don't want to talk about conjugating verbs. I know it's important and I know how to do it. It's one of those things that it's like I know how to do it and I can hear it when it's wrong, but I don't want to talk about conjugating verbs. Yeah and and at some point we at some point we do need to talk about conjugators um but uh a lot of you know my courses and programs have a long kind of runway to getting to conjugating verbs because I need you mentally in a space to jump into this um into this journey because it is a journey and unfortunately in the language learning space uh lately they they they're selling you know learn Spanish in 30 days learn Spanish in 90 days and that's such a lie it's it's not true but it feeds into like our microwave uh microwave culture where we want it all right now but really it's more like a crock pot uh learning a language it's it's a it's a lifelong uh it's a lifelong journey and so you got to be in it for the long haul you know I use that analogy the crock pot versus the microwave a lot and I think maybe that's you know it's just inherent in a coach's in a coach's way of speaking because there are plenty of uh things that you can learn instantly but most of the stuff that you have especially on any kind of personal growth journey is going to be crock pot oriented and I mean it's not even Instapot it's crock pot I mean there are some things you might be able to put in there and go a little faster but I really love that and I like this idea of a long runway before you hit the technical stuff um because I am one of those adults I mean I think other than the age range I'm a little bit outside that age range for you but other than that I am one of those adults that would love to be able to speak and for me it's the two languages it's like I want to go back to my Spanish and I would love to go back to my Korean. And so I end up watching television shows and I end up you know in Spanish and in Korean and to make sure that I'm like kind of keeping that in my ears because that's something that I would love to do moving forward. So what is the difference then between a an adult learner and your coaching program than something like this learn Spanish and because you know all these apps it's like here you go just do this every day or even Rosetta Stone what's the difference?
SPEAKER_01So you can think of my coaching program um and how I work with my students as like having a personal trainer right um you see your personal trainer once a week um that is not going to be the key to um to getting that six pack and losing all that weight right it's not the one hour it's how much your coach inspires you and gives you the tools to achieve your goal. But the rest of the week it's up to you. If you don't do your your daily workouts, if you're eating like Cheetos and Taco Bell every day, um you're gonna get certain results, right? So I can't do that work for you. I can't do that work in between our sessions. But what I can do is give you the fastest path um the steps to take uh to reach that goal. And so me having those check-ins throughout the week, how are you doing? You know, I have students on WhatsApp who tell me about their wins throughout the week because it's that long, it's that long journey, right? Whereas apps in Rosetta Stone, it's sort of like um selling you this idea that you're going to be to be fluent in in 90 days and then just kind of here's the product and there's just leaving you to your own devices without doing all that kind of mental work that comes into to language learning before and without giving you any support along the way. So that's kind of the the difference bit between the two.
SPEAKER_00Well and I think that's important to know as we kind of look at how we want to do this, right? If this is something we want to do, what is the best path for us or what is the best um thing uh way to do it. But I'm hearing from you little glimpses and I'd love to ask you what it would be as far as a leadership principle because I'm hearing some of these things from you that I think might be where you're headed but if you had one leadership principle that you could say this is what I live by, this is how I coach this is how I learn what would that leadership principle be so my leadership principle is take ownership take ownership of your goals and take ownership of the process to get there and take ownership of the showing up daily to get there because language learning is all about habit.
SPEAKER_01It's all about touching the language every day for a long period of time. And uh someone once asked me what is your biggest language learning tip and I said I'm that I made Spanish a non-negotiable in my life meaning that Spanish needed to be a part of my life for the rest of my life to not only reach new levels with it and even once I've reached the level that I wanted that conversational kind of high intermediate level that I would maintain that level for the rest of my life. And I take ownership of that meaning even you know 11, 12 years later since I first went to Spain, that I continue to to seek out opportunities to practice my Spanish, to to grow in my Spanish. It's nobody's job but mine to keep up my daily habit. So yeah as a leadership principle taking ownership is is really big for me.
SPEAKER_00So you were younger when you decided to make this big shift and um to go as an au pair um and you know the rest of us are like yeah but what you know what kind of support did you really need? And was it was it a big mindset shift to actually make that change or did the mindset come after you actually took the leap?
SPEAKER_01So I think uh when I decided to first move to Spain um I was a little naive in my language abilities at the time I I thought I had taken Spanish in in high school and college um I would be fine. But once I arrived I realized I couldn't even say how old I was like confidently. I mean I told various people I was 13 instead of 23. So luckily to to be an O pair in Spain I needed to be on a student visa and that meant that I was required to take language classes uh during the week and that kept me very um it kept me on like a schedule and a plan and uh kept me focused. So thank you uh to the you know Spanish consulate's office for requiring au pairs to do something other than just nanny because that was a huge support even though at the time I didn't realize it but in achieving my goal of fluency um I didn't really go to Spain with a with a big plan but luckily those Spanish classes kept me uh consistent uh also my host family obviously was a huge support system for me um and uh in in in helping me uh you know use my Spanish and um you know get get through life in in Spain and not not feeling so alone in that in that journey.
SPEAKER_00So you mentioned habits that this all everything that you do is a habit and learning a language is a habit.
SPEAKER_01What would you say um you gave us your biggest tip that it became a non-negotiable in your life but what would you say is your best habit that kind of keeps you in that I own my own stuff everything on a daily basis so I'm really great at making lists and where that comes into into play is when I have a really big idea or project I'm really good at breaking it down into smaller actionable items and then prioritizing uh those things on kind of a weekly checklist. So I'm very good at starting my uh you know Sunday night sitting down and looking at my various projects and all the tasks that I need to do to complete that that project and then prioritizing those tasks for the week. And that keeps me really focused and it allows me to do big things in my business.
SPEAKER_00What would be big things? What are you talking about with me?
SPEAKER_01Well for me um I mean I'm still pretty small uh but for me um being more consistent with my blog posts was a big thing I really wanted to grow my blog this year and when I first started it about six months ago it just didn't have a very good system um there were a lot of moving parts uh the writing process editing process SEO um backlinks uh all these things uh social media right um so I kind of created a step-by-step process on how to uh successfully post two uh really high quality blog posts per month in a way that was sustainable for me and so now for the rest of the year I've got uh all the content laid out for those blog posts I have a step-by-step system on how to accomplish that and I know throughout the month what I need to be prioritizing to hit that goal each month.
SPEAKER_00Okay so you work well in systems. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Excellent okay um so tell me what else you plan out for the week as part of your habits I plan out my exercise uh routines I I do orange theory which is like really intense um and so if I don't put those things on the calendar if I don't pre-book out my my workouts they don't always tend to happen and as an Enneagram eight exercise is the best way for me to let out that energy and clear my head um there's actually a great book called burnout and they say that one way to um the the best way to kind of overcome your your emotions and kind of let things release uh in your life is through exercise. So that is also non-negotiable in my weekly uh habits is exercise. I have to exercise.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Cool. Yeah um I went through a stressful time in the fall of 2022 fall to winter and one of the things I decided was going to be a non-emotion non-negotiable was the exercise because I knew that I had to burn up that energy of you know every day or else I was going to get super stressed.
SPEAKER_01Exactly exactly and um recent recently um I'm actually getting married next month. Congratulations thank you thank you uh and so one kind of habit um or non-negotiable in my week lately has been um to focus on premarital counseling and also making time to talk about kind of uh big topics with my fiance because I I want to have a really strong marriage. I understand that that's the foundation of a lot of things in my life and I want it I want to do that well which means that I need to be um aware of what I need to be doing each week uh to make sure that my um relationship is strong and grows. So I've also been reading with my fiance the the love prescription um which is a great book. Just yeah so you know uh prioritizing we'll tag these books.
SPEAKER_00Yeah prioritizing my um my relationship right now you know a lot of times uh I work with people on uh sort of an executive leadership level and one of the things that we do every single month is a life wheel um because we want to make sure that nothing gets way out of balance and I mean there's no such thing as perfect balance but at the same time if you're only focusing on your blogs or if you're only focusing on your clients then everything else kind of falls by the way. And it doesn't mean that they all have to be out on a scale of one to 10 to a 10. They could all be out to a five but it's balanced and you've got a good wheel that can turn and it's manageable and it's something that you're not going to get burnout for.
SPEAKER_01So exactly exactly um and the last thing is is dance salsa dancing is still a big part of my life um I'm on an all women's salsa team uh we actually just performed uh at the Houston salsa congress about three weeks ago on stage uh it was really fun uh that is something that lights me up it's it's been something that's you know lit me up for over a decade so I still try to incorporate that into my life and make sure I'm part of a community of other dancers.
SPEAKER_00That and maybe we can talk about that on our live a little bit but that just the community that the salsa community is so unique and it's so vibrant and you know I I I too love watching and it's one that's one of my secret dreams. It's like one of my um if I'm putting it on you like a little we're doing a dream board workshop this weekend it's like hmm do I want to put a salsa dancer on there because there's just so much to it that you're right it does bring in the culture and it brings in the language and so um oh that's really exciting. Any other habits to share?
SPEAKER_01No I drink water. I try to drink water.
SPEAKER_00So really quick let's look at some what we call green flags, right? We're the the intentional optimists around here and it's real easy for us to look and say, hey that's a red flag stop doing it.
SPEAKER_01But let's just say um and I don't know which uh topic you're gonna take here but uh if somebody wanted to be an adult language learner or um is that the direction you would go, what are some green flags they would look for in themselves to say, oh this I can do right yeah um so I would say that uh if you are someone who is walking around your community and you hear Spanish and it really kind of perks your interest, you know, sparks your interest, you're listening in to see what you can understand. Or maybe you're in your community and there's an opportunity to step in and help if if you would have known a little bit of Spanish to help in a situation to translate and you feel this pull to want to help but you can't um or you uh are in a situation where you could have had a uh you know a small chat with someone in your community but there was the language barrier and you feel a little sad after that you feel like you're missing something that void then you would probably be uh a great uh person to to look into learning Spanish and look into the process and and starting to incorporate it into your life. So I would say those are green flags because as we've said learning a language is a long process. It's a journey I call it a journey it's kind of like a lifelong journey. And so something has to tap into you really deep uh to keep you on the journey when things get hard. You know, just saying I've always wanted to learn Spanish that's that's not really enough. I'll uh I'll uh mention another book here um I'm mentioning lots of books today but start with why or start with the why by Simon Seneck uh yeah uh same thing with language learning what is your why what's going to keep you going when things get hard okay um so is that kind of the best advice that you would give uh someone were uh if someone were to want to look at because I'm sitting here thinking yeah that's me yeah that's me but I think part of it is I know myself too I grew up overseas hearing all these different languages and I love being able to communicate with people.
SPEAKER_00And I I do hear I I do kind of want to know what's going on in the in when I hear a Spanish conversation and I do feel that pull.
SPEAKER_01But if there was a one piece of advice if you answer those questions like yes and you think that's me, what is your best piece of advice uh to start out with so I would first look for some kind of um structure whether that's a a local course you can take or um like a community of people who are on the same journey. So finding um the structure in the community first because uh language learning if you do it by yourself can be a very lonely process. So whether you want to uh whether you want to meet in person locally maybe there's a a a local language school or courses going on I guarantee you there are um or maybe you're super busy and you are looking for something more remote you can find those types of communities online. Okay so I would first start with structure and community and finding finding that okay um so if we were to want to look at your structure and community where would we find you what's the best place is it your website yeah so you can find me on my website uh at la mariposa spanish lessons dot com and there you can find uh all of my um free resources as well as uh my courses and group programs okay so if there was a free resource that we all should have what would it be so I would direct you all to my uh Spanish beginner starter kit and this is for someone who is just at the beginning stages of learning Spanish or just have the basics down. Uh this is a free um guide where I talk about uh what you need to learn and in what order you should learn it and how to do it. So it's kind of the all encompassing starter kit and you can find that at la mariposa spanish lessons dot com
SPEAKER_00Oh, excellent. Um, I love freebies.
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_00Um, and that also means that we'd probably be tapped into your blog and that kind of thing. So um, so before we before we close out, is there anything I forgot to ask you?
SPEAKER_01I think you have touched on a lot of interesting topics today, and it's been wonderful to chat about everything from my personal journey to heritage speakers to um leadership. It's been really interesting and fun. So thank you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for me too. Um, and before we go, of course, you know I always have to ask, what is one thing that you can always be optimistic about, even when other people think you're crazy?
SPEAKER_01I would say to that we can still see compassion and uh solidarity in people, even in the face of enormous tragedy. Um that question took me back to when I was living in Mexico City and I experienced a 7.1 uh magnitude earthquake when I was in my six-story apartment. And I remember the aftermath of that, of that earthquake and how the community came together in ways that I will never forget and the solidarity of the Mexican people after that tragedy, and it really made me appreciate you know humanity in that in that moment.
SPEAKER_00That's beautiful. Um, because even just going back to the very beginning of the conversation when you said learning another language taught you more compassion, and that sounds a little bit like a theme for you. That's right.
SPEAKER_01That's right. And that's one of those moments that uh I will remember forever.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. This has been a fabulous conversation. I look forward to our live when we can delve in a little bit more to looking at how we might want to approach learning uh Spanish as a second language. And I really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much. Thanks so much for having me. Have a fabulous day. Thank you. My childhood was bathed in the sound of language. Words and sounds, so very different from what we spoke in the home, fostered an intense curiosity to know what was going on. By the time I reached high school, however, I'd kind of lost my fascination for the Korean language. I mean, I had enough of it to do what I wanted to do, right? And I began focusing on Spanish. I was headed back to Texas for college, and Spanish was the second most commonly spoken language. You see, I said I wanted to communicate, but in reality, looking back, I don't think that's what it was. I see now that my desire to speak any language other than English has always been a little selfish. You see, I wanted to be understood. But before I go too far down that reflective rabbit hole, I mean, clearly that's a great topic for a solo episode. I want to share how I see Dominique embodies the tenets of intentional optimism. That's what we're here to talk about. You see, they're universal concepts. So we all have some of the tenets some of the time. I just happen to pull together the ones that I needed and I see as most important, and I pursue them intentionally. And then I invite you in to do the same thing with me. And I enjoy pointing out how each guest exemplifies them so that you can see where they might need to show up or do show up for you. Because what we do is likely very different. But intentional optimism is how we do what we do. It's the attitudes and mindsets that we employ and embody to live out our own values, goals, and dreams with excellence. In short, it's a personal growth lifestyle. Now, Dominique already lives out several tenets of intentional optimism, that's clear, but here are two that really stood out in our conversation. And the first one is wisdom. When she speaks about compassion and how just learning another language helped her to see things from someone else's perspective, she taps into an understanding of the human condition. We all want to be heard and understood. But the second one I see is courage. I mean, she dives headfirst into whatever it is that she's decided to do. Now, don't misunderstand me. She didn't go to Spain with no plan, but she had the courage to say, I want something different. I want something else for my life. I can't tell you how many women twice her age tell me that same thing, yet lack the courage to act on it. Many of her students come to her because they're trying to make more meaningful relationships with the people that they serve through their jobs and community. How rewarding for her. You see, unconventional leaders lead at every level in any area using their unique gifts. So what part of this conversation impacted you? Was there something in Dominique's story that inspires you? For me, it's yet again her leadership principle, and that's to take ownership. Now, if you want to learn another language, like Spanish, what's your goal? Why do you want to learn? Is it for you or for them? And the only reason I ask is because I know that my reasons have been off in the past. However, as Dominique shared, if you're someone who rocks around your community and you hear Spanish or another language, and you have an interest or a pull to learn, or think perhaps you could help with translation, and gosh, I encountered that a lot in the medical field. Maybe you feel that kind of pull, or you're even sad after missing out on a potential conversation with someone. Just own it. Own it all. It's a long journey, as she explained, so something needs to tap deep into you to keep you on that road. You need to know why. For her, Spanish became the non-negotiable in her life for the rest of her life. And she takes ownership of all of that. And she still continues to seek out opportunities to grow and hone her skill. You see, owning who you are, your core values, your boundaries, your strengths, your abilities, all of that will give you the why that you need to seek the things that you're looking for. Now I know you want to hear more from Dominique, and she and I will be live the week this episode airs. So follow me on social media and you'll see that announcement. Or you can just subscribe to my YouTube channel and you'll be all set. The link is right down there in the show notes. And the YouTube channel, by the way, is where you can find all the past guest speakers. So get on over there and subscribe so you don't miss any in the future and you can catch up all the ones from the past. You'll find Dominique's contact information in the show notes. And if you want to test those waters and see what learning Spanish might look like for you, check out her Spanish Beginner Starter Kit. We'll link to that as well. Now, maybe you're more ready to step into your own personal growth journey, but you need a greater understanding of your own strengths and skills. You might need some gentle accountability to help you consistently choose to stick with your goals and dreams, you know, keeping you focused on what direction you're gonna head. So shoot me a DM in Instagram or LinkedIn. We'll set up some time to chat. I've got some great options for you. Now, do you have a friend who needs to hear Dominique's story? Share it. If you're feeling generous, scroll down in the app where you're listening and give us a five-star rating and review. Maybe share that big takeaway that you got out of this conversation. Of course, that will help other women find this podcast and plenty of unconventional leaders just like Dominique Cordero. Until next time. Oh, good, you're still here. Because I have one more invitation for you. My newsletter, Optimistic Living, is full of good stuff, delivered straight to your inbox. So for weekly encouragement, tips, and even some special offers, hop over to my website and sign up. Because unconventional leaders meet at every level in any area using their unique gifts. And you, my friends, are a leader. You are the future of leadership and the role models for future generations.
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