Marissa Garcia is a brand designer and strategist from Fresno, California, currently in the middle of what she calls a "personal revolution" — expanding from brand design and strategy into building a creative co-working studio for entrepreneurs and founders in her hometown. ~

A former competitive runner, Marissa traces her understanding of personal branding back to childhood, when she was repeatedly cast as "Scary Spice" instead of the "Sporty Spice" identity she felt was truly hers. That early lesson — that if you don't control your narrative, someone else will — became the foundation of her three pillars of personal brand: clarity, consistency, and connection. 

She and Radim dig into her "delulu" mindset, the belief that opportunity isn't found but built, and the story of how she cold-pitched her way onto a stage at Cannes Lions and funded the entire trip through connections she built with no prior relationship.

Takeaways

• Personal brand isn't something you own — it's something others perceive, but you have real power to influence it
• Marissa's three pillars: clarity (showing people who you are), consistency ("make it on brand" in everything you do), and connection (building relationships, not making asks)
• Being a "multi-hyphenate" isn't a lack of focus — singular identities can box creatives in rather than free them
• Opportunity is built, not found — Marissa manufactured her own speaking stage and funding at Cannes Lions through months of relationship-building
• Corporate life taught her the cost of attaching identity to a title or company instead of a bigger mission
• "Unshakable belief in what's possible," forged through her athletic background, carries into how she approaches business and rejection alike
• Other people's opinions of you are "none of your business" — a mantra she also teaches her kids

Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic

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Marissa: So while you have no control of your personal branding, and it's absolutely impossible to control the narrative in a really large-scoped way, but I'm more concerned with,where I wanna build opportunity.

going back to the opportunity isn't found, it's built. And so I'm not going to waste my energy of worrying about spaces that I'm not even in. And,there's going to be people that misunderstand me, and that's okay too. I'm focusing on where I'm trying to go, what rooms I'm trying to enter,and I'm talking rooms as in like opportunities, and how am I going to show up there.

Radim Malinic: Welcome to Daring Forever, a podcast about being human, wired for wonder, capable of courage, perpetually becoming. It's about the waves that knock us under and the strange, stubborn grace with which we surface. My name is Radim Malinic. I'm an author, creative, and an eternally curious human being on a mission to speak to incredible people whom I call Forever Daring Humans, those in pursuit of an extraordinary life.

Every week, I share an interview that is packed with amazing stories, value, and I can only ask you, how will you dare forever? . This podcast is inspired by my upcoming book titled Daring Forever, which is now available for pre-order out in October 

Radim Malinic: Today on Daring Forever, I'm joined by Marissa Garcia, brand strategist, designer, and self-proclaimed multi-hyphenate, living and building a creative business in Fresno, California. Marissa's story starts with the Spice Girls. Cast as a Scary Spice as a kid, she spent her life proving she was Sporty Spice all along.

A runner, an athlete, and eventually a scholarship winner who carried the same unshakable belief into branding. We talked about her three pillars of personal brand: clarity, consistency, connection, what it means to be delusional on purpose, and how she cold pitched her way onto the stage in Cannes Lion and funded the whole entire trip.

This is a conversation about building opportunity instead of waiting for it. Here's my conversation with Marissa Garcia.

 Hey, Marissa, welcome to Daring Forever. How are you doing today?

Marissa: I'm doing good. Thank you so much for having me 

Radim Malinic: yeah, it's excellent stuff to have you here because I have just finished watching your TEDx talk, which is all about personal branding and personal brand, and it's a story close to my heart because there's always a story for,personal branding and 

against personal branding.

I think it's never gonna be a

 subject matter that's always gonna be closed and decided, and I think this is a space that you work in quite prominently. So I really wanna sort of dig in onto, what it's like to be a brand or not. Should personal branding exist or should it not? We'll get to it.

But, for those who may have not heard of Marissa Garcia, who are you? What do you do? where do we find you?

Marissa: Okay. Yes. my name is Marissa Garcia. Marissa on Brand as referred to, on Instagram and on LinkedIn, and I am a brand designer and strategist currently going through my own personal revolution 'cause we are slowly transitioning and growing the business side of things, and expanding what it actually means to be a brand designer and strategist in 2026.

Marissa: I've been an entrepreneur for the past five years, and, before then, I was in corporate, hired on for communications and branding specifically. very in alignment with your podcast title, Daring Creative. every position I've held, has been something that was not, really developed, with a actual title, but they knew they wanted me on the team.

so I've had to create my own job title, if you?

will. So I feel like I'm still doing that today. but it all centers around branding. I live, breathe branding. I love it. it's in every industry, and every day is different. and I get to flex my creativity in more ways than I ever imagined.

today I am a mompreneur. I have two kids, and I serve some really amazing clients doing amazing work, building amazing things, and that's me in a nutshell. But every day it's gonna be different. That's just my creative brain. Yeah, I, pinpointing one specific thing, I'm definitely a multi-hyphenate.

 So today I could be doing one thing, tomorrow I could be doing another thing, but it all centers around creativity and branding. 

Radim Malinic: There is something about multi-hyphenates where they usually say what they do with a smile on their face, and you're no different because there's--something about the variety that if you can do so many different things, it might make sometimes the predictability of the future potentially be more complicated, cause some people who do the same thing over and over again, you know, they're set in their ways.

 they might have more predictable pipeline and a runway. But I think, doing what you do, you've said everything that you do with a smile on your face, and I think that's the best part of it. Because you mentioned you're going through personal revolution trying to grow the business.

How would you define personal revolution, and why did you use those words?

Marissa: Yeah, I feel like, especially for creatives, there will be moments in your life where you're like, "What am I doing? I know I'm meant for more, and I know I'm meant to have an even greater impact." And the current path that I'm going on has got me here, which has been amazing, and I love the work that I'm doing, but also I wanna keep challenging myself.

I want to keep evolving into something, I don't know what it's gonna be, but something that continues to build, I started out just with brand design in my entrepreneurship career. Actually, before then it was in corporate, Communications, marketing. That wasn't enough for me. Went into entrepreneurship.

I, started out in brand design. That wasn't enough for me. I wanted more. I wanted to support my clients more, so then I added in brand strategy, and now I, called myself a brand strategist and brand designer. And now I am hitting this point in my life, and it's indicative of, my personal life and my professional life coming together, where I am feeling that itch to continue to keep growing.

I hate being satisfied with just being where I'm at. I always wanna keep growing. And so now, after serving my clients for the past three or four years, I have realized that my clients are needing even more... support that they're needing other than just, brand design and brand strategy.

And when I work closely with my clients, I see that, and I wanna help them. I don't wanna be just limited to them hiring me for just brand design and brand strategy. And so that is the personal evolution that I'm entering, and now I'm pursuing, a creative co-working studio here in Fresno, California, where I can support clients, business owners, entrepreneurs, founders in an even bigger way.

 Maybe it's this fear of being average. I'm an overachiever. I've always been that way, and that kinda comes from my athletic background. and so it is no different within my career, and, I love it. it's been, great. I love the personal evolution, so that's what I consider it. 

Radim Malinic: you've said so many, interesting things that I had to write down, and I will start with the one that says fear of being average, because you mentioned your athletics background.

I know your athletics background because I watched your TEDx talk. But let's put more color on this story because it's an unusual one where it kind of led you to the world of brand and being, brand casted in a way by being perceived as a particular type of person in a way. So,let's go to the origin story, which is, it starts with five girls from England 

 I grew up in Fresno, California, and, just for a little bit of context, I was always the token Black girl that grew up in a predominantly white community. And the story that I give that kind of kicks off how my understanding of personal branding was with the Spice Girls.

Marissa: And I think everyone that has grown up with the Spice Girls know exactly Scary Spice, what's her brand? Sporty Spice, what's her brand? Ginger Spice, Baby Spice, They all have these identities. and growing up, I was the token Black girl.

I was always casted as Scary Spice, and that didn't sit well with me because I always identified myself, not because of physical appearance, but because I always identified myself as Sporty Spice and wanted to be Sporty Spice because I was heavily involved in sports growing up. I did soccer, basketball, gymnastics, dance, club sports.

I was a runner. I did it all, and I really prided myself in that. And so when I do pretend with my friends or we'd dress up for Halloween, "Marissa, you gotta be Scary Spice." And early on, I understood the notion that if we don't control our narrative, someone else will. And at the time, I didn't have the, language to really speak up for myself and tell people, "No," "This is who I wanna be.

This is who I am." And I kinda just went with it, and,led into my identity as sports and my personal branding was sports from childhood all the way.

through college. And, that's where the, start of personal branding came from. I was known as the girl who runs really fast and far.

Eventually, running was my sport and went to college for it. So that became my personal identity for a good majority of my life. 

Radim Malinic: When you talked about your branding work, you said, "I am meant for more." And when you just now talked about your childhood and your early years, you mentioned how many different sports activities that you do. So there was always meant for more. you were always going for something that just beyond the regular.

And reflecting on your words you don't look after your narrative, someone else will make it for you, meaning that we didn't have the words earlier on, like how to be assertive about what other people 

say about us, and you said we don't have the language for it.

 I think we've only just getting language for some of the things. I think we enabling our children and the children of this generation have the language, have the more of the awareness. Because the things that you describe when it comes to, let's say, branding, et cetera, how many people even at the time were more sporty and ginger and, scary running around the, wannabe video sets, There was very little language. No one was seeing them as a personal brand. It was more about how you saw the carrying that meaning on themselves. But we've invented, I would say, invented more language around all of these topics to actually make sense of this.

Because I've had clients' children sometimes, call in, they're like, "Hey, look, we need some more brand equity into what we do." I'm like, "You are 17. Like, how do you know all of this? Because when I was 17, 

this didn't exist." 

Marissa: Yeah, no, not at all. yeah, I don't think I called it branding at the time, but I understood that you can create what people perceive of you and, you can help shape that narrative or shape that perception. we don't own our personal brand. I truly believe that.

I believe the people outside of us own our personal brand, whereas we, though, have the opportunity to influence our personal brand. So when people were seeing me as only as a Scary Spice or what have you, I felt a personal, responsibility to okay, they're not understanding who I am, and I'm not fully communicating who I am, and so I'm gonna do my damnedest to make sure that I am influencing how they see me.

And so that's when I got into sports, and blessings to my mom and dad for believing in my athleticism and,and, really fostering because I went out in any sport that I did, I was going to be great at it, so that then people can start seeing me as, "Oh, she's the sport girl. 

She's Sporty Spice," that's how really, I got into running, and that's why running got me a scholarship to go to school, because I was going to be great and prove people wrong. and looking back over my life, I think the biggest motivator for me is proving people wrong.

that is the fire underneath me. people who don't believe in something I'm capable of doing, I am probably saying, "Okay, bet. Watch me." and that goes for not just my sports background, but everything in life, entrepreneurship, the projects I work on. just today, I actually just saw a quote of, I don't mind receiving nos.

I don't mind receiving, doors slammed. but they're going to watch me. just watch me later then." And then so it's this, energy of, I'm gonna show them what's up. I'm gonna show them who I really am, through my work, and through my actions.

Radim Malinic: So as a fellow young sort of sportsman, I'm really curious because it doesn't come to us till later when we really reflect on sports careers, what you've learned and what you actually bringing into your later life when it comes to sports endurance or patience or determination.

How would you say, and again, I don't wanna dwell on the,sports identity too much, but obviously through sports we pick up on so many life skills that lead into a creative life. Would you have anything that you can pinpoint back that, your title of the girl who runs really fast and no, and learned how to run really fast.

Did you pick up anything that's become almost your life skill trait?

Marissa: Yeah, I think this, unshakable belief in what is possible, is something that I've picked up from sports, I think in sports we fail more than we win, and, that's a true statement, we fail more than we win. I lost more races than I won. I lost more games than I won, but still I found opportunity and it won me in the long run, 

Getting a scholarship to college, getting my school paid. But this unshakable belief in what's possible. Now at the front end, same with branding in general. We may feel like, okay, no one is seeing me. I don't have any influence yet. I am,at the beginning of building my personal brand or building my brand, nothing's really, no opportunities are really happening.

But if I keep at it, if I keep consistent, if I keep working at it, if you have this unshakable belief in that it can happen and, that being, greater influence and opportunities and greater reach, if I continue to go at it, it will happen for me. And so I don't give up easily in my career, and, I think that is a testament to being in sports and growing up in sports. 

Radim Malinic: You said that sentence about three or four times, and I loved it every single time you said it because you said it's the unshakable belief of what's possible. Where did that come from? is it societal? Is it personal? Is it learned? 

Marissa: the delu- the delulu is what I like to call it. I am very delusional, and I thank my parents for that because I believe, and this is a new belief, I believe our mindset is a big part of the opportunities. I don't think, opportunity is found. I think it's built. And, this unshakable belief that I am going to seek out opportunity and I'm gonna make it happen for myself.

I'm not gonna wait around to be rescued or for someone to help me. I'm gonna make it happen for myself. And I didn't always think this, and I feel like, before my coming to this realization, I felt stuck. I felt stuck in my career. I felt stuck in, sports. after retiring from my sport, I felt stuck, and I felt like waiting around for someone to come rescue me, and that goes back to my story in TEDx, like waiting around for someone to come tell me what I need to do next.

And it wasn't until, probably the beginning of entrepreneurship, no, I would say two years into entrepreneurship, realizing that you gotta have a delusional mindset that anything is possible. nothing is impossible. It just takes a little creativity to figure it out, to get where you need to go.

and I truly believe that. I'm a testament, just the opportunities I've had, it's a testament to being delusional.

Radim Malinic: I love that. I love that. But I've got a question, and I think this might be a little too personal, but we were going with unshakable belief in what's possible, but then somehow we find you being a bit stuck. What's happened? 

Marissa: and like I said, I did not have this belief. I did not believe that things were possible all the time. and maybe it came on and off, with running, my parents made me believe that you can get your school paid for if you work hard. but then there were opportunities of, when I was in corporate and going through corporate life, that there wasn't so much of the unshakable belief in what's possible.

I struggled really a lot in corporate life, and my experience in corporate. And so that's where I would say that I didn't really have that. I think these things come in waves and what life throws at you, and You don't just believe something and it, sticks with you throughout life, 

 life throws you curveballs. There are low points. There are points where you don't believe that, and I definitely have that in my life and my experiences, corporate being one of them. But eventually, you come back to remembering, "Oh, remember, back then? I had this unshakable belief that I can do what I set my mind to.

let's get back there again." And rediscovering those beliefs. 

when you talked about corporate, it made me actually think of twisting the sentence and saying you've got unshakable reality of what's not possible when it 

comes to corporate life. an unshakable reality that some of this is not possible because that's corporate stuff. So it's great that obviously you find yourself on the way out.

You talked of in your TEDx talk about a pattern of identities, like how you went from, a runner to a career roles, then, to motherhood, and there was the pandemic iso-isolation, and every single time the identity stood for the whole person.

How would you define it? How would you say that the identity stood for the whole person?

Yeah. I think,for me personally, and maybe this is,my own belief, but I very much had like singular identities. And because I did sports for so long, like that was a singular identity. And then I moved to another singular identity after retiring, and then I went to another singular identity.

But now I'm coming to this realization is that no, none of us, me, you, none of us are singular people. We're multidimensional. We are multi-hyphenate. And I feel like personal branding stands,you're claiming, what it is that you want people to see you as. And for some people, maybe they want that singular identity, and there's nothing wrong with that. Absolutely. not. but for a creative like myself, the singular identities is what was keeping me boxed in, was keeping me limited. And that, I think probably that is why I've had this urge of I want to do more. Like there is always, I always came to a point in my life where I wanna do more, I wanna do more.

And maybe that was, subconsciously my personal self, my being was telling me, "Marissa, you are not singular. You're not meant for singular work. You're not meant for a singular position, a singular identity. stop fighting against It and start embracing my multidimensionalness," if that's a word.

Radim Malinic: Absolutely. It is now, yeah. it definitely is a word now. But I've truly understand what you mean with this because, yes, when you think about, let's say, Michael Phelps, he had a massive career comedown because he was always a singular identity. 

He was Michael Phelps, this is what he did.

And then everyone thinks like you've won gazillion gold medals, this is what you are. And it was very hard for him to embrace Michael Phelps' post-Olympic career because he no longer was that identity, I think it's Derek Sivers who says like,"Earn your title, otherwise it expires."

I think when you think when you throw people around by taking away from what they really used to be known for and famous for or good at, and all of a sudden you put them in a different setting, that changes them. And 

I think that's really important as we talk about like how the singular term is something that we need to carry with ourselves for the world outside to understand us.

Because you very much talk about in your three pillars of personal brand, you talk about clarity, consistency, and connection, So obviously how people perceive us obviously is one thing that we can do for ourselves, but then how we understand ourselves is a whole different story.

Because before I hand it 

over to you, it was said on this podcast not that long ago that unlike before, if, you wanted to say, "I'm an illustrator, art director, designer, I do all of these different things," now we can say, "I'm a creative." And 

that used to rub people the wrong way even five, 10 years ago when I was like, "I'm a creative," because I can do lots of different things, and I don't have to explain to you what it really is, because I can tell you what problems I solve.

But, that's the sort of nature of a personal brand, because sometimes the more you make it mysterious, people actually get a bit more. So tell me about your three pillars of personal brand, your clarity, consistency, and connection.

Marissa: Yeah. Clarity, consistent connection.

those are all like things that I've learned or I've been able to like step back and be like, "Oh, these are the things that I had to go through in order for someone to really understand who I am and what I do." but it's nothing with like outward appearance. It has nothing to do with, outward appearance or even going above and beyond to make someone understand you.

people understand you or not. and that's none of your business, but for those that wanna lean in and learn more about you, you have the opportunity to provide them with some context, Some clarity about, "Okay, this is actually who I am. I'm gonna show you through the work that I do, through the messaging that I provide in like my content and when I'm doing things like this."

and consistency, my mantra is make it on brand, and I believe make it on brand is this intentionality. It means this intentionality and, Compounding all of your decisions and how you move through life, how you show up, how you show out to a central idea of like who you are, in everything that you do.

so I always say, and in everything I do, I could be cooking dinner, but I'm gonna make it on brand. I'm gonna do this podcast, but I'm gonna make it on brand. I'm going to attend this event, but I'm gonna make it on brand. It's just a declaration, this declaration that I'm not letting other people define who I am.

I'm gonna show up how I wanna show up, in my multi-hyphenate. I'm not gonna show up in what people expect me to be, which is a singular identity. I'm gonna show up in a way that, reflects who I am. so clarity, consistency, and then connection. I truly believe that we have, through branding, branding is an opportunity to build those connections.

when I enter into rooms, my first thought isn't how am I gonna influence this room? My first thought is, how can I connect with someone here to m- make myself memorable? so that later down the road they think, "Oh, Marissa, I met her," blah, blah, blah. I'm not going into a room for an ask. I'm going into a room for a connection, and I believe that you can more easily do that through your personal brand and how you show up and how you show out.

 the people around you, their experience with you going back to the top of our conversation that we don't own our personal brand, people outside of us do, but we have the power to influence it. And so my first step of influencing it is just building a, connection, a friendly connection.

finding something that could be a conversation, it could be a physical appearance, maybe me stepping into a room with a great outfit on. I don't know. It could be a myriad of things. But, again, it's I'm stepping into a room as a creative. I know my multi-hyphenate self, and, I am going to use that to my advantage and build a personal connection with someone so that they remember who I am, and they can speak my name into other rooms that maybe I'm not in yet, or they reach back out to me for something, an opportunity.

So all of it comes back to the notion of just always making it on brand, in everything that you do, and you get to decide as the creative of what that really means.

Radim Malinic: It speaks of a great freedom of expression because I like when you said, "I'm going into the room to influence the room." And in fact, everything that you describe in these pillars seem very intentional because I'm thinking, do you become what you describe or do you have to be intentional about this?

Because I guess, with every decision that you make or everything that you put... Not everything that you put on, everything you get dressed in or everything that you say, is there intentionality or can it be unintentional? That's my question.

Marissa: Yeah, think I believe everyone has a personal brand, whether it's intentional or not, People always gonna perceive you in some way. and that's just human nature. And I'm not talking about perception as in judging you, where that might be a case as well.

But I'm talking about like they're going to create a narrative in their mind of who you are. when we were kids, sitting and people watching, maybe you're at like a restaurant and you just for fun to kill some time, you kinda create stories of people walking by. "Oh, they just met for the first time," or, 

it's silly. It's a silly notion, but like I've been able to take that notion and apply it to like real life. I truly believe that is happening even if it's for like a millisecond, right? When we're passing someone by or,when we're stopping to talk to someone briefly. we are gathering information, intel when we're talking with someone, and we're building this perception of them in our head.

Now, it may not always come clear in our mind immediately. We may get it wrong. We may be completely wrong. but there is a perception being developed. and so there, again, everyone is building a personal brand. It's the question of since we have the ability to influence that perception, are you gonna do it intentionally so that they don't get it wrong, your story, get it wrong in their head?

And that's exactly going back to the beginning, Of people thinking I'm none other than Scary Spice just because of my brown skin, I'm not having clarity and showing up in who I am. I'm not being consistent and, I'm not building a connection. All those three things.

 and so that's the disconnect that's happening, 

Radim Malinic: it's given me loads of thoughts and lots of questions about this because I think there was a time where companies were companies and became brands. Like no one was building a brand 50, 60 years ago. They were building companies that people loved and appreciated and came back to time and time again.

and I think with that reputation and with that perception, I think, companies or products were becoming brands because they were more in line with the conversations. They like, they became part of the folklore and it was like they would become more of this,which is happening now because when you think about the topic of this conversation, we are not talking about I wanna become a very good functioning business or entrepreneur and then become a brand later.

Obviously, we are already considering this because the world of perception and how we are positioned in this world has changed a lot. 

so if you remember the video "Where the Light Is," you know, the concert video. he talks at the beginning, he said that so many things about him are written wrong that he has to spend half an hour with someone so they know nothing about him, because he just proves everything they'd have heard about him was 

wrong. So he just say like, "Okay, let me cleanse your palate so you can actually learn about me, who I am from me." When you think about personal brands built at such scale, and by the way, I'm really excited that you're a John Mayer fan. when you think about personal brands built at such scale, when you can't control every output, especially, at the mid-2000s, early 2010s, where obviously a lot of media was focused on a kind of celebrity in a crazy way.

 how do you almost be able to control that perception? Because all you can do is just to show up in your best possible way, 

but somebody somewhere might have a bad day or doesn't like what you've said, and already, the work that you're doing on yourself or that you're not putting out there could be distorted.

Because when you 

say, I'm coming into the room to influence the room," somebody might have a bad day and 

say, "I don't like what you do," and this is, what I like 'cause obviously you said like you wanna own the narrative so people can't get it wrong 

or 

Marissa: Yeah 

Radim Malinic: give it you 

Marissa: Well, I'm going to give the advice that I give my kids, is that the other people's opinion, especially if they don't know you, they're not close with you, other people's opinions is none of your business. And I recently actually, in alignment with that, taking it a step further, I recently, with "Spider-Man" coming out, Tom Holland, he had said that, you have to think of people's opinions of like this: if, they have your cell phone number?

And if they don't, then they don't know you good enough to make these opinions or stories or whatever. So while you have no control of your personal branding, and it's absolutely impossible to control the narrative in a really large-scoped way, but I'm more concerned with,where I wanna build opportunity.

going back to the opportunity isn't found, it's built. And so I'm not going to waste my energy of worrying about spaces that I'm not even in. And,there's going to be people that misunderstand me, and that's okay too. I'm focusing on where I'm trying to go, what rooms I'm trying to enter,and I'm talking rooms as in like opportunities, and how am I going to show up there.

And,what is the perception that's being built in those rooms that I'm planning on being at?so I'm not a big company. I'm not a big, corporate, and it's, absolutely impossible from, on the individual level to control the narrative. People are gonna continue to misunderstand you.

but it kinda goes to the notion, back to the notion of I'm gonna prove people wrong, and they can even either accept,it or they can continue to share, create the narrative in their head that is not true. but that's none of my business. I'm gonna focus on me. I'm gonna do me.

And, 

Radim Malinic: when you ask them, "What does mommy do?" they will say brand strategy. And they, and So in my parenting, it kinda comes off the same way. You know? "You're building a personal brand, okay? Don't worry about, how you perceive yourself because perceiving yourself as well and your own opinion about who you are.

Marissa: Are you happy with it? Are you happy with the person you're becoming? Are you happy with the choices you're making and stuff? And you have to also influence yourself. so but other people's opinions of you, they have your personal brand in their mind, but, that's also none of our business.

You just keep doing what you can control. and, those are all the little tools in building our personal brand.

Radim Malinic: I absolutely adore what you say and obviously you make it on brand. Like every sentence is on brand. Obviously you know exactly who you are, what you wanna be, how you wanna show up. You know exactly that. What happens when you meet someone who says, nah, I don't think that, I don't think that's true"?

Marissa: yeah. Again, going back to 

Speaker 2: what

Marissa: my parenting, we practice this at home, We'll practice like, "What if someone comes up and says, 'I don't like your drawing. Your drawing bugs me.' Say, 'No, thank you. Sorry. Sorry you feel that way. have a nice day,' and walk away." I know that's such a simple notion, but sometimes we just need to go back to the simple notions of how we approach these problems.

A-again, for me, a personal motivation is people that misunderstand me, that don't give me the opportunity. you just thank you. Thank you for thinking that, 'cause you've just built a fire within me to prove you wrong, to have you watch me succeed. that's the pettiness in me. I like to prove people wrong.

I like to succeed. going back to being an overachiever, going back to my athleticism. I will prove you wrong then, and I will find absolute joy in that.

Radim Malinic: I love the pettiness. can definitely relate to pettiness. I mean,

pettiness is...

Marissa: Gotta have a little bit of pettiness It drives you. That's,how the most successful people are where they're at, You just gotta operate that way. 

Radim Malinic: you mentioned a few times that opportunity is not found, it's built. 

How do you build opportunities? How do you create them? Because I think it still baffles me. I mean, again,in my age, it obviously it shouldn't, but obviously when you watch content online, sometimes you stumble on something which is recorded by someone who's a bit younger, and some of the things are quite surprising to them, like to ask for things or how to go after things and how to, build an opportunity.

I'm thinking, but there was no other way before. it's just like whatever, everything that you wanted for yourself, you have to go to it. 

So

how do you go to your opportunities? How do you build those?

Marissa: again, operating with the delusional spirit. I feel like my entire career is a textbook definition of building your own opportunities. I've been blessed to have opportunities come my way, but Entrepreneurship has not been that easy. And I'm a person who is unsatisfied with just being where I am and, "Oh, this is life.

This is how it is." No, I absolutely refuse to accept that. And so I build opportunity, and the way I do that is through, my connections. going back to personal branding, the connection part of things, Building my network, building people that know my name, I'll give you a very quick example.

recently I went to Cannes Lions. it's one of the biggest marketing conferences in the world. It happens in the south of France. And I really wanted to go, but I didn't have any opportunities. It's expensive to go. It's a big, big, big, big, expense. And I really, I had the delusional spirit again. I really wanna be on a stage.

I really wanna be speaking. Again, There was no opportunity presenting itself, not even the slightest. But with a month out from the trip, I made opportunity happen, and let me show you exactly what. I created my own stage. I,invited two prominent professionals, Christo, Leah Haberman.

They didn't previously know me, but I, found a way into their world Not in a like an evil way. Just like through, like I see what they're posting online. I'm trying to build that connection, going back to my personal brand, building a connection. prior to Cannes Lions, I was successfully able to do that.

And then I asked them, I was like: "Hey, I would love to speak with you and interview you. I will find us a stage. I'd love to bring Leah, Chris, I'd love to bring you two together. Can we make this happen?" And because... I asked Chris after we had completed this, opportunity. I was like: why did you say yes to me?

You don't know me. We've not interacted before. We've been on Designer Boss Summit, some of the same like design conferences," but he did not know me. "So why are you saying yes?" And he says: "Because of how you approached." Because, that says your personal brand, 

I didn't come in asking. I came in first, I built a relationship with them. I talked to them on LinkedIn, through the DMs, through, showing, investing interest in who they are. And then when I heard that both of them are going to Cannes Lions, I was like: "Hey, let's meet IRL. We've been talking, I've been commenting on your stuff."

 that's literally what he said: "Because of your approach. I liked your approach." And Chris, Do, he charges thousands of dollars just to sit down with him for 20, 30 minutes, and he did it willingly at Cannes. Now that's one opportunity. I was like: "Okay, well, I still need to make back some money because this is an expensive trip."

I approached three people, not, again, not previously connected, prior to going to Cannes, cold pitch, and just relied on my personal brand to make a connection and had three opportunities, paying opportunities, and I was able to completely fund my Cannes Lion trip. So all this to say is that I did not get there It's opportunity didn't find me.

I had to go after it. And again, going back to my athleticism, like I have this drive, this unshakable belief that I can make it happen and I'm going to make it happen. Is that a mindset thing? Sure. Maybe. Possibly. But I just operate with this intent like I'm gonna keep working on it. I'm gonna keep doing it.

just like in running, I'm gonna keep showing up at practice. I'm gonna keep doing those repeats. I'm gonna keep until I finally win, and that unshakable truth. So Opportunity was built. it didn't find me, and that is like indicative of a lot in my career, my entire career.

Radim Malinic: I will go around a long way to say something. So every time I upload an episode of this podcast, there's a tick button saying, "This episode contains an explicit language." I'm gonna tick that button right now because I have to say I fucking love your story. Absolutely fucking love it because what you just described is everything that you live and breathe.

You know, it's a clarity, consistency, connection. if you double down on who you are and what you wanna do and go after these things and you create them, I mean, that story is fantastic. I

I think I've seen your social content saying, "I'm going to Cannes Lions." I was like, "Wow, that's really good." Now I know your story, guess what I'm gonna do next year? Hopefully I'll see you in Cannes Lions and we'll do stage together somehow. We'll find a way to do it.

But This is it. just the whole topic of "Daring Forever," which is again, shameless plug, a story of obviously,based on a book of the same title coming out in October, is very much about doing the things that you would otherwise regret never starting or never,

pursuing.

So you having an idea of going to Cannes and thinking maybe not, that's regret. "I should have done it. I could have done it." Whereas, pursuing these things, inventing things, that's where the life is, because so far this season's been very much about people who've gone to the other side of the world, starting new lives, started projects that were not existing, doing things.

And 

it's not about going with blind faith into a nonsensical cul-de-sac. It's very much "I want this thing. This is the step one, two, three, four, five." And then you get and you find your space in it. You can explore your curiosity, your gratitude for the whole situation.

Because despite what you might hear in a passing conversation where people say, this world is a little bit broken. This is what's happening. This is that," there is prevalence of actually amazing opportunities waiting to be built, waiting to be created, stories that you can have and own. Because if you wait for somebody else to create something from that, create that for you, it will never happen.

And I always throw in this Nietzsche quote, which is a bit dark, but it goes, "If you believe that someone has ruined your life, then it's true, and that someone is you." 

we are very much the makers of our own destiny. We can read, we can do whatever we want. I fucking love that story. Have to say that again just to justify the tick on the explicit language.

Sorry about that. 

But it's something that, you know, it makes me happy because it's these things of unpredictable nature where you go, "Wow, I love this. I'm glad you did it." Because you said at the top of the conversation, you said one sentence that I had to write down. You said, "I hate being satisfied."

Marissa: Tell me You have to does it come from?

 I think this come that notion comes from?

my corporate background. I did not have the best corporate background, actually quite opposite. I'm thankful for the opportunities and the learning and stuff I've done, but the experience was not a joyful one in all the companies and positions I've held.

But I realized that someone had told me when I was in the midst of being at this very low point in my life that I need to stop attaching myself to a title. It could be like a job title or it could be stop attaching yourself to a company and start attaching yourself to your mission in life.

And that is what got me out of corporate because I was going down the path of just being satisfied of where I am. "Oh, you know, I love this work. The company culture isn't that great, but, I'm living in San Diego and, I have a job and I get all these things. I could have made all the excuses, But I wasn't happy.

And when someone told me that, I knew that my mission was much bigger than my corporate job, and I brought that with me through all of entrepreneurship. And I think it goes back to like just being unsatisfied with being stagnant and wanting to like going from brand designer to brand designer and strategist to brand lead to da, da, da, da, da, da. and seeking out the opportunities that feel more in alignment with who I am, with my personal brand, with, how I want to be perceived. And I think that's why, I'm where I am today. for Christ's sake, I'm building a creative co-working studio here in Fresno. The opportunity does not exist here in Fresno.

It's never been. And I am working in, just for context, Fresno is a city that is much underserving the creative community, and the creative community has been burned because of, opportunities that have previously existed, and the creative community has unfortunately been burned by it.

Money laundering, things like very bad things. And so I'm building this creative co-working studio opportunity knowing that I'm coming into a community that has been taken for granted, But I am so unbelievably committed to this mission of helping other people create the opportunity to help them build their opportunity that it's going to happen.

 I tell people it's not a matter of this is gonna happen, it's a matter of when. this is Absolutely, happening. Going back to that Dilulu spirit. Do I know what I'm doing? Absolutely not. Have I ever built something of this s- size? Absolutely not.But, that's not stopping me.

I'm building my opportunity. I'm going to get there. I'm going to prove people wrong. this is going to happen, And that's not to say that I'm on this path of, pursuing these opportunities that I won't hit doors.

They won't always go my way. Ken Lyons could have easily not happened, but I wasn't gonna stop. And I'll,tell people, I'm gonna go as far as I can until I get a door slammed in my face, but then I'm gonna find a way around that door, 

and then I'll keep going, and then I'll get another door, and I'll find another way around that door."

I 

Radim Malinic: have

Marissa: don't see those you know, 

Radim Malinic: Yeah. 

Marissa: take me off my path. 

Radim Malinic: Absolutely. I mean,it was really interesting. we talked about your Cannes story and there was lots of energy, and then you went back to your corporate, past life and the energy dropped. It was 

like, oh, 

Marissa: It's a, it's

bit of 

Radim Malinic: was a different story. 

 when you think about it, like it still goes back to one thing that you said, it's unshakable belief of what's possible, and that is the nugget here.

Ithat is the real sort of, soundbite, like, because It's happiness is genetic, Some people are not naturally, genetically to be happy. this is just, some people have been moody, 

some people are not. But when you think about it, anyone's got the same possibilities.

Now the world is the same almost for everyone, with no little asterisks to it. But this is the best part about what you do because not only you live and breathe what you do, but you back it up with the product or the possibilities or the energy, the momentum of, this is who I am, this is where I show up, and this is where it pushes me.

Because I think you can show up, let's say exposed naked, to, to opportunity 

with not much sort of much, preparation or not much sort of background 

on knowing who you are. You might get it wrong, you might get it right. most of the times you're most likely to get it wrong because the intentionality is not there.

But having an idea of what you're trying to achieve, what you want to do, drives that brand, drives that intention, drives those decisions. and I love what you do and how you want to do it and showing that immense gratitude for life and opportunities by saying, "Look, I haven't built a co-working studio, but I'm gonna do it."

Too right, And especially doing it in a place where, it didn't go that well before. So I think, it's about unshakable belief of what's possible. 

Marissa: I know who I am I know who I am and I know, when I talk with people about my dream and what I'm pursuing, and the people who know me and know my personal brand, those that have my phone number, "Absolutely, Marissa. I have no doubt that you're not gonna make this happen."

I know who I am. I have been building my personal brand all these years from inception. I know how I show up and show out, and I know how my creativity operates, and I use all these things to my advantage, and I firmly believe because I have clarity, I have consistency and those connections, that it's going to happen. and every future opportunity that I can't currently see right now, it's going to happen because I know who I am. I have my mission. I have, the unshakable belief in what's possible. I can't say it enough that it truly is the foundation for my entire creative career. 

Radim Malinic: Well, thank you very much for summarizing Daring Forever. it's just all there. You just described it in the most, 

 beautiful way in your own, view. And that's beautiful because, I'm a big fan of what you do, and You help people see the world differently by not only shining bright with what you do, but actually helping and kind of looking out for the others and creating things that, are not found, they are built.

So thank you very much. Thanks for being here, and, what a, lovely conversation. Thank you. 

Marissa: Thank you so much 

Radim: Hey, thank you for joining me on this episode of Daring Forever Podcast. As always, I'd love to know your thoughts, questions, and even suggestions, so please get in touch via the show notes or social channels. This episode was produced and presented by me, Radim Malinic. Thank you for being here, and I hope to catch you on the next episode

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