0:34

Welcome in everyone and thank you

0:36

so much for joining me again this

0:38

week . This week

0:40

, you are in for quite

0:42

the ride . My guest

0:45

this week is Leah Valencia

0:47

Key , and she is

0:49

an overcomer and an overachiever

0:52

. She has overcome

0:54

hunger , she

0:56

has overcome homelessness to

0:58

become a best selling

1:01

designer on QVC , which

1:04

reaches millions of homes

1:06

every single day . And

1:09

she is just getting started . It

1:11

is my pleasure and my honor to

1:13

introduce to you Leah Valencia

1:16

Key . Leah , thank

1:19

you so much for being here and welcome to

1:21

the show .

1:22

Thank you . Oh , that was so beautiful

1:24

. I'm so overjoyed and honored

1:26

, truly to be with you .

1:28

I am so excited for you to be here

1:31

and it's so interesting how the two of

1:33

us met . We were introduced

1:35

by a mutual friend and

1:37

the moment I saw your name

1:39

, I knew you because

1:42

I watched your launch on

1:44

QVC , because it was a very special

1:47

launch . Qvc was finally

1:49

doing something to recognize

1:51

female black owned

1:54

small businesses and you were one

1:56

of the first ones . I was like I have to watch

1:58

this . And you , not

2:00

only did you sell out , you are just joy

2:02

. You are just

2:04

joy , thank you , tell . Before

2:07

I get ahead of myself , tell

2:09

us a little bit about you

2:11

and then we'll get into the good stuff

2:13

.

2:14

Yes , oh , I love it . Well , thank you . It was

2:16

so amazing when you said oh

2:18

, I remember that first launch . It

2:21

actually was . It was called the Big Fine Competition

2:23

and they were looking for all small businesses

2:25

and it

2:28

was a rigorous , amazing

2:31

process to go through . But I actually

2:33

happened to be one of the small

2:35

business winners of that Big Fine Competition

2:38

and you got to see me launch that day . So

2:40

it's serendipity how , how

2:43

circles , how life is connected in

2:45

such a beautiful way and we always talk about

2:47

all things being possible . So you

2:50

know , you never know what's in your future . I

2:53

like to talk about my past

2:55

, speaking of the future , because I feel

2:57

like everyone's past , especially

3:00

mine's . It dictates your future and

3:02

my past . You see me in

3:04

all light and so much joy

3:07

and you may be confused

3:09

and think , oh , she was born in life , she was born in joy , like

3:11

her life , was just birthed

3:14

in a joyful place . And

3:16

it's actually quite the opposite

3:18

. I was born

3:20

in poverty . I was born in the

3:23

most impoverished area of Philadelphia , pennsylvania

3:26

, born to a single mother , three children , three

3:28

children , my brother and my sister , and myself

3:31

, and

3:33

I love to share the first

3:35

moment that I realized that

3:37

we were poverty , like

3:41

we were always hungry and at

3:43

the end of every month there was no food to eat

3:45

. But there

3:47

was a moment where we went from poverty to destitute

3:49

, when my mother broke

3:51

her leg in several places and

3:54

we lived in this

3:57

under basement apartment

3:59

in a really impoverished area with

4:01

trash riddled on the streets and drug transactions

4:03

on the corner . But

4:05

when my mother broke her legs she couldn't even afford

4:08

that little area . So

4:10

she was getting us home from school one day

4:12

and there was a padlock on the door and

4:16

that was where I first of all

4:18

saw like true pain and under stood , what pain looked like when

4:20

a mother has no place to take her children and

4:25

that moment take us from poverty to homelessness . We

4:28

immediately had to go to a woman's homeless shelter and

4:32

I love painting the picture of the homeless shelter

4:34

because imagine a gym size room , a

4:37

big room with little cots one foot away

4:39

from each other and

4:41

each mother has one cot , so

4:44

the entire family has to ball up on this little cot and

4:47

there's crying and moaning and hopelessness

4:50

and sorrow and all types of darkness around . But

4:54

I share that specific story because

4:56

that moment was , I say , the

4:58

first seed of light that was planted in my life

5:00

because my mother looked down at her three children , myself

5:04

included , and she said your predicament

5:06

doesn't determine your destiny . In

5:10

the middle of that darkness she spoke

5:12

that light and that word and I was about third grade . I give

5:14

it third because I remember

5:16

grades . I remember I was failing because of

5:18

my environment . And

5:21

so that's around eight years old

5:23

, right , super young . We

5:26

stayed in that environment , in the homeless shelter

5:28

for years and I just start

5:30

to spiral down that dark path of what my environment was . I

5:34

was failing every grade , just

5:36

becoming very negative , and I wrote the

5:39

first full light . So

5:41

that was a seed of light , because when my

5:44

mother spoke those words I was so young

5:46

I didn't understand it , but

5:48

I like to call it a seed because I'm

5:50

sharing that to today , right ? So

5:53

it was planted in my heart and

5:55

it started to grow later , when my

5:57

mother stopped me for the second time around

6:00

fifth grade . So about two years later , I'm coming back from school

6:02

, I'm failing every

6:05

grade , and

6:07

she stops me at the homeless door and she says do

6:09

you want to be a follower leader , leah ? So

6:12

confused with this question ? Right , young , what are

6:14

you talking about ? And

6:16

she said right now , you're following , you're

6:19

actually following everything you see in

6:21

this environment and guess what , leah

6:23

? You're going to become this environment , or

6:25

you can choose to lead . You

6:28

can choose to lead your life . You

6:30

can listen to the light and the destiny

6:32

inside of you and you can

6:34

choose to lead your life to that destiny

6:37

. And she left with one word

6:39

you choose . And left me

6:41

there , young , with the power

6:43

of choice .

6:46

Your mother , my goodness

6:48

, amazing , is your mother

6:50

still with us .

6:51

She's deceased . She passed super early . I

6:54

like to . I'm a self-diagnosed doctor

6:56

. I'm not a doctor but I like to

6:58

diagnose things . So I diagnosed

7:01

my mother with

7:03

society's

7:05

stereotypes

7:08

and paralyzation by

7:10

that , by society's norms and generational

7:12

curses . If no one knows what

7:14

a generational curse is , it means , for

7:16

example , your parents

7:19

were poverty , their parents were poverty

7:21

, you become poverty . So

7:24

it's this cycle and it just keeps going

7:26

and going . She was paralyzed by

7:29

that and then paralyzed by being

7:31

an African-American woman , born

7:34

into poverty and all the stereotypes

7:36

that come to it . So she lived

7:38

in that and I don't think she could . And

7:40

fear , I think fear

7:43

had filled her body with all of these

7:45

things that were surrounding her . So

7:48

I feel like physically she could not break

7:50

out of that , to be all that her mind

7:53

was , because I called her one of the most intelligent

7:56

women that I know to this day

7:58

, because she knew she couldn't physically

8:00

break out of that bind that

8:03

she was in . So the next

8:05

thing I and I analyzed it that she

8:07

did decided if I can't , then

8:09

let me try one more

8:11

life and speak into my children's

8:13

life . And so she would speak these

8:15

words into our

8:17

lives that were so

8:19

powerful . And until this

8:22

day . I'm honored

8:24

that I'm able to share these words to

8:26

millions of people now . So not only did

8:28

she bless me , she's now blessing

8:31

so many other people . So

8:34

I like to share that , because the power of choice

8:36

is magical . When

8:38

you understand , you really can choose

8:40

and your predicament outside

8:43

of you like no matter what it looks like in

8:45

front of you , no matter where

8:47

your job is not going

8:49

well or you're doing really great

8:51

, and society says you should

8:53

be happy , but your inside says this is

8:55

not where you're supposed to be , it

8:58

doesn't have to be that and all you

9:00

have to do is choose it . And then the next

9:02

thing is millimeter movements , taking really

9:04

small steps towards it .

9:06

Your mother was remarkable

9:09

, absolutely remarkable , because

9:12

, regardless of your , the situation

9:14

and what you described to me is that she felt like

9:16

she physically couldn't break

9:18

out of the bounds that she had been born

9:21

with . Yeah , and the mental

9:23

strength and the mental acuity

9:25

to give what

9:27

strength she had to you

9:30

and your siblings , which

9:32

is one of the greatest gifts

9:34

another human being can

9:36

give to their children . She

9:41

gave you the gift of light

9:44

and the gift of choice

9:46

and the gift of possibility

9:48

.

9:50

I love . Those are my words . Yes

9:52

, all of those in their gifts . Exactly

9:55

what you said , because sometimes

9:58

we forget them or we don't even know

10:00

, when you're

10:02

gifted , that the

10:04

world literally changes . But

10:07

you have to decide to accept

10:09

it . You have to decide to accept that

10:11

gift as true .

10:13

How long did it take you to believe

10:16

immediately ?

10:18

I would like this , and I know it sounds like

10:20

like really , I mean no

10:22

. Immediately I remember and I black

10:25

out negative things in my life , right

10:27

so time periods and stuff I'm like it was about . But

10:30

I immediately remember

10:32

standing there alone because she left

10:34

. She left , she gave it and

10:37

she walked off because she wasn't forcing

10:40

this thing . It was very

10:42

much like I got a key to share . Now

10:44

you could decide to use this key and unlock

10:46

your future or you cannot . I'm gonna

10:49

leave you with it . And I remember being

10:51

left with this Like

10:53

wow , like I can choose

10:55

. Because this whole entire time

10:57

I'm still young , but I'm thinking

11:00

I had to do this

11:02

. This is what it , this is what we do . Everyone

11:04

else is doing it . It just seemed natural

11:06

. You're , when you're a child , you're a sponge

11:08

, so you're just soaking up what you see

11:10

. But when , when I was in and also

11:13

is given permission , I don't care

11:15

who we are , what age , we are young , old

11:17

. We as humans

11:19

, we love permission . And

11:21

when someone gives you permission , because

11:24

I had felt inside of me

11:26

differently , I knew that I didn't

11:28

want to be negative . I knew failing wasn't

11:30

my thing . None of it felt good to me . I

11:32

just didn't know anything different . So

11:34

when I got that permission it was

11:36

. It was like all of that

11:38

possibility and destiny

11:41

was allowed to be let out

11:43

of me because I'm like I

11:45

don't have to do that , I can choose what

11:47

I've been feeling all this time . Oh

11:49

, let's go Like , and

11:52

I do . I do think it's

11:54

also divine , because

11:56

as a young child , sometimes you

11:58

don't get it that quick . Most

12:00

of times you don't get it that quick . I remember going

12:02

back to school the next day and

12:05

asking my teachers how do I get better

12:07

grades ? Like , how do I see

12:09

outside of this ? I don't want

12:11

to be this how , and so

12:13

I love to share whoever's

12:15

listening . The next step is when you're

12:17

gift with learnings

12:20

. Now

12:22

take those learnings and then go ask

12:25

the world how

12:28

? Because the world has answers

12:30

. They may not take you all the way to

12:32

and through , but there's little keys

12:35

that will help you instantly , lock

12:37

by lock , unlock these destinies , and

12:39

my teacher would help me stay after

12:42

, stay after school , get some tutor lessons

12:44

. My grade , my grades , went from

12:46

failing to a progression

12:48

of honor roll by the power

12:51

of permission .

12:52

What that ?

12:53

that is mind blowing , failing

12:55

to honor roll

12:58

because of permission and

13:00

and because of understanding

13:02

another mindset . That's why

13:04

I'm so obsessed

13:06

with the mind and what

13:08

you pour into it . When

13:10

you pour these learnings

13:13

in the mind and you give it little

13:15

tools , oh

13:17

, what it can do . And

13:20

generally we're limited by

13:22

our understanding . And

13:26

if you just keep being exposed

13:28

and I love podcasts like this where

13:31

you're just listening if you just

13:34

allow yourself to listen to

13:36

people speak , there is

13:38

something , there's one key that will just

13:40

pour into your brain , that will unlock

13:42

what's already there for you , because it was

13:44

already there for me . I

13:46

just needed it unlocked and that just progressed

13:49

and I just started asking and learning and trying

13:51

and asking and knowing this right now

13:53

in front of me is not what

13:55

it is for me , for my future

13:57

. That's all I think . This right now in front of me

14:00

is not my future . What is my future

14:02

? And I see it so clearly ? I

14:04

would see myself graduating high

14:06

school . I would see myself going to college

14:08

. Now , college is not

14:10

for everybody . I'm

14:12

not cheerleading college . It actually put me

14:14

in a lot of debt . But what I will

14:17

cheerlead for college is I

14:19

had to get out of my environment . I

14:23

knew that . I knew for me

14:25

to be what my inside destiny

14:27

was . I had to find a way out of this

14:30

so that I could see something different

14:32

. Exposure is the key to everything

14:34

, and so I

14:36

knew college was my only

14:39

way that I could see to get

14:41

me out of this poverty environment

14:43

. So let's go , I'm going to college , I just

14:47

see it , I see it , I see it and I just go after

14:49

it .

14:50

Well , what I think is so beautiful about

14:52

your story and it's one of the things that

14:54

you had said to me when you and I first met

14:56

is you said

14:58

please dream big

15:00

. If you don't , I'm giving

15:02

you I'm literally giving you permission to

15:04

go dream big

15:06

. And your story

15:08

is just so indicative of that because

15:11

, yes , you went to college and you graduated

15:13

, and then you went and got a master's

15:15

degree , which is so

15:17

beautiful , and your master's

15:19

degree is in education , correct

15:21

?

15:21

Yes .

15:22

Yes , and how long

15:24

did you teach for and at what level ?

15:26

I taught for let's

15:28

do the math , because I got

15:30

my master's degree at the

15:32

same time . So I taught for two and a half

15:34

to three years and

15:36

I started off in sixth grade . It was a discipline

15:39

school for children . Oh , that

15:41

was fun and

15:43

I guess it was meant for me to be a blessing there

15:45

in that moment and started

15:48

with sixth grade boys . And then that was a

15:50

bit hectic for me because boys are very

15:53

active . So I'm like I

15:55

need a change . So then they changed

15:58

me to high school . All

16:00

girls , algebra , math

16:03

used to be my thing . I'm not sure if it's that now , but

16:06

when I was younger math was my thing . So

16:08

then I got to work

16:10

with young girls in high school

16:13

teaching algebra . That was very scary

16:15

because every child , especially

16:17

in the inner city , has been raised

16:19

that math is not fun and

16:21

that you can't do it and it's just not a thing . So

16:23

you were already at these limitation

16:26

factors . Well , what I learned there

16:28

, which was interesting , is one

16:31

to get what you're there for . So

16:34

they were paying for young

16:36

people I was young to

16:38

get your master's degree for free . So

16:41

I did that Like I was

16:43

like OK , I'm here to get my master's degree

16:45

, and then , while I'm here , how do I make an impact

16:48

, even if it's a very small

16:50

impact ? And I think the most powerful

16:52

impact that I was able to make

16:54

with the young girls was to

16:57

see another African-American

17:00

woman around

17:02

their same age group honestly Go

17:06

after dreams and

17:08

do their man . I would tell them I'm getting

17:10

my master's degree , so either y'all

17:12

are going to let me soar and stay here

17:15

or y'all going to come soar with me and

17:17

that power I feel set

17:20

in with not all , but at

17:22

least one , and then I

17:24

think , whatever happens . So

17:26

what's really cool about life is don't

17:28

get confused about your journey , because

17:31

your journey may seem like it doesn't line

17:33

up . I call it a godly

17:35

whisper . Whatever you believe in , I interwhisper

17:38

. Whatever you hear , there's something that always whispers

17:40

to you and you've got to listen to

17:42

that and you've got to do it . And it may seem

17:44

very not aligned

17:46

, but it all is

17:49

building blocks to where you're supposed

17:51

to be in your future . Teaching

17:53

helped me to get my master's , but also

17:55

helped me with patience and

17:57

understanding the mindsets of people

18:00

who were in the same predicament

18:02

as where I was , but now I was

18:04

on the opposite end . And then

18:06

? So how can I make an impact in their life . And

18:09

then I realized like , oh , I love teaching

18:12

, but it's not my joy . I

18:14

love teaching people who want to learn . So

18:16

I found that my whisper was

18:18

you are creative . Everything

18:20

lit up when I create it , like

18:23

everything in my heart . I would just

18:26

get so much joy . So then I would have to take

18:28

a risk and I share this , because

18:30

someone listening has

18:32

to take a risk on their life . They have to take

18:34

a chance and everything

18:37

around them says that they're safe and

18:40

what they're doing , but it's not comfortable

18:42

to them , it's not joy to them and

18:44

whatever is whispering inside of them is their

18:47

true joy . But maybe

18:49

financially it doesn't line up , or maybe

18:51

social acceptance it doesn't line

18:53

up . Whatever it is , you

18:55

have to take a risk on what your inner

18:58

whisper and your divinely purpose is

19:00

, because that's where all

19:02

the magic and purpose starts to happen

19:04

. So going from an actual

19:07

job with a teacher and then saying

19:09

I actually love creativity , so I

19:11

had to jump with a master's

19:13

degree and go back and

19:16

get my cosmetology license , and

19:18

so I think life has these ups and

19:20

downs and that's okay . That's

19:23

where the joy when I say , I always say the joy is on a

19:25

journey . That's the joy

19:27

to be able to go

19:30

from peak to valley

19:32

, find some learning in the valley and

19:35

, as you go , get to the next peak

19:37

. It's

19:39

the story of my life .

19:41

A friend of mine . When I started this

19:43

podcast , when I started this crazy idea

19:45

of oh , I know I'll start a podcast

19:48

and talk to women who will talk to me and

19:51

, tina , if you're listening , this is for you

19:53

she said to me don't forget

19:55

to enjoy the journey . And

19:58

I looked at her and I was like you're nuts

20:01

, this is going to be hard . And she goes . That's where

20:03

the joy is and

20:05

I had no idea what she was referring

20:07

to until I started on this path

20:09

and just like

20:11

what you had talked about is that

20:14

doing what you think you're supposed to do works

20:17

for a while , until

20:20

that whisper is no longer

20:23

a whisper , it becomes a

20:25

shout . And then you realize

20:27

that your comfort zone and this

20:29

is something that I have realized over just

20:31

over the last six months comfort zones

20:34

are cages and

20:37

they keep you from your

20:39

destiny . So you , listening

20:43

to that very small

20:45

whisper of you , really

20:47

put on this earth to create . You've done

20:49

what you need to do here . You

20:52

have given these young girls , these

20:54

future young women , permission

20:56

to dream , dream big , go

20:59

forth and conquer . You

21:01

have another step in your journey to

21:03

create and you went to cosmetology

21:05

school and some people would look at you and go . Are you

21:08

insane ? Some people , everybody

21:10

.

21:12

What are you talking about ?

21:14

ma'am , you

21:16

want to do what . You

21:20

work in a school , you have summers off

21:22

, you have a salary . What are you thinking

21:25

? Why do you want to go do this ? So

21:28

tell me , why did you want to go do

21:30

that ?

21:31

It was where everything lit up inside

21:33

of me . I

21:36

watched my mother not live . So

21:38

everything goes back to my

21:41

childhood . Honestly , how I live

21:43

is because of my childhood and

21:45

my triggers are because of my childhood . My joy

21:47

is because of my childhood and

21:50

I literally watched my mother

21:52

live on this earth maybe

21:55

40 , max , 43

21:57

years , give or

21:59

take . That's not a life . That's

22:01

not a long life . I'm 43 . Right

22:04

, that's not a long , I'm just starting

22:07

to live . So I watched my mother never

22:09

live in the short time period

22:11

that she was blessed to

22:13

be here and I

22:16

knew . When she gave me the power of choice

22:18

, I'm like , oh , I'm choosing

22:20

me . Every time , I'm

22:23

choosing to find what life

22:25

and living really feels like , and

22:27

it doesn't feel like staying

22:30

in a circle because of

22:32

income or what society

22:34

says . What I learned is don't look outside

22:37

of you for truth , you

22:39

have to look inside of you for truth . Now

22:41

, that's inside of truth is going to be

22:43

very scary because there's

22:46

no precursor

22:49

proof of

22:51

what's to come

22:53

or guarantees . It's

22:56

just what is true for

22:58

you , but now you've got to make the

23:00

guarantee and you've got to make it

23:02

reality . There's no reality of truth

23:04

inside , but oh , when you

23:06

do it , it's freedom , and

23:10

I never want to live bound . I

23:12

always want to live full and free

23:14

and open . I decided well , I

23:16

know what this feels like . So

23:19

when I already know what something feels like and is

23:22

no longer feeling good to me , I

23:24

create bracelets . I have check , peace , check

23:26

, joy , check , love , check , believe

23:28

, check . I'm always checking in with myself

23:31

and I love to encourage anyone

23:33

to do that , because what happens is we allow

23:35

time to go so far and we've never checked

23:37

in with us . We've checked in with everybody

23:40

else , we've checked in with work , we've

23:42

checked in with family , children , friends

23:45

, everything else , but we never

23:47

stop and check in and be like

23:49

where's your peace , where are you in peace

23:51

? Oh God , I've been

23:53

living in no peace for years

23:55

. And then when you really stop

23:58

and check that you can be truthful

24:00

to yourself . I'm like , oh , I'm not in peace , oh

24:02

, I have no joy . And then you can

24:05

ask the question why ? And

24:07

then it's like , oh , because it's

24:10

the people I hang around with , truthfully , or

24:13

it's the career that I'm

24:15

in , truthfully or whatever , you get real

24:17

truthful with yourself , because you know where the piece is

24:19

being rocked . And then you start

24:21

to decide well , okay , do

24:24

I step out and go find

24:26

my own piece ? And that's where I was Like

24:28

I'm going to go find my piece , I'm going to go find my

24:30

joy . And then you have an inside

24:33

compass that will tell you where

24:36

it is and it's not

24:38

going to give you the whole , it's not going to be like the full GPS

24:41

where it says turn right , turn left and get you there , but

24:43

it's a compass and it'll tell you it's over there

24:45

. Now I can't tell you exactly where , but

24:47

it's kind of over there . And you're like oh there

24:49

, okay , I'm going to go there . And that's what it says it's

24:51

over there . And so I went there . And

24:55

what I tell you is there's a difference

24:57

between struggling , going

25:00

towards your piece and your joy , and

25:02

struggling in something that's

25:04

not in alignment with you . It's

25:07

torment when

25:09

you're in something that's not in alignment with you

25:11

. It's challenges and obstacles

25:14

that you can overcome when

25:16

you're going towards where

25:18

your alignment is . And

25:21

so I can automatically feel the difference

25:23

. So I said all right , let's go . Like let's do

25:25

it . And my gift is

25:27

I've been poverty . You

25:29

know that doesn't scare me . It scares

25:32

me , but it doesn't scare me . You get what I mean

25:34

. Like I live to not be poverty again

25:36

, but I understand , I've been through

25:38

really bad things , so it

25:40

can't be worse over there . And if it

25:42

is , then I'll just have to GPS myself to

25:44

another way , you know . And I think the

25:47

possibility of trying different things . I

25:49

think we get stuck . Like

25:52

you said , it's comfortable and it's

25:54

you

25:56

get used to something so much that

25:58

you don't want to try something different . I think

26:00

my number one victories

26:03

are being able to try

26:05

different things .

26:08

When I try things , and while I've given

26:10

my permission myself permission to try

26:12

things I ask

26:14

myself one question which

26:17

is worse to try

26:19

and have a learning experience

26:22

? Because I don't believe in failure , I only

26:24

believe in learning opportunities . So

26:26

do I try and have a learning opportunity

26:29

or do I not try and live with regret

26:31

? And

26:33

I can't live with regret anymore

26:36

, because now

26:38

, being in my early fifties , I

26:40

realize that you

26:43

know the the end will come at some point

26:46

. I know that I'm not 25 anymore

26:48

, yeah

26:51

, but I look good , I'm

26:54

not 25 where I I feel

26:57

invincible . I

26:59

know I'm not invincible . I try

27:01

really hard and I take care of myself

27:04

, but I know I'm not invincible . So

27:07

I don't think that

27:09

living with regret is

27:11

something I can do . It's too expensive . Yeah

27:13

, Honestly , regret is too expensive . And

27:16

trying and and figuring

27:19

out well , maybe that that way didn't work

27:21

, I'll try another way , Exactly

27:23

Is is way more fulfilling

27:25

than just sitting back and saying what , if

27:28

, what , if and I don't want to do that . And

27:30

what I think that is beautiful about your story

27:32

is that you had a dream . You

27:35

had a goal . Growing up in

27:37

Pennsylvania , you grew up very close

27:40

to the QVC studios . You went

27:42

to become a cosmetologist

27:44

and you thought I want to be a makeup artist

27:47

at QVC , and that's a very specific

27:49

dream , by the way .

27:51

And that's and that's what I was just telling my

27:53

niece that I realized

27:55

you got to be specific

27:57

with your dreams , and

28:00

I even check in with myself on that . Like

28:02

, when I decide I want to do something , then

28:04

I'm like , okay , well , what specifically

28:06

is it ? Because the way to get

28:08

what you want in life is

28:10

to be specific about

28:13

it . It's like ordering something from

28:15

a restaurant . I'm a tangent out

28:17

, but this is an example . Go with me , you

28:20

go to a restaurant and you see something on the menu

28:22

it's kind of vague . You

28:24

order it and it's not specific

28:26

when you get it . Eh , but

28:29

if you order something specific , like

28:31

can I add bacon to that burger ? I

28:33

like it medium . Well , no

28:35

tomatoes with onions . When you get

28:38

it , it's what you desire

28:40

, right ? So that I think the

28:42

key to anything

28:44

really coming true is

28:47

defining it clearly , because

28:51

your brain has to

28:53

target it now .

28:56

Oh , that's so powerful

28:58

that you're , you're like this is . This is very

29:00

specific , so now I have to focus

29:02

on this .

29:03

And you're focusing directly on

29:06

it . It's not like , oh

29:08

, I want to be a makeup artist , you'll

29:10

be a makeup artist , but will you be

29:13

fulfilled ? Because

29:15

your soul wants to be something

29:18

specific and it keeps

29:20

changing . Like we are humans , we're

29:22

living , being , so also

29:25

give yourself grace and

29:27

permission to continuously

29:29

evolve . So

29:32

target something directly

29:35

, go to it , go to it . Go to it

29:37

. You're probably going

29:39

to evolve into something else , but then

29:41

it has to be targeted specifically . So when

29:43

you have a life that you can talk about

29:46

, you get to say I did

29:48

and

29:50

I did specifically this , because

29:52

I specifically dreamed that and I specifically

29:55

targeted that .

29:58

And what I ? What I ? Actually I'm not

30:00

surprised that you made that

30:02

dream come true , because you

30:04

were there and you

30:07

and it was fulfilling for

30:09

a time , and then

30:11

you had this little

30:14

whisper in your , in your

30:16

soul again that said

30:18

you've got something more to create

30:20

.

30:21

Yeah , and I love to share in that

30:24

targeting like . So

30:26

I targeted QVC . I'm like , okay

30:28

, I want to get my cosmetology license

30:30

and what happens is

30:32

people plant seeds of

30:34

things . I never , never live

30:37

in a life of comparison

30:39

. If you can live in a life of inspiration

30:41

, that's where all the power is , because I

30:44

feel like we as human beings show each other

30:46

what's possible . Like

30:48

, as I do something , someone else is able

30:50

to see what's possible for them in

30:52

their own way . And

30:55

I was working in a makeup store

30:57

and someone was

30:59

checking out and they

31:02

have a professional license and I asked what they did and

31:04

they worked on QVC and

31:06

I knew I didn't want to . I knew and also know

31:08

what you don't want to do , like those are like

31:10

you got to have your both strong . Like

31:12

I don't want to work in a salon . Now

31:14

, I actually had to work in a salon

31:16

to learn . So

31:19

you know what you don't want to do for a lifetime

31:21

, but then you know you have to humble yourself

31:23

to do it for an experience . So I realized

31:25

working in a salon this is not what my lifetime

31:28

was , but I'll be here as I learn . So

31:30

I'm sweeping floors in a salon to learn

31:32

all different hair textures . I never

31:34

wanted to be defined as anything

31:37

, anything just geared

31:39

to one ethnicity . We're all human , we

31:41

all have skin , we all have hair . Then

31:43

we should all be able to do it all . And I knew that

31:46

was my target . And then I knew

31:48

that I had to learn . So I needed to learn

31:50

in a salon , but I didn't want to work fully

31:52

in a salon . So this lady was in

31:54

the makeup store

31:57

and she said she worked for QVC and

31:59

I was like what is that ? And she explained

32:01

it 24 hour TV network

32:04

going on selling . I was like

32:06

24 hours on

32:08

air , that means it's 24 hours creativity

32:11

. That's immediately what I thought 24 hours . And

32:13

so that's when I latched on to that target

32:16

. So people are like how did you get that ? I

32:18

was exposed to it and so exposure

32:20

is powerful . So you got to put yourself in areas

32:22

. If you're like Leah , I don't understand how

32:25

to be specific . Well

32:27

, you'll have an arena of what is

32:29

for you Now . Then put yourself in

32:31

the environment of that and

32:33

then something's going to expose you to your

32:35

specific target and then that's when you latch

32:38

on to it . So that's how I latched

32:40

on to that for that exposure and it took me five

32:42

years to get to QVC . I

32:45

applied hundreds

32:47

of times no , no , no , you're

32:49

not qualified , you're not qualified . And I never

32:52

gave up . And so my next thing

32:54

is everything I do , I never give up . Now

32:56

, vocally in

32:59

my head , in the struggle , I'm like I'm not doing

33:01

this anymore . But then I'm like , ok , I'm going

33:03

back , so it's OK to think it

33:06

, but just decide . Edmai

33:08

Let has a book and it's called

33:10

the Power of One More and

33:13

I think that's beautiful . And Jamie Kern-Lima

33:15

, my dear friend , has a book Believe

33:17

it . And those are two beautiful

33:20

books Because if you understand

33:22

to believe and

33:25

that means believe when you target or something

33:27

, believe that it's going to happen , like

33:30

your predicament is not your death , that's going to happen

33:32

. And then you do one more every time

33:35

towards it . And

33:37

I like to say one more millimeter movement

33:39

, meaning the smallest movement , because

33:41

every time you say I'm giving

33:43

up , then then trigger your counter

33:46

to that , because you're gonna be human and

33:48

you're gonna wanna give up and your body's

33:50

gonna say I give up . So then put

33:52

a system in place to say , okay , every time

33:54

I say I give up , give myself space

33:56

, and then decide to do one

33:58

more millimeter movement towards that belief

34:01

and that's how things

34:03

start to happen . So I would give and give

34:05

it no , no , no . And then I start to speak

34:07

my dreams and tell everybody that I would

34:09

talk to me , that I wanted to work

34:11

for QVC . Literally , the person

34:14

in the grocery store if you smiled

34:16

at me twice , twice , was the barometer . I

34:18

would tell you I wanted to work for QVC and

34:20

that was just giving my beliefs more

34:23

power , because I would keep speaking it out

34:25

. And if you keep saying truth , it has

34:27

to happen . I met someone

34:29

and I was bartending to support

34:32

myself , sweeping cosmetology floors

34:34

in the salon , and then bartending and

34:36

support myself , and I was , I taught

34:38

, I spoke that out to someone and

34:40

I guess I had to have spoken that out

34:42

a thousand or over a thousand times

34:45

, right Cause this is five years in more

34:47

than a thousand times . And so

34:49

one more , that beautiful one

34:51

more . The gentleman says oh , I know someone

34:53

that works for QVC . Really

34:56

, he said and it's the power of

34:58

light . So who are you inside

35:00

? When you're deciding what you're gonna be

35:02

, you've also

35:04

got to decide who you're gonna be . Those

35:07

are really two important

35:09

keys , because maybe you

35:11

don't have all the skills

35:13

that it takes to

35:16

get you to where you're going . But

35:18

if you have such a beautiful heart

35:21

and light and love and being

35:23

and presence of kindness

35:26

and openness and joy , ah

35:28

, doors just start flying open because

35:31

it's not the norm . I meet

35:33

this gentleman , he hears my heart and he says

35:35

, oh , I'll connect you with my friend , this

35:39

friend that didn't ever meet me . He

35:42

shared that my heart was light to his friend , stephanie

35:44

Humphrey , and she , without knowing me

35:47

, texts me because I had

35:49

given my information and she

35:51

said , hey , I know , I know , here's the manager

35:53

, here's her contact

35:55

number , email . And guess what ? I know I've never met you , but

35:59

because I was told how much light you were , use

36:01

my name as a reference and

36:05

that was the connection to me walking

36:07

the doors , not what you

36:09

, who are you ? It's so powerful , you

36:12

can go through this world trying to get stuff and being mean and

36:14

nasty . You'll get there , I'm sure , but

36:17

it's gonna be an uphill battle . But

36:19

if you decide to be love in

36:21

all things , walked

36:24

into QVC interview . But the five years have been

36:26

prepping me . So every time I get

36:28

a no , I sweep more

36:30

floors . Every time I get a no , I

36:33

go wash more laundry in the salon and

36:36

I learn more hair textures and I do more blowout . So

36:39

I've been training for five years . So

36:41

by the time I got the yes , I was

36:43

ready . And that was

36:45

the walk-in to QVC , because

36:48

I had trained for five years and I was

36:50

ready for all hair textures and

36:52

that opened the door for me to see . Oh , when you talk about

36:54

dreaming big , qvc is a play I call

36:56

it adult Disney . You

37:00

walk in and it's a bunch of

37:02

dream makers , meaning that

37:04

the QVC hosts are making

37:06

people's dreams come true , because they take your dream and

37:08

they share it to the world like it's theirs

37:11

. And then you got dreamers that

37:13

are doing everything it takes to

37:15

bring and put their love and passion to

37:18

make their dream a reality . And I was exposed

37:20

to that 24 seven and

37:22

that's how I start to dream again .

37:24

It's an amazing environment because

37:26

you are in a constant environment of this is possible . This

37:29

is possible . This is absolutely possible

37:32

and it's reinforced all the time

37:34

and people laugh at me

37:36

. Oh my gosh , do people laugh at me ? My

37:39

family laughs at me . But

37:41

I turn on QVC when I don't

37:43

feel good , I'm serious . People

37:47

say that I mean I don't

37:49

, it's not , I'm

37:51

gonna shop . It's not that it's in the background . People

37:53

say they just put it in the background . It's in the

37:55

background because I

37:57

want to absorb their positivity , I

38:00

want to see what's possible . I

38:03

even make comments to my husband

38:05

and go do you see that person ? That person

38:07

just became a millionaire . Yeah , I

38:10

, because I've watched it happen . Yeah , and

38:12

I was like that is the place of possibility and I

38:14

love that because you

38:17

put it out there . You got to become

38:19

part of this environment of

38:21

the dream makers and the way makers . And

38:25

not only did your dream

38:28

at that point come

38:30

true , it gave birth to

38:32

another dream . Yes , and

38:35

I want to hear about the next dream , because

38:38

that was the next step

38:41

on your journey of

38:44

evolution and creativity . And

38:46

again , what's possible . And

38:48

what I think is remarkable is that you

38:50

didn't know to dream that

38:52

dream . No , when

38:55

you were 10 , when you were a teacher , you

38:57

didn't know to dream that . It was

38:59

the step on this journey , because

39:01

you were willing to take a chance

39:03

, even a tiny little chance on hearing

39:06

that small , tiny

39:08

voice in your soul that said

39:10

step forward just

39:12

a little bit yeah and

39:14

say yes to it .

39:17

Tony Robbins says say yes . If you've ever

39:19

been to one of his events , I

39:21

love it . Say yes , say yes , and

39:23

if you're in his he'll have you say yes . Right

39:25

, and it's just , it's

39:28

a power of yes , like

39:31

not is it ? No , it's yes

39:33

. And those steps of yes , just like

39:35

you said , just keep birthing anew

39:38

. That's already inside of

39:40

you . It's so wonderful because I did not

39:42

know this next dream was in

39:44

me Now . My mother passed

39:48

early , as I shared . She

39:50

got to see me shining my light , at

39:53

the very peak of my light being

39:55

being radiated in the world

39:58

. And as she saw

40:00

me , how far did she see

40:02

me ? Up to , maybe

40:05

up to college-ish

40:07

. And right before

40:10

she passed , she said to me

40:12

I see you shining your light , I see you

40:14

choosing your destiny , and it's so beautiful

40:16

. And she was pleasing her heart

40:18

. And she gave me these little , small , little

40:20

cheap earrings and she said

40:23

there's going to be times where you

40:25

can't find your light . And

40:27

I'd love for you to wear your earrings every

40:29

day , leah , because when

40:31

you can't find your light , all you got to do is touch

40:33

them , look at them , see them and let

40:35

them be a physical reminder that

40:38

the light is within you . All you have to do is

40:40

choose it . And because the concept of just putting

40:42

on a earring is choosing to put light

40:44

on , I just I thought that was beautiful

40:46

. So when she passed , I

40:48

just started to hand sketch jewelry

40:51

, symbolic life

40:53

jewelry , like what would this be

40:55

symbolic for me in life ? And I would hand sketch

40:57

it because I'm a self-proclaimed artist

40:59

. And just for me

41:01

, literally for me . But

41:04

that journey had taken me to

41:06

a place of dreammakers and dreaming

41:09

and two beautiful

41:11

women I love to share . There are so many

41:13

magical people that have blessed my

41:15

life since youth and

41:17

I could list that could be a whole podcast , but

41:20

I , like I , shared two specific

41:22

names only because those

41:25

two hearts unlocked what

41:28

was possible in business for me . Coming

41:31

from poverty , I didn't even know you

41:33

could be a business owner . I don't know how I thought

41:35

products came about , but I didn't think average

41:38

humans did it , you know what I mean . Like

41:40

I didn't what . But these two

41:42

women I was in the salon that power

41:44

, and it's so interesting

41:46

Say yes to

41:48

your inner divinely whisper , because

41:50

you don't know why . It's telling you . It's

41:53

unlocking small

41:55

keys to your destiny Because

41:58

I think if it was all exposed it'd

42:00

be just too much for you to do right . But

42:02

so it unlocks just a little . Just get

42:05

to the salon . I

42:07

just I'm not gonna tell you what , but get to the salon . And

42:10

these two women , jamie Kirlima , new

42:13

York Times I saw her Believe it book founder

42:16

of it Cosmetics . And Vicky

42:18

Sy , founder of Tatcha Skincare

42:20

, two beautiful , wonderful

42:23

beauty brands . In

42:25

the salon I got to meet these hearts

42:27

and many others , but they saw my

42:29

light and they took me under their

42:32

wing and they would take a stylus

42:34

into rooms that

42:36

I had never known existed . They

42:38

would just say come with me , come

42:40

sit in this PR meeting , come sit

42:42

in this business meeting , come sit in this , like

42:45

all of these meetings and places . And

42:47

they travel me around the world with them and

42:50

I got to see what's possible when

42:52

you have an intention

42:55

of heart and you have

42:57

the idea of a physical product and

42:59

you take that love of intention of heart

43:01

and you bottle it into that physical product

43:03

and you do all you can

43:05

to get it out to the world . When it gets

43:08

into the receiver's hand , it literally

43:10

becomes life-changing for them . And

43:13

I realized I had been sketching this jewelry

43:16

, which was magical

43:18

for me . But every time I styled

43:20

someone , the last thing they would ask was when

43:23

they were about to do something huge what

43:26

earrings am I going to put on ? What bracelet

43:28

? It was their seal of confidence

43:30

. It was their lack of bravery . It

43:32

was that armor that none of y'all can come

43:34

with me out here . So let me seal myself

43:37

with something . And I realized

43:39

I had been light in the world through all

43:41

the darkest times and the reason

43:43

why beautiful people would

43:46

say yes to connecting me , to be

43:48

in QVC and say yes to traveling around

43:50

the world was because of my heart . And

43:52

I realized that I wanted to take that possibility

43:55

of bravery and courage

43:57

and love and light and put all

43:59

that intention into a physical , wearable

44:02

product so that when you wear it you

44:04

can feel that in all

44:07

situations that you're in . And so I stepped

44:09

out and saw that it was possible

44:11

to try my own dream to bring

44:13

something to be a life changer for others

44:16

in a physical form , and that's

44:18

how creative Valencia key jewelry .

44:21

And if you haven't seen this beautiful

44:23

jewelry , it really is

44:25

the representation of

44:27

light and possibility

44:30

and of hope . And

44:32

I am telling you she

44:35

is the real deal , she

44:37

. I've met her a couple of times now

44:39

. We have not had the opportunity to be in

44:41

the same physical present

44:44

yet , but we will , we

44:46

will . She is light and

44:48

her jewelry reflects that

44:51

. She also always

44:53

wears yellow because I think it is the representation

44:57

of physical representation of light . But

44:59

, honestly , you don't even need the color , yeah you don't

45:01

, but I do love a theme .

45:03

I love , I love a good

45:05

theme and I love , I love symbols

45:07

. Symbols are power

45:09

for me , because it's encouragement to keep

45:11

going . Symbolic things

45:14

have helped me move throughout

45:16

my journey in life , whether it's a visual

45:18

symbol , like a color , and

45:21

it reminds me to be like , yeah , it's nice

45:23

for everyone else . I mean , I could walk anywhere and everyone's

45:25

like , oh my , it makes me happy . I'm grateful

45:28

for that because that's my intention . It also

45:30

makes me happy and so in the hardest

45:32

times I put some yellow and I'm like okay

45:34

, we got it , we can do it . So

45:36

symbols have been my thing . And Valencia

45:39

Key I

45:41

didn't just name it my name , it wasn't

45:43

what I was gonna do , but I took a voyage

45:46

to Egypt , morocco and

45:48

Spain because I knew I had to get out of my environment

45:50

to really understand

45:52

what my intention was . I just it's

45:55

not jewelry . I know it sounds weird

45:57

. It's physically jewelry that you

45:59

wear , but it's not . It's

46:01

the power of what it means for

46:04

when you wear it . That had to be

46:06

for me . And I got to Egypt

46:08

and Morocco and I was surrounded

46:10

by lights . I was in a holy

46:12

temple and I asked for specifically

46:15

what I came for . I wanted to say everyone's

46:17

listening , be specific in life

46:20

. When I got to one of those temples

46:22

I asked by the end of that journey

46:25

I wanna be hand sketching

46:27

my logo with

46:30

a clear intention on

46:32

what I mean in

46:34

the world and what I'm creating . And

46:37

by the end of that journey I'd saw all

46:40

these lights everywhere and

46:42

I saw in Morocco

46:44

there was a store that when I walked

46:47

in a small store , really small

46:49

, but inside was filled with keys

46:51

from ceiling to floor . It was

46:53

ridiculously like what is

46:56

happening here and I had chills

46:58

and I found the owner and I go over to him .

47:00

I'm like why do you have ?

47:01

all these keys and he kind of like

47:03

offensively

47:05

, because I should have known looked like

47:07

you don't know what keys represent and I did

47:10

not . And he said keys represent

47:12

unlocking the light in

47:15

life .

47:16

What Okay you should see . You need

47:18

to see both of our faces . I wish that you could

47:20

, because I got

47:22

chills as soon as she's just said

47:25

that , because of course , that's

47:27

obvious . Cool , like , really

47:29

that's it .

47:29

I didn't know that and I'm like , oh you gotta do is give

47:32

me permission , you know , like there's a , that's the unlocking

47:34

, like that was symbolic for him , maybe

47:37

in that culture , maybe I don't , but

47:39

that had been my journey . And I'm like

47:41

, really Because I

47:43

had decided to be light in the world

47:46

through my darkness . When I'm

47:48

on this journey , all I saw

47:50

was these lights , like in all different places

47:52

, and chandeliers , and you know , when you go to the markets

47:55

and it just become so prevalent to me

47:57

. So for me to land in

47:59

that store and him to say

48:01

that the key can be symbolic

48:04

of unlocking that light , that was so

48:06

magical . And then , because I'm

48:08

a yes person , I'm

48:12

in the train bus station

48:14

and there's these backpackers and

48:16

they're going somewhere and I'm like where are

48:18

you ? going random and they

48:20

tell me they're going to Spain . So I

48:22

have some time left in my journey

48:25

and I'm like , well , I'm gonna go to Spain

48:27

with you . So I follow these

48:29

backpackers on a bus

48:31

who knew that you could take a bus

48:33

to the tip of Morocco . I'm gonna call it the

48:36

tip to take a ferry over to Spain . Didn't

48:38

know that , found that out . So I take a

48:40

ferry over to Spain and I wind up . I

48:42

part ways with the backpackers and I

48:44

wind up in

48:46

Spain at night socializing

48:49

with the locals

48:51

and they asked me their name and when I say

48:53

my name I always say my whole

48:55

name , leah Valencia Key , because my grandmother

48:57

, when she was very serious , she would say

48:59

Valencia . So I love that name and

49:02

I would say I said Leah Valencia Key . And they were like

49:04

Valencia in our slang dialect means

49:06

courage and bravery . What

49:10

I didn't know , that

49:12

keys unlock light . Valencia

49:14

is courage and bravery . So by on

49:17

the flight back I was hand

49:19

sketching the logo with clear

49:21

intention that Valencia is

49:24

bravery and courage and key is the

49:26

unlocking of that light of bravery and

49:28

courage . And I was sketching the

49:30

V's that symbolize that courage

49:32

in Valencia and putting them in a star

49:34

form and putting the key in the middle

49:37

. So whenever you have Valencia key , is

49:39

that symbolic reminder just to unlock

49:41

the light every moment and every chance you get

49:43

, because it's all possible .

49:46

Oh my gosh , what an amazing , beautiful

49:49

story that gives me chills

49:51

down to my toes , me every time I

49:53

think about it , I'm like what ? Just

49:56

, oh my gosh , and

49:59

people would assume you worked for QVC

50:01

. This was an easy thing . No

50:03

, absolutely not .

50:05

Thank you for that long note . No

50:07

, it was actually harder

50:09

because there's no

50:12

. Qvc is very strict

50:14

on everything

50:17

. They wanna make sure that they are doing

50:19

things to the left . So and I was in

50:21

if you think of a corporate structure , I'm

50:23

in the air sets

50:25

creative side . I

50:27

have no connection with the business

50:29

side . You don't even see those people . It's

50:31

a whole different . So that was like so

50:34

far away . But I use the power of speaking

50:36

my dreams out . So first

50:38

I created my thing and anyone

50:41

wants to know how I created it . I Googled it . I

50:43

had all these hand sketches and

50:46

I'm like , okay , I'm gonna do this . How can I

50:48

Google ? Well , no , and I would play with

50:50

Google , like , how do you take cause I hand sketch

50:52

every design personally

50:54

and I would Google in different words

50:56

how do you take a hand sketch , make it

50:59

in a jewelry ? And finally I

51:01

found in Google that it has to go into a 3D

51:03

design and then from a 3D

51:05

design , then a manufacturer can

51:08

manufacture your hand sketch

51:10

from 3D design . Then I Googled

51:12

how do I find me in factory and all

51:14

of this . And then I got on a plane and went to

51:16

overseas to find a

51:19

manufacturer and meet them in person and

51:21

that's how I got my first piece and

51:23

then I just wore it . And then

51:25

people asked about my journey and I would

51:28

share my journey and they said , oh , I

51:30

want a piece of that . Like , yeah

51:32

, I want to wear that on air , cause the light

51:34

I feel with you is what I want

51:36

to feel when I'm going out there and , truthfully

51:39

, women at QVC start

51:41

to wear my jewelry just by word of mouth

51:43

and they just start to wear it on air . And

51:47

I still couldn't get into QVC but

51:49

they would have it on air and I

51:51

had been telling people I want to be on QVC

51:54

. I want to be on QVC and

51:56

the reason why I wanted to be on QVC ? Because

51:58

I know my pieces aren't just jewelry and

52:00

I need you to understand the

52:02

heart of it . I need you to understand the

52:04

intention of it and what

52:06

beautiful place to be

52:08

is to be able to share it on a platform like

52:10

QVC cause . That's where they allow you to share

52:13

the truth . And I said that for

52:15

three years and one

52:17

day , three years later , I got

52:20

a text message from a friend . She

52:22

said you've been saying it , you want to be on QVC , they're

52:24

having a competition , it's your time

52:26

. And I didn't believe it was true . So

52:29

I kind of put the text message down . I'm like I'm

52:31

not ready . I

52:33

got the same words from

52:35

a whole different , random person . They didn't

52:38

know each other . Send me the same text message

52:40

. You've been telling us QVC

52:42

is having a competition . Here's the link . And

52:45

so I realized , okay , god , I'm not ready , but

52:47

I guess you're ready . So then

52:50

we're just going to go for it . Now

52:52

the beauty was I had been doing QVC

52:54

right , for I'd been watching

52:56

cause in the salon QVC is on

52:58

24 hours . So my

53:01

beauty was I've been watching QVC

53:03

for years , right

53:05

, and it's kind of in my blood just

53:07

how you speak to the pieces

53:09

and all of those things . So

53:11

I was blessed for that . So I just basically

53:14

did a mini QVC cell for

53:16

the audition interview and then

53:18

I had my friends find some yellow flowers

53:20

and chase me down with a camera

53:22

going over yellow flowers , my jewelry . Then

53:25

I submitted it and

53:27

, oh , melissa Palowski , she's actually

53:29

on air at QVC . She's

53:32

on the opposite side . She works for a

53:34

beauty brand and she's really good

53:36

at storytelling . So I asked her

53:38

so ask your people for help , cause

53:41

I asked her , here's everything

53:43

I'm about . And she knew me and

53:45

she was like , all right , well , let's sit together and try to craft

53:47

what you are in

53:49

words . And so she sat with

53:52

me and really start to define

53:54

everything that I felt inside of me

53:56

in word form and I was

53:58

able to submit that , and

54:01

so all things are possible with people

54:03

too . It's not I don't understand

54:05

self-made . I think that's a beautiful thing if

54:07

you can be self-made , but nothing I've done is

54:10

self-made . It's all hearts joining

54:12

me on a crusade and

54:16

then , step after step in that journey

54:18

, it's like it was like seven rounds

54:20

of things to do . And

54:23

then one day was a big old mass

54:25

like hundreds of people together

54:27

, because you had to do a physical presentation

54:29

in front of a panel of six people hundreds

54:32

of people , that's intimidating . And

54:34

so I did that presentation , got to

54:36

the next round , then got to the buyer round

54:38

and I shared my intention of

54:40

what Valencia Key was in the world

54:42

and I got an email saying what

54:45

you saw we're gonna feature you , you're

54:47

winner .

54:50

It's such a beautiful story and I wanted everybody

54:52

to get to know you and get to know

54:55

your story because it's so inspiring

54:57

and it's a reminder and a permission

54:59

to dream big and

55:02

to lean into that

55:04

small voice I

55:09

don't even know how to describe it . It's

55:12

this yearning that is

55:14

in your soul because you're

55:17

made for something more . I

55:19

have this vision and I've shared it with a couple of people

55:21

. I've shared it maybe once or twice

55:23

on the show before , but I have this

55:25

vision of being

55:28

brave enough to lean into

55:30

the things that are calling to

55:32

you even though they might be uncomfortable . And

55:35

my vision is this is that when you

55:38

get to

55:40

heaven hopefully- there is a heaven . And

55:42

you get to heaven and you're

55:44

sitting across the table from

55:47

that higher power whomever

55:50

that may be and you're

55:52

having a conversation and

55:54

a piece of paper is slid across the table

55:56

to you and you open it up

55:58

and it has something amazing

56:00

and remarkable on it . That higher power

56:03

says that's what I had in mind

56:05

for you , that you were too busy

56:07

being comfortable . I

56:09

don't wanna have that conversation , and I know you

56:11

don't wanna have that conversation either . That's

56:14

why I wanted to share this conversation

56:16

with everybody else , because I don't want

56:19

anybody else to have that conversation either , so

56:21

I could talk to you for hours , me

56:24

too .

56:24

Literally for hours . You're so good . I

56:26

do wanna share one last thing . I promise I know we're so good , please

56:29

do . You know my

56:31

dear heart , jamie Kern-Liehmann . She's

56:35

just launched her announcement of her new

56:37

book , worthy , and I share

56:40

that . So anybody pre-order it . It's

56:42

coming out soon . But

56:45

there's keys that you have to understand

56:47

in your life . So we talked about the one

56:49

more right , the millimeter movement

56:51

. We talked about believing that it's really true

56:53

. But what Jamie's unlocking

56:56

in this book and it has been really

56:58

sitting with me as I start looking at my

57:01

journey you gotta know that you're worthy

57:04

of it , and

57:06

I think a lot of us

57:08

. No , not me , I

57:11

can't me , no

57:13

me . You immediately

57:15

self-select yourself out of it . Why

57:18

not you ? If

57:20

the dream was birthed in you to think

57:22

it and to see

57:24

it , you're worthy of having

57:27

it , and what you have to do

57:29

is accept that you're

57:31

worthy , cause once it's just accept

57:33

that you're worthy of it , then you can truly

57:35

believe it . Then you can keep taking those one more

57:38

steps . So I'd love to pour

57:40

that out , cause it's these little nuggets

57:42

that will help you get to where you wanna

57:44

be . So that book should be really

57:47

good . That's coming out soon . I always read

57:49

a lot too , cause , like I say

57:51

, exposure there's

57:53

two things Either get around a bunch of people

57:55

or things that are in the

57:57

sphere that you wanna be , or

58:00

read about it or

58:02

listen to it . Like you're listening to this podcast

58:05

and I say three is my favorite

58:07

number , it's one of the strongest numbers , you'll see it in

58:09

my designs . I

58:11

say do all three , be

58:14

around it , listen to it , read

58:16

about it and slowly , through osmosis

58:19

, you'll start to lightly become

58:21

that , cause you are a product of what

58:23

you surround yourself with .

58:26

That's why your parents always say choose

58:28

your friends wisely .

58:29

Absolutely .

58:30

Now we get it . Yes , now we

58:33

get it . Leah , I'm

58:35

not gonna let you go until the

58:37

audience knows where they can reach

58:39

you and where they can find these beautiful

58:41

designs and all the other things that

58:43

you are doing out in the world . Where

58:45

can they find you ?

58:46

Thank you . I'd love for you , it'd

58:48

be a joy for you , to go to valencykeycom

58:51

V-A-L-E-N-C-I-A-K-E-Y

58:54

. That is the website

58:56

where you can wear a piece , and when

58:58

you wear a valency key , I literally want

59:00

it to be a wearable reminder , and

59:03

you can manifest it in all different ways

59:05

. One is , if you're wearing

59:08

it from a young lady that was deep

59:10

poverty , homeless , to

59:12

actually physically wearing this piece

59:14

, then whatever you want is

59:16

truly possible , or the symbolic

59:19

meanings that I put in it , like believe

59:21

, and it's that reminder when you see it , to believe

59:23

Joy , if that's your thing , that you need more

59:26

of , get to remind you to bring it in . So

59:28

go to valencykeycom , put your email in

59:31

and I'll stay connected . I have a beautiful

59:33

give back where

59:35

I work with women in Africa and Ghana

59:37

and that's my passion to

59:40

help them get income and education

59:42

, and so I've designed handbags

59:44

and they literally hand be these handbags

59:47

. So you can look fabulous but you can

59:49

actually give to someone in

59:52

a country where it's super

59:55

. But , like , my priority is not a story

59:57

when you go visit

59:59

villages of certain parts

1:00:01

of Africa and many different worlds

1:00:03

. So we're just taking it like we were talking about

1:00:05

. We're taking it blessing by

1:00:07

blessing . I think we're blessed to be a

1:00:09

blessing . Or

1:00:12

you can go to Instagram at Valencia

1:00:14

Key Design . That's where you'll see

1:00:16

all the beauty , joyful images

1:00:18

and just be able to smile . People say they go to

1:00:20

my Instagram page for the business

1:00:22

just to smile . So if you ever want to

1:00:24

smile , go there and you can follow my crazy

1:00:27

journey and have all around the world

1:00:29

at Leah Valencia Key . So there's a couple

1:00:31

of places that we can always connect together

1:00:33

.

1:00:34

And I do encourage you to go to our Instagram because

1:00:37

I did that immediately and it's just . You

1:00:39

cannot be in a bad mood around

1:00:42

Leah , In any way , shape or form . You cannot

1:00:44

. Leah , thank

1:00:46

you so much for being here . You have absolutely

1:00:48

no idea how much it has meant

1:00:51

to me for you to be here with me and

1:00:53

to share your story of joy

1:00:56

and dreaming and encouragement with everybody

1:00:58

else , because I think we all need a reminder and

1:01:00

permission to go and do it . So

1:01:03

thank you so much for being here , Thank

1:01:05

you .

1:01:06

I love you .

1:01:07

Oh , I love you too . You are so amazing

1:01:09

and wonderful . Thank you to all

1:01:12

of you for listening , and we'll see you again

1:01:14

next time . Thank you .