Good Company

Dang! We love this question

☑️Adding this to our list of topics to unpack. What else you got?

Here’s your funwork heading into the weekend…ready💁🏻‍♀️💁🏼‍♀️

If you haven’t yet listened to We Can Do Hard Things podcast, head over there and search episode 118 & 119. It’s the most beautiful & real conversation with Cheryl Strayed, G+A & Sister. You may even take 📝 if you’re nerdy like us!

We love the ideas that just keep rolling in + we excited to tackle these topics with you all! 🤍

What else do people want hear about?

✨ How do you maintain good, soul filling friendships?

Thanks, , for this topic because it’s our fave!

What else is on your minds?

We hear you loud & clear! Thank you for your ideas on what you do and do not want-we love a woman who knows what she likes. Keep sharing and we'll keep unpacking ideas to build out some kick ass content!

Thank you for giving us such thoughtful topics to digest 🤌🏼🤌🏼

We’re baaaaaaacccckkk!

♥️ Oh man, we have missed y’all. Now only the love of this community but also the inspiration and light bulb moments you have bright to us. ☀️

🧘🏾‍♀️ It’s been a long year of soul searching, deep dives and big questions and all those have lead us back to this page. And to all of you!

A reintroduction- we are Desi + Alicia of Good Company. We created this space to inspire and be inspired in a world where we need one another to find hope and push each other to do more! We hope you’ll join us as we dive back into the beautiful content the world offers 🌈

Our final wondering is what book would you recommend to your 20 year old self?
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Duh…𝐺𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐼𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
Thank you Elisa for sharing such great nuggets about who you are!

We asked Elisa…

What is your favorite piece of advice that you received or share with others? ☟︎☟︎☟︎

“Life is meant to be happy. Make the best choices every day to support your journey towards happiness! Life has a way of presenting challenges to you without you choosing it. Be prepared for those situations.”

♡︎♥︎♡︎

Meet Elisa👋🏽 one of the most heartfelt humans we know. She truly is a gift to us and the world.
𝙴𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚊 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚞𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚐𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍.
I am a wife, mom, daughter, sister, Latina, Chicana and educator. I truly see my superpower to be a connector. I connect people to other people, people to resources and make connections from people to myself. Through the connecting process, I have experienced so much joy, happiness, challenge and heart ache. Through it all, I know that I want to be my best everyday for everyone that I talk to, work with and live with.

𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑠 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

And last but not least, Hannah’s favorite book…The Art of Happiness by The Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler 🧘🏾‍♀️

We are excited to keep sharing the love! If you know someone with a powerful story, a great business to share or just want to pump up a friend, tag them below to get their story shared on Good Company! ✌🏼

What is Hannah’s favorite advice to share? It is a good one…Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you are ahead, sometimes you are behind. The race is long, and in the end it's only with yourself.

🤩One of our favorite humans is up next. Wise beyond her years, Hannah is a North Star when it comes to understanding oneself. She puts in the work and shows up for others. This amazing educator, friend, family member shares a little about who she is with us today!

🗯Tell us a little about who you are and how you share your gifts with others:

♥️Great question, I still don't totally know who I am. I am Hannah. I am a 28 year old, navigating the bridge between youth and responsibility. I am so many words and descriptors, but haven't quite figured out how they all fit into the box that makes me, me. That's the journey I am on. 🎁 The gift I share is transparency, I'm an open book. Whether it's my mom, a colleague, a person waiting in line next to me, or my students- I have no problem holding back my truth and sharing my story. 📖

Final ? for .martinez16 before we wrap up her story…

📘𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓?

“Being a religious person, scripture is where I turn to for guidance and comfort.“~𝑀𝑖𝑘𝑎𝑒𝑙𝑎

Thank you Mikaela for bravely sharing your story with our peeps🙏

What is .martinez16 favorite piece of advice received…

“𝚃𝚘 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝.“

That is some truth! Take a moment today and give gratitude for all the gifts you have & give ✨🌈

Next up☞︎☞︎☞︎Desi’s beautiful sister .martinez16

This woman inspires women of all ages & values family and friendships above all else. Mikaela has a way of making others feel included & loved. Her 🤍 is as big as the moon 🌙

Mikaela answers our first question...𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑢𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠?

👨‍👩‍👦 I am loving wife and new mother to a handsome baby boy. (truth)

🫁I work as a Respiratory Therapist at a hospital as well as a long term facility sharing my gifts and passion to care for others.

Welcome to the party .martinez16 🌈

🎉A giant shout out + thank you to from for sharing your wisdom and heart with us.

❓ Our last question- 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 20 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓?

📚 I don't know if my 20 year old self would have the sense to read anything my 50 year old self recommends!
👉🏼But here goes:

📕 The Rules - Ellen Fein (Take this one with a grain of salt. It's antiquated, but the foundation is good. You'll hate it. You'll throw it across the room in disgust. But if you take what you need and leave the rest, you'll realize: You are a creature unlike any other. You deserve a partner who treats you with respect.)
📕 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
📕 The Book of Speculation - Erika Swyler
📕The Ocean At The End Of The Lane - Neil Gaiman
📕My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - Fredrik Backman

👂 Stayed tuned to learn more about the wonderful women around us OR tag someone you want is to meet and share! Tag any and all friends, we can’t wait to share your story! ♥️

💪🏽 From strong women to strong women, we asked “ 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒“

👧🏽 From a friend: You know what she has that you don't? HIM. And you don't want him.
👯‍♀️ From a big sister: Find someone who is your biggest fan.
👨🏻 From a gentleman: If you'd just wait a minute, I'd open that door for you.
🚫From a boss: Say NO. You don't have to agree to everything.

Up first, designer + friend who answers our first question ~ 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑢𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑?

🛠I'm the friend who will bring the shovels and tarps.

🍷I'll offer you wine, and listen to your stories and tell you that your ideas are not crazy.

🫂 And I give great hugs.

👩🏼‍💻 I create branding, design websites and manage digital marketing. I also make t-shirts mugs and more with sayings that inspire me or make me smile.

🤍 My feeling is that you share your gifts with everything you put into the world.

📣 Are you ready to meet the women who showed up for Good Company?

👩🏻‍❤️‍👩🏾 We reached out to an eclectic group of women and posed the same three questions to each of them. 🙏🏼 Our hope is that with each story you read you begin to see the common thread that weaves the fabric of women’s stories together.

🪡 Storytelling is one of the most powerful gifts to humanity. It’s what brings us together and unites us. ✌🏼

We are so excited to launch our next Good Company series——
𝙶𝙾𝙾𝙳 𝚃𝙴𝙻𝙻𝚂 𝙰𝙻𝙻 📖
We invited an eclectic group of women to share a piece of their story with you all!
Throughout the next ✌🏼months we will feature their stories in hopes of making connections & empowering one another 💪🏽👩🏽‍🤝‍👩🏻
So join us as we gather around the virtual table and support one another. There’s a piece of ourselves in every woman’s story 💝

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕚𝕗𝕥𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕀𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 📖 is a beautiful invitation to living wholehearted life! It is just what we needed and hope you had some takeaways.
There are 6 more guideposts that we didn’t even get to so listen to podcast Unlocking Us or grab the book. It’s one you can keep coming back to as you continue to practice how to live ♥︎ 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑𝑙𝑦 ♥︎
We have a really soulful October lined up for y’all. We’re super excited to share 👯‍♀️
Thank you for joining us on this journey of self-discovery & learning how to love ourselves better😘

How many of you poll your friends before listening to your gut?
🗣”What do you think?”
🗣”What would you do?”
🗣”Do you think it’s a good idea?”

shares in Guidepost 5, that often times what silences our intuitive voice is our need for certainty. Totally…right? 🤷🏻‍♀️

So how do we learn to trust our intuition and the journey?

“𝐼𝑁𝑇𝑈𝐼𝑇𝐼𝑂𝑁 is not a single way of knowing—-it’s our way ability to hold space for uncertainty and our willingness to trust the many ways we’ve developed knowledge & insight…”-Brene

Read that again and again!

Let’s Dig Deep:
Get still, let go of having to know! Quiet your mind however that looks for you.

Get Inspired:
Books to inspire include When The Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd & Pema Chodrons, Comfortsble with Uncertainty

Get Going:
When feeling scared or anxious about not knowing pick a mantra to calm the need for certainty.

“𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚊 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐-𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚙𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚢 & 𝚘𝚞𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚠𝚎’𝚟𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚠𝚍𝚐𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝...“~𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚎 𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗

📸 credit 🙏

How many of you are just waiting for the other shoe to drop? 👞

And/Or afraid to lean into joyful experiences because you’re concerned it may not last or something else will suffer because you did so?

Well is here to tell us that we need both joy and happiness in our lives and neither of them are constant, both of them come and go. Joyfulness is connected to spirit and gratitude and happiness to circumstance. She shares that it’s important to 𝑅𝐸𝐶𝑂𝐺𝑁𝐼𝑍𝐸 the experiences that make us happy.

❔What brings you happiness & joy?

❔Where can you lay down your armor🛡& lean into joy?

One thing we know for sure is, cultivating a practice (🗝 word practice) of gratitude and having more of it will only magnetize more abundance in your life.
It’s Universal Law yo!

Alright let’s DIG DEEP in a nutshell:

Get Deliberate:
Let’s increase your joy---acknowledge your fear then transform it into gratitude. Brene says this out loud “I’m feeling vulnerable. That’s okay. I’m so grateful for_________.” Try it-it’s free of charge.

Get Inspired:
Find joy in the ordinary moments. Watching a man rollerblade down Park Ave. with only one blade and no shirt-happy as a clam (happened this morning), your children’s giggles, the peace and satisfaction of chopping vegetables.

Get Going:
Make gratitude a family ritual.

Guidepost #3-  Cultivating a Resilient Spirit: Letting Go of Numbing and Powerlessness

Resilience is often a crutch to shove all emotions aside and just move on. Is this strategy serving you? Are you actually becoming stronger or more resilient? ORRRRR are you numbing what needs to be addressed?

Guidepost 3 calls out the skills of resiliency:

1. Being resourceful + having good problem solving skills 🤔
2. Seeking Help 👩🏻‍💻
3. Believing that you can do something that will help manage your feelings and cope 🌈
4. Tapping into social support 👋🏼
5. Connected to others 👭

Are you using the above to process the heavy things or are you using other methods that don’t bring you joy? What is one thing you can commit to employing to become more resilient in your life? Share with us below! 👇🏾

Perfectionism, man does that word bring on some emotions! 🎭

Perfectionism is NOT the same thing as striving to be your best. If you are striving to be perfect, you may find yourself exhausted and disappointed. 😳 This is the opposite of what you are hoping for when you set out to do things perfectly.

Whether it is in your career, your home, or your relationships trying to be perfect is a shield + a self protective strategy. 🛡

🎈 Brene says “Lay down that shield and start picking up your life”. Give yourself some love and compassion to do your best and lay off the pressure that perfectionism brings on.

Where can you embrace your strengths, and areas of growth, and lay down your shield today?

We’re just going to leave this here for you today✨

Hello Monday👋🏽
We are diving into the 10 guideposts from The Gifts of Imperfection by
We will share our AHA’s, our whole 🤍Ed inventory results & synthesize the dig deeps at the end of each guidepost.

Where’d you land on guidepost #1 in the wholehearted inventory?

♡︎Desi is slowly letting go of what people think so the tank is almost ½ full here.

♡︎Alicia is about 3/4 tank full on cultivating authenticity.
Here’s how Brene breaks it down for us👇🏼

“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of WHO we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.”

🔑 word 𝔻𝔸𝕀𝕃𝕐

AHA: We hadn’t thought about authenticity having to be a mindful practice…one that you consciously choose to do.
Yeah we consciously practice yoga, gratitude, meditation but the daily practice of showing up & choosing to be our true selves is the real deal and can feel really scary at times.
This is where the what if’s start to creep in.
Brene shares that when we choose to be true to ourselves, the people around us will struggle to make sense of how and why we are changing. They get uncomfy, some will leave while others will get inspired.
Here’s Brene’s DIG DEEP:

Get deliberate:
She shares to find a mantra, word or saying that grounds you. “Don’t shrink. Don’t puff up. Stand on your sacred ground.” Is her mantra here. Love it!

Get Inspired:
Share your work & opinion with the world…never know who you’ll inspire ✨

Get Going:
Make authenticity your #1 priority when entering a vulnerable situation. From the lips of Brene…if the goal is being liked & they don’t like you, you’re in trouble. Shift your focus to being your authentic self 🙌🏻

“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” The Gifts of Imperfection p. 10

Read ☝🏼as many times as you need✨

Owning our story can be the hardest thing but most powerful thing we ever do, according to

Pages 11-65 are juicy y’all!
Brene defines & walks us through
The Gifts of Imperfection👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
🤍Courage Compassion Connection

🤍The power of love, belonging & being enough

🤍The things that get in our way

Read it, mark it up and let it marinate
We will dive into the 10 guideposts one by one starting next week! Join us on this journey of living a wholehearted life-let’s do this🤍

Oh and take the the wholehearted inventory—-so good! 🔗 in bio

👋🏼 Welcome the beginning of our deep dive into The Gifts of Imperfection. We were both inspired to open this book up when Brene Brown and her sisters launched their Summer Sister Series on Unlocking us (see our Linktree for more info).🎧

📖 We hope you’ll join us as we unpack this book together over the next few months.

❤️ According to Brene, wholehearted living is not a one time choice. It is a journey, a process, a lifetime commitment to living with your whole heart. You need to review where you have been and where you hope to go in order to dig deep and understand what you contribute to this beautiful world. 🌎

👩🏻‍💻Start by taking the Wholehearted Living Inventory. You can find this link in our bio.

Share below what was one thing that surprised you + one thing you knew was coming! 👇🏾

Grab your people and grab this book! 📚

This week, Good Company, launches into The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown. 🎁

We are so excited to dig deep with you all and continue to learn more about ourselves and each other. 👭

All we wanna know is who is coming with us? 🙋🏽‍♀️

Me next 🙋🏻‍♀️
Hi there-my name is Desi, Alicias other half, co-founder & co-creator of Good Company. I echo what Alicia shared about WHY we created this space for ourselves & others. It’s so important to connect and know that you’re not alone in this messy beautiful thing we call life.

A lil bit about me…I too have been in education for 20+ years, which is where Alicia and I met. I’m a mama of two amazing teens, one of which is about to leave the nest & move to FL…I’m in CO 😬

If you’ve experienced change in a new job, you know it’s not easy to be the NKOTB. I recently left a comfy position with the most amazing humans of 4 years to grow myself as an educator at a new school. What I forgot is that being new forces you to ask for a lot of help & show your vulnerable side to people you don’t know yet—-not always easy.

As a child, I moved to a new elementary school almost every year. I’ll never forget that butterfly in my stomach feeling of starting over, having to make new friends & wondering if people are going to like me.

Those same feelings come into play as a grown ass woman. What else comes into question is…Do I even know what I’m doing? Why’d they hire me? Am I enough?

I’ve grounded myself in the book The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and carry each agreement with me everyday as I sludge my way through being new at something. At the end of the day all you can really ask yourself is “Self, did you do your best?” and your best may look different each day.

Thank you for joining us on this journey. Say hi & drop a hell yeah if can relate👇🏼👇🏼

Good morning! I am up first with a re-intro. 👋🏼

My name is Alicia and I am one of the co-founders of Good Company. This company came to fruition out of a personal need. The need for more connection, more inspiration and more real talk around things that we all struggle with AND things that give us joy. 🤸🏽

👩🏼‍🏫 I have been an educator for over 15 years, with sale and service woven into my life before that. I have two beautiful daughters who just graduated from high school and my life feels different. I changed jobs in January, my kids are adults (kinda) and so many things have been forced into a new perspective. I love it but it also means I need others who have been here to shed light on things that aren’t in focus yet. ✨

🌈 Good company allows me to dig deep into books, podcasts, philosophies, and conversations that grow me and my heart. I hope to bring humor and leadership to the others who join us here, and am thankful for your feedback and participation in our work. We are always better together!

📝 Drop a note and say hello below! Who is here with me?