Teaching Our Kids To Launch Successfully

Resources are always around, but how can we bring this together and look at the whole student, right? And that's where, for me, my position in career wellness was born. Career wellness is not a new concept. It spins off of career readiness.

It's a lot of those concepts, but we needed to look at it from these three pillars because if the student is not well, they're not going to be a great intern for you. They're not going to be a great student. Welcome to the Thrive Her podcast. I'm your host, Amy Sanders.

I'm a fitness and wellness pro, mom, stepmom, second wife, and master certified life coach. I'm here to help you manage your mind so you can uncover the most potent version of yourself and create a thriving life you love. Welcome back to the Thrive Her podcast. I'm your host, Amy Sanders, and we have an amazing guest.

Awesome guest with us today. I actually love everything that she's doing in this world. She's absolutely helping so many different people thrive in their lives as well as she's thriving in her own. We are welcoming Nicole Guanzura today.

She is incredible and she has done so many amazing things. Just to give you an idea, I'm going to tell you some of the things. She's first of all, a first college, like a first generation college graduate. She's bilingual.

She's an immigrant from Zimbabwe. And she has had a lot of success and experience in early career development and higher education. And with that, she has created her own company. It's called an education advancement consulting.

And she basically goes in and consults and helps all of these different young thought leaders navigate. I mean, we're going to talk about navigate their lives and become successful in their own lives. She has been on the internship show. She has been featured in Fortune.

She's been featured in the gold digger podcast, which is another just amazing podcast that I'm sure a lot of you guys have heard about. So she's done a lot of things. But we're going to talk about it. So let's first start with you just giving us an intro of you're an immigrant from Zimbabwe.

So let's start a lot from the podcast. Thank you so much, Amy. It is my absolute joy to be here and be connected with you. I love what you're doing.

And especially when you're doing a lot of the work that you're doing. So thank you especially how you're using this platform to really empower women and bringing guests like myself to share in that conversation. So firstly, thank you for having me. And you know, I love just embracing so much of my culture into the work that I do, because I find it so important when I'm connecting with folks coming from different parts of the world, that I'm able to connect with people from different parts of the world, different parts of the country, I'm working a lot on college campuses, there's international students, there are folks that are trying to discover what's next for them.

And so having that relatability of Oh, I understand another language, I understand another culture, I understand what it's like to make a huge transition from one country to another and call it home. I'd never even visited the United States before calling it home. So talk about culture shock. And nothing like it was on TV, by the way.

Nothing. Let's talk about that. What did you think it was on TV? Well, I grew up watching my brother and me, the Steve Harvey show, the Parkers, a snippet of Friends, my aunt would buy cassette tapes in London and send them to us.

And so we'd play Friends via cassette tapes, or satellite dish. And so I'd see these environments of what American schools look like. And it was not like that at all. I ended up moving to Fairfax County in Virginia.

And it was a great experience. But I moved in the middle of middle school, third quarter, new kid with an accent. Everybody's fascinated because everything I pronounce is so different from the basics that everybody else does. And it was quite, it was quite the culture shock.

But thank God. And even as being bilingual allowed me to just exercise my English skills and be able to excel in that. And while also demonstrating my culture, because you could hear it in my accent, you could hear it in my tone and the things that I said. So what about, like, what did that look like for you?

Did you feel like you were welcomed into the United States? Because you're middle school, which I would say, I would argue, is like the most awkward stage that we're all experiencing. And you're not just moving states or schools. You're, like, moving cultures.

You're moving, like, across the world. Yes. Into the American schools. So how was that for you?

And how are you accepting your corporation? So I know sometimes it's terrible. So please forgive me. Sometimes I call middle school the land of trolls.

It's hard. It's a hard stage. It's hard. It's really, really hard.

And I understand that. And so coming in, everybody has established relationships from elementary school. I'm the new kid. And what worked in my benefit was having this cool British accent.

So they loved to hear me talk. So I would get volunteered a lot to read certain things, and they would be fascinated. Okay, so you're, we're saying truck. You're saying lorry.

I'm saying pants. You're saying trousers. I'm asking for a biscuit, and you're giving me what I think would be a scone. But you're saying, that's a, that's a biscuit.

And what I want is a cookie. All the lorries that are different. Oh, everything is different. And then they'd also be kids who would ask me, like, so do they have clothes?

Do they wear clothes where you come from? No, no. We're just, we're all naked. We are, you know?

Why would we put on clothes? They asked me if I had a pet lion. Which was another one. I was like, no, you know, I actually have to go to the safari park to see those, just like you.

Those are just not, like, roaming around in my backyard. No, no. If they were, we'd need to call animal control, and we'd all be in danger. If you're from Africa, that means that you're living in a safari.

That's all that means. Of course. I'm in a jungle. I live in a hut, a thatched roof.

You know, all of that. Of course. Why would we have clothes? Why would we speak English?

Maybe we're just speaking a random clicking language and don't know anything about civilization. So, for the most part, I was well-received. Oh, I'm good. I'm glad is what I meant to say.

And I always wonder how that is for immigrants as they come in. I always hope that that's what our country is, right? Our country allows immigrants, and our country allows, I guess, to dream big. It's like the land of freedom.

So I'm like, I hope that we're still doing that for people who are coming in. Absolutely. So from there, you went to college. You were the only one in your first college graduate in your family.

What made you want to do that? Yes. So for me, it was a different first-gen experience because while my dad had gone to college in Zimbabwe, I was the first in my family to go and get a degree in the United States. So yes, I could, you know, some could technically say, well, that's not first-gen.

But we had to figure out from the beginning, from scratch, how do you even navigate this? What does it look like? What are the dreams, right? And there's this land of the free, right?

And the home of the brave. What does that look like? How are you adjusting? I remember even just in high school, transitioning, and I was auditioning for choir, and they asked me to sing the national anthem.

And I said, well, I don't know the national anthem. I'm in the United States. So I sang Happy Birthday because that's the only universal song that I knew. So it's so many new experiences, but there were organizations.

There's one called the College Partnership Program, and they would have meetings. And we could talk about, well, what does college look like in the United States? How do you get there? How do you apply?

How do you get to visit? Because my family isn't equipped or prepared for taking college tours. We're trying to adjust to this new system, this new space. Parents are starting all over again.

So a college tour is not part of their radar. They're like, we've moved for better opportunities, and we're here, right? We're going to work hard. So those organizations stepped in to help of this is how you do it.

I got to stay on the college campus where I ultimately went to school for 10 days to experience what it was like in a summer bridge type of program. And that helped me so much when it came to the transition, what to look forward to, how to navigate where I was going. But had it not been for that, because that's not the case for all immigrants. And especially like my husband, who came to the United States freshman year of college, straight from Zimbabwe.

Okay. Yeah. He's also from Zimbabwe. We're the only two on campus, only two Zimbabweans, which was wild to think about because we went to school.

We went to school in Southwest Virginia. How did he find it? Yeah. Well, did you guys know each other in Zimbabwe or no?

They're here and you're both from Zimbabwe. Amazing. Yes. Incredible.

So, okay. We're actually shifting right to that because you're also an alum. Yes. And an entrepreneur.

Yeah. And you juggle it all. Try to. So we're going to talk about your business in just a second, but let's talk about being a mom.

On the podcast, I'd love to tell everyone and anyone, anyone that's tuning in, it does not matter where you are, where you've been, what you're doing, as long as you're like following your passion and your dreams. And that might be entrepreneurship. It might not. It does not matter.

It's as long as you're being true to you and you are continually moving forward in your life. So, but being an entrepreneur and also a mom is, it's a lot of Harry. So, so how are you doing it? What is working for you in order to this?

I will tell you right off the bat, I'm not, a self-made entrepreneur. I'm not a self-made woman at all. If I was, I would have fallen flat on my face a long time ago because when I started my business, I, my son was four months old, I think. So he was fresh out of the womb and my daughter was a toddler at the time.

So just this balance of how do I even do this? How do I, walk away from the workplace? It had to take the support of my husband, who is so gracious. And even in the things he doesn't understand, he's like, okay, I'm just going to trust that you know what you're doing.

And my, my family is so close. My mom is only about 30 minutes away. My sister, 40 minutes away, my brother, 20 minutes away. So I have this triangulated village and then, the community of people around me, the friends that I've been making either at the kids' schools, you know, learning to lean on them, honestly, really, really helped me because there were days when I didn't know what I was going to do.

I didn't know what I was doing. And my parents now, actually, what I didn't mention, my parents are both entrepreneurs and they have been doing it for a couple of years now, but I was determined never to be an entrepreneur. I just wanted my own thing. Yeah.

I was like, that's not, that's not for me. That's, I don't really want to do that, but being an entrepreneur has allowed me to be a better mother. I, it allows me to schedule shift when I need to, when my husband can't always do that because his industry, he's super busy most of the time. So I can do the, I do most of the, pickups and drop-offs because I can shift how I want to block my schedule.

I can do the grocery pickups and a lot of the just like, let's take off. Just yesterday, there was a touch a truck event in our neighborhood. And I was like, let's go touch some excavators and emergency vehicles. And I closed my laptop for an hour and we did that.

And we came home. They were a little bit tired out because it was just so hot, but it was nice to just be able to do that. And then there's some weekends where I'm like, mom, SOS, please take them. I can't.

One of them, it's either going to be them or me going out the window, out the door somewhere, but they are there, porch side, free pickup, no returns until the end of the weekend. Porch side, free pickup, no return. I love it. Well, what I love that you've said, though, is that you have been able to lean on others for support.

And I think that is a thing that a lot of us as entrepreneurs struggle with. For me, it has been something I've really had to learn to do. I would just try to do all of it all the time. I was the mom, I was the cleaner, I was the maid, I was cooking, and I was also juggling the business.

And that's a hard lesson that I think a lot of us learn a lot slower. So kudos to you. You implemented that out of the gate because it's been one of my hardest lessons. And then allowing people to serve you also gives you to serve and also creates a deeper connection and appreciation for each other.

It does a beautiful thing that I think we don't really look at in that light. You know, we're actually allowing people to serve us and we're feeling gratitude that they have. And then vice versa. It's just like a beautiful, beautiful thing.

It's all about connection, right? It is. It's so about it. So yeah.

Awesome. Okay, well, let's dive into your business. So you have this business, you're helping all of these people. What led you to pick career wellness?

And what is it? Let's just, yes. So after working in high, well, I shared about that experience of the people who really invested in me. So while it, my degree, in marketing, and I have a master's in business administration, the, the sensible option was going to work in corporate.

And at one point, I thought I wanted to work in marketing. And at the time, you're gonna laugh, I wanted to work in product marketing for research in motion. Right? As a freshman, I had a BlackBerry and my life revolved around my BlackBerry.

And I was like, I want to make, I want to work for the company that makes these, I want to be in that space, I want to understand the psychology of why people buy how they do certain things, why things are placed in in certain places. And so I looked at that I looked at consumer product, good companies, why do you put things on the shelves, but then I just didn't feel that much of a desire to go into that area. I was in clubs on campus where I was a resident assistant. And I could I worked with the Dean of Students interned with the Career Services Office.

So I just this passion for supporting students and their journey was just resounding. So when I graduated, that's where I went, I went into higher ed, I was working in business school admissions, and a lot of folks were coming in and talking about their journeys, right? I'm responsible for looking through their applications, having conversations around their fit, not only in the program, but from an employability standpoint as well. What does that journey look like?

How do you fit in the grander scheme of what the school supports? And some of that is looking at your essays, but some of that is looking at your scores, your work experience. And the same theme kept recurring, especially around first generation students, was they were coming into this journey underemployed. Folks were coming in this journey without as much confidence as they needed to have experience.

And I kept wondering, why is this happening? And also some of their scores were deterrence for the program I was working for. So no matter how much I tried to advocate behind the scenes, there were just some scores they needed to meet. And that was a non-negotiable.

So that to me, I gathered that experience, went to work for an organization that was helping a lot of women, especially figure out what was next for them. And I loved that it was, it was such an amazing space working in program management. And so when I decided to walk away from my nine to five, I thought, okay, with this experience, with these experiences, how and where could I best use my skills? I could be an admissions consultant.

I've got that experience. I could be a general career consultant. I could do that. However, all roads were leading back to college students.

They were leading back to how do I collaborate with these career development offices, student affairs offices, and how do we look at the whole student? How do we look at them from the career development? It's really important that they are honing in on the skills that they do have, some that they don't realize. There's a lot of dismissive language.

I didn't do an internship, so I don't really have a good skill for my resume. But, oh, I was just a lifeguard. But what did you learn from that, right? So, you know, I was just a lifeguard.

I was just a lifeguard. I was just a part of my job was, okay, let's put those skills together. But also, it's more than just your school, your schoolwork. What about your mental well-being?

How are you really, right? As Jenna Kutcher would say, how are you really? Like, are you okay? Are you okay?

How are you doing? Do you know that there's 10 free services, 10 free counseling services on campus, and you don't have to be diagnosed with something if you're just having a hard time keeping up? At school, if you and your partner are having a hard time, you can talk to somebody. And then lastly, when you get a job or you get an internship, do you know how to manage your money?

Do you know that your student loans, the refund check is not a refund? You've got to give it back. Do you know? And so these are things that resources are always around, but how can we bring this together and look at the whole student, right?

And that's where, for me, my position in career wellness was born. Career wellness is not a new concept. It spins off of career readiness. It's a lot of those concepts, but we needed to look at it from these three pillars, because if the student is not well, they're not going to be a great intern for you.

They're not going to be a great student. If they're mishandling their finances, then as they get into their job, they're setting themselves back for managing their money, earning potential, credit scores, all kinds of things. So how can we start that conversation early? And that's what career wellness is.

And so we developed from one workshop at a time, talking about these topics, to now a six-week career wellness curriculum that we have out on campuses and foundations in collaboration with the schools. So how can we support you? How can we make sure that not only the students are well taken care of, but the administration has the resources they need? It's incredible.

And so you go to the universities, and the universities can use your program to help these students. Exactly. I think it's so, I mean, I'm looking at this like, me and my husband, I laugh, and we have seven kids between the two of us. We're a second year.

And I'm like, trying to even count how many of them are between these ages. We have it currently, we have it between the two of us. We have it between the two of us. We have a 17-year-old, an 18-year-old, a 19-year-old, a 20-year-old, and a 22-year-old.

So all of them, and you know, we have two more on the bookends of those. But that, just in my family alone, that's five kids. Yeah. That are right there in that, that age that needs all of those services.

Yeah. You know, financial and all the things. And so with you, I'm just looking at how many kids you can touch and inspire. And if you touch and inspire them and educate them, you're going to educate them at that age.

Mm-hmm. How much further are they going to be able to go in life? How much more prepared are they going to be able to be? How much better are they going to be able to perform at work?

Yes. Like, the power behind what you do is incredible. Thank you. Thank you so much.

I mean, I believe it, but you know, sometimes hearing it just resonated again. That's another reminder, because that's it. You know, when you look at the students, yes, I work with a lot of first-generation or low-income students or students coming from low-support backgrounds, but really all students need this kind of support, because then when you're graduating, it's not just a, oh, thank you so much for this job. You know, oh my goodness, I'm just so grateful to have a job.

But it's, okay, thank you for this opportunity, but thank you for this opportunity, but thank you for this opportunity, but thank you for this opportunity. This XYZ skill that I bring to the table. I'm confident in this. Or, oh, you know what?

I did my research, and I know that this offer is at the bottom tier of their salary capacity. So how do we negotiate these conversations? If it's not salary, what does the entire compensation package look like? And you're that much wiser every time you're switching gears.

Or if you're like, hey, oh, I took that transferable skills 101, so when I leave this job, it doesn't mean I have to go into the next level of this job if I didn't like it. I can transfer my skills into that thing, and I can upskill to go into the next great thing. It's like showing them also just new possibilities that they're not aware of. Yeah.

So important and so cool. Another thing that I thought about is look at my kids, and of course, like, we try to teach them, and they are, what's the, they are privileged children. I look at their lifestyle, and I'm like, very, I'm very proud. Like, I'm proud, and I'm grateful.

Yes, and able to give our kids the lifestyle that they have. We have a better lifestyle than what I grew up with, and I even was a privileged child, right? Yeah. Still, they are going to listen to other people better than parents, right?

100%. And when you look at the other children that you're able to work with, they're going to listen to other people better than parents. The kids that you're able to work with that are underprivileged, mine are absolutely, hands down, very privileged. We know that.

Yes, but they still need these skills, and the people, and your help, you know, the other group of children that you're helping need them even more. So incredible. Yeah. So thank you for the work that you're doing.

It's just, it's awesome. I love what you're doing. So also, are finishing a book, correct? So actually just released, it just got released this week.

I contributed a chapter in an anthology, which was really, really cool. And now actually behind the scenes working on my first full book on my own, now that I tested the water to see, can I actually do it? And I contributed a chapter just sharing my story of how I almost failed out of grad school, and what that journey has been like. So thank you so much for that.

It has been like since, because everybody keeps looking, they're like, you must have had a great GMAT score. Oh, for you to do this, you must have been perfect. Well, let me tell you the time I almost didn't make it out of my first semester of grad school. Right.

I think that there's so much power in those stories, especially when we're talking to successful women or women who are doing big things. I'm saying women, because majority of listeners are women, but yeah, buddy, really, right? Anyone who is achieving great things, it does not come with a lot of pitfalls, a lot of failures, a lot of I have to pick myself back up and figure out how to do this. Right.

You know, there's so much that we go through. And a lot of times it's not talked about. And so you see people on platforms, you see people, oh, they're doing so well, or they're doing this amazing thing. No one really knows what happened behind the scenes to get to where we are, where we're going.

It's so important for that story, because it gives so much hope to the people who are... Tuning in, listening, have that little, like, drive inside. It's like, can I? Yeah.

Can I do more? Can I be more? Can I really realize this dream? Exactly.

We're not there. Exactly. That's on that going live this week. It's like, so exciting.

Anything else that you're working on right now that you'd like to share? Well, right now, so with that out of the way, just really working right now on, number of these career wellness workshops that are happening on site on campuses rolling out in the fall, finishing up summer bridge programs this summer. So one of the things that we're trying to do to increase access when we can't physically be around one, of course, I have my podcast where I talk about career wellness. And so that's a lot of fun that I'm like, okay, every week, I just get to chat with folks and folks get access to me in a way that they, typically wouldn't.

And then also right now working on a course on transferable skills, because with the way that the economy is right now, there's so many things that are shifting and challenging. And I want it to be not just for college students, but for those early career professionals, maybe you're a mid-career transitioning and trying to figure out what's next. So this is a course that's helping you understand what skills you have to offer, to the table, what kind of things you can transfer from one role to the other, how you can confidently do that as well and talk about that. So that is a course that is in the works and will be debuting in September.

So really, really excited about that launching. And that's, that's really it right now. There's some other cool things that we'll be announcing soon as well. But for right now, those are some of the cool things happening.

So many cool things happening. Yeah. On everything that's going on. Thank you so much for just being here and your everything that you've shared with us.

So a couple more questions. Question is, how are you thriving in your life with everything that you're doing? What does that look like to you? To me, I am thriving through honestly, my faith.

I'm thriving when everybody needs their center, their centering thing. For me, it's my faith. And that's where I stem all joy, all everything and my being my identity, my personality from. And that's what allows me to thrive so that when I'm looking at my life, my outlook, it's just that much better.

That much better. When even in the bleakest moments, I'm like, but there is hope. There's there is hope when things don't seem like they're falling, they're falling in line. Or I'm like, am I even still meant to the code to to work in this company?

I just don't want to do it today. I don't feel like it today. I just want to stay in bed. And some days I do.

But there's still hope. So for me, I'm thriving and just finding my center in my faith where everything I do and identify what stems from. Oh, good. I love it.

Staying grounded. Yeah. And realizing that, you know, you're just an avenue, right? You're like a resource that that's it, that you're using for good.

And you can be guided by higher powers. I love exactly, exactly. Last question, and then we'll let you go. Okay.

What is the biggest lesson you've learned or a nugget of wisdom that you'd like to leave with our audience? Hmm. I would say one of the biggest lessons I have learned is it's, okay to fall completely flat on your face. It is okay.

Matter of fact, it's a good thing when you experience it a time or two, because once you've tasted what the bottom feels like and like everything else will be okay. Everything else is never going to be as bad as what rock bottom felt like. Yeah. And you learn so much from that, right?

You do. And you also learn about what you're capable of because you got back up and you were able to face the world, face the challenge again. It, I mean, I, we've all experienced things that have felt like they were debilitating at some point. Well, I just don't know how I can come from this.

Yeah. When you do come from it, when you do live another day to tell that story, it is well worth it, not only internally for you, but for that next person who has not fallen yet. And when they do, you're going to be able to tell them, Hey, I was there. I can resonate with some of these things.

And here's how I got back up. So it's from that almost domino effect. Then you can extend a hand and say, Hey, can I help you? And then you can say, Hey, can I help you?

you up? Or can I give you some tips so you can reposition yourself to get back up? Absolutely. I love it.

It's so relevant for anyone that's tuning in, including myself. I'm like always agree reminder that we are super resilient humans. Yes, we are. And we're capable of really hard things.

And when we're struck with something hard, and it hits us and it feels like the depths of despair. Yes. It could feel that way, but it's actually not. And it just shows you how much stronger you are as you move through it.

and heal from it and rise above it so often. But the key is to get back up. Exactly. You have to get back up.

And get back up. Challenge yourself to get back up, even though it's not easy. I love it. Yes.

Well, thank you so much, Nicole, for being on today and sharing everything that you've shared with us. It's been a joy to have you. And I'm so glad we got this time together. So thank you.

Me too. Thank you so much, Amy. I'm so grateful. Thank you for the great questions and just having me here.

And it's been a lot of fun. And I appreciate you just letting me into the Thrive Her podcast community and just being able to share my story amongst all the lessons learned and where we're headed. Yeah, thank you. Absolutely.

I've loved having you here. So everyone, again, if you want to learn more about everything that she's doing, it'll be in the show notes. So you can just scroll down, look at those notes. All of her information.

And we will see you guys on another episode. Thanks. Bye. , Amy Sanders.

co forward slash services. Again, that is amysanders. co forward slash services.