Bridgett Burrick Brown (00:01.102) Hi everybody, welcome back. I am your host, Bridgette Barak-Brown, and this is the Beyond Beauty Project, the podcast. Today I am with Giselle Ugardi, and I met Giselle through the Keynote Speaking World, and as I started to follow her content online, I was really drawn to just her research and her deep dives that she does into communication and all things media. You'll see as we chat today that we have a lot of things in common and beliefs just about like filters and all that kind of stuff. So Giselle is a blogger turned TV and radio host and producer turned advertising executive turned coach, speaker and entrepreneur. She's been creating online content and studying communication, marketing and consumer behavior for more than 15 years and is known for her No BS. and no more excuses approach that inspires forward facing leaders to build confidence, create more meaningful relationships and prepare for the future of work online, but especially off. So thank you so much for being here. I'm so excited to chat today. I know. So we're going to dive into so many things that you talk about in your background, but @GiselleUgarte (01:15.943) So happy to be here, it's so good to see you. Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:27.554) Just tell us to start, like, where are you from and what are you currently doing with work? We'll dive into some of your backstory in a bit, but what would you say you're doing now? @GiselleUgarte (01:38.957) definitely am a coach first and foremost. That is what I am on stage, what I am when I do interviews like this and what keeps me grounded every single day. And I coach forward-facing leaders as you described in my bio, which to me is really the future of leadership. You have to be comfortable speaking in front of people. And previously that used to be, know, boardrooms or meetings or even presentations and consultations, but now you're expected to build a brand. And that means getting online and on social media and maybe even on your phone and after the pandemic, we're having to get on zoom and it's so much more valuable and meaningful even right now we're doing this podcast. And I like to say that like I don't listen to podcasts, I watch my podcasts. I watch a lot of my podcasts on YouTube and it's so much more meaningful when you can see the person on the other side and you know that it's a human. And and I get so passionate about that particular subject because on the surface it looks like Bridgett Burrick Brown (02:22.542) Mmm. @GiselleUgarte (02:37.051) you're a media trainer or you're a marketing strategist. But I have worked with people who are, you know, students in high school and in college. I've worked with people who have sold multiple businesses who are millionaires, billionaires, you know, Olympians, Grammy award winning recording artists. And the thing that every single person has in common is wondering if what they have to say actually matters. And so it's, you know, it seems like it's so surface level, but the way that I function as a coach is Bridgett Burrick Brown (02:54.284) Hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (03:00.526) Aww. @GiselleUgarte (03:06.725) I'm not trying to tell you what to say or how to say it perfectly. It's helping you to tame those voices in your head and believe that what you have to say or what matters to you matters, whether it's only to you or other people. And so the leaps and bounds of confidence that comes from having that as a skillset that many people see as purely arrogant or unnecessary, that's what I so very much love. And I... Bridgett Burrick Brown (03:14.711) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (03:19.65) Yes. Bridgett Burrick Brown (03:32.11) I love that. @GiselleUgarte (03:33.445) Yeah, exactly. And you asked, you asked, you know, where am I from? you know, going back to that, I, yeah, so if you're, if you're listening to the audio only, I mean, I'm an olive skinned, dark haired girl, big, big curls, big ponytail energy. And I came from a Tex-Mex family who was in Minnesota, where there aren't a lot of people who are like us who are talking and yelling in all different languages. And I grew up in a house full of boys. Bridgett Burrick Brown (03:38.03) Where are from? Where are you sitting right now? Bridgett Burrick Brown (04:01.692) I love that. @GiselleUgarte (04:02.461) And, you know, as a kid, all you want is to fit in and there really wasn't anybody who who looks like me or sounded like my family or who had crazy big dreams like I did. And so I would watch TV and that was my escape and that was my entertainment and that was my outlet and expression. And and I just remember wanting to just hear from more people or see more experiences. And I never felt more seen than watching the movie Selena. which if you've ever seen at just the pressures of, you know, being a Mexican American, especially if you have a mix of some people in your family who are Mexican first, I am the only person in my immediate family who was actually born here. So I'm American first and just the pressures of thinking that you need to be, you know, more than or just as much American or Mexican and you have to speak Spanish but also English, but you know, just all the different ways and just the different pressures that you have from Bridgett Burrick Brown (04:30.734) yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (04:55.66) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (04:58.907) your own culture or your own family to perform and do well. so I just feel like I just wanted to be able to see more of that. I wanted, yeah. And I think that comes in all shapes and colors and sizes. And we think that that permission has to be granted for us. And it used to. You used to have to go to a casting call for something like that. You used to have to have a producer who believed in you. And instead, now we have our phones. Bridgett Burrick Brown (05:09.942) More of you. @GiselleUgarte (05:28.925) And if you feel like there is a table that you don't belong at, great, you can go make your own table. And that's what I see is so valuable. I think there are too many people who are waiting to be seen, waiting to be accepted, waiting to be given permission, or it feels like forced permission or, you know, forced inclusion. And I just simply, you know, for part of a lot of what I do, it's believing that what you have to say matters and that somebody needs to see someone just like you, or they don't even know that they need to see someone just like you. Bridgett Burrick Brown (05:29.101) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (05:35.594) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (05:42.741) Yes. @GiselleUgarte (05:58.831) And so when you have the tools, the resources, the production team in quite literally the palm of your hands in the form of your phone, that's a lot more powerful than people give it credit for. And it used to be something that people thought was a cute little want to have. And what I've been saying for, as you mentioned, you know, over 15 years, no, it's a need to have. So get on board. Bridgett Burrick Brown (06:17.366) Yeah, I love, we're gonna dive into like, I just love the part that you coach where you're really sane. Like you, we are all enough exactly as we are. You just have to be, have the courage to sort of step into that. I'm like, I'm ready to learn from you today, by the way. So I wanna go, I know, I'm like, Giselle's gonna take us to church today. So I wanna circ, like, let's go back a little bit because I feel like when I hear you talk about your mom, it's just so beautiful. So I remember in an interview, you were talking about how your mom sort of encouraged you and your siblings to just do things. Like go do it yourself, whether it was just like ordering your McDonald's, like you guys order. And I feel like the way you coach, It's like, think you probably bring that in. And also, I think that's the way you lead your life, right? So just tell us a little bit about that and how that's influenced you today. @GiselleUgarte (07:22.437) Yeah, well, first you have to understand my angel on Earth of a mom. She was someone who she was Mexican born, English was her second language. She didn't become a citizen until she was 14 years old. She also definitely had a learning disability, was super hyperactive, and she too had had parents who were starting new and somewhere else who really forced her to have to figure it out. I think that was also the parenting style back then that I think we neglect to recognize how valuable that is where you don't want to neglect your children, but you need to let them fall on their faces and develop patience and develop skills and not just take a magic pill or think that there's going to be some miracle to occur. she was someone who, you know, she didn't go to college and she started her first business actually at 14. Bridgett Burrick Brown (07:52.515) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (08:00.942) Hmm. @GiselleUgarte (08:15.767) in her garage where she was teaching dance lessons. And she was a self-starting entrepreneur who had multiple, eventually multiple businesses and dance studios. And it was the kind of thing where she married my dad really, really young and wherever they moved because he came from a household of nine. His dad was a butcher, you know, and he, you know, he, because of my mom was inspired to become a doctor. couldn't get into medical school here. They went back to Mexico. At the time, your license could transfer from country to country. It's a little different, more complicated now. But he had to move a ton as he worked his way through school and into residency and fellowship. And everywhere they would go, she would start over and start a new business or sell a studio or buy a new studio or hire a new round of teachers or find a way to support him at the time through school. Bridgett Burrick Brown (08:48.622) Mmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (09:00.772) wow. @GiselleUgarte (09:10.565) which was kind of against the grain at the time. And a lot of people look at her now and they think, you know, she's just this cute little trophy housewife. And she is absolutely someone who she is, you know, she makes the home what it is and she fills it with love. But people don't give her enough credit. And I certainly didn't give her enough credit. I did not recognize my mom as the entrepreneur that she was because she was a full time mom for my brothers. Bridgett Burrick Brown (09:10.83) Aww. Bridgett Burrick Brown (09:34.606) You @GiselleUgarte (09:38.161) But for me, was a full-time business owner for my brothers. So she was trying to make both things work, full-time mom and full-time business owner. For me, she had retired at that point. So I only knew her as a full-time mom. I didn't know that we had that in common. The whole time I thought my business mind came from my dad. And now more and more I realize, it came from my mom. And so with my parents' unique upbringing and going back and forth between Mexico and here, they really instilled in us Bridgett Burrick Brown (09:49.59) Okay. Okay. Bridgett Burrick Brown (09:59.209) cool. @GiselleUgarte (10:06.435) every single day. And I think it's a child of immigrants thing where like your parents will remind you every single day how lucky you are to live in this country, even on the worst day, how lucky you are to be able to start from scratch, how lucky you are to be able to speak English, how lucky you are to be able to speak your mind without worrying about, you know, being jailed or something. Bridgett Burrick Brown (10:14.826) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (10:28.182) Yeah. Uh-huh. @GiselleUgarte (10:31.613) And so she really wanted to instill in us the skill set that she was given from her parents and then some. She really wanted us to be able to speak perfect English. And so she never spoke Spanish to us at home. It was always English from our parents, but we learned Spanish at the same time because we always had relatives who were living with us. And when you have two languages being spoken, that on its own is you learn how to be a really effective communicator and a really effective Bridgett Burrick Brown (10:40.045) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (10:58.993) multitasker. And, and I also think that it's something that for us, taught us a lot of lessons that are as natural as breathing, but I now look back and go, wait a minute, there, there are some lessons there where even in the way that I might roll off commentary or trolls online, Bridgett Burrick Brown (11:00.302) Totally, that's so cool. Absolutely. @GiselleUgarte (11:23.841) one of the places that I go to is I could really easily tune out another language and pretend that I didn't know it or speak it if I wanted to, like if, if, if a relative was trying to tell me what to do, or if one of my siblings or cousins was trying to, you know, bully me, I would just kind of pretend like, I can't hear you. don't understand. and, and like see it in that kind of a way. but she, she really did. I say that one of my superpowers is that my, my mother delusionally believed in me. Bridgett Burrick Brown (11:41.495) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (11:53.521) Like I would tell her that I wanted to do something and there might be other people in my family who would say, I don't know, are you sure? Do you have enough money? Is that really the responsible thing to do? Starting a business, for example, during the pandemic, know, me wanting to really focus on being a professional speaker during the pandemic when live events didn't exist. So many people saying, I don't know, like, are live events gonna come back? Are you sure you really wanna do that? And here's my mom going, you'll find a way. If that's the calling that God has put on your heart, that's there for a reason. and you're gonna figure it out, you're gonna know what to do and I'm so inherently grateful for that, probably to a fault where I'm like, what did I do to deserve this? Why did I get the lot of, know? And then I'm so grateful for her for that. Bridgett Burrick Brown (12:22.741) I love that. Bridgett Burrick Brown (12:28.238) Hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (12:33.321) I love that. Bridgett Burrick Brown (12:37.996) I can see that in you too, by the way. It's really cool. It's really cool. So you've had such a diverse career, YouTube star, live host, motivational speaker, entrepreneur, coach. What has remained your constant why throughout it all? @GiselleUgarte (12:41.223) Thank you. @GiselleUgarte (12:57.501) It's one of those things where it all makes sense in the rear view mirror, especially now in the ways that everything that I've ever done is now fully combined in what it is that I do. But really at the end of the day, it is about creating some form of a connection and creating some form of visibility and storytelling. Bridgett Burrick Brown (13:08.344) Mm-hmm. @GiselleUgarte (13:18.925) I, in high school, had this dream of moving out to LA and working in entertainment news. And a big reason for that was because at the time when I was going through some really hard moments in high school, that was my escape. And I wanted to be that escape for someone else who was going through a hard time. And whether it was delivering, you know, silly stories about celebrities, or it was just showing that there's this other world and other side to something. Bridgett Burrick Brown (13:31.502) Mmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (13:35.736) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (13:45.895) to look forward to, I really wanted to be that. And so ultimately for my whole existence, every single piece of what I have done has been helping people to communicate and helping people to connect whatever that story is on their heart. The reason why I started in blogging was because nobody would hire me as a TV host. They didn't care that I went to an awesome journalism school. It was basically like being an actor or trying out for a commercial. Bridgett Burrick Brown (14:12.214) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (14:13.723) Like it was not about what was on your resume. It was who do you know and can you hit your mark and how do you stand on camera? And I had nothing on my talent resume, which is different from say a business resume. And so I started making videos on YouTube and I started writing a blog and I had to explain to people what BLOG, what that even was and how to pronounce that word because it was so unknown at the time. I put videos up on YouTube thinking that nobody would see them. And the only reason why was because Bridgett Burrick Brown (14:27.278) Mm-hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (14:37.379) Ha @GiselleUgarte (14:43.111) someone gave me the advice and I think this, know, anyone listening, absolutely, especially if you're wanting to start something new, someone gave me the advice of you should be learning how to do everything in and around your craft. And so if I wanted to be Juliana Rancic or Maria Menounos or Oprah, because those were definitely, you know, three people in my orbit or, you know, Christina, who's the Latina version of Oprah, you know, it was okay. Well, everything in and around that, what does that mean? Bridgett Burrick Brown (14:53.42) Hmm. @GiselleUgarte (15:10.589) So I took every single odd job out of college and decided to go the hard route. And I'll even pause for a moment there. I'll never forget. I had all of my friends in that moment who were doing the traditional awesome, wonderful stable, quote unquote, stable jobs, banking and finance and human resources, marketing, PR, the nine to five, the benefits, the 401ks. Bridgett Burrick Brown (15:29.622) Mm-hmm. @GiselleUgarte (15:40.677) And I felt like because what I was doing was so unstable, like again, I was basically pursuing acting without acting, like with the way that it worked. I had to be ready at any point in time to take any audition I could, to take any job that I could. And even the first few freelance jobs that were offered to me were working overnight shifts in the newsroom. And so, you know, I thought to myself, you know what, maybe I should take a safe job. Bridgett Burrick Brown (15:49.837) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (16:02.488) Yep. @GiselleUgarte (16:08.155) Maybe I should figure out what I wanna do. Maybe I should get some more stability. Maybe I should go get my masters. And I decided, I really love this idea of being that light for someone. Maybe I should be a teacher. So I went out for Teach for America, which is a teaching program that they have all over the country. And they'll also pay your way through a master's program if you want. And you typically work at an inner city school in the middle of nowhere. that has really little funding and you're helping the students in the communities that need the most help. And I made it to the final interview. And two days before, I was with my boyfriend at the time at a dinner and one of his colleagues who was just a drunk mess was like, so what are you going to do after graduation? And I was like, I'm going to be a teacher. And he goes, that's not what you want to do. That's what you're doing because you're afraid of what you actually want to do. What do you really want to do? Bridgett Burrick Brown (17:04.11) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (17:04.325) And I ran to the bathroom and I started crying. And the worst part about it is that as much of a dick as he was, he was totally right. Like he was totally right. And how often do we do the thing that we don't even really want to do, but it's just because we're afraid of what we actually want to do. And the reality is, is that both things suck. Like you're either trapped in a world that you do not want to be living, or you're going after and risking everything and embarrassing yourself. Bridgett Burrick Brown (17:12.003) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (17:19.338) Yeah. Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (17:33.553) but at least on the other side of taking the risk of what you're afraid of doing, but what you want to do most, there's a chance of a light at the end of the tunnel versus if you go after the thing that you're doing just because you're afraid of what you actually want to do, it's just extending your deadline where you're just going to end up, chances are on the other side of that, still having that calling on your heart and wondering why have I not done that thing yet? Bridgett Burrick Brown (17:42.86) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (17:54.946) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (18:01.07) Mm, yeah. @GiselleUgarte (18:01.495) or shutting the door entirely and never knowing what's on the other side of what if. And so in that moment, I made the decision of, okay, I have no idea what I'm gonna do. I don't know anybody in this industry. I'm not from California. I'm not a NEPO baby in Hollywood. I don't have any connections, but what do I have? Bridgett Burrick Brown (18:07.203) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (18:24.069) And I really looked through my phone and my notes and my teachers and my professors. And I just began throwing myself out there to anybody that I could, seeing if there were any jobs available. And so I took jobs in writing, producing, ghost writing, blogging, know, lighting. I bought a used camera on Craigslist. I don't even know if that's around anymore, but like, you know, I got a used camera where I could learn in my, you know, in my apartment. Bridgett Burrick Brown (18:44.888) So cool. Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (18:51.975) how to record, putting myself on camera, how to focus, like what sounding, lighting, all of that. And I'm... Bridgett Burrick Brown (18:55.96) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (19:00.142) So so scrappy, you're like, I'm gonna figure this out. @GiselleUgarte (19:03.687) And that's so important. And I really feel like we forget, I need to go back and channel her sometimes, but we forget that, know, yeah, sure. You could potentially throw money at a problem if you have it. But at that point in time, you know, I feel like I need to go back to that place of the girl who had $0 in her bank account or negative dollars in her bank account, because when you have no other options, when you're backed up against a wall, when you're at Bridgett Burrick Brown (19:05.355) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (19:25.646) you @GiselleUgarte (19:32.711) day one or day zero, you have no choice. Like you have no choice. And I think as adults, we get really comfortable, especially as we work our way up the corporate ladder, or especially when we work so hard to build that savings account and to start over or to risk everything or to feel like you have to go back, we forget that it can actually be really valuable at times to take a pause or step back so that you can actually move forward. Bridgett Burrick Brown (19:36.888) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (19:56.814) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (20:02.161) because I definitely feel like over time we get afraid to ask for help. We are afraid to let the world see us try something new. are so nervous of just what that day one looks like, but that day one is such an opportunity to remind yourself who you really are and what you're capable of and that you can figure it out when you really want to. Bridgett Burrick Brown (20:11.534) Hmm, yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (20:29.996) Why do you think so many people are scared to let the world see them try something new? @GiselleUgarte (20:37.713) You know, it can be any reason and no reason at all. And what I have found, you know, through my research, but also through my own personal experience is just being really honest that you do care what other people think. In fact, I find that my clients who come in and say, I don't care what people think, I know you're not supposed to care about people think they're actually the ones who care the most. It's fine to let people care. Bridgett Burrick Brown (20:53.304) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (21:01.742) Hmm, yeah. @GiselleUgarte (21:07.129) about what you're doing and to care what they think. As long as those people are people who matter and as long as it's not at the expense of yourself and your own dreams and being able to filter out the voices that matter versus the voices that don't. And at the end of the day, so much of us digging our heels into the ground has to do with some level of acceptance. And also a lot of that acceptance isn't Bridgett Burrick Brown (21:10.83) Hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (21:22.52) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (21:32.045) Yep. @GiselleUgarte (21:35.941) just the validation of others, when we go even deeper into it, Bridget, it has to do with us expecting ourselves. It is ultimately us being afraid of trying, us being afraid of letting ourselves down, us being afraid of maybe that dream, calling on my heart that I've had for so long. It's not even necessarily being afraid of the failure because at this point in our adult lives, we're actually used to the failure in many ways. Bridgett Burrick Brown (21:42.902) Yeah, yeah, you. Mm-hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (21:50.318) Hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (22:02.638) Mmm. @GiselleUgarte (22:03.709) depending on who you are, either it is the scariest thing in the world because you don't do it very often, or you try so hard that you're used to the failure. And then there's this deeper level, Bridget, of we're actually afraid of succeeding. And one of my favorite quotes is from Marianne Williamson, who many people know her now as the presidential candidate, but before that and always, Bridgett Burrick Brown (22:05.602) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (22:18.552) Hmm, tell me about that. @GiselleUgarte (22:30.649) She wrote the book, I think it's called A Return to Love. And it is her breakdown of one of the super dense books of work, Course in Miracles. And she says that, our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, it's that we are powerful beyond measure. It is the light, not the darkness that scares us. Bridgett Burrick Brown (22:34.296) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (22:55.229) And we don't even recognize sometimes because we've been in it for so long, the darkness that we've created for ourselves. And it's kind of like how, I don't know why my mind went to coming out of the club at like 4 a.m. because I don't do that anymore. That's like such my past life, but maybe because we, know, or it's like, you know, if you have blackout curtains and all of a sudden you open up the curtains and the sun is blinding for you and you have to like. Bridgett Burrick Brown (23:02.36) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (23:09.771) Hahaha Me too. Bridgett Burrick Brown (23:21.151) My lights are kind of blinding right now. Like, whoa. @GiselleUgarte (23:22.639) Yeah, you have to allow for your eye to adjust that you actually have to program your brain into reprogramming, which is recognizing that those feelings of fear and inadequacy and imposter syndrome, that's not bad. That just means that you are doing something that you've never done before. You're doing something new. You're on your way to a new level of yourself. Bridgett Burrick Brown (23:43.245) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (23:48.142) Hmm. @GiselleUgarte (23:52.057) And I even like to say that either you have imposter syndrome or you're lying. Either you have imposter syndrome or you are complacent and you are not growing and you are getting too comfortable because it does not matter how much money is in your bank account, how successful you are, how old you are, as long as you are doing something new or as long as you know, maybe you're doing something that you've never done before or maybe it's something that's never been done ever before. Bridgett Burrick Brown (23:57.068) No. Bridgett Burrick Brown (24:01.562) Mm. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. @GiselleUgarte (24:20.891) You're going to have those feelings, even if, for example, you might be super duper successful in your business, but becoming a parent for the very first time, that's going to come with its own string of guilt and doubt and wondering, can I really do this? Who trusted me with this child? What am I doing? Anytime that you're doing something new, you're going to have those feelings and the same neuro pathways, the same muscle memory that is fear, you can transform. Bridgett Burrick Brown (24:28.525) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (24:35.883) Yes. @GiselleUgarte (24:50.225) just as much into excitement, just as much into the adrenaline of you can. They can totally coexist. Those nerves just mean that you care. And also that might actually be a green flag, not a red flag. And we need to do the work of even small, meaningful risks that we can take every day to remind us that we're capable of maybe that bigger call on our heart. Bridgett Burrick Brown (24:52.62) Hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (25:04.142) Hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (25:14.894) Do you think it's practice? Yeah. Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (25:16.857) every day, every day, every single day. Confidence is not something that you're born with. It's something that you have to focus on every single day, every single day. And we don't even realize how much we're giving our power away until you wake up one day and go, why do I feel like this? What have I done? Why did I let this person make me feel this way? I actually, the way that I describe it to my clients is, Bridgett Burrick Brown (25:22.702) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (25:34.957) Hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (25:39.181) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (25:46.373) It's kind of like that friend who you always know that they're going to cancel. Like you invite them anyway, but then at the last minute, you know you're going to get a text from them that says, I'm so sorry. I can't make it. I work or this or traffic or whatever. Our confidence is the exact same way. We are that friend. And after a certain amount of time, you invite the friend and they say no so often that you stop asking. Bridgett Burrick Brown (25:52.398) Mm-hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (26:13.089) wow. @GiselleUgarte (26:13.787) That's the conversation that we have with our dreams. So for example, if you say that you're going to film the video, if you say you're going to start the business, if you say that you're going to get on a stage or if you say that you're going to start the podcast, but then you keep on saying, okay, tomorrow, okay, next week, okay, next month, then your confidence starts to go, no, you're not going to do it. Like it's not even going to be eventually. It's just like, no, you're not like, no, you're not, you're not going to do it or no, you're not even going to the gym. No, you're not. Bridgett Burrick Brown (26:35.289) wow. That's powerful. @GiselleUgarte (26:42.119) You're gonna let yourself down, you're gonna order Domino's, which I love, by the way. And so you, a big part of confidence, I say, is the ways in which you make, keep, and follow through with commitments to yourself. And any of my clients who are, confidence is the ways that you make, keep, and follow through with commitments to yourself. And one of the things that I love about the word, Bridgett Burrick Brown (26:46.973) I love it. I love Jets Pizza. Bridgett Burrick Brown (26:58.808) Say that again. Bridgett Burrick Brown (27:07.266) I love that. @GiselleUgarte (27:10.407) confidence because a lot of my clients and my friends confuse confidence with arrogance. The difference and what I love about it is, you know, the prefix of confidence is con, which means with or together. And FID just means faith, with faith. And what I like to think about with the with and together is I think about it in that way that I just described it to you, where you think about your outward self and your inward self. Bridgett Burrick Brown (27:16.386) Mm-hmm. @GiselleUgarte (27:38.681) as being together, aligned fully, because let's think about how much of our insecurity comes from just the ways in which we feel like who we're showing to the world does not match who we actually want to be in our hearts. But I also tie it to with or together, meaning the greater good of the world. What you're doing, yes, you're doing it for yourself, but you're ultimately doing it so that you can show up better for everybody else. Bridgett Burrick Brown (27:41.154) Yep. Yep. Bridgett Burrick Brown (27:50.924) Yep. Bridgett Burrick Brown (27:56.202) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (28:01.354) Yeah. Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (28:03.132) And so even if it is going to the gym or losing the weight or taking the filter off or posting online, it is still thinking about, okay, but because this matters to me, I know that it could matter for someone else. And maybe you know who that someone else is. Maybe you don't yet, but it's bigger than just me. I know that it's more than just me. And for that, Bridgett Burrick Brown (28:11.16) Hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (28:24.558) Mm-hmm. Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (28:30.199) I need to be showing up for this person. And for the same way that you would not let your best friend down unless you absolutely had to, or you know that they would understand and you will eventually make it up to them, we need to treat ourselves in the exact same way. And so it's little micro moments such as, know, Bridget, it might be, it might be, okay, I'm going to be in bed by 10 o'clock. Or it might be, okay, I'm going to drink 100 ounces of water today. Or it might be, I'm going to call my mom today. What are little Bridgett Burrick Brown (28:43.649) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (28:58.461) tiny commitments that you can make and keep that you can eventually start to stack on top of the other. And it's little micro habits every day. I give a lot of my clients, I have a habit tracker that for me is such an inner child tool and that I make it colorful and it's boxes and it's gamified where it's what are little micro habits that even on my worst day or even if I'm sick, I can commit to maybe it is praying. Bridgett Burrick Brown (29:05.74) Yep. Bridgett Burrick Brown (29:17.229) love that. @GiselleUgarte (29:26.447) Maybe it is reading, maybe it's taking a certain amount of steps or just walking your dog outside. Maybe it's smelling your dog's paws. But what are some of those micro habits that when stacked, it's just showing that I can commit to myself. And something that I've even had to examine and re-examine is I remember last year I was... Bridgett Burrick Brown (29:26.84) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (29:34.188) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (29:40.888) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (29:47.577) I got really into running, which I never thought that I would. Like I wanted to slap myself in the face. I've never been a runner. I hate running, but I'm a treadmill runner, just to be clear. I'm not an outdoor runner, like a treadmill runner. Totally different. And what I love about it is like you can show up to a treadmill or like a treadmill class and everyone, I mean, you're all aligned, like you're all side by side. You could be going 13 miles an hour next to me and I'm going three, but we're still aligned. Bridgett Burrick Brown (29:54.304) Yeah, Okay. Total difference. Totally. It is. Bridgett Burrick Brown (30:10.54) Yep. Totally. @GiselleUgarte (30:12.967) But I got really into running and I was kind of bummed because I just wasn't feeling the results that I wanted to, not even in terms of weight loss. It was the first time that I set a goal where I wanted to have enough endurance to get through the class without stopping. And I had a teacher who was like, well, are you, are you drinking enough water? What are you eating? Are you eating enough carbs? Are you eating enough protein? And I was just saying to myself like, yeah, like I'm drinking the water. I'm drinking the protein. But when I started to track, I realized, I'm not. Bridgett Burrick Brown (30:25.645) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (30:41.819) I'm not at all. I'm totally eating way more than I thought and I'm not drinking enough water." She was like, well, you should make these adjustments. I realized I couldn't even stick to the adjustments for more than a day. I was so into my pattern of ordering the food delivery. Bridgett Burrick Brown (30:56.248) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (31:00.791) or doing the easy, let me just run and grab a bar in the refrigerator or let me, you know, making little tiny micro excuse. well, it's just a little, it's just a few extra nuts here and there, or it's just one cookie, it's whatever. But I didn't realize how much the, it's just a excuses. We're stacking up and all of a sudden I'm consuming 500 more calories or a thousand more calories or I can't even give up sugar for a day. Bridgett Burrick Brown (31:16.59) Mmm. Mmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (31:25.741) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (31:27.163) where I used to think of myself as so disciplined at one point in my life, I was totally sugar free, entirely plant-based, no alcohol. And all of a sudden I'm like, wait, I can't even stick to a diet for a day? right, right. And so it's really looking at even, you know, high performers, we think, we're so disciplined because we do so many things, but are you getting done the things that matter to you? And are you actually as disciplined as? Bridgett Burrick Brown (31:40.064) Yeah, because you've practiced not sticking to that for so long. Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (31:56.859) you think. And I love doing challenges for myself. I love doing withdrawals from myself to see like, how addicted are you to social media or to the news or to sugar or to dairy or whatever it is where it's not about, again, like a number on a scale. It's just how much power do you actually have over yourself versus what are you allowing to have power over you? Bridgett Burrick Brown (31:58.186) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (32:08.321) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (32:13.262) Mm-hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (32:24.846) I love that. So powerful. The whole like friend canceling on you, connecting it with everything you just said is just amazing because we do constantly train our brain. And if we can't, if we're never relying on ourselves or we can't rely on ourselves, then how do you build confidence? Right? Yeah. Wow. Okay. @GiselleUgarte (32:35.687) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (32:47.357) Mm hmm. And some a lot of moms will a lot of moms will actually go the full opposite direction of they wear it as a badge of honor when they take care of everybody else first. And all of a sudden you hide behind everybody else at the expense of yourself, not realizing that you're fully abandoning yourself and then you almost become resentful to everybody else. Bridgett Burrick Brown (33:02.136) Mm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (33:08.909) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (33:13.87) Yeah, totally, totally. @GiselleUgarte (33:16.689) Well, but I did this and I did that and I picked up after this and I, and I, I, I will take a step back for a moment. 10 years from now, if you told your kids or if you told your spouse, well, yeah, you know, I, I sacrificed this, this, and this for you. Would they say, mom, thank you so much. You're the best. Or would they go, why would you do that? What? Why? Why, why mom? Why did you let your body go? Why did you let your health go? Why did you not go after your dreams? Bridgett Burrick Brown (33:33.038) Mm-hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (33:39.448) Yeah, yeah, Mm-hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (33:46.818) Yeah, I always say to ask yourself, are you being self-loving or are you being self-sacrificing? And a lot of times we can recognize that with like, are we saying we should do something or are we saying we want to do something? Like what's the reason why you wanna do it? Okay, I wanna dive into like filtering and putting on the mask and then we'll like, you know, get into the being authentic more, which we already hit on a little bit, but. @GiselleUgarte (33:47.277) And that. Bridgett Burrick Brown (34:16.654) So I talk a lot about filtering. I know we both do, but I'll talk about it. I know we're so aligned on this, so we'll both talk about it. But in my workshops, I really point out that filtering is you're telling yourself you need to fix something, right? And you need to adjust something so you can be a little bit more flawless. And over time, it beats down your self-esteem because you're basically telling yourself, @GiselleUgarte (34:21.888) we're still aligned on this one. Bridgett Burrick Brown (34:44.204) I'm not good enough, I need to fix that thing. And I think it's really important with this age of filtering and face tuning and social media to understand that if we all continue to do this, when we look in the mirror, we're very confused and we don't understand why we don't look like those images that we filtered or face tuned. So I wanna just unpack that a little bit because I pulled a quote from you, I love, I love pulling quotes. I have like 50 of your quotes here. But one of them was, you know, filtering for you meant that I'm not worthy of existing as I am. And that's the message that we tell ourselves when we do it. So I know that you've been very open about, you know, having, you know, had a passive, like constantly face to me and running it through multiple different filters. So was there a moment where you're like, why am I doing this? @GiselleUgarte (35:36.293) yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (35:40.95) Or was it a gradual thing? @GiselleUgarte (35:43.541) It was one of those things where it was gradually and then all at once. And it's really important to let your audience know, again, I got the big ponytail energy. I've got shoulder pads and this bright pink blazer. And I'm coming to you in this very convicted, passionate, confident kind of a way. Bridgett Burrick Brown (35:48.846) Mmm. @GiselleUgarte (36:12.091) And I always like to say, confidence is not the absence of insecurity, it is the embracement of it. And that, over time, embracing my imperfections, my insecurities is part of the gradual piece of it and recognizing that confidence, as I mentioned, confidence is a practice, it's not a destination, it's not something that you're born with, it's not something that once you reach it, you never have to work on it again. I am someone who I grew up in the dance world. Bridgett Burrick Brown (36:18.094) Mmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (36:31.949) Yeah. Yep. I love that. @GiselleUgarte (36:41.755) which I would wish even my worst teacher on my future children. And also I really struggled with my body. Again, know, growing up in Minnesota, you had a lot of girls who were string beans. I went through puberty really early. We're all wearing black tights and leotards, or pink tights and black leotards, and we're all. side by side on the bar. so it is, we're, that's comparison right there. We're looking in the mirror. Yeah. And I, and again, I loved it. I would not take back a single day of it. And, and also, you know, I did absolutely experience some of the negative side effects that can happen in those moments of having an eating disorder and being obsessed with Bridgett Burrick Brown (37:11.05) Yep, absolutely. I grew up in the dance world too. Bridgett Burrick Brown (37:19.064) Mm-hmm. @GiselleUgarte (37:30.589) with what I looked like and wanting to look like the girl next to me, which was unrealistic because our body types were completely different. And I eventually learned, you know, how to, how to deal with that. And also just the control issues that I had with wanting to potentially, you know, deprive myself or purge myself in those moments of, just wanting to take back control that I felt like I didn't in other areas of my life, but I digress. Hold on, I'm going to sneeze. Bridgett Burrick Brown (37:56.555) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (37:59.281) sneeze moment maybe. Excuse me. Bridgett Burrick Brown (37:59.989) no, no. I've been sneezing, I think it's allergy season or something. I grew up or I woke up sneezing and I was like, what's happening? It's like raining here, it's raining here. like everything is like, yeah. @GiselleUgarte (38:05.435) Maybe. Oh no, spring come early. Oh no. Oh yeah, everything's like coming up from the ground. And so I think it's important to recognize too that I used to be that girl who Instagram, even when Instagram was introduced to us, Instagram was the cool filter app. I remember when it first came out for a J, I didn't even realize it was a social media app. I really thought that it was a photo filter app that you would then upload to Facebook. Bridgett Burrick Brown (38:28.418) Yeah, totally. Bridgett Burrick Brown (38:35.032) Yeah? @GiselleUgarte (38:36.573) or that you would share with your friends. Like it was cool to use the filter, but the filters at the time were filters that were just adding like color or saturation or hue to your photo. Like a photographer has their own style. It was not distorting your appearance. And so what we also didn't realize was here is this app that is meant and designed to have the cool filter, but the filters over time began to change. Bridgett Burrick Brown (38:53.186) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (39:04.827) And that's why it felt so natural to use them. Even on Snapchat as well, where it really sucked you up, it gave you the baby face or the fun way that the puppy thing made your shape shift. We didn't even realize that initially it was harmless and then it became really, really harmful. So the fact that we are so reliant upon them, it's because it's, well, hold on a second. This is what you taught me. This is what you gave me. I thought these things were... Bridgett Burrick Brown (39:04.982) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (39:32.797) I thought they were helpful. thought they were getting me to post more. But yes, then over time, it starts to smooth out your face. It makes your eyes smaller. It adds makeup. makes your face skinnier. And I'm someone who, if you're watching this, I've got full glam on. I don't have my lashes on today. If I was on stage, I would. I dye my hair. I love, love, love makeup. I even joke that for me, I love a natural makeup look like Kim Kardashian. Natural. Bridgett Burrick Brown (39:44.067) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (40:01.568) Yeah. I love it. Yeah, yeah. @GiselleUgarte (40:02.545) Which is not. And a lot of people will say to me, well, Giselle, you've got fake nails. You've got makeup on. Isn't that the same thing? It's not. Is there a certain conversation that can be had around makeup and, as you mentioned, feeling like you need to fix things or present a certain way? Sure. But with the filter thing, what's different is that you can't take it with you in the same way that you could take makeup with you or say, spanks. What you see is what you receive. Whereas the filter, when you put it on, well, first of all, no filter doesn't even exist. Inside of Instagram and especially TikTok, either because they designed it that way or because the camera hasn't quite caught up to the camera on our phone, there's already a little bit of lowering in the resolution in that camera. So we start with a filter automatically. Then Bridgett Burrick Brown (40:44.878) So true. Bridgett Burrick Brown (41:01.099) Interesting. @GiselleUgarte (41:02.693) And it used to be that on Instagram, the stories camera looked different than even the one inside of your feed. So for Instagram stories, it was potentially two filters already before you yourself have done or programmed anything. Then you add maybe let's call it a lot of humans who I know and follow use quote unquote, the subtle filter. So then you add the subtle filter, which is really a slight different in color. Bridgett Burrick Brown (41:17.034) Wow. Bridgett Burrick Brown (41:26.35) Mm-hmm. @GiselleUgarte (41:31.425) and more of like getting rid of your pores. So then we're three deep. But then you add the famous Paris smoothing filter on top of that. Now we are four deep. And at this point, it is eliminating even just some of the natural features that make you a human. Things like your nose shape, things like the smile lines around your eyes. And now you're starting, and now especially because our camera resolutions Bridgett Burrick Brown (41:43.404) Wow. Bridgett Burrick Brown (41:50.647) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (41:55.832) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (42:00.877) are getting so high, it's also an even bigger contrast where you're starting to look more like an AI or cartoon character rather than a human. But for us, what it's also doing is it is creating a fully unrealistic beauty standard where even the filters that quote unquote just add makeup in many respects, you probably can't do your makeup that way, first of all. Bridgett Burrick Brown (42:11.832) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (42:18.636) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (42:27.515) Second of all, I don't know a foundation that makes your face lose 15 pounds. And also in some cases they are lifting up your brows or they're lifting up your eyes where, right. And could you, if you really wanted to get surgery for something like that, I mean, sure. But again, that's just not what you look like. So then it's no wonder that you look in the mirror and you aren't happy or it's no wonder that somebody else takes a photo and you don't like it. Bridgett Burrick Brown (42:31.467) No. Bridgett Burrick Brown (42:37.102) They're smoothing here. Bridgett Burrick Brown (42:47.809) Yep. @GiselleUgarte (42:57.027) And long answer to you said, was there a moment I, about five, can't believe it's been five years ago. Now I woke up one morning with hives all over my body. And it was from the top of my scalp to the bottoms of my feet. And it would not let up for days went to the emergency room. They gave me a shot of steroids, the strongest one they had. They were like, this should be good in 24 hours. It wasn't, it got worse. Bridgett Burrick Brown (42:57.25) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (43:09.869) Mm. @GiselleUgarte (43:27.101) Um, and I had chronic hives for almost five months, Bridget. And I went to every doctor and no one could give me an answer of a cause. Nobody could figure out a cure. The best they could do was give me a little bit of management, which was, um, the highest dose of an allergy medication. Mind you, I didn't even have allergies. So it was really just an antihistamine, uh, the highest dose of steroids, both injected and also taken orally. Bridgett Burrick Brown (43:33.986) wow. Bridgett Burrick Brown (43:51.022) Mm-hmm. @GiselleUgarte (43:56.315) And then I would just numb out however I could, which, you know, to be candidly was eating because I was anxious. It was sitting in a cold bath sometimes, but it was almost like I was allergic to touch to Bridget where I could not wear tight clothes. couldn't hug people. If I had a ponytail and I took it out, it was almost like I was allergic to physical contact because I would scratch and that would explode into hives. And in the span of about 30 days, I put on about 40 pounds. Bridgett Burrick Brown (43:59.17) Yeah. Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (44:25.853) it got to a point to where I think I saw like 179 on the scale was the last number I saw and I refused to weigh myself after that. So I'm pretty sure I put on more than 50, maybe even 60 pounds. And I, for at least the first few weeks, I was someone who posted consistently on social media. So I would post old photos and just hope that I could get away with it. And I would occasionally take a photo and I would go to Facetune and I would, you you Bridgett Burrick Brown (44:33.612) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (44:53.325) go a little in there, a little in there, a little nick there, a little there, the little smoothing tool there. And I'll never forget a friend of mine posted a photo and I realized I'm way sicker than I thought I was. Like I'm really, really sick. I was thinking that I was putting on maybe five or 10 pounds and I was also, I couldn't wear denim jeans. I could only wear stretchy jeans or sweatpants. That's how bad it was. Bridgett Burrick Brown (44:55.575) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (45:19.271) So typically if you're not wearing real pants for a long time, you don't even realize how much your pants are stretching with you. And in that moment, and it wasn't even just sick in the mind, although yes, it was me realizing like, I'm, something's really, really wrong here. Like this is not okay. It is screaming at me. And I didn't realize how much I was lying to myself because... Bridgett Burrick Brown (45:25.868) Yep. Bridgett Burrick Brown (45:35.648) Yeah, your body's like shouting at you. @GiselleUgarte (45:44.879) It was initially purely vanity. And then I realized how both physical and mental it was. And that was a moment where two things happened. One, I finally posted an unfiltered photo of what I was going through and asked for help from my community saying, hey, this has happened. one day here I was 130 something pounds and working out every single day and Bridgett Burrick Brown (45:50.296) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (46:09.787) you know, feeling really good about my body. Now, all of a sudden I look in the mirror, I can't even recognize myself. I can't fall asleep unless I'm taking Benadryl or I'm drinking myself to sleep, which, you know, I hardly basically never drink anymore. And I was very much self-medicating at that time. And I was shocked at how many people reached out and either said, I've been through something like that, whether it was the hives or I know how hard that can be if you inexplicably gain weight really, really fast. Bridgett Burrick Brown (46:19.182) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (46:25.475) Mm-hmm. @GiselleUgarte (46:38.147) or thank you for being so brave and authentic. And I'm like, on the one hand, it was like, wow, I'm connecting with all these people. And also, wait, why are they saying that I'm brave? And why was this so hard? Why was this such a courageous step for me to just show me as I am in that moment? And then the other piece was also recognizing that Bridgett Burrick Brown (46:38.189) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (46:58.83) Yeah. Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (47:05.953) wait a minute, my clients are still seeing me every single day. They can see that this photo is not recent. They can see that I'm overly filtering this and I started to be able to see that in their eyes when they would see me. And not in a way that was judgy. I think that's what we're afraid of. They're not going to be like, my gosh, she's so fat or like, my gosh, she's so old. It's just, I almost didn't recognize you. Just because what you've been seeing and looking at for so long appears different. Bridgett Burrick Brown (47:11.926) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (47:19.544) Mmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (47:30.669) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (47:35.773) then what was advertised? Like you're basically catfishing people. And why are you, why are you lying? What, what, are you hiding behind? And if you work in a business of trust and you're lying from the beginning or you're, you're false advertising from the beginning, what else are you willing to hide about or white lie about or little by little by little? I didn't realize how little by little by little, I thought I'd only gained five or 10 pounds and all of a sudden it's like, no, it's like 40, 50 pounds. Bridgett Burrick Brown (47:37.472) Yeah. Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (47:52.888) Totally. Absolutely. Bridgett Burrick Brown (48:04.728) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (48:05.755) And then last but not least, I, in that moment began to take control in so many areas of my life, whether it was being, you know, just relentless about knowing what ingredients were in my food and beginning to go full elimination, realizing the bad habits that I'd created, eliminating filters altogether and starting to show up in a more authentic way. And it was, it was really that moment that began to change everything for me and the way that I began to show up online. Bridgett Burrick Brown (48:31.906) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (48:34.613) and off was something nothing short of extraordinary in that initially I was in this place of, and I think a lot of us go to this place, Bridget, of well, I'll do it when I lose the weight. I'll do it when I lose the baby weight. I'll do it when I lose the COVID weight or I'll do it when I lose my winter weight and then I'll get new pictures and then I'll get on stage and then I'll film the video versus in that moment. I really didn't know if I ever was going to lose the weight. Bridgett Burrick Brown (48:47.341) Yeah. Yeah. Women specifically. Yeah. Mm-hmm. @GiselleUgarte (49:04.453) I was extremely sick. I felt like this was a disease that I was going to have maybe forever because I didn't know what the cause or the cure was and the doctors weren't helping me. So was I going to wait for possibly never to go after my dream? No. And so I began to put myself out there, take pictures, request to be on stages, ask to be part of conversations, create videos on my own feed in that body. Bridgett Burrick Brown (49:04.77) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (49:20.046) No. Bridgett Burrick Brown (49:32.94) Yeah, in that body. I love that. Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (49:33.141) And many people just see this one and they go, well, it's because it's because you're young. I've been, I've been told that for as long as I've existed. Well, when you get older, when you're 25, when you're 35, you're going to think different. And now I'm like, well, okay, I just hit the 35 mark. I still feel exactly the same as I did five years ago when you told me that I'd feel differently when I would start to see wrinkles in different places or, you know, textures and different things. and if anything, no, I'm not. Bridgett Burrick Brown (49:45.006) Mmm. @GiselleUgarte (50:00.125) confident because I finally lost the weight, which I did. It took me about four years to finally lose all of the weight. I'm confident because of how I started showing up before I lost the weight and the love for myself and the respect for myself and the reliance upon myself that I was able to prove to myself at that weight and every single stage and growing pain in between to eventually love myself enough to get myself back to Bridgett Burrick Brown (50:10.583) Yes. @GiselleUgarte (50:30.096) what I am now. Bridgett Burrick Brown (50:32.034) That I always say is the hard work of body image, like accepting our body image. It's like, can you accept yourself or your body when you don't want to? Like, you still, is there still room for acceptance there? And that's what you had to do. @GiselleUgarte (50:48.984) Yeah. And that's, I think it's, I think someone needs to hear that where we can feel really guilty in the age that we're in of feeling like, well, I have to love myself. I have to love myself. I have to love my body. No matter what it looks like, you can love yourself and you can love your body and not like what you look like right now. And you're doing yourself a disservice and anyone who looks up to you at a service. If you are saying that you are Bridgett Burrick Brown (51:04.824) Yep. Bridgett Burrick Brown (51:09.398) Yep, exactly. @GiselleUgarte (51:17.597) perfectly okay and satisfied and more than in love with what you look like if you're not taking care of yourself. And in some cases, and I had someone else call me out for this, of well, for someone who claims to really love yourself a lot, the way that you're treating your body and the way that you're fueling your body, it doesn't look like it. It doesn't look like you actually love your body. Bridgett Burrick Brown (51:25.974) Yeah, I absolutely agree. @GiselleUgarte (51:47.069) It doesn't look like you actually like your body. It doesn't look like you actually respect yourself. And sometimes you just have to have those really honest conversations of, And sometimes it is, you know what? This is actually me loving myself because maybe you went through a season of deprivation and it's just that really beautiful dance of checking in and going, is this, I really loved what you said before. Is this self-love or is this me? Bridgett Burrick Brown (52:14.307) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (52:15.887) actually being a martyr or tricking myself into thinking that I'm actually really in an abusive relationship with myself or self-sabotaging. Bridgett Burrick Brown (52:18.094) Mm-hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (52:22.892) Yeah, are you self-sacrificing or is it self-love? Yeah, or self-sabotaging. Yeah, and I think it's so individual. I don't think you can look at somebody, just look at their appearance and know if they're loving themselves. If you see their patterns and their habits and stuff, then you can call them out. it's people, how they look, they could be really trying to love themselves. And I think that's such a journey too that's so individual. So going into, we're going to talk a little bit about authenticity and the manifesting and then we're going to wrap up because we're, I knew, I knew this was going to happen. Do you? Do you? @GiselleUgarte (53:02.385) I And I'm looking at the call, I'm like, do I have a call right now? I might, think I can go like five more minutes. Let me have to wrap it up, yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (53:09.314) Okay, okay, okay. Okay, so then two things. You talk about getting like very comfortable with your opinions. And I think that has to be has to go with confidence. Tell us about that. And then I want to learn about your manifesting practices because I know you're big into that. @GiselleUgarte (53:26.349) I love it. Yeah, you know, again, it is a practice. It is a practice. And it can shift as you step into different identities. And many times we can think, I don't want to say that because I don't want to offend someone or I don't want someone to think the wrong thing of me or I don't, I don't know. And, and what we don't realize is that again, we fully abandoned believing our own voice matters. And so when it comes to formulating opinions and believing that your voice matters, I say, start with something small. You know, maybe it's putting a poll on your story and saying, what do you like better, Blue Cheese or ranch? Or trick question, both. I like to mix them together personally. Or maybe it is having a really firm opinion about something that you do professionally. Bridgett Burrick Brown (54:06.734) Mm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. @GiselleUgarte (54:16.081) Because chances are, if you want people to take you seriously as a professional, oftentimes you're the person who you have to tell them what they need to hear, which isn't always what they want to hear. And how we build trust is realizing that, you're not just going to tell me what everybody else is telling me or what I've been telling myself. You're going to tell me what's most important. And I really believe that a big part of confidence comes from, again, that faith. What do you stand for? Bridgett Burrick Brown (54:25.432) Mm-mm-hmm. @GiselleUgarte (54:43.889) What do you stand for? are the values that you have? What actually matters to you? Because when we start saying yes to everyone, to every dollar, that's when we will run ourselves totally dry because we're trying to please everyone or be a chameleon. And there's absolutely a bit of a superpower if you're able to read any kind of a room. But, you know, I think it's so important to be able to just stand for something. Bridgett Burrick Brown (54:44.237) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (54:48.194) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (54:59.543) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (55:13.469) to have a backbone for something, to be willing to go to battle and die on the hill for something, whatever that looks like for you. And in a way, that's productive for other people. Because you have a lot of people right now in the political climate who are just doom scrolling or share mongering, as I call it, where it's you just throw up a headline and walk away. It's like starting a dumpster fire and then walking away. We need to know, why does that matter to you? Why does that matter to you? And why should that matter to me? Bridgett Burrick Brown (55:19.798) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (55:24.376) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (55:28.206) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (55:34.338) Yep. yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (55:40.546) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (55:43.781) you know, are we just, are you just pissed and you're the dopamine hit we're going or is it actually productive and effective? but, but I, I think that every single day and I, used to work in morning show radio and it was three of us as hosts. had two boys. I was the girl and, and oftentimes we would agree on a lot because we were, we had a lot in common, but we would forget about, okay, but there's someone else on the other side of this who has a different opinion. Bridgett Burrick Brown (55:44.034) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (55:47.982) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yep. @GiselleUgarte (56:11.503) It's not really good entertainment, let alone good conversation if you're only taking one side on anything or even only acknowledging one side on anything. And so I had a producer who challenged me and he goes, he goes, you need to take a different side or at the very least be the voice of the other side. And I set a goal for myself of I want someone to disagree with me every day because Bridgett Burrick Brown (56:11.723) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (56:18.349) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (56:22.616) Mm-hmm. @GiselleUgarte (56:35.409) And I'm not trying to piss people off. I'm not trying to ruffle feathers. I just want to show that I'm firm enough in my opinion and conviction that somebody else goes, no, you're wrong. And again, it could be something as simple as pineapple on pizza, or it could be something that has more to it. Where if I talk about politics on my page, it's because I coach forward facing leaders. Bridgett Burrick Brown (56:49.101) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (56:54.232) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (57:01.005) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (57:01.081) And, and so a stand that I've taken that I have no problem on is that I think that both Kamala and Trump are two of the worst public communicators we've ever seen in office where you have one person who's so scripted and one person who's way too comfortable up there. And, and again, it's relevant to me and I can break it down and I can show people. Bridgett Burrick Brown (57:09.518) Yeah, I loved your breakdown during all that. It was amazing. I would like screenshot it and read it. It was so good. Bridgett Burrick Brown (57:20.376) Yeah, totally. Bridgett Burrick Brown (57:25.485) Yep. @GiselleUgarte (57:26.595) And it also filtered out the people who could not separate content from delivery and who could not have the conversation around strategy versus we're stuck in what they agree with politically. And that's something that I will also go to bat on, even more so. I don't think you can have a mature dialogue with someone if you say something like that and all of a sudden they get so wildly offended. Like, if you disagree with me, that's fine. Correct, yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (57:31.436) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (57:49.184) Yeah, yeah. It's not a dialogue. It's not a conversation anymore. No, I agree. @GiselleUgarte (57:55.783) practices are important. You need to be comfortable with people disagreeing with you because it also shows either how firm you are and what you believe in or how much you actually don't believe in anything or stand for anything at all. Bridgett Burrick Brown (57:57.856) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (58:07.086) Do you feel like that's how you stay authentic but also having like strategy on social media? @GiselleUgarte (58:14.689) I do, I do. And it's also something that I can get really numb in. You know, even this last particular season, I realized, wait, I got really comfortable in certain areas with people disagreeing with me, but I forgot about this one. So again, it's every single part about authenticity as well is a practice. And I think it's really important to acknowledge that what feels authentic to you now might not feel authentic to you three or six months from now. That doesn't mean that you're not being true to yourself in this moment right now. I think we'll see people who say, you know, I was really hiding behind all of these things. Were you hiding or at the time did that feel like armor to you? And in that particular season, did you need to take a beat? Did you need to put a mask on and were you actually being inauthentic or did that feel the most true to you in that particular season? And so right now I like to say that I'm in this season of I'm actually going back. Bridgett Burrick Brown (58:51.49) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (58:56.162) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (59:00.942) Were you protecting yourself? Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (59:12.089) into the last five, 10, 15 years of my life and picking up pieces that I didn't realize I dropped or tucked away in a locker because I was wanting to step into something else or because maybe somebody else told me that I couldn't step into that something else with it. even for example, wearing pink with you today, there was a season two years ago where I would specifically say no pink, absolutely no pink because I felt like I had to overcompensate my masculine to be taken seriously in business that I couldn't wear pink. Bridgett Burrick Brown (59:20.13) Mm-hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (59:28.834) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (59:38.67) Mm, mm. Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (59:41.093) And now it's, I'm bringing back, I'm bringing back the pink. I'm bringing back some of these things that I told myself that I couldn't have and stepping into a truer version of me that uses a lot of those pieces. Bridgett Burrick Brown (59:54.732) I love that. Okay, let's wrap up. Just give us like a couple sentences about how you manifest and then tell us where we can find you and how we can keep in touch. if you have anything exciting going on, we want to know about that too. @GiselleUgarte (01:00:06.973) Yeah. My favorite manifestation exercise is I will write a future date diary entry to myself. So for example, it is May 5th, 2025, or it is May 5th, 2035, and I, and I will begin to just write every single thing about me, around me, that is true about my life in that moment in an I am statement as if it's happening in that very present moment. Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:00:16.11) Mmm, love that. Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:00:35.278) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (01:00:35.469) And that is how I have manifested auditions, homes, difficult conversations, know, friendships, communities, big moves across the country, big jobs. And it's allowed for me to really step into it and open my eyes to another world. And the other thing that I'll do, Bridget, is I will give every really big dream a walk up song. So you and I as speakers will get asked, what song do you want to walk out to? Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:00:52.408) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (01:01:03.425) or you'll see the athlete who comes out on the pitcher's mound or onto the football field and have that song. And so I will give my dreams a walk-up song and I will listen to a song and I'll close my eyes and I will picture that journal entry or I'll picture just every single thing about that moment, whether it is walking out on a huge stage and all the people who I'm going to see and what am I wearing in that moment. And I'll take it as a sign from the universe anytime I hear that song out in the wild. Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:01:17.454) you @GiselleUgarte (01:01:31.483) And also I'll use that song to mentally prepare myself for anything and everything, or especially when I'm having a bad day and I'll play it over and over and over and over and over. And if you need a walkup song, might I let you have one of mine, which is unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield. Yes. Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:01:43.598) I love. Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:01:51.022) yes, yes, totally. I love that. I do that a lot on my Peloton and I like sing on the top of my lungs downstairs and like my family will come down and I'm like, I know it's really good. It's good in here. @GiselleUgarte (01:02:00.664) Yes. Yeah, yeah, you just you just you gotta you gotta and I have multiple like I have multiple songs It's a playlist that have multiple dreams some of which have happened. Some of them haven't happened yet. Some of them, you know, it's just a groove It's just okay. I'm getting into my zone Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:02:12.206) Yeah. Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:02:18.68) You you're getting it in your body. You're embodying that. What you wrote down. I love that. @GiselleUgarte (01:02:21.573) Yeah. And, and I always end every coaching session with you already have everything you need to be who you were made to be. And just a reminder of everything you need to be that person, that dream, that relationship, you already have everything you need. And it's a matter of, can either look for everything that's going to go wrong. You can look for all the people who are going to screw you over, or you can look for all the things that are going right. All the things that you have, all of the tools that you don't need to pay for. Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:02:37.026) Yeah. @GiselleUgarte (01:02:51.601) all of the friends who are absolutely free, all of the people who are waiting to help you and would love to help you, you already have it. Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:02:52.046) Hmm. Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:02:57.558) Yeah, and that are rooting you're on in your corner. I love you. Amen. Roting you on too. That was a perfect end. So I think we should end there, but you have to tell everybody where to find you. @GiselleUgarte (01:03:00.953) Amen. I'm rooting you on. @GiselleUgarte (01:03:07.021) Yay! Yes, find me on Instagram, find me on LinkedIn. I play hardest on Instagram though at Giselle Ugardi and I'm sure you'll post the links but I'm so grateful for you and can't wait to have more conversations like this. Thank you, I appreciate you. I do have to jump though, I have a call that started 15 minutes ago but I texted him. Bridgett Burrick Brown (01:03:18.454) Yeah. Thanks. Yeah, me too. Thank you so much. This was beautiful. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna stop this.