Her Story
About Andrea
Andrea Navas serves as Operations Manager for a corporation and Owner of Ignite Studio, her boutique agency in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which she opened in 2025. She has been in the business services industry for about seven years, starting in 2019 as a virtual assistant. During the pandemic, she launched her first business providing virtual assistant services, project management, and online business manager roles, helping clients set up operational systems and plan launches across industries including tech startups, e-commerce brands, business coaches, fitness coaches, law firms, and marketing agencies. In 2023, she took a role as operations manager for a corporation, expanding her expertise in operations management and support for bigger companies, before returning to entrepreneurship in 2025. Navas went to college for an unrelated field but has earned various certifications in tools and processes, including being CA verified, Neuro vetted, project management certifications, and Zapier Automation Specialist. She is a member of Entrepreneurista, a membership specific for women entrepreneurs. She attributes her success to her willingness to learn and always saying yes to opportunities even when she did not know how to do something, figuring it out through research and learning, an approach that began in her early days as an office assistant right out of high school.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Andrea
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my willingness to learn and always saying yes to opportunities even when I didn't know how to do something. I would figure it out through research and learning. Even from my early days as an office assistant right out of high school, I was the kind of person that would say yes to anything and then learn how to do it. This approach has allowed me to grow in my career and help my clients by always finding a way to make things possible.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Always have a student mentality. It's easy to think you know everything after years in a field, but things are always changing and there's more to learn. This helps you be a good leader by connecting with and learning from your team while supporting them, and it allows you to go farther in your career rather than thinking you already know everything.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Just keep going. Entrepreneurship is not easy and there will be many moments where you question if it's worth it, with lots of ups and downs. Remember to take it one step at a time, keep one foot forward, and just keep going. If you love what you're doing, it will be worth it. Things will start falling into place like a puzzle, but it won't happen overnight. The trick is to keep going and eventually you get there.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
A big challenge is getting business owners and founders to understand the importance of strong operational systems and how they affect growth and business health. Many focus only on the front end like bringing in clients but neglect the back-end systems, which causes things to fall apart. Opportunities are abundant because many businesses are opening daily without proper operations set up, some running manually for years, and advancing technology like AI can be leveraged as a tool to help rather than replace roles.
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