Frida Aviles

I really attribute my success to my mental health. I feel like everything has been part of thinking that I am in good terms with my mind, and that my mind works in my favor, not against me, and that I have to just trust the process, regardless of the emotions that come with it. Understanding that emotions just come and go and understanding what they want to tell me has been crucial. I also attribute my success to my wonderful support system, which is my family. They've been there for me throughout this journey, and knowing I have that foundation has made all the difference in being able to pursue my dreams and build something meaningful.

Just yesterday, I received incredible career advice from the Google administrator for Dallas and Oregon. I told her about my company, and she said that believing I could be here today, even though I was in a completely different space before, is about having that trust that the things I want will find me. She told me it doesn't matter how wild my dreams are - if my dreams are what move my heart, I should go towards those dreams and not think that they cannot be achieved, whether I'm with a company, in my own business, or whatever path I'm on. That dream will come to life if I don't let go of it and work towards it. She shared that she always dreamed of helping other people but never had the money, and now she has the money but it's Google's money. That made me realize that I have a platform that's maybe not 100% mine because it's built by all the wisdom of real people and made for real people. It's something that goes beyond myself, something greater than myself, and I have to believe that it's for something good and it's gonna help other people. That's why I have to work so hard and smarter to keep moving towards that idea.

I would say you need to go in with all your parts of connection with yourself, with all your creativity and your intuition, and just try. There are gonna be people way less qualified, way less creative, way less smart than you, but they're gonna try because they are not a woman. I don't want to sound too feminist, but it's real - as women, we always want to be perfect. So I will say, don't try to be perfect, just try to be real. Try to be you, and give yourself the chance that you deserve on trying, because you will succeed. Stop waiting for perfection and just take that chance, because you have everything you need already within you.

The biggest challenge I'm facing right now is making my app into not just a project, but making it very safe for everybody to use. The privacy notice and data ownership are huge concerns - we really want users to be the ones who own their data, and we don't want anybody else to have access to it like is usually done. I'm a marketer, so I know how it works, and that's our number one problem. Most things you put on the internet belong to everybody, but we want to make this a safe space to hold your vision without having other people access it to sell you something. The blockchain and cybersecurity that we want to create for everybody to feel safe in a mental health space like this app is the hardest problem right now. Another challenge has been finding collaborators to join in, putting some input into this, and feeling like they're gonna be part of it. That's the community we're looking for.

The values that drive my life are trust and sustainability. When it comes to my work ethics, I believe in sustainability - whatever thing I'm creating, whether it's a product or an idea, it has to be sustainable long-term and make good things long-term, not just have an instantaneous effect. We have to make sure that we leave a good world for the next generations. When I talk about trust, I believe that's my number one goal - that people can trust their emotions in a space and know that they're gonna be dignified and valued and cherished in every single way. They're not gonna be ever, ever used for other things than their own benefit. Creating that trust and ensuring people feel safe and respected is at the core of everything I do.