Madison Elle Meruvia

I attribute my success to sticking to my gut and believing in myself. I'm the one that keeps me going. It's about knowing and trusting myself, following my intuition, and not being afraid to pursue what's true to me rather than what the world tells me I should do. I won't say it's been an easy road, but it certainly pays off when you see that it's working. We all work hard, and we all want to be seen, so I don't think we should be shy about that. I believe in myself, and that self-belief is what has allowed me to keep moving forward and turn my dreams into reality.

The best career advice I ever received came from a woman I met one morning while watching the sunrise in Florida. I randomly asked her for any piece of advice she had, and she wasn't scared or confused by the question at all. She told me something that basically meant: if somebody's a professional in their field, let them do that job. We know we have the capability of doing it all ourselves, but we should find a good team and trust that they will do their job well, so we don't have to put all the stress on ourselves. I really enjoyed that advice because it reminded me that we're all supposed to work together. We're on this earth to work together, and we don't need to take it all over for ourselves all the time.

I would say stand strong and firm on what you believe in. Don't be afraid to ask for advice, and don't be afraid to express yourself and voice yourselves. Obviously, you know, control your emotional state as best as you can, because we are only human, but don't hold back. And if anyone reading this needs guidance, they can always reach out to me, because it actually empowers me when I'm giving advice or mentoring somebody else. We shouldn't be shy about who we are and what we want to achieve.

One of the biggest challenges is figuring out the difference in how men and women communicate, especially when you're in a leadership position. I know there are a lot of influential women and women leaders out there, but I don't think the challenge of communication differences ever stops. Sometimes men just really don't like how we communicate. I don't think a man will ever understand the strength that a woman has to have just standing in a business, or honestly just being a woman in general. And we won't understand men either, but the strength a woman has to have to be able to voice their opinions, be heard, and organize thoughts, even the simple thoughts of men, because life is simple yet also complicated, is significant. We need to see it all from all angles.

Trust and communication are the most important values to me in both my work and personal life.