Today, we’re chatting with Mariela De La Mora, a former 16 marketer with sixteen years of experience who is now a leadership and business coach for Women of Color and daughters of immigrants. She helps them to become in demand thought leaders by being more of who they are. This is her fourth year in coaching and so much evolution has happened in the last six months alone. 

As a marketer, the process of unraveling why people do what they do fascinated her. At a certain point, she climbed the ranks in marketing and realized she had gotten as far as she wanted to go in the corporate world. Suddenly, the positions she was up for were practically about being an entrepreneur within someone else’s company. She was reviving other people’s products through messaging, rebranding, relaunching, and more. 

Once she had her daughter, she realized that this wasn’t enough for her. The money was good! But sticking solely to marketing other people’s business just wasn’t sitting right with her. She wanted to do work that really mattered. Once she discovered coaching, she realized she could integrate her favorite parts of marketing (understanding people and mentoring) and turn up the heat by creating her own coaching business. 

In building her business, she has always centered her role as a mother. The business allows her to spend more time with her daughter, not less. She started asking “who am I besides the path that everyone expected of me?” And creating her coaching business brought her home to herself as an eldest daughter of immigrants.

The Unique Experience of Eldest Daughters of Immigrants

In becoming a mom and going to therapy, Mariela broke down the things that she wanted to do differently for her child. And in this process, she slowly noticed the patterns her upbringing has established in her life. 

What she didn’t realize as she was going through the personal work of therapy and motherhood was that she was not alone in this experience. Eldest daughters have a very unique experience with a lot of common threads, regardless of what country you’re from or your parents are from. With the uncertainty of entrepreneurship, she created a bubble with other people asking similar questions. Her niche found her because she was so fascinated by the common threads that were showing up in her community and the issues she was running up against that weren’t unique to her.

What Does Thought Leadership Mean?

For Mariela, thought leadership means being an innovator in ideas. Thought leaders are always meeting unmet needs. So they’re asking “what pattern is here? What aren’t people saying? What are they saying? What’s going on?” And they’re innovating in those gaps to advocate for their community or create a solution. Thought leaders are the ones that are asking the bigger questions, regardless of what they’re selling. 

So I asked Mariela, “what made you decide you need to now shift the way your thought leadership is visually presented?” Because Mariela was already signing high ticket clients. She was booked out and in demand! And she did all of that with a makeshift website and DIY branding. So what changed? 

Well, she was pivoting from one-on-one coaching to group coaching. And in launching group programs, speeding up the buying process becomes important. But she observed that the people who were signing up for one-on-one coaching were already warm leads. That’s not sustainable for the quick turnaround that’s needed for groups. 

She knew it didn’t look like she had a five-figure mastermind yet. But beyond that, the confidence around her offer was suffering because she felt like she didn’t look the part. Here’s the thing though – she already had such strong foundations, and she was well past the six-figure mark in her business, so she knew she was ready for a full customized rebrand.

Will Rebranding Make Me Unapproachable?

Mariela found herself asking “will rebranding make me unapproachable?” during the onboarding process. She didn’t want these elevated visuals to make her feel less accessible. But that was a thought she needed to challenge in herself. Because she didn’t need to be a mom at home, in sweatpants to be accessible. She wanted to look rich. She wanted to look rested. She wanted to look luxurious. 

So she decided that it was more important to her to give an example of what’s possible instead of confine herself to relatability. She thinks it’s more inspirational to be this higher version of herself, because that speaks volumes. When clients see someone that they think doesn’t fit the mold of who should have that, then they start to believe that they can do it too.

Mariela’s Identity Shifts Post-Rebrand

Mariela said “I felt like I had no problem being seen in a way that before it felt almost like I was working against myself because it’s sort of like If you aren’t proud of your house, you’re less likely to invite people to it.”

She knew she could sell anything, confidently. But she had to believe in it one hundred percent. This rebrand was the key to that solid relief. She even joined Design on Demand on retainer after her launch. This allowed her to move swiftly and quickly on her ideas. She didn’t feel like she was getting stuck in the weeds of visuals any time she had an idea. 

So, for example, she put together a workshop and within two days; the website was up; the deck was ready, and this support helped her show up with a totally different energy. Now, executing her ideas was more about getting the ideas out of her head and less about wading through decision fatigue. 

She says, “I think I came up with more original thought and more original content in a short amount of time than I ever have in my entire business because I had the support and the systems for me to just say that. And then whenever I want to just go on a rant on my story.”

How Rebranding Meant Converting More Cold Leads

In her recent launch, she converted more cold leads than ever before. From posting on Linkedin and her podcast, she was having sales calls with people who just found her. These people, though they’d never had a conversation with Mariela before, were quoting her podcast back to her. Interactions like this helped Mariela trust her brand was doing its job.

You know that icky feeling when you know you’re talking to someone who is just shopping around? Sometimes it works out, but they’re often not your most aligned client and you have to deal with a lot of objections on the call. But because Mariela’s marketing was working, cold leads were not only finding her but understanding her before they ever got on a call.  

She also had people join her mastermind that were referred to her page. So the brand had to do the heavy lifting in those scenarios as well! The typical buyer’s journey for referrals looks like going to your website, listing to her podcast, and reading her client testimonials. So Mariela had all her brand bases covered, and that ensured her most successful launch to date!

Connect with Mariela De La Mora and Check Out Her Rebrand

Mariela’s Rebrand:
https://highflierpowerhouse.com/mariela-de-la-mora

Mariela’s Website:
https://marieladelamora.com/

Mariela’s Podcast:

https://marieladelamora.com/podcast

Mariela’s Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/mariela.delamora/