We were lucky to catch up with Erika Cruz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Erika, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

While working in the tech industry, I knew it wasn’t my purpose and I felt like I was “wasting” my life there. However, once I started my business it became clear that while in tech, I learned all the necessary skills to run a business. I see this come up for my clients too– they feel like they’re wasting time at a job they know they won’t end up at. However, I have them reframe that thought. I ask them “what skills are you learning today that will support you in running a business?” this question completely shifts how they see their current job.

If there’s anything I’ve learned is that no time is ever wasted, you always gain experience that will help you in the future, even if you can’t see it yet. Thanks to working in tech, I learned all about email marketing, sales, and automation. These three skills have allowed me to build a 7-figure coaching business in three years.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Erika Cruz is the founder of Courage Driven Latina and a leading voice in the personal development space, empowering women to take courageous action—especially when it scares them.

As a Courage Coach, Erika has supported over 250 clients and inspired more than 210,000 followers through her signature blend of mindset work, aligned action, and cultural relevance. Her mission is simple but bold: to help women stop playing small and start living with purpose.

A sought-after keynote speaker, Erika has shared stages with global brands and changemakers. She’s interviewed Latin music icon Luis Fonsi and led transformational trainings for the McDonald’s management team.

Her story of walking away from a six-figure tech career to build a 7-figure business from her childhood home captured national attention and earned her a feature on the front page of The New York Times. She’s also been featured on Telemundo, CNN, Los Angeles Times, and Fox 11 Los Angeles for her inspiring work and cultural impact.

Erika is the host of The Chingona Revolution Podcast, a free resource dedicated to helping mujeres reclaim their power, rewrite generational narratives, and embrace their inner chingona.

Whether she’s coaching, speaking, or podcasting, Erika leads with courage, authenticity, and the deep belief that there is enough room for all of us.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

People often assume that I built my brand and business overnight. While my coaching business did grow quickly, figuring out my purpose beforehand required a lot of failure. Everyone wants to avoid failure, but failure is inevitable if you do something meaningful.

In 2019, I was applying to all the cool tech companies (Netflix, Google, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, TikTok), but most didn’t even respond to my application. I made it to the final round at Google, and they canceled the position. I started to feel defeated, but instead pivoted to something that brought me joy: yoga. I got my Yoga Teacher Training Certificate and started to teach Yoga. A few months after that, the pandemic occurred, and the yoga studios closed their doors. So that opportunity also went out of the window. I took to social media, where I had already been posting healthy recipes, and started to teach yoga there. I then started to create content around mindfulness and self-development. That content resonated with people, so I started to host free workshops, and that’s how my coaching business started. I could have given up after the first failure, but each failure was like a compass pointing me in the right direction.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

It was thanks to my audience on social media that I have a business today. At first, I was just looking to provide value; I didn’t realize I could turn social media into a business.

If you’re looking to social media with the primary intention of monetizing, it will show up in your content. And no one likes to be sold to.

The biggest thing when starting on social media is to provide value and create content that’s relatable and valuable. Also, social media is the place where you get to be your own PR agent. How do you want to be perceived? do that in your content. If you’re running a business, you want to be seen as a thought leader, so show up as one in your content. Post videos of you speaking at an event – even if you’re not getting paid.

My biggest piece of advice for someone starting is to post imperfectly. Content will never be perfect, but if you keep trying to perfect it, you’ll never post.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theerikacruz.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theerikacruz/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theerikacruz/

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