We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carissa Dez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carissa below.

Carissa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

I wish I had started my business sooner, because I would have more experience in the industry for starters. It took me awhile to figure out what direction I wanted to take with my career. I have owned a small wellness product company for 6 years that I was once passionate about, but recently found that all things media-related are what I’ve really always gravitated toward. The difficult part for me was deciding on something specific to focus on so that I could begin making money. I was a jack of all trades, and I’m now working on gaining more experience with a few specialties which include photography, videography, interviewing, and modeling. There is still room to narrow down my offerings, but at the moment, I love doing all of the things and can’t pick just one. The main reason I didn’t work in the media/entertainment business before is because I didn’t believe that I had a chance in this competitive field. Also, most of my family members are blue collar and I didn’t have many entrepreneurs to look up to growing up. Some family member have always been very supportive of my ventures, but I essentially paved my own path. I’ve been taking photos and videos and performing my whole life, and it is a good feeling to know that I am using skills that have always come naturally to me to find a niche and a career that I love.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a multifaceted business owner who helps people with brand development and to promote their best assets. I provide packages for people/businesses which may include a video interview, a photo session, short form content creation for example. I write blogs, do design work, and can provide my clients with industry connections to companies with the resources that also can benefit their brand. My range in creative skill and also my resourcefulness is what sets me apart from other businesses in my industry..

Have you ever had to pivot?

In 2020 as the Covid -19 lockdown was ending, I also was dealing with being newly separated from my husband who we had decided to be the main bread winner of the family at the time, since I was home with my two children full time. Since then, I have managed to keep my wellness business going as I was also working on getting into a new career. I picked up many side gigs from bartending to doing food delivery to pay the bills. One day recently, my business/life mentor pushed me out of the best like I was a baby bird, and told me to go all in on my media business, Dez Media. The past two years have been the toughest years of my life, and also some of the best. I learned so much about business and about myself. It’s an amazing feeling to know that I got to where I am doing the hard work on my own.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the view of myself that I had. I grew up in a small town and was a wild teenager, which is how everyone in town knew me. I’ll admit, I’ve always been free-spirited, but I’ve always been a good hearted person. Some of my family members would bring up things I had done in my teen years over ten years later, and made me feel like I was that “bad kid” all over again. It’s tough to reach for success when you don’t believe you deserve it. It took a lot for me to realize my worth and my power, but now that I have changed my story, I’ll never go back.

Contact Info:

• Website: CarissaDez.com
• Instagram: @carissadez
• Facebook: @carissadezLive
• Twitter: @carissadez
• Youtube: @carissadez