We were lucky to catch up with Harleny Vasquez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Harleny thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

As a licensed social worker, in all of the roles I have held within my social work career, as a therapist, social work supervisor, I always found the joy when it came to helping others towards their professional development. I am known to be a natural career cheerleader and always found myself to help others advance within their career through mentorship. I assisted others with their resume, cover letter and interview prep. These were skills I had to learn myself as a first gen college graduate Once I earned my master of social work degree, the career resources post grad were not helpful, I found myself dealing with impostor syndrome due to not passing the social work licensure exam. It made me feel stuck when it came to my own career options as a social worker. I then had to help my own self build a personal brand not let licensure define me,which I was able to get my first role after graduate school as a supervisor without having any supervisory experience. A year later, I continued to help others for free towards their professional development. I wanted others to feel heard and valued and for social workers to recognize that they can do it all and that they hold the foundations to create any success they desire within the social work profession. I created yourevolvedmind because I wanted to help others achieve career success, my fiance gave me the idea to start a business and charge for my services due to my expertise because if it was for me I would;ve continued helping others for free. School doesn’t teach you how to build a personal brand or market yourself most importantly it doesn’t teach you how to make your own self feel like an asset. Success starts within.

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 mentioned how I got into my business in last paragraph but to add to about me.

I am a Licensed Social Worker and a First-Generation Latina. I am the founder of my business yourEVOLVEDmind, where I am a Social Work Career Coach helping Social Workers in all stages. My area of focus includes, resume and cover letter writing, personal branding, LinkedIn marketing, salary negotiation and confidence building. I provide my clients the tools needed to secure their next opportunity using the LinkedIn platform. I am a Workshop Facilitator, Podcast Host of Social Work Insider, and a speaker on a mission to uplift and elevate the Social Work Profession. I am an experienced Social Worker with over 10 years working in social services providing trauma-informed care. In my 9-5, she is a Clinical Recruiter for a Mental Health Tech company on a mission to build effective clinical teams to deliver quality mental health services on a national level.

I am a co-author for Latinx/e in Social Work Volume 2, where I shared my story about my journey of healing and learning how to love myself within.

I am known to be a natural career cheerleader and my client’s say my energy is contagious . I am on a mission to uplift and elevate the social work profession.

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

I was raised by a single mother along with my younger sister and lived in low-income in Manhattan. Growing up there were resources that we lacked but mom always ensured we always had food and a roof over our heads. I am a first-generation latina who was the first in my family to earn my associates, bachelors and masters degree.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I started building my audience on LinkedIn 3 years ago, I started sharing my story and I started showing up authentic as me and providing motivational and inspiring content. Others continued to follow me as they found me inspirational and the social work community saw me as their solution to their problem which was not knowing how to market themselves or overcome impostor syndrome as a new graduate.

I would recommend others to just start and focus on one platform only, do what feels in alignment to you. Don’t feel the need to do it all, just be yourself and speak from the heart the right people will attract

Contact Info:

• Website: www.yourevolvedmind.com
• Instagram: yourevolvedmind
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourevolvedmindLLC
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harlenyvasquez/

Image Credits
Gareth Redfern-Shaw https://garethshaw.photography/