We recently connected with Isabel Marquez and have shared our conversation below.

Isabel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at 26. I remember sitting in the hospital room with so many questions — not just about treatment, but about what this would mean for my identity, my body, my energy, my future. I found a lot of clinical information, but almost nothing that felt emotionally real. No one was talking about the confusion, the grief, or the loneliness that often comes with a thyroid diagnosis.

That seed stayed with me — and started growing alongside something deeper. Professionally, I felt stuck. I was good at what I did, but nothing felt meaningful. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wanted to create something that made a tangible difference in people’s lives — or at least, in mine.

It took about a year and a half of holding that discomfort until I finally started sharing my story on TikTok. I didn’t expect much. But the response was overwhelming — message after message from women saying, “I feel the same,” “This is exactly what I’m going through,” or “Thank you for saying this out loud.” That was the moment everything started to click.

I realized we needed more than a diagnosis. We needed connection. We needed resources. We needed a space to be fully seen.

That’s when I called Eli, my now co-founder. She lives with Hashimoto and hypothyroidism and had experienced a miscarriage related to her condition. I told her about the vision of building a space where people could connect, learn from doctors who actually care — who take a holistic approach — and access real education and support. She didn’t hesitate. We knew this was something we were building not just for others, but for ourselves.

We didn’t wait for it to be perfect — we just started.

We chose to build Thyroid Collective in Spanish because that’s what felt most personal and most needed. I lead the branding and content strategy, and we started releasing foundational resources: thyroid-friendly guides, educational carousels, and live talks with experts. Everything we put out is intentionally raw, practical, and emotionally grounded.

Some days we are building content. Other days, we are crying over DMs from women saying, “I finally feel understood.” That feedback became fuel.

Thyroid Collective is a growing digital community for people living with thyroid conditions — offering honest conversations, practical tools, and the kind of emotional support we wish we had from day one.

Isabel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Isa, a marketing and community strategist — and more importantly, I’m someone who lives with the experience of thyroid disease. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at 26, and while I received treatment, I felt an overwhelming lack of emotional support, context, and connection during and after that process.

That personal gap eventually became my professional calling.

Today, I’m the co-founder of Thyroid Collective, a Spanish-speaking digital community created for people living with thyroid conditions — from Hashimoto and hypothyroidism to thyroid cancer and Graves’. We offer honest resources, live conversations with specialists, and a safe space to process everything a diagnosis changes — from energy and mood, to identity, fertility, and relationships.

We built Thyroid Collective because most thyroid content online is either highly medical or overly simplified — and rarely addresses the full human experience. We wanted a space that could hold the science and the emotion. A place where people could say “I’m exhausted and I don’t know why,” and be met with answers — and empathy.

Our community runs on Circle and includes:

Live talks with endocrinologists, psychologists, nutritionists, and physiotherapists

Downloadable guides on things like gluten, post-thyroidectomy recovery, and mental health

Topic-specific chats for different conditions, where members connect and support each other

A curated, intentional feed of resources made by and for people with thyroid conditions

What sets us apart is that we’re not just educating — we’re humanizing the thyroid experience. We talk about what happens between appointments. We validate the things people are too tired or too scared to bring up in a doctor’s office. We’re building what we wish we had from day one.

What I’m most proud of is that every single piece of this brand is real. It comes from lived experience, not trend forecasting. The messages we receive — people saying “this post saved me today” or “I finally feel seen” — those are the wins I care most about.

Thyroid Collective is still growing, but it’s already a space that’s changing the way people relate to their health, their symptoms, and their stories. That’s what I want people to know: you’re not alone, and your experience deserves care that’s both informed and deeply human.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The biggest pivot in my life didn’t come from a career decision — it came from a diagnosis.

At 26, I was told I had thyroid cancer. And in that moment, everything shifted. I wasn’t thinking about marketing, business, or purpose — I was just trying to survive. But even in the middle of surgery prep and radioactive iodine treatments, I remember feeling this deep ache that no doctor addressed: the fear, the identity loss, the emotional chaos that came with having my life split into before and after.

The clinical system was focused on fixing my body. But no one was supporting my mind, my relationships, or my grief. I felt like I had to hold everything alone — and pretend I was fine.

That experience broke me open. And once I moved through the hardest parts physically, I knew I couldn’t go back to life “as it was.” I couldn’t just do work that felt disconnected from what I’d lived. I needed to create something that would make sure no one else going through this felt the way I did: invisible, overwhelmed, and emotionally unsupported.

That’s when Thyroid Collective was born — out of the scariest, rawest season of my life. What started as a personal story shared on TikTok turned into a community project that now holds space for thousands of people navigating thyroid conditions. It’s a digital home where we talk about healing, identity, relationships, symptoms, trauma — and how to live through all of it with more information, connection, and self-compassion.

This wasn’t a planned pivot. It was a survival pivot. But it became the most meaningful work I’ve ever done — because it comes from truth. I took what broke me, and turned it into something that could help someone else feel whole again.

That’s the kind of impact I want to keep building.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I honestly didn’t expect to build an audience on TikTok. I started posting as a way to process my thyroid cancer journey — I had so much to say, and I needed a place to say it. My very first video got a huge response from women who were living the same thing and feeling the same confusion, fear, and frustration I had felt (and still do). That moment of connection made me realize: this isn’t just my story — it’s ours.

Once I saw that, I shifted from venting to building. I started planning content intentionally and staying accountable to showing up — even when it was hard. In the beginning, I posted 2–3 times a day. That consistency helped me grow fast and, more importantly, helped me become someone my community could trust.

Now I post around 5–6 times per week, but what hasn’t changed is my mindset: if I want this to support people, I need to show up for it like I mean it.

My biggest advice for anyone starting out is this: plan. Don’t just hope you’ll have something to say — create a content strategy, build a bank of ideas, and make room for both structure and spontaneity. You want to be real, to share what’s on your mind, but having a plan gives you the stability to do that without burning out.

And second: stay consistent. Even if your videos aren’t getting the engagement you hope for, keep posting. If you give up every time it feels far away, it will stay far away. But if you stay consistent, you’re one step closer with every single video.

That’s how I built a community. Not just by showing up once, but by showing up over and over — on the good days, the hard ones, and everything in between.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thyroidcollective.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thyroidcollective_/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thyroidcollective
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@isabelpmp

Image Credits

Ana Gabriela Ramirez