We were lucky to catch up with Larissa Rinaldi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Larissa , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

Six months after launching my first book, “City Echoes: Lessons From New York,” I sold a copy to everyone I knew and was not even close to my “best seller” dream. This is how I started my business. I would teach you how to write a book in exchange for a social media post.

The demand increased, and I started charging for book coaching, but something was missing. The best part of launching a book is the event, the party, and the speaking gigs. So, I promised my clients an event to launch their books. This is how CRiA started. When my first client finished her book, I crafted a creative event from scratch with 12 professionals working in big companies like Google, Meta, J.P. Morgan Chase, and marketing agencies.

It was a leap of faith. I had never worked in the event business. I have only had the experience of being an audience member at many conferences, and I love connecting with others.

CRiA is not even one year old but has already been a huge success. In a few months, we held in-person events in New York City (including one at NYU) and San Francisco.

Larissa , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I came to the United States under (what I call) a “wife visa.” My spouse was transferred from work, and I came along in 2018. I’m from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where I started my creative career working in the movie industry with respected directors, such as Walter Salles.

I entered the advertising industry a few years later, producing and writing TV commercials and branded content for international companies such as Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Pepsi, Rider, Vogue, and many others.

With all this experience, I opened my own communication company living in New York City. At CRiA Connect LLC, we offer personal brand consultation, writing coaching, speaking training, in-person events, and DEI recruiting facilitation.

It’s an ecosystem of a creative career. The more complicated part for an artist professional is knowing how to show their work. That’s why we focus on the training.

With all the projections, some companies asked us to help with recruiting. This opportunity gave us the piece missing from the circle: an ecosystem to support a creative career and life with real opportunities to inspire and connect with your goals.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

When people ask me how I choose which idea to invest in, I describe the risks I’m willing to take. In our first CRiA New York Summit, someone stood from the audience and asked how I got to choose a vision to invest in among many good ideas. In front of 70 people, I answered that I make decisions based on the risk I’m willing to take.

Publishing a book, holding an in-person event for 20 or 200 people, or hiring—everything is about your decisions.

Every decision comes with a risk. The question here is how much risk you can handle. I funded my first business with some savings. I couldn’t invest everything I had because I was unwilling to deal with the risk of losing my family, who would have the most significant impact in case of a failure.

But I was comfortable about losing hundreds of dollars, and that’s what happened. When I fail, I study. I learned how to pitch, sell, and ask for an investing meeting. I learned how to ask for money. Right now, CRiA has angel investors, and I’m always pitching new sponsors and clients.

It is an unbalanced moment. I spend much of my free time networking to expand, but it is a planned unbalanced time. I have goals and deadlines.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I was at the airport, going from Los Angeles to San Francisco, where I would host the first CRiA away from home, and I got an email from a speaker who was giving up on being with us because she disagreed with the questions the team sent.

I took CRiA to California only four months after opening the company. I had never been to the Bay Area before. Yet, I was gathering over 50 people at the CRiA San Francisco Summit. Delivering what you advertise is a huge responsibility, but sometimes, things change. You must be flexible and handle changes with grace.

When working with people, you are subject to changes in ideas and plans. Once, I had a speaker who couldn’t make it because his brother had arranged a surprise wedding on the same weekend as our event.

I went to Los Angeles to launch my book “City Echoes: Lessons From New York,” shifting from the feeling of duty accomplished with excellence with the book to the novelty of bringing my business to a new city.

I often say that I’m too creative for a 5’1 “person and that I must be resilient to handle all the consequences of my ideas.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://criaconnect.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/connectcria
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cria-connect

Image Credits

Photos by Dione Lopes