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

Niyeliza, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

Before having kids, I was focused on my career. I went to school for Psychology and my goal was to become a school counselor to help students believe in themselves and assist them to achieve their dreams. I have always been the one to help others take risks and have that little faith that they need to achieve big things, and I always thought that the only way for me to do it was by working as an educator.

However, my priorities and everything I thought I wanted to do changed after I had my kids. Now, I want to impact their lives and my community.

I had a career change about 2 years ago, and my main reason was them. I want them to know that I’ll always be present and that Mom will never miss a school activity or an important game. Now, the impact I wanted to make on students, I want to make in their lives which is the legacy I want to leave them.

When people think of me, I want them to think about the woman, the mom, the wife who not only built herself because of a career but also a home where she influenced her kids, her husband, and her community in every aspect. My desire is to empower other moms to reconnect again with themselves, reconnect with their femininity, and reconnect with the women they once were before becoming moms.

I am currently in this season of rediscovering and reconnecting with myself, and I think this is one of the main reasons why I have become so passionate about it because I have encountered a lot of other moms that went through the same thing but never found themselves back.

Niyeliza, 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?

There are many things that I am passionate about, but I’ll only highlight the ones that are very close to my heart. I like to consider myself to be very creative. Since I was 5, my parents had me in painting classes which I think helped me develop my creativity. I have always loved DIYing, creating things out of nothing, painting, and overall getting my hands dirty.

During the pandemic, I reconnected again with that side of me and I started working with epoxy resin. I loved the craft! I got to create so many trays, coasters, jewelry, etc. I had so much fun doing it, that I decided to open an Instagram and Etsy shop and start selling my craft. The feedback from people was amazing, but I quickly realized how time-consuming the work was, and as much as I love working with resin, there has always been something I enjoy a lot more and it is teaching and hosting events.

I started to brainstorm how I could still do something that I love, but provide it to people in a different way where I could teach my craft instead of selling it. One day I got together with a close friend of mine, Elizabeth, ally has a podcast called Beauty Mark Podcast, and told her that I wanted to create a space where we’ll gather women from different backgrounds, different ages, in different seasons of their lives and get them in a room together to create and cultivate themselves. Interestingly enough, she was already thinking of something similar! She had a mind a group of other ladies that could help us make this vision come to a reality, and in November of 2022, we hosted our first crafting event. Following that, early this year we launched She Cultivates.

She Cultivates Orlando is a collective group of women that focus on building community and friendship in Central Florida by hosting monthly events. Our main goal is to gather women, from different walks of life, and create with them, have meaningful conversations, and empower them to cultivate their best selves. We host monthly events, and every event has a meaning and a focus. We want to provide tools and bring experts to the room that can help these women navigate through whichever season they are in. And as a result, they will leave empowered, uplifted, and hopefully with a couple of friends. We just launched our September event which is called “Cultivating Her”. This will be a panel conversation, and we’ll have 3 excellent speakers. All the information about the event is on our Instagram page @shecultivateorl.

Aside from She Cultivates, two years ago I took the biggest leap of faith, quit my job, and became a full-time Virtual Assistant. I started working as a virtual assistant part-time with the hope to grow in the Virtual Assistant world. I currently work with an agency, and just recently got the opportunity to work as a team lead for the company. This job has opened so many doors for me. I have learned things about myself that I didn’t know I was good at and has helped me to also reconnect with my creativity. I enjoy the flexibility it has given me, and the many skills I have learned. I am currently trying to become more proficient in graphic design and marketing since I have been allowed to work alongside our marketing specialist on various projects.

I have gotten the opportunity to wear many hats but my favorite ones are being a wife and a mom, and creating a space where we can grow together and have tons of coffee.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

When I started working as a virtual assistant, I wasn’t considering it to be an actual job or career I could pursue. I had some extra time on my hands, and I wanted to use my time wisely, and thought of taking on another side hustle. At this point in my life, I was working full-time as an academic advisor and making resin products, but I knew I wanted to try something different. I had worked for so long in higher education, that I had lost my passion for what I was doing. I remember I applied for myVArocks, and I first I thought it was a scam. Even after meeting with the founder of the agency, I couldn’t believe it was an actual thing. However, I am so glad I gave the company an opportunity because it has allowed me to expand on my skills and grow in other areas where I knew I had some interest but never had the opportunity to fully dive in. And I think that when it clicked for me, I wanted to take this beyond just being a side hustle. I took the leap of faith a year ago, and today I have had the opportunity to grow within the company and continue to add to my skills. Right now, aside from my clients, I work closely with the virtual assistants by facilitating trainings, helping them navigate through their clients, and helping them grow as a person and in their careers which is something I am very passionate about. Also, I assist with marketing projects which involved a lot of designs, and I get to explore my creativity in a different way. For so long, I have created with my hands that I never thought of creating in a more digital way. This had drawn me to get more into graphic design, video editing, etc.

Any advice for managing a team?

Early this year, I was given the opportunity to become a team lead for the agency I work for, and I love it!

I have always worked with teams and it has led me to develop mentoring and coaching skillsets. And I think my biggest advice is to always lead the team with trust. I like for my team to know that I trust in them, I trust their skills, and I trust their judgment. I set the standards high because I know they are capable of meeting them, and because I empower them with trust this usually leads to a positive turnaround. I have always said a good leader is one that trusts his/her followers to get the work done.

Also, with She Cultivates, we are a team of 7 women with different talents, skills, personalities, and characters, and we have managed to all come together and be on the same page. At the end of the day, we have learned to trust in each other strengths and make things happen. This is the reason why we have been able to have 8 successful events since we started because we set the standards, and we knew what each of us can bring to the table and we make it happen every month.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @createbykristenn
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/niyeliza/
• Tiktok: createbykristen
• Pinterest: createbykristen

Image Credits
Ashley Nicole Candelaria