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

Hi Rico, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on? Tell us the backstory so we understand circumstances/context and why it’s meaningful to you.

What a great question! The most meaningful project I have worked on has to be the 3 Part “BYOH” (Bring Your Own Healing) series of my podcast. I break down 3 topics that I feel are highly important if you’re trying to bring healing into your life. In the introductory episode “BYOH” I discuss the catalyst to my own personal healing journey, and how that journey has affected me and the trajectory of my life. The second episode of the series is ” Respect My Boundaries” where I talk about how important it is to have healthy boundaries in your romantic, platonic, and familial relationships. I end the series with “Healing Your Inner Child” piece, and in that episode I discuss my own experiences with healing my inner child and how I was able to get 8 year old me to integrate with who I am now.

The backstory to my Bring Your Own Healing was 32 years in the making. I had a tower moment back in 2022 and once the tower fell I had two choices : try to sift through the rubble and see what I use to rebuild the tower or light a Molotov cocktail and throw it on the rubble , let I burn, and start over fresh….needless to say I chose the latter! Once the dust and ashes settled it came to me that the tower I spent all those years building has such a weak and damaged foundation. So after sitting with the feelings of defeat, disappointment, and despair I realized that if I wanted to heal that I was going to have to deal with all of the things that I spent so many years trying to avoid . I also realized that I had the chance to do something amazing : Build something new and build what I truly needed to build for myself! So that’s exactly what I did, and that was the moment I decided to heal!

BYOH is so meaningful to me because it represents who I am now and all that I’ve persevered through. I had to go through healing my inner child and learn how to set boundaries not just for other people, but for my self as well. Along the way I learned how to be kinder to myself. I also learned how to have more compassion, grace, forgiveness, and love for myself as well. I know that some might feel as if those things are a given but it take true work, dedication, and commitment to give yourself the gift of Self Love, and it is something that I work at on a daily basis. With the help of my therapist, journaling, and meditation I’ve been able to fully step into healing, and now I’m in the process of cultivating a new lifestyle of healing for myself. The journey has not been without challenges because healing is NOT linear, nor is it pretty. Healing can be extremely difficult, challenging, and there have been times where I had to go back and start over but I wouldn’t change my journey to BYOH in any way. What I’ve had the chance to build now is so much better than what I was holding onto back in 2022 and that’s the outcome of truly, and wholeheartedly stepping into my healing.

Rico, 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?

A little bit about myself: I am the creator and host of “Don’t Mind Mendoza” which is a podcast that is dedicated to giving the world views and opinions from the Masculine Presenting L side of the LGBTQI Community. I write, edit, research, and produce my content all on my own. I also write content for a few other podcast as well.

I got into podcasting a few years ago after having a conversation with my best friend about all of the advice I had given her ( and other friends) over the years. She jokingly said “ You should make a podcast and share all of the gems you drop off on everyone with the world” and that’s how the seed was planted. Fast forward 3 years later and here I am telling the story to the readers.

I believe what sets me apart from others is my ability to see any given situation from every perspective and that allows me to think outside the box if and when I have to come up with a solution to a particular problem. I tend to think 3 steps ahead so most of the time I’ve already figured out plan A-D while other people are still stuck on plan A.

I am most proud of how far I’ve come with my podcasting skills and how far I’ve come as as writer. When I first started I was asking some pretty interesting questions but they were not as thought provoking as now. When I first started out I was self taught and that came with its own set of struggles and challenges but the more I learn the more I realize that it’s ok to ask for help and to reach out to others for constructive criticism and feedback on how to create better content and improve on my listeners experience with my podcast.

I want my current and future listeners to know that when they tune into my podcast they can expect Honesty, Openness, and Transparency no matter what the topic is, and I want them to know that my podcast is a safe space for them to write in and make suggestions on how I can improve my content and give them a better listening experience.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

This is such a fantastic question! The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the e-mails I get from my listeners telling me how my podcast has helped them with situation they were going through. It’s extremely rewarding when people say “ after listening to you tell your story and how you made it through XYZ, it gave me hope that I could make it through as well.”

That’s why I do what I do! If my story and struggles can help one person , then I’ve done what I need to do as a creative.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The goal and mission that drives my creative journey is to be to someone what I wish I had when I was going through certain things in my life. I’ve always said that I hope my story can inspire someone to start the process to better their life and to become the best version of themselves possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: Anchor.fm/DontMindMendoza
• Twitter: Twitter.com/DontMindMendoza

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