Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tannia Godinez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tannia, appreciate you joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

A couple years into offering photography services to my community, I started to experience burn out. Doing photography on the side, on top of being a parent, a full time student, and employee, it became overwhelming. I told myself I would go on a little hiatus from photography to regroup and re-evaluate how to come back to it with a different approach so I don’t find myself burned out again.

Sadly, I have yet to return to photography and it’s been 2ish years. I have taken a couple projects here and there for a couple friends but I was reminded after every project, how unprepared I am to return. I say sadly because I miss it and I don’t have the set up I used too. I have hopes to make a return eventually!

I’m the meantime, I’ve had a lot of time to be with myself and learn a lot about myself. I’ve experienced some heavy lows the past couple of years and I spent a lot of time feeling unmotivated and without purpose. In the process of evolving, learning, growing, and moving forward, a recurring thought continued to circle around…

What IS my purpose?

How do I get to assist the world in becoming a better place? In what forms am I meant to show up for my community? What is my legacy? What will I be remembered for?

I started to realize how natural it was to share my thoughts with people. Sharing them via social media in moments of reflection while they are fresh and raw has helped me to discover how powerful my voice can really be. This led me into evaluating the gifts and talents I possessed.

Why did I get a bachelors degree in communications and not radio? Because I wanted to have a wider umbrella of opportunities outside of radio. I wanted my voice to be used and heard by the masses and radio isn’t the only option to achieve that.

The college radio shows I had, radio internships, podcasts I have created, been featured on or been apart of, the numerous media, film, radio classes I took…. I am sleeping on myself. All this knowledge and experience and what am I doing with it? Which brought me back to the sounding board I am for many others who feel the same way, by sharing my thinking process/feelings.

This defining moment has led me to go down the podcast route but creating a new one that isn’t necessarily about me and my life, but more so how I share my raw thoughts on social media but with a more in-depth and research explanation because one minute IG stories isn’t enough to express a complete thought! This has sparked a fire in me and I am excited to serve my community by being the voice that says what we’re all thinking out loud.

Tannia, 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 am most proud of the lessons that pushed me to raise my voice about things that may be uncomfortable to speak about. I wasn’t always confident in expressing my thoughts or what I was feeling. But the more I share, the more responses I get about how people are in literal tears over the feelings I have shared that they don’t have the confidence to share yet. That tells me I’m providing hope and I am proud of that! I want to help others understand that certain thoughts are okay to have even when they feel wrong.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think what has allowed my reputation to grow is my vulnerability. Sharing with people my human experience. Being honest about my feelings not just when I am experiencing joyful feelings but also when I am feeling angry or sad.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Wanting validation. I think I have given up on previous careers or projects due to not having enough validation to give me purpose. Through the highs and lows I have been going through the past couple years I acknowledged that the validation I was seeking was also fear of success. Knowing I was good enough but “lack of validation” made easier to control my outcomes. All I need is intention and purpose and I believe I have found what that is and it will take me to greater lengths and levels to this thing called life.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/tanieeezy?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tannia-godinez-b971a7177

Image Credits
@quartyardsd