Exploring Life & Business with Terina Maldonado

Today we’d like to introduce you to Terina Maldonado.

Hi Terina, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I am an Arizona native and although I’ve lived and traveled to several places around the world I love to call beautiful Arizona home. I get to share the adventure of life with my husband Brent, we’ve been married for 17 years! Together we are doing our best to raise good humans. We have three kids ages, 13, 10, and 6, and two Shih Tzus. Together we love to have fun, experience new things, learn, travel, and have fun! My little family and the life we’ve created bring me so much joy!

I am a survivor in every sense of the word. I’ve been empowered with resilience, empathy, and determination through my lived experiences of child abuse, sexual assault, and leaving a high-demand religion. My superpower is my capacity for vulnerability. Through a lifetime of learning, research, therapy, and personal development, I acquired a deep understanding of how to tell your story as a survivor and how to help others do the same. I now powerfully share my story with others inspiring them to join me in a place of triumph.

Several years ago I identified sexual grooming in a children’s movie. I wrote an article sharing what I saw and that the lens through which I was able to see this was a survivor of child abuse. My article quickly went viral receiving over 5 million views. There was a public outcry about the content of the movie. As a result, for the first time in history, the production company pulled the movie from theaters to be edited for content. Faithwire News dubbed me, “The Mom Who Took On Hollywood And Won,”

As I’ve walked the path of entrepreneurship I’ve discovered personal growth and business growth are deeply intertwined. Through continually reading books with inspiring and educational content, growing my spiritual practice, sticking to a regular exercise routine, volunteering in my community, and stepping out of my comfort zone to achieve new goals I’ve felt myself become more grounded, sure, and in tune with my vision. Being grounded, sure, and in tune has helped me have greater drive and clarity for my business. Conversely, as I’ve experienced success in my business it has helped me find a sense of purpose and fulfillment which has increased my overall satisfaction with my life enabling me to be a better mom, wife, and friend.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road to entrepreneurship is not an easy path! I’m constantly learning and adjusting the way I run my business.

There’s so much to learn; social media, SEO, marketing, client attraction, and bookkeeping are all so new and often changing. There are elements of fun to learning new concepts and techniques that make the process of learning to run a business exciting.

Along with the more technical aspects of running a business the mental growth that is required has been deeply instructive and healing. I’ve had to look at lingering attachments from teachings I received as a child that a woman’s most important role is that of a mother and wife and that no other success can compensate for a failure in the home.

I’ve also had to work around my money mindset having come from a very poor family. It can be hard to believe in your capabilities for success when you’ve never had intimate examples of success. As I’ve worked to heal my mindset around things I was taught and experienced I’ve seen myself have greater wins.

I would not say the road has been smooth, smooth is easy and comfortable. When things challenge me, that is when I learn and grow. I’m not looking for a smooth road, I’m looking for the road that brings learning, happiness, and growth.

As you know, we’re big fans of your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
As a Life Coach, I help those who have realized they are in or have left toxic relationships or environments to live more authentic lives and break free of the expectations of family, religion, and society. I empower people to feel comfortable speaking up and letting their voices be heard. I do this through my one-on-one coaching program Authentic You. In this program, individuals will discover who they truly are, fall deeply in love with that person and develop the confidence and comfort to go into the world with clear boundaries unafraid of what others think.

Being a Step into your Moxie certified facilitator I also help companies empower their teams to feel comfortable to speak up and speak out for the ideas that matter most through corporate training. With a mix of coaching, training, role play, and small and full group conversation, participants will develop the mindset, skill set, and habits to boost their communication confidence so they can speak with power and impact and move people to take action whenever they speak.

One of my favorite ways to share my message is through public speaking. I love to share my story of triumph over trauma. A powerful personal experience was sharing my story got me dubbed by Faithwire News, “The Mom Who Took On Hollywood-And Won,”. I share with audiences the necessity for vocal empowerment in their personal and professional lives.

Regardless of the way in which I work with others the most rewarding part is the feedback that people have changed their lives for the better. I love witnessing the transformation that happens when someone falls in love with themself and has the skills and courage to hold kind and firm boundaries that create a life they love.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
I’m the oldest of a large family, and with seven kids there was always fun to be had. As kids, we decided we really wanted a trampoline. This was not something our parents were able to purchase for us so we decided we could work to earn the money to buy one ourselves. We worked together doing just about anything we could think of to raise the funds. Together we collected and recycled aluminum cans, did yard work, babysat neighbors, shoveled snow, washed work trucks, and once we even sold rocks (only the most beautiful and special rocks of course). It took us a long time and a lot of work but we finally earned enough money to buy our trampoline!!

I don’t know if there’s ever been a trampoline in all the history of trampolines to be so loved and used! We would spend hours jumping and playing games. When the weather was hot it would provide a shady hideout to play under. On warm nights we would sleep on the tramp under the stars, only to be woken by the sun in the morning all piled on top of each other in the middle of the tramp. As much as we all love the tons of fun we had on that tramp, we loved it even more because we had worked so hard to earn it ourselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.terinamaldonado.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terina_maldonado/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HealEmpowerEducate
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTdt726Xv/

Image Credits
Quianna Marie Photography and Ali Hohn Photography