Rising Stars: Meet Abbie Mirata

Today we’d like to introduce you to Abbie Mirata.

Hi Abbie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story starts as a teen mom, and that’s important to me that people know my story started there because this book could have had a very different ending. That little girl though, she’s the one who started me on a new trajectory and she’s the reason I created a new path for myself. I ended up dropping out of school and going into the workforce. I spent the first 15 years of my career in a corporate environment as a sales and marketing leader, rising to the National VP of Sales Ops for a large public company.

The more I accomplished, the more I began to figure out that I wasn’t happy, and not only that, I wasn’t that great of a person to be around. I became a snippy leader, I pushed people away, and I wasn’t present as a friend, a mom, and a wife. So I made a change and jumped into the world of entrepreneurship thinking that would solve all my problems. I became a consultant and I opened a brick-and-mortar business, that 3 years later – I closed. I really thought this idea of “being my own boss” was the key to my happiness. Not quite! Something was still missing. In the middle of running my coaching business and our ice cream store, I made a bold decision – I went back to corporate. But I did it with a new mindset, a new value of joy, and a new sense of my self-worth and who I was and it was the best decision I ever made.

Today, I am an executive, heading up Learning & Org Development for a billion-dollar public company, I’m a speaker, and a best-selling author and I run The Intrapreneur Project. a professional development and success strategy program to guide driven intrapreneurs in business to be personally fulfilled, grow their professional brand, and create inspired impact inside and outside their organizations. Along the way, I’ve raised two incredible children into even more incredible adults, married my soul mate and best friend, and most importantly fallen madly in love with the woman in the mirror.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The road has been bumpy, with roadblocks, potholes, and a few blown tires! My husband and I opened our business thinking we had thought of all the things and thinking that our combined years of experience in leadership, sales, marketing, budgeting, and project management would give us all the tools we needed to thrive. We were wrong.

Between a pandemic, material shortages, labor issues, and a host of other challenges both outside and within our control, the bottom line, is we failed. I learned so much from this experience though and do not let it deter me from future ventures. My biggest personal struggle was when my son chose to move back to Florida to live with his father for high school. This took a lot of courage for him to express himself and ask, and it took even more for me to say yes.

We worked so hard at it though, we agreed to never go more than 60 days without seeing each other and for 4 years, we kept to that commitment. It taught me about being present, how distance doesn’t matter, how to create clear boundaries and non-negotiables, and that because of that work and intention – I had a better relationship with my teenager who lived 1900 miles away than most people did with the one that lived right upstairs.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am both an employee and a business owner. I believe that being an Intrapreneur is what makes me so good at both things. I’ve learned to blend, balance, and optimize. I’m a learning and development specialist and I specialize in leadership development. I use the skills that I developed within my corporate roles to create a better learning environment for my clients. I’m able to develop a more robust online course environment as well as live events.

I also am able to better support my clients who are struggling in their corporate jobs since I live it every day. On the flip side, being able to live my passions through coaching, speaking, and writing, allows me to bring a different level of engagement and quality to my team and my organization. It also allows me to better manage and deal with the not-so-great side of corporate America because I have an outlet for my personal passions when work begins to lean towards the not-so-fun stuff.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Ask for help. Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t be afraid to talk about failing. Don’t give up. Find your people.

Pricing:

• The Intrapreneur Project Online Program is $899/yr or $99/mo

Contact Info:

• Website: www.abbiemirata.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/theintrapreneurproject
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/abbiemirata
• Other: https://instagram.com/abbiemirata

Image Credits
CDS Visuals