Katrina Xavier knows a thing or two about building confidence. Since starting her women’s empowerment community, Embrace Your Alpha, she has helped thousands of women thrive through the art of connection. Here, Xavier tells us what she’s learned about taking risks in life, developing self-confidence, and how to find your voice.
Lulus: Tell us how Embrace Your Alpha started. What is it exactly?
Katrina Xavier: Embrace your alpha started two years ago. Straight out of school, I landed a job in politics, in a high stress, chaotic landscape. I thrived under controlled pressure—and it was a pressure cooker. Crisis communications drove me; it was my passion. However, as I rose up the ranks, I started to become less balanced as an individual. My identity began to transform into “Hi, my name is, this is what I do for a living.”
To put it (bluntly), I was successfully out of alignment. Then a challenge arose, one that a lot of women are presented: I had an opportunity to make a choice between career or love and health. I chose love and I was miserable; I didn’t know who I was outside of my career. I am grateful to have a loving partner who was supportive through the identity crisis that I experienced. It was not easy—every day was a combination of confusion, lack of confidence, and uncertainty.
Yoga teacher training was the only thing that kept me sane. It created a space for me to evaluate myself, learn self-care and put myself in a physical state of awareness.
I then decided to embrace being an entrepreneur. I wanted to make something of myself outside of the security of an already-created structure. The internet made it look basic, (which) was the first time in my life that my research was wrong. It was hard and isolated. I was alone trying to solve problems that I lacked the experience to answer, and often there was no answer. I looked for others in my community to inspire and motivate me to keep going. It was next to impossible. So I decided to create my community.
I now own a successful digital marketing agency, an e-commerce brand, an event company, a blog, as well as a female empowerment membership community called Embrace Your Alpha.
Embrace Your Alpha is, in essence, a fully curated environment for women to help other women thrive in both their careers as well as personal lives. This is done through group coaching sessions with me, experts talking about their experiences with Q&A’s, training manuals & templates, motivational kits, and a group of incredible women sharing a wealth of priceless knowledge.
As of right now its a community of over 3,000 women who I am incredibly honored and humbled to be able to help create what I needed.
Lulus: Why do you think women often need to learn how to embrace their alphas?
KX: It is more important than ever before for people to find their voice. If you don’t ask, you won’t get in life. So it’s time for us to be confident and vocalize our wants. Embrace your alpha is my way of branding the process to get there. My intention is for everyone who enters the embrace your alpha ecosystem to leave feeling supported to achieve beyond what they believed possible for themselves. To be in an alpha state is to be free of barriers and enter into an active state, primed to push toward your goals.
It’s time for women to demand what they want from the world and manifest their dreams. There is so much opportunity; it is our responsibility to step out of our own way and reach higher.
Lulus: Your mission statement is “collaboration over competition.” We LOVE this. How did you choose this as a mission?
KX: Several years ago, when I worked in politics, I noticed that there were only a few female politicians at the time. However, they seldom worked together on issues. Instead, they competed (with each other) for name recognition. If they had collaborated, they would have quadrupled their reach as well as gotten their agenda items passed. I was able to create a collaborative environment with their staff to make change happen instead—and it worked.
Through this experience, I saw first hand how women working together were able to achieve a ridiculous amount more than individually. We need to realize that there is more than enough room at the top. Plus what’s a win worth when you can’t share it with others?
Lulus: Truth! You also place a good amount of focus on self-care, nutrition, and fitness. What does this have to do with “embracing your alpha?”
KX: The first step to being an alpha is self-care and confidence. It’s what I used to prime myself to handle pushing toward the best version of myself. To have those two things, you have to emphasize nutrition and something that gets your heart pumping. By introducing both into my life, I have seen exponential changes to my level of efficiency.
For example, if you were to walk away from here today with a luxury car, you’d only put premium gas in it to ensure peak performance. The same applies to your body. By putting the right gas (fitness, love, and nutrition) in you’ll be able to push yourself to be the best-performing version of yourself.
Lulus: Makes sense. In your bio, you talk about “taking every risk (you) could find.” How can women make risk-taking more of a habit?
KX: Ask yourself ‘what’s the worst case scenario?’ If you can’t live with the answer, then don’t do it. If you can handle it or thrive in it, then say YES! Keep it simple. The power of decision making comes from clarity of thought.
I urge people when facing a tough decision, to take space and time to evaluate it. Create a clearing for yourself as I did to find what feels right for you. Taking risks can be both positive or negative. I think the main driving force is to live in alignment with yourself.
To take risks doesn’t mean to be careless. It means to step outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. If in doubt, you can always start with an old fashioned pro and con chart.
Lulus: Any tips to help women feel more empowered on a daily basis?
KX: Self-care! Your morning routine is enormous. I start with stretching and taking time for myself away from any environmental influences. Keep your tech at bay until you have primed your mind to be ready and truly feel empowered.
Begin your day by getting your heart rate going, then write down three main things you love about yourself. Then take control of the day make a list of what you want to achieve for the day as well as the actions need to achieve them.
Throughout the day as you feel your self-awareness and control begin to step away from you, take a moment and visualize yourself driving a car. You wouldn’t let the road take control. Take a deep breath and regain control as you would in your car.
As a final step to the day, take time to find space to evaluate action items that you’d like to take into your next day and things that you’d like to leave behind in the past.
Lulus: Love that! What’s one thing you would go back and tell your younger self if you could?
KX: You can only connect the dots looking backward—so be confident, roll with the punches, believe in yourself, and say yes to all opportunities that feel right.
Have a question for Katrina? Ask in the comments!
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It’s harder for women to build a career. The choice between work and family is something that all women face. I have two children. I haven’t worked in years. I have two higher educations. And I’m sad that I can’t realize myself. They refuse me to do interviews.