Mic Drop

The Pioneer (ft. Gaby Natale)

Episode Summary

In this episode, Josh Linkner interviews Gaby Natale, three-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, bestselling author of The Virtuous Circle, and one of People Magazine’s most powerful Latinas. Gaby shares her remarkable journey from growing up in Argentina to becoming a media trailblazer and successful speaker in the United States. They discuss her struggles to break into the competitive world of journalism, her decision to carve her own path when faced with conformity, and how she now helps others harness their uniqueness to become unstoppable. With energy and authenticity, Gaby shares her insights on what it means to be a true pioneer, the power of embracing discomfort, and the importance of breaking barriers for those who follow.

Episode Notes

Guest Bio:

Gaby Natale is a media entrepreneur, author, and the first Latina to be published by HarperCollins Leadership. She is the host and co-founder of SuperLatina, a nationally syndicated television show, and has won three Daytime Emmy Awards for her work. Known for her advocacy and pioneering spirit, Gaby uses her platform to empower others to embrace their uniqueness and defy stereotypes. Her bestselling book The Virtuous Circle provides a framework for turning obstacles into opportunities and unleashing your full potential.

Core Topics:

The Pioneer Mindset: Using Uniqueness as a Superpower: Gaby explores the concept of a pioneer mindset and how embracing your authentic self can transform your professional path. She challenges the notion of conformity and encourages leaders to harness their unique strengths instead of emulating others. This approach, she explains, is essential for achieving breakthroughs and standing out in any industry.

Breaking the Emulator Cycle: Creating from Authenticity: Gaby discusses the trap of emulating others and why it often leads to mediocrity. While imitation can be a starting point, she urges speakers and professionals to move beyond copying and cultivate their own distinctive voices. She shares strategies for identifying where authenticity is being suppressed and how to activate your unique potential.

The Virtuous Circle: Activating Your Inner Archetypes: In The Virtuous Circle, Gaby outlines seven archetypes that guide personal and professional development. From the Dreamer to the Warrior, she teases how each archetype plays a role in nurturing creativity, resilience, and leadership. She also shares a glimpse of how these archetypes can help individuals assess where they are thriving and where they may need to grow.

Finding Strength in Vulnerability: Turning Setbacks into Growth: Through her personal story of overcoming setbacks and fighting for her place as a Latina media entrepreneur, Gaby illustrates how embracing vulnerability can become a powerful catalyst for growth. Her journey highlights how transparency and openness about challenges can inspire others and lead to deeper, more impactful connections.

Resources:

Learn more about Gaby Natale:

Learn more about Josh Linkner:

ABOUT MIC DROP:

Hear from the world’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing tipping point moments, strategies, and approaches that led to their speaking career success. Throughout each episode, host Josh Linkner, #1 Innovation keynote speaker in the world, deconstructs guests’ Mic Drop moments and provides tactical tools and takeaways that can be applied to any speaking business, no matter its starting point. You'll enjoy hearing from some of the top keynote speakers in the industry including: Ryan Estis, Alison Levine, Peter Sheahan, Seth Mattison, Cassandra Worthy, and many more. Mic Drop is sponsored by ImpactEleven.

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Josh Linkner — a New York Times bestselling author — is a rare blend of business, art, and science.

On the business front, he’s been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which created over 10,000 jobs and sold for a combined value of over $200 million. He’s the co-founder and Managing Partner of Muditā (moo-DEE-tah) Venture Partners - an early-stage venture capital firm investing in groundbreaking technologies. Over the last 30 years, he’s helped over 100 startups launch and scale, creating over $1 billion in investor returns. He’s twice been named the EY Entrepreneur of The Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award.

While proud of his business success, his roots are in the dangerous world of jazz music. Josh has been playing guitar in smoky jazz clubs for 40 years, studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and has performed over 1000 concerts around the world. His experiences in both business and music led him to become one of the world’s foremost experts on innovation. Josh

is the co-founder and Chairman of Platypus Labs, a global research, training, and consulting firm. Today, he’s on a mission to help leaders Find A Way™ through creative problem-solving, inventive thinking, and ingenuity.

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Episode Transcription

Gaby Natale:

There's nothing that is going to be more powerful than creating and communicating from a place of truth. I always say that there's only one language, and that language is not English, but it's the language of energy. It's going to resonate or not based on your intention.

Josh Linkner:

Hey friends, Josh Linkner here. Delighted to bring you season three of Mic Drop, the number one podcast for professional speakers and thought leaders on the show. We connect with experts at the top of the field unpacking their success to help each of us grow and thrive from elevating your artistry to booking more gigs. Mic Drop is designed to give you the tools and insights you need to reach the next level. Together we'll accelerate the path to growth, success, and most importantly, impact Act.

ImpactEleven Sponsor:

The best keynotes start movements and incite change. And when you couple an electrifying speech with a project that fuels audience engagement, the result is lightning in a bottle. What I'm talking about here is a book that's where our friends at Amplify Publishing Group come in With 20 plus years of experience and hounded by some of the industry's most renowned veterans, including bestselling author and global superstar, Mel Robbins, the team at Amplify knows not only how to produce a fantastic book, but how to leverage that book and make it work for you, your brand and your business. And Amplify not only knows books, they know the world of keynote speaking and thought leadership. Having published CEOs and executives, they take positioning into consideration at every step of the way. Whether you have a one line concept or a comprehensive outline, amplify is ready to work with you. Visit amplifypublishing.com/micdrop to schedule an exploratory call and receive an exclusive editorial, one pager tailored to your concept. That's amplifypublishing.com/micdrop.

Josh Linkner:

Today on Mic drop, we have Gabby Natalia, an Emmy award-winning journalist, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker joining us to share her remarkable story of overcoming adversity, finding her voice, and pioneering her own path. In the world of media and professional speaking, Gabby brings a fresh and inspiring perspective on the power of authenticity, the courage to break out of conventional molds and why embracing discomfort is a necessary step for growth. In this episode, she delves into her personal journey of immigrating from Argentina, building a career against all odds, and redefining what it means to be a pioneer in both business and life. Along the way, she discusses the key elements of her virtuous circle framework, the balance between perseverance and self-belief, and how leaders and speakers can unlock their hidden genius by discovering their uniqueness. Get to be inspired by Gabby's wisdom and contagious energy as she challenges us to reject conformity, embrace our full selves, and become a proper pioneer. Gabby, welcome to Mic Drop.

Gaby Natale:

Hi, Josh. Hi, everyone. How are you? Doing

Josh Linkner:

Well. I'm doing great, and I'm doing better because I get to spend some time with you. I have so much admiration for your, your work and you as a human being. Before we get into your amazing body of work and your speaking practice, uh, maybe give us a little sense of your background because it's so impressive. You know, three Emmys, 52 million views on YouTube, uh, ranked as one of the, uh, people, magazine's most powerful, uh, Latinas, 250,000 social media followers. Give us a little bit of the backstory even before you became in the immersed in the world of professional speaking.

Gaby Natale:

Absolutely. So I'm originally, my name is Gavin Natal. I'm originally from Argentina, and, um, when I, I have always the worst timing. Josh, when I graduated with a master's degree in journalism in Argentina, graduated in the year 2001, which was the worst crisis in the last a hundred years. So I graduated eager to take over the world, but the world had a very different plan for me. Uh, so the unemployment rate was 20%, uh, riots in the streets, a lot of instability. We had five presidents in 10 days, so not the best environment to look for your first job, especially in media, which is so competitive. I spent like two years unemployed, and one day a friend called me and told me, you know, I need somebody to help me pro bono move chairs, um, waved at people in a international conference. And I did it because she was my friend in all, in all honesty.

And because my mom said, you never know, an opportunity will knock on your door. My mother is some kind of, I don't know, witch, because that day the translator canceled, and I was assigned to a delegation of professors from George Washington University, and after a while he said like, how come you're a bilingual? How come you also speak a little bit of German? At the time, I spoke German as well, uh, and I said, where are you? They said, where are you working? I'm unemployed. You know, in America it's very hard for the, for them to comprehend how come you have all these qualifications, but you don't have a job? So we started doing something that is now called telework. I have no, no word for that at the time. And when they landed a client that was a big client, uh, in Latin America, in the Hispanic community, guess who was first in line to come and get the job, uh, in Washington dc That was me.

I started working in public relations. We won a, um, campaign in Mexico. I moved to Mexico for one year, started covering the border between the United States and Mexico. And then when my work was seen, I'm doing it very long, but a lot of things happen. Josh , when my work was seen by TV networks here, I got, I got offered a job as an anchor reporter, and I felt like I had to conform, uh, somebody working on camera. And that was the seed for me to become a speaker. I felt I had to conform to either different stereotypes, and when my green card was approved, I said, this is the opportunity for me to start my own company, create content that will represent, um, people and my community with the dignity and respect that I feel we deserve. And, uh, we started out of a carpet warehouse in West Texas.

It was first local, then regional, eventually national, and then we won three daytime mes back to back beating the CNNs and the NBCs Telemundo of this world as a David against Goliath kind of thing. Um, and it all, and it all I think happened because I recalibrated my own belief system. We, we were talking about believing is seeing or seeing is believing. Very recently, uh, you, you and I, uh, talked about it and it's was because I changed how I perceive myself and the world that the trajectory of my life changed. I became the first Latina published by the leadership division of Harper Collins. And then my, my opportunities expanded, including becoming a professional speaker.

Josh Linkner:

I mean, it's an amazing story in a relatively short amount of time. You know, you mentioned there was a high unemployment. You, you were looking for something to do. You, you had this opportunity, but you were ready to seize it thanks to the, the good work and, and the guidance of your mom here. But, um, you know, take me through this period though. You, you, you, you achieved success, but they wanted you to conform, and then you made a choice. You could have stayed. I mean, that was the safe route. How did you garner the courage to, to make the leap when, when you were asked to conform, you could have stayed, but you chose a, a a different path. What was that like for you?

Gaby Natale:

I always say that discomfort is our, our wake up call to pioneer. And that's a big part of what I talk about, the emulator mindset versus the pioneer spirit. Because I think being a pioneer comes from the spirit. It's not something that is rational, because sometimes we think like we are crazy to do the things that we're doing, but it's coming from a higher place, it's coming from the spirit. So for me, being an emulator man com conforming, conforming to either being the sexy reporter, the one who is usually assigned to entertainment or weather, or, uh, conforming to being the formal news anchor who has to trade, uh, spontaneity for credibility. And I am a multi-layered person. There's a lot of things about me, and I never understood why it was wrong to show who you truly were when you were working, uh, in, in, in that field of, of news.

And, and this was like 15, 20 years ago. So things have changed, you know, now we see more multidimensional people on camera. But at the time, you know, it was very clear that I had to, uh, find a way to conform, and I knew that I could do it, but in the process, Josh, I will have to erase the parts of my personality that make me, me. And I don't wanna wanna, I don't wanna be a wannabe, I wanna be me. I like who I am. I happen to like who I am. So, so that's when I, I started thinking about the emulator. Who is the one that is looking around and seeing what everyone else is doing, and just copy, copy, copy. And then the pioneer spirit, which starts in the same way. You start to look around, see what everyone else is doing if you want to, but only you, allow yourself the possibility. Give yourself permission, the po uh, give yourself the permission to do something no one else around you is doing. And believing in the results even before you have, uh, believing in the vision, even before you have the results to validate that vision. Uh, and, and that's what I think about when I talk about being a pioneer, breaking those barriers.

Josh Linkner:

I love that. And I'm so, um, incredibly impressed by and really moved by your, your courage and your willingness to, to pave your own path. You, you mentioned the word pioneer. I know you speak about that a lot. I love that word. It's very appealing to me, and I think I know what it means from my perspective, but, but share what it means to you. When you think about someone being a pioneer and you help leaders become pioneers, uh, give us a definition. What does that really mean when you, when you peel it back,

Gaby Natale:

It's coming from a place of truth. It's coming from embracing your uniqueness and using it to your advantage. It'll happen for individuals or for companies. You have, there's nothing that is going to be more powerful than creating and communicating from a place of truth. Uh, I always say that there's only one language, and that language is not English, but is the language of energy. It's going to resonate or not based on your intention. Um, and though, and so I find so many people who go to meetings and go through life, and they feel like their individuality is met by a sea of sickness. And when that happens over and over, you mistakenly assume that your own flavor of uniqueness makes you, um, inadequate. Uh, and so you start to emulate. But when you realize that your uniqueness, um, is, is your gift, and you share it with the world, you go from underestimated to unstoppable.

And, and that's what I've seen. You know, I've interviewed, uh, super achievers and pioneers for my book, the Virtuous Circle for two decades. And as a, as somebody who talks to different people and interviews different people, you become a better professional and you become a better human being just by being exposed to those ideas. And you realize that somebody, anyone who went from A to B, they have their own struggles. They have their own journeys. And, and by realizing that, realize that many times pioneers are not extraordinary. People are, or they're ordinary people who chose to see themselves and the world in an extraordinary way. And that's, I think, the best definition that I can give you.

Josh Linkner:

I love it. I get chills down my spy when you say it. And, um, I wanna go back. You said something really powerful. It said, there's only one language. It's not English or Spanish or Portuguese. It's, it's, it's energy. And then you start talking about truth. When you think about the language of energy and the language of truth, what do you advise, uh, people in our profession, keynote speakers to do, uh, as, as they, 'cause? You're right, you first you have to learn to develop your voice. You have, you, you maybe start by emulating, which isn't necessarily a bad place to start. You have to learn the craft, but eventually you have to stand into your power. You have to speak the truth. You have to speak that language of energy. What advice do you have for someone who's trying to develop their own voice, develop their own truth?

Gaby Natale:

And I understand what you say, Josh, that it, it can be a step, the emulating, uh, the emulator or the emulating part. But here's the thing for all speakers, if we all just stop at the emulator level and we all emulate each other, no judgment, you can, there's people who have been successful, there's people who have been very happy just by emulating. But if we all emulate, our best case scenario is the status quo. And as an industry, as a group, the status quo should not be enough. We, we need to crave for more. So what I would tell other speakers is realize and become brutally honest about how you feel about your own flavor of uniqueness. If you feel proud about your own uniqueness, or if you feel there's shame tied to your own uniqueness, uh, and if you realize that there's shame, do the inner work because your your most productive dance, your most beautiful keynotes, your best IP will never come Josh, as a byproduct of telling yourself that you're undeserving of good things, it's impossible to create greatness from an efficiency mentality. And that will be my, my biggest advice for them. Do the inner work. It's gonna hurt. Sometimes it's gonna take more time, but it's the only way to open that inner door, that secret door, magical door that will allow you later to create, uh, in alignment your ideas, your actions, and your thoughts.

Josh Linkner:

I love that. Gabby, thank you so much for sharing. And you talk about doing the inner work, something I'm working on a lot, honestly, and I I'm still, still an ongoing process for us all. Um, I'm curious if you can share, you know, 'cause you seem to me very, you know, elevated al almost to a spiritual level. You know, you're really tapping into this, this deep sense of truth and and energy. You're sharing wisdom, you're a pioneer. I if, if you're able to share, what are some of the things that you've done to, to do that inner work to get to the sort of elevated state that you are today?

Gaby Natale:

There are moments in my life where I had to make a choice. Josh, for example, the first week when I arrived in the United States from Argentina, I'm gonna make a long story short, but I wanna share this story. Um, I was in line to order a sandwich, and I went to one of those sandwich stores where you can, uh, order just by picking the ingredients, no need to speak perfect language. So picked up, uh, I, I pointed at the bread, I got the bread, and then the, the lady who was preparing my sandwich, uh, opened her mouth and said a word I never heard before. And that was pepper jack cheese, . Uh, and I never heard the word pepper jack cheese. Uh, and so she started getting very annoyed because I didn't understand what she was saying. And she started screaming. And, and it was my first week, so I felt really small and humiliated over this single random word that I did not know that I left the store.

And I started crying and, and I saw some eye rolling looks. Uh, and then, you know, as I left the store, I put my hand in the, in my pocket to look for, for a Kleenex, but I found a different paper. And that was the boarding pass that I had used just a week before to come to the United States. So I remember the look in my parents' size, a different kind of look, not the eye rolling look in the store, but the look in my parents' size. That is the bittersweet look that only parents can, uh, make, which is, um, I am happy to see you. I'm sad, I am sad to see you go, but I'm happy to see you grow. There goes, my daughter, she's a young lady with a bright future. That was my parents' look. And it was only one week that separated those two looks, the eye running look in the store.

And my parents looked the proud look. And I realized I had to make a decision about the most important look of all, which was my own. And that was, you know, when you're talking about a spiritual or a moment of decision, that was a moment where I had to choose who was I, the, the one that leaves crying because somebody looks down at her or was at this young lady with a bright future that my parents saw. And I made the decision that week that I was going to be the young lady with a bright future, even if nobody else around me could see it at the time. Um, so those are the moments when life puts you in some kind of challenges or tests, and you have to rise up to that challenge and figure out who you wanna be, how you wanna show up in the world. And, and it has to be a deliberate decision. It's not gonna happen by accident. It's, it's knowing that you have to be consistent between your beliefs and your actions.

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Josh Linkner:

I love this. And just out of curiosity, now, do you often eat sandwiches with pepper jack cheese and sort of laugh to yourself at this moment and say, I love my pepper jack cheese,

Gaby Natale:

I love pepper jack cheese . I joke like, now I know what cheese is, and now I know what Pepper is, but who the hell is Jack? Still trying to figure that out. . .

Josh Linkner:

Amazing. Amazing. Well, I'd love to switch topics a little bit to your book, the Virtuous Circle bestselling book, um, restore Your Confidence, bounce Back and Emerge Stronger. Give us a little sense of what that book is all about and what it meant to you as you were writing it.

Gaby Natale:

This was a very interesting experience because after interviewing pioneers and super achievers for almost 20 years, one, they asked myself, what do they all have in common? So they have different nationalities, they have different occupations, but what they had in common was that they, they race to the top of their profession, um, and say, can I identify what they have in common? And I said, yes, I note that there's some invisible thread that unite all of them. And then the second question that I ask myself is, um, can I systemize this in a step-by-step system that anyone can replicate, you know, if, if they follow it? And, and that's how the B Circle started, and it has seven archetypes. They go from the dreamer and to each archetype there's an action, but they go from the dreamer all the way to the leader, and in the middle you have the architect that is the, the one that allows us to plan, and the maker, the one that allows us to execute the apprentice, the one that allows us to perfect our craft, the warrior, the one that allows us to persevere and so on.

And those I believe I saw in all of them. But then when I looked inside myself and I talked to people, it's like we all have those archetypes in us. Sometimes they are dormant, sometimes they're active. Uh, and the Vir circle also can be not just a step by step guide, but also a tool for self-assessment. For example, for me, I know that my warrior, you know, I'm, I'm very good at persevering, but some people don't realize when they meet me, but my dreamer is not so strong, Josh, uh, many times I disconnect from seeing the world from a place of possibilities, but now I know it and I have the tool when I have too many weeks or too many days when I'm having an inner dialogue that is not positive, then I'm saying I'm disconnecting myself from that place of possibilities of the dreamer. Maybe I have to, you know, reinforce that inner dreamer, but I have the tools.

Josh Linkner:

I love it because it's, it's so practical and it breaks these seven, uh, archetypes down. And you're right, we all have elements of each of those, but it's about sort of nurturing and activating those elements, not just letting them, uh, uh, just, just run free. Which one of those have you developed the most since writing the book in yourself?

Gaby Natale:

I think I realized which ones are the strongest for me, and which ones are the ones that I have to work on the most. Some, some of them come natural to me. Um, the warrior, as I said, I'm very good at persevering and you know, I'm, I'm not gonna give up on something very easily. Uh, the Apprentice, you've been in masterclass and bootcamp with me, I'm always in the first row putting my hand up and asking questions. So I, I have enthusiasm to learn, an enthusiasm to perfect my craft. So those come natural to me. Um, the dreamer, as I said, sometimes I disconnect with my inner dreamer and let me see, um, some people tell me, you know what Josh, some people tell me they realize that they are really good in the first ones, which is the, the, the dreamer and the architect, the ones for visualizing and planning, but they are terrible at executing. They are the ones that are, have a, a lot of folders and notepads filled with ideas, but they never get to execute. That is something that comes up a lot when people read my book. Like, I realize that I have to execute. For me, it's, I realize that I have to connect myself more with a inner dreamer and, and let enthusiasm take over, uh, any fear that I may have at the, at, at a certain moment or time.

Josh Linkner:

Well, speaking of executing, uh, and dreaming, you, you, you built this company, you then enter the world of professional speaking, and, uh, you've really, you've really brought this vision to life. You speak, of course, not only all over the world, but I know the United States is your primary market. You're doing a lot of public speaking. What was, um, the most inspiring thing to you entering the world of speaking now that you've, you've, you've been at it for a while, and also what's the most surprising? So now that, again, you've, you've gotten some, some experience as a professional speaker, what's the most inspiring part and what's the most surprising part?

Gaby Natale:

The most inspiring? The things that humble me the most is when I realize that in these organizations, incredible organizations, some of the most, 'cause I've spoken for p and g, Microsoft, Google, JP Morgan Chase, century 21, Este Lauder, big global companies that have very high standards. When I realized that in these companies, there are so many pioneers that I hiding, you know, I call them the hidden geniuses. So many people who are in meetings and they're brilliant and they are overqualified, and they, they work so hard and they have consistency and talent, but they're not sharing their full selves or they're entering meetings feeling they are inadequate for different reasons. And, and it's not just them not fulfilling their full potential, but it's their companies not being able to benefit from all these ideas, all these projects. And then I get the private message, like, I am one of your pioneers, , I did today.

I went to this meeting, and today I'm breaking this barrier, and it's almost daily, Josh, that I get a message or a few message of messages of people that says like, thank you, this thing you said, make it a difference for me. And I realized that I have to start this work as well. And I think there's nothing compares to, to that feeling of knowing that what you shared, you know, and sometimes we share things that are embarrassing and vulnerable and messy, but at the same time are parts of our story that those things, those ideas, those experiences that we've shared are impacting them in a, in a positive way. And then the second part of the question, I forgot Josh . So

Josh Linkner:

That was, you know, most inspiring. And then, and then the other one's most surprising to you. Maybe it's about the business itself or what, what was, what's different now that you've been at it for a while than what you expected coming in?

Gaby Natale:

You know what, I think it's that audiences and people, they are routine for you. You know, when I started doing this journey, uh, I started going to different stages and I was like, in my mind, I was thinking like, if this is a test, this is a test. I need to be perfect. This is a test. And of course, you have to take care of your craft and you have to improve, but your best delivery is going to come from a place of enjoyment, is going to come from a place of curiosity, is going to come from a place of enthusiasm. So something that was, um, surprising for me, because I always had this mentality of, you know, it has to be perfect, was that the, the deliveries, the ideas, the projects that ended up being the best ones and the best partnerships came from a place of enthusiasm and enjoyment versus from a place of, you know, torturing myself into doing it more and more and more until it becomes quote unquote perfect.

Josh Linkner:

Well, it's funny you talked earlier about step, you know, the, the language of energy and when you step into that positive energy as opposed to trying to be perfect is when you're, you do your best work. You know, I I wanna ask you a question back to the notion of being a pioneer. 'cause I I just love that phrase, and you, you, you are living example of it. What do you say to a thought leader or a speaker that wants to step into that pioneer vibe? They, maybe they're, they're just getting started, they wanna be a pioneer. Um, but, but maybe they're struggling a little bit. You mentioned, you know, fear, anxiety, self-doubt. What, what advice do you give to someone who really wants to bring their their pioneer forward?

Gaby Natale:

First, it's a process. You don't need to get it perfect or right the first time. And, and as we said, Perce perfection is not, is not the, uh, the, um, end goal. Um, second look for help. It took me a long time for me to invest in myself, to look for help. I thought I knew a lot about the speaking world because I was professionally trained as a journalist. And when I pulled my first demo reel, uh, and then I started getting myself into the speaking world, and I, and I, uh, hired coaches and I did all the work that you, that you have to do if you wanna accelerate this journey. Uh, my first coach told me like, this speaker reel is horrible. I thought it was amazing, , but this speaker reel is horrible. And the reason why it was horrible is because I was coming from media and television.

So that speaker reel was all about being a TV talent. It was all focused on me and my work as a TV talent. I thought that if they saw that I could deliver, I have a good delivery and I have a good presence, um, you know, that would be great differentiator. But what I realized is that when you come from television, that's a system based on stardom, our system, our space in the speaking world, and thought leadership world is a system that is all around service. How can you, what's in need for me? Ask whoever is hiring you and what is the problem that you are helping me solve? But had I not hired, um, coaches or look for help or look for other people's opinion, I would've spent a long time with that horrible , with that horrible reel that I thought was great. And also, you know, you have to put your ego to the side, and you have to be willing to take feedback because this is a, this is a work where nobody has all the right answers, and you have to be willing to listen to other people's feedback.

Josh Linkner:

Excellent advice. When I think about the word pioneer, I think about someone who is, uh, all the things you talked about, brave and, and perseverance, but also someone who's, you know, kind of pioneering something new, you know, walking into an area that hasn't really been done before. So as, as we think about you and, and where you are now in, in your speaking career, what are you hoping to pioneer next? Like, what impact are you looking to create?

Gaby Natale:

One of my goals is that it doesn't have to be as hard for others that are coming. So for me, for example, one of the things that I had to fight even for was to be the narrator of my own audiobook. So, because they never had somebody who sounded like me, so, and I never take it as, you know, a personal insult or anything like that. But most, you know, most authors don't have to go to the room to fight, to narrate their own audiobook. Uh, it's just when you are the first and they never had anyone like you, sometimes you have to advocate for yourself a little bit harder, and I did that. Um, so what I, what I envision is one, for others, you know, to have it a little bit easier, um, as we break barriers. The second thing for me that is really interesting is technology.

Um, the, the fact that we are entering an age, uh, and the stage where technology is going to allow us to do so much more with less, which is going to be an equalizer. And for speakers that are entering the field or have very limited budgets, if they become, you know, smart about how to use those new tools and new technologies that can, you know, accelerate their own journey, they still have to put in the reps. They still have to do a good job in, in the platform, but they are going to be able to, uh, leapfrog, uh, to, to go to new, uh, stages in their business, uh, in terms of outreach, in terms of content, in terms of outbound, in terms of so many things, if they know how to use, uh, these tools.

Josh Linkner:

Well, that's, it's an exciting time for us all in this industry. And I totally agree. I mean, we're at this pivotal moment and we can take our messages and share them in new ways and reach new audiences. So it's a very exciting time. Um, Gabby, thank you. I mean, thank you for the inspiration. Thank you for sharing the archetypes and helping us create a, a, a this virtuous cycle circle. And, uh, you know, I just love this notion, you know, there's, there's the dreamer, the executor, and for me, when I look at you, it all cascades up into that word pioneer. So thank you for being a pioneer, and thank you for joining me on Mic Drop.

Gaby Natale:

Thank you so much, Josh. Love being here in your podcast. And please remember, every time we choose to pioneer, we move the world forward.

Josh Linkner:

Today's episode was a masterclass in courage, self-belief, and what it truly means to be a pioneer. What I love most about our conversation with Gabby was her idea that we all have a pioneer spirit within us standing in our power and moving past conformity. Gabby's story from Facing Uncertainty as a new immigrant to becoming a three-time Emmy winner is a vivid reminder that success is about more than just talent. It's about persistence, willingness to embrace discomfort, and reprogramming our internal dialogue to see possibilities instead of roadblocks. Her virtuous circle framework provides a roadmap for leaders, creators, and speakers to win at the highest levels and create lasting impact. I was particularly struck by Gabby's view that leaders often have hidden pioneers within their teams, talented people who might feel inadequate or don't see their uniqueness as a gift. And I happen to agree with her.

It's a wake up call to every leader. How can we enable the pioneers around us to truly thrive? If there's one takeaway from our conversation with Gabby, it's to ask ourselves, where am I playing small? And where have I settled for being an emulator when I should be a pioneer? Thanks again, Gabby, for sharing your journey and offering us actionable tools to become bold trailblazers. As always, my friends, keep creating, keep exploring, and keep finding your way forward. Until next time, my fellow pioneers, thanks so much for joining me on another episode of Mic Drop. Don't forget to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. If you love the show, please share it with your friends, and don't forget to give us a five star review. For show transcripts and show notes, visit mic drop podcast.com. I'm your host, Josh Linkner. Thanks so much for listening, and here's to your next mic drop moment.