Diana Grace
Diana Grace tells us that, “I am a sales confidence coach for neurospicy female entrepreneurs. I’ve worked in sales for 6 years, with SoMe for 6-7 years, & been in healthcare and service for about 3-4 years. Have a BSc in Marketing Management, and have had my coaching business for 2 years.
I have helped women from 8+ different countries within sales and confidence.
And I am incredibly passionate about helping neurospicy women become unflinchingly confident in & out of business, so that they can finally take up so much more space, unfilter their voice, stand out, and have sales become like second nature.”
What were your initial years of growing up like? Tell us about your life before starting your corporate journey/venture/initiative.
I was born in the Philippines, and we lived my first 4 years there. I have a Filipino mother and a Norwegian father.
Growing up we never had a lot of money. There was debt, scarcity and continuous frustration around money. I was very aware of how tight money was from a very young age, so I almost never asked for things that cost money. And when I did, I felt bad. I remember one time I asked if we could buy the school yearbook, which was about $19. It was my last year in that particular school, with a class that I was so tightly knit with. It meant a lot to me, to buy that yearbook, for the pictures. When I asked my father’s wife (she managed the finances), I could see on all of her that she was skeptical, because money was so tight. But she said yes. And then I felt bad. I learned then, that it was not only very hard to ask for money – and things – it was also very hard to receive. Now as an adult I completely get her, if money’s tight, money’s tight. She didn’t really do anything wrong. But still, these beliefs became ingrained in me. And I’ve had them with me for almost my whole life, also in business. In business that translated to me feeling bad about asking for the sale, having drama around the pricing of my offers, and having trouble with receiving (clients, money). When I was younger I also had some thoughts about wanting to be a leader in some sort of way. I was often the leader in groups. Not because I was confident, because I sure was not, but because I always wanted things to be efficient and that often meant for me to step up. But I thought that that meant that I had to climb the corporate ladder, and I had trouble seeing that happen for me. I definitely didn’t think I had it in me to be an entrepreneur. Growing up I was one of the least confident people that I knew, I was super shy, struggled making friends, rarely spoke up – I didn’t even have my own opinions almost – I was neurotic and afraid of most things, never took risks, and I just cared about being a good girl – a good daughter, sister, friend, classmate, employee.
Thankfully I have always been into personal development and psychology, so a few years ago I went
all in on building my confidence, stop being so neurotic, letting go of the “good girl identity” and take up so much more space. I finally opened up to the possibility of being an entrepreneur.
Every industry that is now a large-scale, top-notch business once started as a small idea in the minds of entrepreneurs. What was that idea or motivation that made you start your business /initiative? What motivated you within to say YES, go for it!”
I’ve always been into sharing. Sharing food, things, knowledge. I’ve also had incredibly many interests and hobbies throughout the years, and when I became really passionate about something and learned a lot about it, I wanted to share it with the world. So ever since I was a teen I’ve had several different blogs, different niches on Instagram, and I even had a YouTube channel where I posted weekly for one whole year about Korean skincare and became an ambassador for the brand Klairs Norway.
Although I loved just the aspect of sharing knowledge and being creative with it, I always had a hope of “making it”. For some years I did want to be famous, and I wanted to have more money. But it always flopped, mostly because I didn’t have the tenacity to keep going or I got a new interest. I had a pause from these kinds of things for a couple of years. Until one day, shortly after I moved to another city in Norway just after Covid-19 fully broke out here and I felt somewhat lonely, I decided to start posting about mental health on Instagram. Not at all to make money, only to help.
There was this one post that really took off, because two Norwegian celebrities shared it in their stories. And I got over 500 new followers in 2 days. Then another influencer recommended my account to her followers, and I quickly gained hundreds of followers after that as well. That sparked my motivation to keep going. But still I didn’t think of starting a business. Until I read a post of an online course creator, where she was assembling founders for her new program, teaching coaches how to make an online course. At that point I didn’t see myself as a coach, but I really felt that she was speaking to me in that post, and so I was intrigued enough to message her. And the rest is history.
Tell us something about your initiative or current role. What is it about, and what impact are you trying to make?
I am a coach and also the CEO of my own business. I help neurospicy female entrepreneurs become unflinchingly confident in & out of business, so that sales become second nature.
I want to help them not only to get more sales so that they can also create more impact, but also so that:
- they can finally have the freedom that they’ve craved for such a long time, have more control of their working environment for less distraction and overstimulation, and do work that feels super meaningful and creative to them.
- they can for once be bold and take up so much more space both IRL and online, unfilter their voice, state their opinions, and create a life that truly suits them as neurodivergence. And with that inspire other neurospicy people, and make an important wave in the society where neurospicy people are more heard and respected instead of looked down on or not being taken seriously.
Your journey and your vision are very inspiring, but are there any achievements or accomplishments you would like to mention?
I am very proud of all my clients, but I’d like to especially bring forward the client that finally managed to set a boundary with her in-law after being very dysregulated just being in the same room as her, the client who spoke up and claimed what was in her right from her boss after being terrified for weeks, the client who was ready to end a launch early without any sales and then after 1 session of mindset work she signed 2 clients, and the client who felt stuck and thought she wouldn’t be able to move until after 12 years and then after building her self-trust she got her dream apartment after 6 weeks.
Would you like to share with our young budding women entrepreneurs the change you would like to see in the world if given an opportunity?
I would love to see a wave of neurospicy female entrepreneurs claim their power and take up so much space in the world. Where they no longer make themselves small and try to mold into someone they’re not, but instead confidently drop the mask, drop the rules, drop the filter. And they instead focus on creating the impact that I know they’re so competent to do.
Women are a growing force in the workplaces worldwide, standing shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. There are cracks in glass ceilings everywhere, with many women breaking through to carve out a space right at the top of the pyramid. What are your thoughts about women leadership today?
I love how far we’ve come. I love seeing women leadership everywhere, and especially in social media. We have so much to offer. I think that just by more women coming into leadership, there are more thriving teams out there. Because women are so often a lot better at fully SEEING others, creating amazing work environments, and making sure that the employees’ mental health is taken care of. We need to continue this trend for more equal rights and roles, a healthier work environment, and so that more important voices are heard.
What would you want to say to our young women leaders/audience reading this?
If you feel the nudge to create an impact in some way, or just help or inspire others, go for it. Although I worked up my confidence and reduced my neuroticism over years, which made me better equipped for entrepreneurship, that doesn’t mean that if you’re not yet there you can’t start. I am not the same person I was 2 years ago when I started. The level of growth that I’ve had, I almost can’t even fathom. Entrepreneurship makes you grow more than anything else. You’re not supposed to have it all figured out from the get-go, just learn as you go. My biggest advice is to invest in a coach from the very beginning, but make sure to invest from an empowered place instead of a “save me-energy”. And preferably someone who values ethics and empowerment, instead of pretending that she has all the answers and just simply tells you everything you need to do, removing your autonomy and confidence. Investing in a coach from the beginning is what helped me not only sign my first client, it also relieved me of so much overwhelm considering I had very little entrepreneurial experience to start with, and because I had some skin in the game it made me that much more determined on reaching my goals.