IAM1282 – CEO Makes a Huge Impact in Ocean Preservation and in Cosmetics
Podcast Interview with Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Emily Alexandra Guglielmo is known globally as The American Mermaid. She travels all over the globe performing mermaid shows and promoting water safety and ocean conservation. She Founded her non-profit SupportingWater.org in 2018. In 2019 she created her company Emily Alexandra, Corp. aka Emily Alexandra Cosmetics where she creates mermaid and ocean-inspired makeup that is vegan, cruelty-free, ocean-safe, and water-resistant! A portion of every purchase goes back into SupportingWater.org.
- CEO Story: Born and raised in Florida, a natural diver. Scared of the mermaid show when she was young, but ended up being hired as a professional mermaid. Doing shows and underwater modeling for clothing lines which led her to the idea of making a make-up line that is safe for your skin and safe for the oceans. Launched in January 2019 together with the non-profit organization that she founded.
- Business Service: Emily partnered with Water is Live org which helped her a lot with her work in Africa. Her cosmetic line is produced in Asia, and which portion of her sales goes to her non-profit org.
- Secret Sauce: Her products are all-natural, cruelty-free, ocean-friendly, and water-resistant.
- CEO Hack: Good sleep. Balance all aspects of life, so that you can feel more rewarded, at peace, and creative. Delegate tasks to other people.
- CEO Nugget: Be vulnerable, ask for help. Be honest, reach out to people who are in the industry, and ask for advice.
- CEO Defined: Having the power over your life, decisions, who and where you wanna work and go. Gave her a lot of confidence.
Website: emilyalexandraguglielmo.com
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Transcription
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00:14 – Intro
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.
00:41 – Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Emily Alexandra Guglielmo of Emily Alexandria Cosmetics. Emily, super excited to have you on the show.
00:53 – Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much, Brefam.
00:56 – Gresham Harkless
Yay. Yes, super excited to have you on and all the awesome things that you're doing. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Emily so you can hear about some of those awesome things. And Emily is known globally as the American mermaid. She travels all over the globe performing mermaid shows and promoting water safety and ocean conservation.
She founded her nonprofit, supportingwater.org in 2018. And in 2019, she created her company, Emily Alexandra Corp, AKA Emily Alexandra Cosmetics, where she creates mermaid and ocean-inspired makeup that is vegan, cruelty-free, ocean-safe, and water-resistant. And a portion of every purchase goes back into supportingwater.org. Emily, appreciate you for doing all the awesome work. Of course, having a phenomenal cause. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
[restrict paid=”true”]
01:41 – Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
I am so excited. Yeah, that is awesome. You said it perfectly. It's amazing to hear like you saying it to me, like what I've done and what I'm doing. And it's really exciting to hear because we're doing so much behind the scenes.
01:55 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's why it's always so important to get that opportunity to kind of talk a little bit about it. Sometimes we're go, go, go, that we never get to stop to smell the roses as much as possible. So I love that you took some time out so we could take a little trip down memory lane too.
02:09 – Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Exactly.
02:11 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit here a little bit more on how you guys started, what I like to call your CEO story.
02:18 – Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Yeah, okay. So let me first jump back, growing up as a child, because I'm a born and raised, I a born and raised Floridan, I was born and raised in Tampa, I'm a Tampa native, but being born and raised in Florida, we would go to the beach every weekend. And we would, you know, catch scallops with our toes, we find sand dollars and go down and pick them up. And so naturally, I've always been like a free diver, a natural mermaid. But it's funny because I had no idea that I would become a professional mermaid in hindsight because when I was like 2345 years old, my parents would take me to Wicky Wachie, which if you guys aren't from Florida, that's very iconic to Florida where people can watch a mermaid show. It's world known.
And I used to be scared of the mermaids. Like my parents would have me sit on their lap and I was terrified of them. And it's funny because lo and behold, I became an actual professional mermaid. Fast forward the clock to 22 years old. I found a mermaid tail company online that you could actually make your own mermaid tail to fit just you. So I bought a mermaid tail finally came in the mail. And I'm telling you like when I this was over 10 this was like 10 years ago. So at the time there was no phone call on the website and it took a while to get to me so I started thinking this was a scam long story short it was not a scam the company is called Mer Taylor and the the mermaid tail is full silicone so it actually feels like a dolphin and it looks legit.
It looks like a real-life where we tell so when I do kids' parties when they're young like 2, 3, 4, 5, They actually truly believe that I'm a real mermaid. It's incredible. You know how they believe in Santa. So they really believe that I'm an actual real mermaid. It's incredible. So, you know, doing a lot of underwater mermaid shows, as well as underwater models for different clothing companies, etc. Like I wanted to, that's where the idea came to fruition. I wanted to create a makeup line that not only was safe for your skin, but it's also clean and safe for the oceans. So all of the ingredients are coral reef safe.
And we also have coral reef-safe SPF inside the makeup. So you can literally like to wear your makeup at the beach in the sun. And you feel good knowing that No.1, you have SPF on your lips and on your foundation. So you can look good and still protect your skin and it'll stay on too because it dries matte so it's water resistant. I don't like to say waterproof because nothing is fully waterproof, right? But it is, it's very water resistant and it'll stay on for hours and hours. So that is where the idea came to create Emily Alexandra Cosmetics, which I launched back at the very end of 2018, virtually January 2019. At that same time, I started a nonprofit. And the nonprofit, I connected it to the cosmetic company. So for every purchase from the cosmetic company, a portion of that purchase goes back into the nonprofit, which is called supportingwater.org.
For me, this is a passion project because it's where I find and raise money to bring drinking water to emerging nations in new and innovative ways. Ever since I was a little girl, I would get stuck on, do you remember when they would have the infomercials and you would see for 10 cents a day, you can help kids in Indonesia with no food, no water? Well, I remember those really hit home with me and it just always stuck with me. I feel that it should be, you know, it should be an absolute human right for everyone on this earth to have clean drinking water. So for me, this runs deep. And when I actually launched it at the same time that I launched the cosmetic company, I did it to where a portion of every purchase goes back into the nonprofit.
So, it is very exciting. We actually just got back about 3 weeks ago from Africa. We went to Kenya. It was our very first international mission. It's our second mission, but our first international mission, because actually, the first mission was in Puerto Rico a couple of years ago, in Puerto Rico, we put in a water filtration system that is soldered by the sun. So it needs no plumbing and no pipes, no plumbing. It's incredible. But when we went to Kenya, what we did was we handed out individual drinking straws, which I have right here.
These are so, so cool because they're portable, they're individual and they're compact. As you can see it looks like a straw, right? And this straw can literally filter 99.9% of all bacteria, including E. Coli, you name it. A lot of the places in Kenya, Africa, they have water. So water isn't the issue. They have water, but they don't have access to filter the water to make it drinkable. So a lot of times the Kenyans and other countries, they'll just drink the water because it looks like it's water. They don't know that it's not filtered.
07:53 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I know you touched a little bit upon, you know, how you're working, you know, and serving and how you're making an impact with your nonprofit and your business. Could you take us through a little bit more about both of those so that we can see also how you're serving the clients that you're working with?
08:07 – Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
So when I started the nonprofit, for me, because I didn't have much knowledge in starting a business, starting a nonprofit, creating a brand, I mean, gosh, I walked into this with knowing nothing. So it was very interesting, a lot of trial and error. I've made a lot of mistakes and I've had to go back and restart them. Very, very painful financially. It is its learning curve. At the very beginning, when I started the nonprofit, I started looking into other like-minded nonprofits that were doing the same mission that I wanted to do. And I found a nonprofit called Water is Life. They're worldwide. They've been around for 15 years. They're really well established.
And they're doing exactly what I wanted to do when it came to missions. So I reached out to them. And The owner, Ken, is incredible, so sweet. He's a true believer in me and we just, we really hit it off. So I partnered up with them, which has allowed me as a nonprofit that's just beginning to kind of piggyback off them, honestly. And if it was not for them, I would not have been able to get to Africa because there's a lot of logistics on the ground. Once you hit the ground, there's a lot of logistics and you have to know people so you don't get taken advantage of or even kidnapped.
I say that in all honest respects, but do need to know people on the grounds and logistically plan it correctly. And I, I, here I am a girl from Florida, just trying to create this nonprofit and there's a lot more involved. So I would not be where I am today if I did not partner up with Waters Life, which is another nonprofit. Now, when it comes to the cosmetics, that's a whole nother story. Like I said, I didn't realize it is tough to create a brand, not only a brand, but a business. So a lot of endless nights doing R&D research and development online, reaching out to people, emails. I would literally be up until 4 a.m. Talking to the manufacturers and factories in Asia. Because right now that's where we produce our products is in Asia. And then they get sent over here. So the time difference is like 12 hours.
10:33 – Gresham Harkless
Absolutely. So what would you consider to be what I like to call your secret sauce? This could be for yourself personally, the business, the organization, or a combination of both. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?
10:44 – Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
My whole cosmetic line is all-natural, vegan, cruelty-free, and ocean-friendly because we have SPF. We have ocean-friendly SPF in the products. So even the eyeshadow, the lipstick, foundation, it all has ocean-safe SPF in it. And I'm telling you, I know I'm biased because it's my brand, but it's really good stuff. Nice. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit and
11:08 – Gresham Harkless
I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And you might have already touched on this, but this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
11:22 – Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Ooh, I love it. Okay, very, very good question. I noticed that, through trial and error, I thrive when I have really good sleep, And I also thrive when I balance things in my life. I noticed at the very beginning when I would just work, work, work, work, work, I got so drained and it was not good to balance. I wasn't balancing, you know, prayer, meditation. I wasn't balancing working out. I wasn't balancing my relationships with my family. So it is super crucial and paramount for me to balance all aspects of my life.
And when I do that, I feel way more rewarded. I feel more at peace. And mentally, I can be more creative. I don't know about a lot of your listeners, but I'm the type where it's like, I must have 8 hours of sleep a day, I started to delegate tasks to other people because I realized, okay, Emily, I can't do everything. There's not enough time in the world for me to do everything. It's not realistic.
12:32 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. And to be able to always say, especially when you're starting to create something, you have to have an ego to sometimes think that you can create something better and do it better. But at the same time, that ego can't set you back to where you're not asking for help. You're not being vulnerable. You're holding the organization back from its true mission. So do you feel like that could be like what I like to call your CEO nugget, which is kind of a little bit more of that word of wisdom, a piece of advice might even be something you might tell your younger business self. Is it that to kind of maybe hold the ego at the door to some degree so that you are able to kind of continue to press forward?
13:06 – Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Yeah, 1000%. That would be my golden nugget because looking back in hindsight, if I would have allowed myself to not have such a big ego, you know, thinking, oh, you know, I got this, I started this company, I have my own brand, like, watch me, watch me. But, you know, bam, I get knocked down, bam, you get knocked down, bam, bam, bam. For getting knocked down, I've had to become vulnerable and say, okay, clearly I do not know what I'm doing. Clearly, I do need help.
So it could save a lot of painstaking time if we just all were more vulnerable and honest at the beginning and just asked for help. So definitely just reaching out to people that are in the industry and asking for advice. And a lot of it might be where you have to do a lot of research and find the specific people. Like I've had to do a lot of digging, digging, and finding the right person to actually ask for help because it is all in the right connection. Connect to that person and then ask for help.
14:15 – Gresham Harkless
Nice. So I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping that different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Emily, what does being a CEO mean to you?
14:25 – Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
I feel I feel very confident and powerful. I feel like it gives me confidence. It makes me feel sexy. And it does, it makes me feel like I do. I have some form of power. I have power over my life. I have power over my decisions. I have power over where I wanna work, who I wanna work with, where I wanna go. So it really allows me to, it's endless, but I've gained a lot of confidence from it. I do, I feel like, you know, when people ask me, oh, what do you do? I'm like, oh, well, you know, my own CEO. It does. I feel very honored and sexy, very proud. But with that comes a lot of work, too. So it's almost like a devil's sword. But confidence is a big one for me.
15:12 – Gresham Harkless
I truly appreciate that definition and their perspective. I, of course, appreciate your time even more. What I want to do now, is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you want to let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get an overview on about all the products you're making, the nonprofit that you have, and of course, you know, all the awesome things that you're working on.
15:32 – Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Yeah, please. If you're listening, I really want to hear from you reach out to me. You can DM me on all my pages and websites. The American mermaid, and the Florida mermaid. That's another page on Instagram and Facebook, supporting water, Emily Alexandra cosmetics. And I even have a personal page, Emily Alexandra Guglielmo. All of those are also, websites.com, except for the nonprofits, supportingwater.org.
16:02 – Gresham Harkless
To make it even easier, we'll definitely have the links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can click through, and find out about all those awesome opportunities. Thank you so much for making that impact in so many different ways. And of course today, I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
16:15 – Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Gresham, thank you so much for letting me be on your show. This is such an honor.
16:20 – Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
00:14 - Intro
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.
00:41 - Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Emily Alexandra Guglielmo of Emily Alexandria Cosmetics. Emily, super excited to have you on the show.
00:53 - Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much, Brefam.
00:56 - Gresham Harkless
Yay. Yes, super excited to have you on and all the awesome things that you're doing. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Emily so you can hear about some of those awesome things. And Emily is known globally as the American mermaid. She travels all over the globe performing mermaid shows and promoting water safety and ocean conservation.
She founded her nonprofit, supportingwater.org in 2018. And in 2019, she created her company, Emily Alexandra Corp, AKA Emily Alexandra Cosmetics, where she creates mermaid and ocean-inspired makeup that is vegan, cruelty-free, ocean-safe, and water-resistant. And a portion of every purchase goes back into supportingwater.org. Emily, appreciate you for doing all the awesome work. Of course, having a phenomenal cause. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
01:41 - Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
I am so excited. Yeah, that is awesome. You said it perfectly. It's amazing to hear like you saying it to me, like what I've done and what I'm doing. And it's really exciting to hear because we're doing so much behind the scenes.
01:55 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's why it's always so important to get that opportunity to kind of talk a little bit about it. Sometimes we're go, go, go, that we never get to stop to smell the roses as much as possible. So I love that you took some time out so we could take a little trip down memory lane too.
02:09 - Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Exactly.
02:11 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit here a little bit more on how you guys started, what I like to call your CEO story.
02:18 - Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Yeah, okay. So let me first jump back, growing up as a child, because I'm a born and raised, I a born and raised Floridan, I was born and raised in Tampa, I'm a Tampa native, but being born and raised in Florida, we would go to the beach every weekend. And we would, you know, catch scallops with our toes, we find sand dollars and go down and pick them up. And so naturally, I've always been like a free diver, a natural mermaid. But it's funny because I had no idea that I would become a professional mermaid in hindsight because when I was like 2345 years old, my parents would take me to Wicky Wachie, which if you guys aren't from Florida, that's very iconic to Florida where people can watch a mermaid show. It's world known.
And I used to be scared of the mermaids. Like my parents would have me sit on their lap and I was terrified of them. And it's funny because lo and behold, I became an actual professional mermaid. Fast forward the clock to 22 years old. I found a mermaid tail company online that you could actually make your own mermaid tail to fit just you. So I bought a mermaid tail finally came in the mail. And I'm telling you like when I this was over 10 this was like 10 years ago. So at the time there was no phone call on the website and it took a while to get to me so I started thinking this was a scam long story short it was not a scam the company is called Mer Taylor and the the mermaid tail is full silicone so it actually feels like a dolphin and it looks legit.
It looks like a real-life where we tell so when I do kids' parties when they're young like 2, 3, 4, 5, They actually truly believe that I'm a real mermaid. It's incredible. You know how they believe in Santa. So they really believe that I'm an actual real mermaid. It's incredible. So, you know, doing a lot of underwater mermaid shows, as well as underwater models for different clothing companies, etc. Like I wanted to, that's where the idea came to fruition. I wanted to create a makeup line that not only was safe for your skin, but it's also clean and safe for the oceans. So all of the ingredients are coral reef safe.
And we also have coral reef-safe SPF inside the makeup. So you can literally like to wear your makeup at the beach in the sun. And you feel good knowing that No.1, you have SPF on your lips and on your foundation. So you can look good and still protect your skin and it'll stay on too because it dries matte so it's water resistant. I don't like to say waterproof because nothing is fully waterproof, right? But it is, it's very water resistant and it'll stay on for hours and hours. So that is where the idea came to create Emily Alexandra Cosmetics, which I launched back at the very end of 2018, virtually January 2019. At that same time, I started a nonprofit. And the nonprofit, I connected it to the cosmetic company. So for every purchase from the cosmetic company, a portion of that purchase goes back into the nonprofit, which is called supportingwater.org.
For me, this is a passion project because it's where I find and raise money to bring drinking water to emerging nations in new and innovative ways. Ever since I was a little girl, I would get stuck on, do you remember when they would have the infomercials and you would see for 10 cents a day, you can help kids in Indonesia with no food, no water? Well, I remember those really hit home with me and it just always stuck with me. I feel that it should be, you know, it should be an absolute human right for everyone on this earth to have clean drinking water. So for me, this runs deep. And when I actually launched it at the same time that I launched the cosmetic company, I did it to where a portion of every purchase goes back into the nonprofit.
So, it is very exciting. We actually just got back about 3 weeks ago from Africa. We went to Kenya. It was our very first international mission. It's our second mission, but our first international mission, because actually, the first mission was in Puerto Rico a couple of years ago, in Puerto Rico, we put in a water filtration system that is soldered by the sun. So it needs no plumbing and no pipes, no plumbing. It's incredible. But when we went to Kenya, what we did was we handed out individual drinking straws, which I have right here.
These are so, so cool because they're portable, they're individual and they're compact. As you can see it looks like a straw, right? And this straw can literally filter 99.9% of all bacteria, including E. Coli, you name it. A lot of the places in Kenya, Africa, they have water. So water isn't the issue. They have water, but they don't have access to filter the water to make it drinkable. So a lot of times the Kenyans and other countries, they'll just drink the water because it looks like it's water. They don't know that it's not filtered.
07:53 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I know you touched a little bit upon, you know, how you're working, you know, and serving and how you're making an impact with your nonprofit and your business. Could you take us through a little bit more about both of those so that we can see also how you're serving the clients that you're working with?
08:07 - Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
So when I started the nonprofit, for me, because I didn't have much knowledge in starting a business, starting a nonprofit, creating a brand, I mean, gosh, I walked into this with knowing nothing. So it was very interesting, a lot of trial and error. I've made a lot of mistakes and I've had to go back and restart them. Very, very painful financially. It is its learning curve. At the very beginning, when I started the nonprofit, I started looking into other like-minded nonprofits that were doing the same mission that I wanted to do. And I found a nonprofit called Water is Life. They're worldwide. They've been around for 15 years. They're really well established.
And they're doing exactly what I wanted to do when it came to missions. So I reached out to them. And The owner, Ken, is incredible, so sweet. He's a true believer in me and we just, we really hit it off. So I partnered up with them, which has allowed me as a nonprofit that's just beginning to kind of piggyback off them, honestly. And if it was not for them, I would not have been able to get to Africa because there's a lot of logistics on the ground. Once you hit the ground, there's a lot of logistics and you have to know people so you don't get taken advantage of or even kidnapped.
I say that in all honest respects, but do need to know people on the grounds and logistically plan it correctly. And I, I, here I am a girl from Florida, just trying to create this nonprofit and there's a lot more involved. So I would not be where I am today if I did not partner up with Waters Life, which is another nonprofit. Now, when it comes to the cosmetics, that's a whole nother story. Like I said, I didn't realize it is tough to create a brand, not only a brand, but a business. So a lot of endless nights doing R&D research and development online, reaching out to people, emails. I would literally be up until 4 a.m. Talking to the manufacturers and factories in Asia. Because right now that's where we produce our products is in Asia. And then they get sent over here. So the time difference is like 12 hours.
10:33 - Gresham Harkless
Absolutely. So what would you consider to be what I like to call your secret sauce? This could be for yourself personally, the business, the organization, or a combination of both. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?
10:44 - Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
My whole cosmetic line is all-natural, vegan, cruelty-free, and ocean-friendly because we have SPF. We have ocean-friendly SPF in the products. So even the eyeshadow, the lipstick, foundation, it all has ocean-safe SPF in it. And I'm telling you, I know I'm biased because it's my brand, but it's really good stuff. Nice. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit and
11:08 - Gresham Harkless
I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And you might have already touched on this, but this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
11:22 - Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Ooh, I love it. Okay, very, very good question. I noticed that, through trial and error, I thrive when I have really good sleep, And I also thrive when I balance things in my life. I noticed at the very beginning when I would just work, work, work, work, work, I got so drained and it was not good to balance. I wasn't balancing, you know, prayer, meditation. I wasn't balancing working out. I wasn't balancing my relationships with my family. So it is super crucial and paramount for me to balance all aspects of my life.
And when I do that, I feel way more rewarded. I feel more at peace. And mentally, I can be more creative. I don't know about a lot of your listeners, but I'm the type where it's like, I must have 8 hours of sleep a day, I started to delegate tasks to other people because I realized, okay, Emily, I can't do everything. There's not enough time in the world for me to do everything. It's not realistic.
12:32 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. And to be able to always say, especially when you're starting to create something, you have to have an ego to sometimes think that you can create something better and do it better. But at the same time, that ego can't set you back to where you're not asking for help. You're not being vulnerable. You're holding the organization back from its true mission. So do you feel like that could be like what I like to call your CEO nugget, which is kind of a little bit more of that word of wisdom, a piece of advice might even be something you might tell your younger business self. Is it that to kind of maybe hold the ego at the door to some degree so that you are able to kind of continue to press forward?
13:06 - Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Yeah, 1000%. That would be my golden nugget because looking back in hindsight, if I would have allowed myself to not have such a big ego, you know, thinking, oh, you know, I got this, I started this company, I have my own brand, like, watch me, watch me. But, you know, bam, I get knocked down, bam, you get knocked down, bam, bam, bam. For getting knocked down, I've had to become vulnerable and say, okay, clearly I do not know what I'm doing. Clearly, I do need help.
So it could save a lot of painstaking time if we just all were more vulnerable and honest at the beginning and just asked for help. So definitely just reaching out to people that are in the industry and asking for advice. And a lot of it might be where you have to do a lot of research and find the specific people. Like I've had to do a lot of digging, digging, and finding the right person to actually ask for help because it is all in the right connection. Connect to that person and then ask for help.
14:15 - Gresham Harkless
Nice. So I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping that different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Emily, what does being a CEO mean to you?
14:25 - Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
I feel I feel very confident and powerful. I feel like it gives me confidence. It makes me feel sexy. And it does, it makes me feel like I do. I have some form of power. I have power over my life. I have power over my decisions. I have power over where I wanna work, who I wanna work with, where I wanna go. So it really allows me to, it's endless, but I've gained a lot of confidence from it. I do, I feel like, you know, when people ask me, oh, what do you do? I'm like, oh, well, you know, my own CEO. It does. I feel very honored and sexy, very proud. But with that comes a lot of work, too. So it's almost like a devil's sword. But confidence is a big one for me.
15:12 - Gresham Harkless
I truly appreciate that definition and their perspective. I, of course, appreciate your time even more. What I want to do now, is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you want to let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get an overview on about all the products you're making, the nonprofit that you have, and of course, you know, all the awesome things that you're working on.
15:32 - Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Yeah, please. If you're listening, I really want to hear from you reach out to me. You can DM me on all my pages and websites. The American mermaid, and the Florida mermaid. That's another page on Instagram and Facebook, supporting water, Emily Alexandra cosmetics. And I even have a personal page, Emily Alexandra Guglielmo. All of those are also, websites.com, except for the nonprofits, supportingwater.org.
16:02 - Gresham Harkless
To make it even easier, we'll definitely have the links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can click through, and find out about all those awesome opportunities. Thank you so much for making that impact in so many different ways. And of course today, I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
16:15 - Emily Alexandra Guglielmo
Gresham, thank you so much for letting me be on your show. This is such an honor.
16:20 - Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
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