Meet Maria Maldonado Smith | Vision Board Expert & Chief Empowerment Officer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Maria Maldonado Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maria, what’s the end goal, career-wise?
The end goal is to change the world, one vision board at a time.

Personally, the end goal is to create a vision for my life that I can see through to fruition. To build generational wealth for my children and grandchildren. And to live a bold, audacious, fiercely sought after life that I designed to be intentional and filled with the people I love and who truly care about me.

Professionally, I am not certain that I will ever stop doing what I do because I love it so much. It is my calling, my purpose and my passion. If I had to define an end goal in terms of a number or a statistic, since I use so many of them within the presentation and facilitation of my workshops, then I’d say the end goal is to increase the number of people who write down their goals from 3% to 80+%.

Why only 80%, why not 100%, you might ask? I’m an optimist and dreamer but also a realist. You’re never going to capture everyone and I come across some incredibly skeptical people when it comes to the work I do. It is sheer joy watching people who challenge my process and way of thinking only to find themselves loving their vision board and living out the principles and process they learned during one of my sessions. Sometimes, they’re more enjoyable to work with because you can see the disbelief turn to belief over the course of the workshop.

Big picture end goal: to have written a best-selling book on the work I was called to do, to have spoken and shared my message to over 10 million people, and to have led a life that mirrors what I speak and write and talk about daily. To have coached, mentored, and given back to those who are less privileged than I and to have created opportunities for others to experience massive success in their life.

What should our readers know about your business?
My company, MMS Consulting Firm, is a People and Leadership Development Firm that uses the neuroscience of goal setting and habit formation combined with the power of vision imagery to transform leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, and creatives. My unique and proprietary process Executive Vision Imagery™ cultivates team cohesion, enhances employee engagement and retention, and creates alignment between leaders and their colleagues. It also guides individuals and entrepreneurs through the process of creating the vision for their personal life path, and their professional career trajectory.

What sets my company apart is that my firm is the only one that uses vision boarding as the primary source and link between goal and results-oriented achievements in both the personal and professional/leadership development space while continuing to coach, teach, develop, and train leaders, managers, and individual contributors how to show up for themselves and their work in the most authentic way.

I am most proud of doing the dang thing and making it happen. I’ve worked with the United States House of Representatives. administrative professionals at Disney and Paramount, pharmaceutical leaders at Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic, executive leaders at companies like Constellation Brands, Silgan Plastics, National Grid, and many more. Coming from an almost 20 year career in corporate, you become conditioned to thinking you aren’t capable of entrepreneurship. But I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit about me. Coming from an arts-based educational background that leaned more towards the creative side of learning, it helped me to prepare for the fluidity and flexibility that is so needed as an entrepreneur.

It’s hard work, that’s for sure. You’re using different skills and operating in a completely different mindset than you would, and do, in a corporate environment. There are daily challenges but they’re are also daily wins. It’s all in how you view the opportunity of becoming your own leader and ‘boss’ because that mindset will take you a long way.

The lessons I have learned along the way are, greater patience with myself and others, to trust that the way things happen for me, or don’t, is all a part of the bigger plan for my business and my life, and to appreciate the small – and big – wins and truly celebrate them.

I am going to change the world, one vision board at a time. My business and brand are not just for the corporate employee or leader. They are for everyone because we all have goals and dreams worth pursuing. I’m developing programming for school-aged children, women’s empowerment groups, hospitals and healthcare organizations, as well as the areas in which I have niched. I’ve always been an inclusive person so it’s fitting that my program would fit most any and every situation where I could be asked to engage with a group of people coming together to be better and step into their authenticity while crushing goals and achieving the success they want for their lives.

My story is one of perseverance, tenacity, resilience, and moxie. As the daughter of an immigrant who followed his passion to this country to fulfill his American dream, I understood early on, the power of creating the vision™ for the life you want to live. From three goals written down on a post-it note that hung on my mirror until I was a senior in high school to accomplishing two of those goals back-to-back in 2004 and so many more along the way – and since, I have a deep passion for the process I designed and the people I am privileged to encounter and work with.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Not being from LA makes this one difficult for me, but one of my dearest friends – and Miss America sisters – lives in the LA area and grew up there so my hat trick would be to call her up and bring her along!

She hosted my daughter and I when we were celebrating a milestone in her academic journey and we had a blast. Our favorite spot was Griffith Observatory and walking the Hollywood Hills where they used to live. Of course you have to see THE Hollywood sign and take pictures.

The studios in Culver City, the shopping on Rodeo, the delicious food, Manhattan Beach, pictures at The Pink wall…more studio tours! We love LA because it has something for everyone.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My tribe.

That would be, first and foremost, my husband of almost 20 years. We’ve been together 25 years and have grown up together. We’ve had our fair share of ups and downs but we’ve always kept our love for each other at the center of our relationship and marriage. Our endless support and belief in each other is how we’re still thriving as a couple. Building a family together and creating the vision™ for this life we live has been my greatest achievement.

My Voxer besties. We bounce ideas off each other, vent, share, give each other advice, and support each other.

The Daily Drip, my South Florida businesswomen and entrepreneur group. We write content, collaborate on events, work together, podcast together, and come together in community to make each other better. The gift of their influence, support, and guidance is a blessing.

My Core 4. My four childhood best friends who I rarely get to see but thanks to the creation of memes, have been able to speak our language with each other over social media and text chains that keep us in the loop. Whenever we do get the opportunity to see each other, it’s like no time has passed.

My mom and my kids. My mom was my first teacher – and she’s empowered me to go for it and make it happen, ever since I was a little girl. My kids are the reason I do what I do. They inspire me and being their mom is my greatest joy in life.

Website: http://mmsconsultingfirm.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariamaldonadosmith/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-maldonado-smith/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/confessionsofacorporatemom

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mariamaldonadosmith

Image Credits
Headshot – dark background – Daniel Wakefield of TopTier Headshots

All other images – The Malicote Creative Co., Kelsey & Matt Malicote