We had the good fortune of connecting with Nina Antinora and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Nina, how do you define success?
Success is when we feel fulfilled by what we are doing; able to sustain (and balance) a lifestyle that is aligned with our authentic heart. In order to elevate success, we must increase our self-awareness, connect with our emotional intelligence, uncover our intrinsic motivation, and realign as needed along our path. When we harness our passion and lead from our truest selves, we create opportunities that can lead to great abundance. Success beyond ‘on paper’— What do I mean by this? There was a time in my previous career where ‘on paper’ I appeared to be successful— I generated a fantastic income, owned a home, drove a nice car, and traveled the world. However, I had no life. My personal relationships suffered because I was so focused on my career ‘success’. At the time I didn’t realize that success is a holistic goal—not just targeted to one aspect of my life. It’s all encompassing from— health/self-care to personal relationships to career achievements. This type of 360° success approach is what I strive to maintain and up-level each day. And, my greatest passion is helping my clients achieve this!
What should our readers know about your business?
I’m the founder and CEO of Change It Up®. We are a life fulfillment and mindful business transformation brand based in sunny San Diego. CIU was born through my two decades of consultancy experience with global fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, and my passion for transforming mindset and results— one mindful step at a time!
All of our programs evolved from my previous experience spearheading massive events, marketing, and training initiatives. After 15 years in the same industry, I found myself uninspired, depleted, and no longer fulfilled. I also realized there was a huge unmet need to bridge strategy, design, analytics, and process with emotional intelligence that’s rooted in workplace mindfulness. As a leader in business, I found my greatest passion was connecting with my teams and mentoring. However, the role responsibilities and daily duties didn’t allow much time for me to have that ‘human connection’ as much as I desired.
So, I decided it was time to Change It Up®! However, creating a new business while pursuing an entirely different career clear across the country was not an easy task. In fact, the road to ‘change’ and basically starting over in every aspect of my life was most certainly scary, full of doubt, and hard to wrap my head around this new uncharted path. However, I owed it to myself to create a life full of abundance— no matter how hard this transition may be. I focused on what I wanted, instead of what I didn’t have. I was able to overcome the (many) obstacles that appeared on my path by remaining true to myself, and trusting the process. Anything worth while, is not going to be easy— I knew that. But it was really the self-check ins that kept me going!
I set out to create a business that will help others overcome barriers and achieve their goals. And in the process, I helped myself increase my own awareness, confidence, and my ability to focus on my strengths in order to live the life of my dreams.
My personal success story is the foundation for all CIU’s programs. We specialize in Leadership, Professional & Personal Development with a Mindful Twist!
We help entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and anyone looking to make life changes by shifting their mindset and transforming their behaviors in order to achieve unparalleled results.
Our signature offerings range from workshops/facilitated learning to coaching, as well as team building/retreats, and TrailChats®.
We don’t believe in talking ‘at’ people. In fact, we love to facilitate and encourage interactive & collaborative experiences in order to share and glean best practices as a collective. All of our transformational platforms provide a unique and safe environment to allow you to show up open, aware, and vulnerable— this is when massive transformation occurs.
We come from a place of pure and utter authenticity that’s fueled with passion for helping you and/or your organization reach your greatest potential and ‘step up & into’ the absolute best version of yourselves (as leaders, innovators, and overall humans!).
Our greatest passion is motivating and inspiring you to peel back the layers to uncover pain points, gaps, and how to smash through barriers that may be preventing you from achieving your desired goals.
All of our services are available in person for those local to Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as nationally for our corporate clients, and virtually on a global level for all.
Our proprietary strategies and methods are fueled by a tactical POA that is aligned with our client’s key initiatives and goals to enhance personal improvement, corporate culture, communication, engagement, and productivity— no matter the circumstance!
We’re all about bridging cognitive and emotional intelligence!
If you are local to the SD area, looking to create more abundance in your life, overcome fear and obstacles, burn some calories, and connect with other like-minded people, check out our TrailChats®. We lead facilitated ‘walking workshops’ amongst the beautiful coastal backdrop while providing mindful strategies/one on one coaching and toolkits.
If you are with a corporate organization, ask about our Coffee with the Coach® sessions, interactive workshops, business TrailChats®and the leadership virtual toolkit— Opportunity Wednesday®.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We live in Cardiff by the Sea, so we have so many amazing places and (free) experiences availability to us. We love our Cardiff reef beach, Solana Beach, and Del Mar. My wife and I love to hike— our local go to spots are Annie’s Canyon, Batiquitos Lagoon. We love riding our ebikes up to Carlsbad and down to La Jolla. If you need to rent one, check out San Diego Electric bikes in Solana beach. The Design District in Solana Beach is great! As for places to eat— Claires on Cedros is a MUST. We also love Culture Brewery, Pina in Encinitas, as well as Goodonya, The Roxy for good food and live music, Trattoria I Trulli, Fish 101 in Cardiff. if you haven’t been to Seaside Market in Cardiff that’s also a must- try the Cardiff Crack. We also love the botanical garden, for the best donuts, head to Carlsbad and stop at the Goods!
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My wife, Nicole Antinora. She is an integral part of my story. Nicole has been such a huge support during my transition from my previous career as an executive producer and training strategist. She believes in me and all of my (at times) wild ideas, encourages me to take risks, and follow my heart.
Website: https://changeitup.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changeitupwnina/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-antinora-cpc-2804475/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/changeitupwithninaantinora