Making women feel beautiful again.

Shima 0 comments 23.03.2016

Every Wednesday, I will share a resident of the South Bay contributing to making our community a better place.

Today’s ‪WCW title belongs to entrepreneur Mari who began designing clothing with stretchy material in hopes of helping women feel more comfortable in their skin.

Mari, 28, grew up in Southern California. In 2012, Mari began creating dresses after feeling frustrated with the limited amount of styles for her comfort. “I grew tired of shopping at the mall, trying to fit my body type in a Forever 21 dress, so I literally told myself, today, I’m going to make a dress with no pattern, all free hand, and I did,” she says.

Early on, her father and mother inspired her to begin creating dresses.  “Every time we had a social gathering, which was almost every Friday and Saturday, my Mother would pick out the fabric and design the outfit, while my Father would make the outfit. It was like having my own personal designer, i am grateful for my parents. they have inspired me to express myself how i wanted to be portrayed which she says is unheard of in the Afghan community.

Initially, Mari only created custom orders, however, is currently transitioning into costume designs for the film industry and stage performance costume.

Mari feels most relaxed when she is able to create pieces and finds that she is in her element then.  “It’s my meditation time, a time to recollect my thoughts and keep my mind focus. It’s very therapeutic for me,” she says. Mari’s dress designs are inspired by Bollywood. “I love everything about it, especially Hindi films, colors, colors, colors!”

One of Mari’s greatest passions and ways of paying it forward to the community is as a humanist. She says, “I am prolife. If you are hungry, I will offer you food. If you are thirsty, I will offer you water. I believe every living thing/being on this earth deserves privilege and equality, after all we are all visitors. So who are we as human being to ignore the suffering of others?”

Outside of offering a lending hand to those in need, Mari is very vocal on her social media accounts supporting the latest movement,“Black lives matter.” She became very passionate about the cause after her husband, Daylyt was harassed by the police several times. She says, “Remind you, we don’t drink, we don’t smoke, he is not on parole, he is not a criminal. But even if I’m driving, as soon as they see him, we get pulled over and they take him out of the car, out of camera view, call for backup , and an hour later, let us go. After they don’t have any reason in the first place to pull us over.”

She feels it is important that society educates and acknowledges the fact that racism exists and we it’s practiced daily within the police force and justice system.

When Mari is not creating and designing dresses for her clients, she enjoys living a simple life as a vegan, seamstress, and photographer. She also assists her husband, Daylyt and is a full-time mother to her son, Sunlyt whom she also homeschools.

She enjoys hiking outdoors, swimming, belly dancing, going to the beach, making music, singing, battle rapping, and reading.

Mari has found some ways to a successful life. She says that first, a happy home begins with a happy woman in the household, whether it is the mother, wife, or girlfriend. She also believes in adding color in one’s wardrobe affects their mood tremendously. “The average person’s go to color is black. I think we should break out of that corporate America look and incorporate vibrant colors in our wardrobes once in a while,” she says.

She hopes that others will think outside of the box and speak into existence. She simply says, “YES, you can do whatever you put your mind to!”

Thank you, Mari for a being a wonderful member of the South Bay and offering women an alternative way to feel sexy and advocating human-rights for all.

To contact Mari for custom pieces, please visit her website at i2ahadi.com or visit her instagram page at @MARI2AHADI

“After all, fashion expresses a person’s personality without having to speak! Thanks, mom & dad.”

-Mari

Reaching for More Than Just a Symptomatic Rush of Adrenaline

Shima 0 comments 27.01.2016

Every Wednesday, I will share a resident of the South Bay contributing to making our community a better place. Today’s ‪#WCW title belongs to South Bay resident, Danielle Castro, who has become an inspiration for many while encompassing independence, relentlessness, passion, and charisma on her way to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Castro, soon to be 26, grew up in the South Bay her entire life. She moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where she graduated from The University of New Mexico in 2012, participated as a Division 1 athlete, and received a degree in Interpersonal Communications and a minor in Business Management.

Upon graduating, Castro did not know exactly what career path she wanted to choose. “Like a lot of us Millennials, I come from a super traditional home,” she explains. Her parents have worked for the same company, Raytheon, for over 60 years combined. As a compliment to her parents’ legacy, she agreed to intern for three years.

After three years in finance, when offered a job immediately after graduating, Castro happily declined the position. She chose not to take the job at Raytheon because she knew she could never build something for herself there. She didn’t feel as though she was serving people in a way that would leave a positive impact. “It was an easy way out due to the reputation of my parents and I truly believe I’m meant to build a legacy all on my own,” she says.

After this, she went through several jobs ranging from restaurants, to tool sales, patient care coordination in a medical office, a surf shop, and Equinox. Castro says, “It was plain to see that I lacked vision.”

However, she knew in time, she’d find something that she loved that simultaneously served the greater good. She hopped on Craig’s List and responded to the first ad that was semi-appealing – Behavior Therapist for Children with Autism. She worked with Autism Behavior Consultants for 2 years and left the company to begin working for Tai Lopez in November 2015.

Coming from an abusive background (ex-boyfriend), Castro found it was difficult for her to maintain relationships, build trust with anyone, or even believe in herself. For 10 years, she suffered from low self-esteem, body and appearance issues, and slight depression. As she began working with a small group of entrepreneurs, she also adopted a new way of life by operating out of her comfort zone and speaking on stage. “This allowed me to put all my insecurities on display and by doing so I was open to criticism and became obsessed with Personal Development,” she says.

Today, Castro is an aspiring entrepreneur that encompasses all that it means to have passion. “Just 6 letters cultivated by such POWER and MAGNITUDE. The term, in itself, represents much more than its descriptive purpose,” she says. She believes that passion is not random, rather “our calling, and it is something born with us much like our heart or hands.” Castro has found that passions have become the tool that allows ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Since beginning her entrepreneur journey at the Knowledge Society, she has served a few different roles in the company in a 2-month time frame. Initially, she began in Customer Support, serving the needs of unsatisfied customers, introducing new customers to the products the company provides, and tapping into sales, which she says was far beyond her skill set, but somehow she has thrived without prior experience.

Soon after, she was transitioned into a Product Management position, where her strengths were stretched and tested beyond imagination. “Given the freedom to design and create, it was empowering to know that I exceeded extremely high expectations through proactive awareness and consistent work ethic,” she says.

Her current role in the company is in the Publishing and Public Relations Department. A publishing editor’s main responsibility is for the style and content of the publication. This means that the role is mostly managerial, especially on social platforms, where she is responsible for the entire content of a publication. The social platforms the company utilizes are Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.

In addition, she creates content and manages Alex Morton’s (young entrepreneur who made $2.5 million before the age of 25) YouTube channel.

{Alex Morton – started in real estate and worked with a relationship marketing company. Now, is an aspiring motivational speaker and self branding expert.}

Castro would like those who are not familiar with Tai Lopez to know that the foundation ofTaiLopez.com focuses on the 4 pillars of life, HEALTH, WEALTH, LOVE, and HAPPINESS. “We significantly impact the masses by providing online education for entrepreneurs (young and older) and consulting for small businesses,” she says.

 It is evident that Castro is extremely passionate about the company she works for including what they do, by serving the greater good with knowledge she promises you’ll never learn in school. “Being surrounded by likeminded individuals every single day is incredibly inspiring. I work with some of the most magnetic, influential people of our time. It’s pure magic,” she says.

In the next five years, she hopes to be able to perpetuate herself to a managerial position, grow her network through Public Relations (celebrities, entrepreneurs, investors, motivational speakers, etc.). In addition, she hopes to open her own PR Firm, start a YouTube channel (AmBITCHous) that focuses on building confidence through humor and empowering women to strengthen their entrepreneurial skills.

Danielle has several mantras that keep her inspired including:

 “It’s amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit” – John Wooden

“Those who believe they can move mountains, do. Those who believe they can’t, cannot. Belief triggers the power to do.” – David J. Schwartz

“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish if you forget the errand.” – Woodrow Wilson

One can get involved with Tai Lopez by contributing to the following:

Subscribe to Tai Lopez’s YouTube channel

Visit Taoilopez.com and sign up for Book of the Day newsletter (emails we write in publishing

Watch and like Tai Lopez’s TedTalk – https://youtu.be/7bB_fVDlvhc

Follow Tai Lopez on all social media platforms

Instagram – TaiLopezOfficial

Snapchat – tailopez1

Facebook – Tai Lopez Official

Twitter – Tai Lopez

Subscribe to AlexMortonMinset YouTube channel

Follow Alex Morton on all social media platforms

Instagram – AlexMortonMindset

Snapchat – AlexMortonYPR

Facebook – AlexMortonMindset

Twitter – AlexMortonMindset

Danielle pays it forward by volunteering, along with her family, for the Relay for Life every year in May as her grandmother is a breast cancer survivor.

Prior to her current position at the Knowledge Society (TaiLopez.com), she was a Behavior Therapist for children with Autism for 2 years. She found that helping those that can help themselves, in retrospect, helped her develop significantly as a human. “We supported each other’s growth on a daily basis,” she says.

When she is not working, she enjoys sports of all kinds including paddle boarding, surfing, hiking, camping, biking, etc. An avid reader, she tries to read a book a week or listens to a personal development audio (at least 15 minutes a day). Her goal for 2016 is to read 100 books by year’s end.

Danielle finds the beauty of growing up in the south bay is that “We are unlike any other community in Los Angeles with a strong sense of core values. It’s home and I can definitely see myself confidently raising a family here.”

Thank you, Danielle, for being an inspiring role model for many who are striving to find their purpose and continuously finding ways to inspire others.

For me, passion is much more than a symptomatic rush of adrenaline. It is an infectious entity exacerbated through our deepest desires, our sense of purpose. Without passion we are left without the dreams, that inspire the goals, that achieve the results, that motivate those around us. I have fully equipped myself to not only bring success to my own life, but also to inspire all that I come into contact with. I am committed to the passion burning inside me to influence and reciprocate a healthy lifestyle by optimizing the 4 pillars of life, Health, Wealth, Love, and Happiness.”

– Danielle Castro