In this episode of VulnerABILITY, Marisa connects with Natassia Ponomarenko, the twenty-something CEO of NastyFit & Founder of Connectful to talk about building dreams and keeping momentum as a young, female entrepreneur. All before age twenty-five, Natassia has created two successful businesses, created space for business owners to connect both virtually and in-person, and has broken barriers (and glass ceilings) everywhere.
Highlights From the Episode:
[2:00] "Age does not matter. You can start something great when you're fifteen [or] when you're fifty — it really doesn't matter."

[4:15] "I just wanted to be my own boss... wanted to create my own things. I had some money saved up, so I just started."

[6:15] "It's really, really important to surround yourself with people who share the same mindset that you have, people who are equal to you mindset-wise... and people who are better than you so you can learn from them as well."

[7:50] "You want to find other people who 'get it' and are aligned in the mission."

[9:45] "That's the differentiator between who actually achieves something or who dreams but doesn't actually turn them into actions... It's action."

[10:45] "Write it out. Write out what you want to do, because even doing that will help you. Even doing that will set you off to the next stepping stone."

[11:30] "A) Write down exactly what you want to start. B) Start executing. I think from A to B, what people miss, is the 'Googling' part. I think a lot of people don't take advantage of Google."

[12:15] "All of the information is already out there and I think that people just aren't using their resources because honestly, if you had a great enough drive, you would execute."

[12:45] "Keep the momentum going because when you take the next step, and then the next step, and the next, you start building momentum, which starts creating into a habit, which starts creating discipline for yourself. And that's what's really important to do otherwise you're going to fall off and never actually end up pursuing it."

[14:40] "There [are] thousands of other people without mentors, millions of other people without it — millions, thousands — of successful people who have done it without any help. So what makes you think that you need somebody to help you out?"

[15:30] "Nobody can coach you through it if you're not really committed to wanting to do it in the first place."

[15:35] "Mentorship is not hand-holding. At all."

[15:50] "You don't want to be a carbon-copy of somebody else's journey."

[21:30] "Here's another reminder that you have to rest in order to be productive. You have to stop in order to fill your cup back up in order to keep going. It's a constant cycle of giving yourself the energy to keep going."

[26:40] "Plan out your week on Sunday night. Your week really starts on Sunday; it does not start on Monday. If you think it starts on Monday, then you've kind of already lost half your day."
Recommended Resources/Link:
If you'd like to connect with Nastassia, you can follow her on Instagram, or follow the accounts: NastyFit and Connectful! To learn more about Nastassia's businesses, you can find them here: NastyFit & Connectful.

You can also download the Connectful app!

Head to our main page for more episodes of VulnerABILITY!