BEYOND BARRIERS Episode 248: Making an Impact and Affecting Change with Michele Ruiz, CEO, Co-Founder of BiasSync
Michele Ruiz has seemingly done it all. But in reality, while she’s been very successful in multiple fields, she’s really an expert at bringing the right people together to fulfill the vision at hand.
Michele’s background is in broadcasting and has had a very successful career as a news anchor. She wanted to make an impact through broadcasting by affecting change and worked toward helping other Latinas in the industry. However, she’s an entrepreneur at heart and found herself co-founding a science-based technology company focused on enabling organizations to effectively assess and manage unconscious bias in the work environment. She’s an expert at seeing gaps and coming up with solutions.
During our conversation, Michele vulnerably shares about how the loss of her infant son 20 years ago changed her perspective on everything. From that experience, as an optimist, she learned to take calculated risks because after experiencing that loss–”What’s the worst that can happen?” She believes in the importance of focusing on gratitude as a key to her survival. Her joyfulness comes through in the time she spends with us in this podcast. Join us as she shares her insights about how you don’t have to have all the answers to move forward toward success.
Visit gobeyondbarriers.com where you will find show notes and links to all the resources in this episode, including the best way to get in touch with Michele.
Highlights:
[02:53] Michele’s background
[05:33] How Michele gained clarity about her pursuits
[11:43] The loss that defined Michele’s life
[14:29] The “Holy Hour” practice
[18:17] Building strategic relationships
[24:09] Curbing your anxiety about networking
[26:00] Michele’s daily rituals of success and having gratitude
[30:53] Tying your passions into work
[35:52] Lightning round questions
Quotes:
“You don’t always have to have the answers, but recognize if you could just identify the right people and build from there, that’s a great thing.” – Michele Ruiz
“I realized from the long term I could have a bigger impact having companies.” – Michele Ruiz
“Passion is what keeps you going on the toughest days.” – Michele Ruiz
Lightning Round Questions:
What book has greatly influenced you?
- “The Go-Giver” by Bob Burg and John David Mann
What is your favorite inspiring quote or saying?
- “When you were born, the people around you were laughing and you were crying. Live your life so that when you die, you’re the one who is laughing and the people around you are crying.”
What is one word or moniker you would use to describe yourself?
- Tenacious
What is one change you've implemented that made your life better?
- More sleep. Eight hours of sleep.
What power song would you want playing as you walk out onto a stage?
- "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor
About Michele Ruiz:
Michele is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and sought-after speaker at conferences around the world. Michele’s wide range of ventures include co-founding BiasSync, a science-based technology company designed to enable organizations to effectively assess and manage unconscious bias in the work environment. She is a trusted advisor to senior executives at Fortune 20 multinational corporations and some of today’s highest profile thought leaders and elected officials.
Michele’s passions range from mitigating unconscious bias using scientifically validated methodologies to exploring leading-edge technologies. She is widely recognized and sought out as a subject matter expert in empowerment, entrepreneurship, sophisticated communication strategies, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA).
In addition to her work with BiasSync, Michele leads Ruiz Strategies, a certified minority-owned (MBE) and woman-owned (WBE) business, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with operations in Washington, D.C., and Houston, Texas. The firm specializes in change management and DE&I consulting for large corporations and government agencies.
Michele’s deep entrepreneurial experience has been instrumental in her quest to educate, inspire, and empower business owners. Her online mentoring program, Possibility Architect©, is designed for female entrepreneurs determined to scale their businesses over $1 million in annual revenue with corporate and government clients, drawing upon her own experience and success.
Michele founded her first company, SaberHacer.com, a bilingual expert-based “how-to” educational broadband site for U.S. Latinos online. She launched the successful video-on-demand site to provide quality information for U.S. Latinos when she determined a void of culturally relevant content for Hispanics. Her mission has always been simple: to do what she can to help people and change lives.
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Michele Ruiz enjoyed a long career as an award-winning broadcast journalist and received 16 Emmy nominations during her news broadcasting career, 5 Emmys, 4 Golden Mikes, and LA Press Club Awards.
A prominent keynote speaker on a wide range of topics, Michele inspires and motivates her audiences with singular, compelling storytelling skills —all drawn directly from her own life experiences. Some of the topics Michele speaks about include business communication, unconscious bias, entrepreneurship, leadership, and empowerment.
Michele has been a member of the Association of Transformational Leaders since 2016, and has spoken at major conferences around the world in the United States, Sweden, Singapore, India, and Turkey, to name a few. She is widely quoted and featured as a sought-after thought leader in major media outlets, including Forbes, CNN, The New York Times, and many others. Michele regularly shares insights with more than 100k followers through her many communication outlets, including blogs, videos, and more.
Michele’s first book, Content Marketing for Lawyers, was published in 2016. The best-seller helps attorneys use powerful content marketing and social media strategies that Michele has developed for her Fortune 20 corporations to attract more clients and become a legal thought leader. “It may well be the most valuable business development book you will ever read,” is just one of the many reviews of the book.
Links:
Website: https://micheleruiz.com/
LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/micheleruiz1/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/micheleruiz01
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MicheleRuiz.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/micheleruiz/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicheleRuiz/videos