Let’s start with the phrase gatekeeping: the activity of trying to control who gets particular resources, power, or opportunities, and who does not[1]. Who’s allowed in and, more importantly, who gets heard.

I decided to start my own business because I was done wasting my talents supporting entities that purposely ignored my community unless it was Hispanic Heritage Month. It took me almost 30 years of being the only Mexicana in the room to realize that my work was supporting the status quo. When I came to that realization, I was done.

But despite being talented and more than ready to do the job, feelings of inadequacy persist with . We don’t believe we’ll be taken seriously by the people that we are trying to engage. We don’t see ourselves in outdated business structures.

Why? Because we don’t look like the other people at the networking event. We don’t have the same background or have the same ease as people that come from privilege. Because our names are different and deemed unpronounceable by others. Because our life experiences are different from our colleagues. Because we have been conditioned to believe that we must BE like everyone else. Assimilate.

Even writing this article, I feel the need to communicate in a “business-like manner” (I’m writing a whole other article on that subject!). Questioning our own competency when we think we don’t have the adequate business background is a BAD HABIT we need to stop.

We had the nerve to even consider starting a business, so now we can’t deny ourselves the chance to occupy spaces we haven’t been in before. We fit in because we took a chance.

Starting a new business requires an understanding of how to navigate our fields and communicate effectively with our clients. We know what we’re doing. We can get the contract, we should be invited to the networking event, we deserve to have our calls returned. But how we overcome our uneasiness is dependent on our willingness to grow. To have the tenacity to ignore the uncomfortable feelings and keep going.

Our own feelings of inadequacy need to be examined, dissected and discarded. Instead of feeling pressured to alter your voice, find the spaces that need you to be yourself.

I belong in every room I walk into because I believe with my whole self that I deserve to be there. And I have made it my business to make sure that my clients feel the same way. It’s hard to put yourself in an uncomfortable situation and question your own self-doubts. It’s a challenge to others to interrogate their own beliefs. And it is a gift that will make you stronger.

Marianela