Growing Through Her Community: A Mastermind Interview with Yamila Franco
By Raman Kang
“Having a business opened the world to me. I didn’t understand the knowledge I had from back home could be implemented here, and the same values were valid.”
“I am who I am because of my community - it's always about acknowledging and respecting the fact that I am where I am because of the people around me,” says Yamila Franco.
Yamila always involved herself with her community. Starting in the Dominican Republic, then at the University of Victoria, and now at her many different workplaces - she does a lot. “If people knew everything I do, they would freak out! I’m super busy, but I have fun. I love everything I do,” she jokes. Yamila describes herself as a multi-passionate entrepreneur. “How we show up for our community and people is how we make change happen,” she says.
Yamila was born and raised in the Dominican Republic; her parents were entrepreneurs and owned businesses, all without having the formal education an entrepreneur might typically receive. “I come from a family of hustlers.” At the age of 18, Yamila received a scholarship that allowed her to come to Canada to study. One of the reasons Yamila was successful in getting a scholarship was because she engaged with her community. “I was always involved with my community, helping, volunteering, generally caring as well,” she says. When looking back at what she’s accomplished, she says her success is not hers alone; Yamila shares it with the community and her family.
While pursuing a degree in biology, Yamila began working with the International Student Services program to help find and build a community in Canada - something she felt she lacked. “I was learning more about the traditional history of this territory, finding similarities with my own culture, and ended up creating a community here,” she says. Yamila is Afro-Indigenous and just recently started acknowledging her heritage because, as she puts it, “it’s kick-ass.”
By getting involved with International Student Services, she met Page Whitehead, whose idea for creating the first earth-friendly glowstick (which started as a school project) would launch them into creating their own company. “Page loved music festivals but hated the plastic waste that came with that. When she shared that with me, I thought, ‘what if this can be something bigger?’” They started working together and co-founded Nyoka Design Labs, whose mission is to “heal the earth by co-creating solutions that address social and environmental challenges powered by radical, regenerative innovation.”
“Having a business opened the world to me. Looking back, I had become insecure from moving to a new place, and I didn’t understand all the knowledge I had from back home could be implemented here, and the same values were valid,” she says. She took courses to become a financial advisor, which helped her understand the financial system. “It opened my eyes to understanding how a business can be sustainable.” It also helped her heal her relationship with money, and now she helps organizations and people, especially women and youth, by bringing financial literacy to them via workshops. “I believe in changing communities one family at a time and focusing on the intergenerational impact and legacy that will trickle down to my next generation.” Within their business, Yamila says Page is the inventor, and she’s the hustler. “I love business, solving problems, making something grow and securing government funding. I can build something bigger than myself with someone as opposed to if I were alone.”
When Yamila first found the Mastermind program, she was hesitant to join. “One of the facilitators reached out to me directly, and she was telling me about this group, and I didn’t understand the value that it was going to bring to me,” says Yamila. The cost was also a concern for her, “right now, one of my biggest hurdles is financial, I'm doing all this work, but I’m reinvesting everything back in the business, and I’m not in a position where I’m taking a salary of my own.” After being invited to the Mastermind, Yamila was told there were scholarships available to help with the cost. “The fact that she reached out to me about supporting me financially without me even pushing or trying to find an alternative, that’s what made it for me to go.”
Through Mastermind, she gained access to a community of women in business just like her. “A lot of people in my community don’t connect with me on the business side of things. People don’t understand why I’m so obsessed with closing a huge deal or expanding to another market, or going international. So it was nice to be in a place where I could say I’m trying to raise this amount of money. How do I do it?’” she explains.
“For me, my biggest thing was listening to the stories of the other women from the Mastermind. Getting the opportunity to ask questions about how they did certain things and get advice was valuable. I’m able to get into programs and places, but then what? What do you do after you’re invited to the table? I got an insight about things I was unsure of - there’s a lot of value in just being able to ask questions and observing someone else's thought processes and how they leverage resources. How do I make this happen? The celebration was also so important, and because I never celebrate, that was special. There was this emphasis on celebrating each other and our wins,” says Yamila.
She recalls one of the guest speakers was a government service worker who ended up becoming an important connection. “She cared about supporting women and went the extra mile to make me feel connected to something I don't normally feel connected to,” Yamila says. She explains that she’s wanted to sell her product to the government but didn’t know how, and this speaker gave her the insight she needed. Yamila ended up meeting with the guest speaker again after the mastermind session for a chat.
A big challenge for Yamila, and for many of us during the pandemic, has been caring for her mental health while being overworked. “We can't be as social. This [Mastermind group], in a way, was a replacement for that. I can get an advisor and mentors, but it's the connections that matter. “I would definitely recommend Mastermind group, and I find that when places are curated for women, they tend to address barriers that women experience.”
If you are interested in accelerating your business or career, learn new skills, and collaborate in a supportive and welcoming group then reserve your spot in the next Women in Tech Mastermind Series today! Sign up at https://womenintechworld.com/masterminds