Live Life Like a Reality Show, Raw & Real with Mariana Atencio - TEDx Speaker/Author, Ep #118

My guest today has a one-of-a-kind story that I can’t wait for you to hear. She just spoke at my Excelente global event and was incredible. She has faced massive challenges as a Latina professional in the media industry and has overcome them to create unprecedented success. 

Mariana Atencio took the world by storm in 2017 when her TEDx talk “What makes YOU special?” went viral. To date, it has over 17 million views and has been translated into 13 languages. Focused on the power of authenticity, her book “Perfectly You” was an Amazon Best Seller and selected by Audible and AppleBooks.

As a former anchor at Univision and national correspondent at NBC News, she has traveled the world to report on some of the most volatile conflicts of our times, in both English and Spanish, for over a decade, specializing in the Latino experience across the Americas. Now, she’s quickly become one of the most sought-after motivational speakers, founding her own media company, “GoLike”, and teaming up with Microsoft, Pepsico, P&G, YouTube, Citi, the World Health Organization and the United Nations, among others, to represent and empower our communities.

Mariana’s story is featured on the award-winning HBO special “Habla Now” and her work has been honored with a Peabody Award, 3 Emmy nominations and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Presidential Award.

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...

  • How Mariana got her start in television (2:24)

  • Why she has confronted taboos for women in the Latin community (8:53)

  • How we can change the harmful cycles in our community (14:21)

  • The way she found her voice to tell her personal journey (19:38)

  • How she has battled negative Latin female stereotypes (25:30)

What it was like for Mariana to change herself for every job she had

Working in media and TV, Mariana faced huge challenges early on because of her Venezuelan accent, even though she worked at Univision and on Latin networks. With every new audience she was told to change her accent, change her look, and change how she said her own name in order to fit a different mold. Finally, she decided to leave that all behind and be fully herself. As she told me, “When I flipped that switch, that’s when it all changed for me and ultimately led to my road to success.”

How to face controversy when you speak out about taboos

After the pandemic, a divorce, and returning to the dating world as a successful professional woman, Mariana felt the pressure to not talk about sex as a Latina woman. But she knew that would take her power away. She couldn’t find references of women in their 30s and 40s talking about sex in a healthy, helpful way. So she decided to do it herself. She started a segment on Instagram called, “So this is happening . . .” and started answering viewer questions. Even though some audience members told her to stop, a huge surge of support came from her followers in response. She started getting featured on major outlets for her efforts, showing that it’s time for a change in how we talk about taboos.

What we can do to change the patterns we have inherited

I asked Mariana how she is changing the unhelpful patterns she was raised with in the Latin community. She suggested pausing throughout the day for moments of self-awareness by asking yourself what patterns you are running on and what the intention is behind what you are doing. This is also part of why she decided to do a pivot and start working more in women’s empowerment and self-development. Even though she doesn’t know exactly what is next for her, she is having so much fun showing her authenticity.

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