Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Yagnye.
Maria, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I could honestly probably sit here and find inklings of where this all got started that trace back to my childhood however there is but so much time in a day. So to keep it relatively brief, I’ll start a few years back… I just remember being at one of the lowest points in my life and sitting on a rooftop with my best friend (my greatest moments always happen on a rooftop, why this is? Your guess is as good as mine), and we were just talking about how this couldn’t be it. We couldn’t be meant to be going through majors we didn’t enjoy, to work for companies we didn’t care for, for a life that wasn’t our own. There had to be something that we were missing.
I wasn’t a painting savant or a master coder or en route to be the next head of general surgery for Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and because of this I felt like I had nothing to offer to the world, I felt both inept and incapable. My mindset changed when I was asked what I would do if I wasn’t getting paid to do so. Not gonna lie this question stumped me because first of all which Maria Yagnye is about to be working for free? But more so, I just didn’t believe that anything I did was valuable nonetheless I still let my mind play along and gave myself the very gift I gave so abundantly to others: the gift of belief and creativity. Suddenly who I was and what I did stopped being answered with who I wasn’t or what I didn’t do. And once I asked myself WHY I did what I did, I not only regained control of my story but realized that I had never truly lost it.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
L O L. If there is a genuine person who says that they’ve had an easy road to get to where they are then I need to meet them and sign up for their e-course because how? No the road to now has not been smooth, but to be honest, I can’t say it would have been as much fun without the surprise bumps and whiplash-inducing potholes. I won’t speak much to the external struggles I’ve faced except to say that I’ve always been blessed to be able to find a lesson in them.
As far as some personal struggles that I’ve faced (and still continue to resolve), the big three would have to be Impatience, Lack of Self-Compassion, and the star, Perfectionism aka the most productive form of procrastination and the most socially accepted take on the fear of failure. I categorize all three as manifestations of Imposter Syndrome and the way that I’m able to tame them is by first being honest with myself and admitting that I am comparing myself or my work to some entity other than my self, and then I take the time to be honest about WHY I do what I do and if what I’m currently doing is aligned with that answer.
PMDA – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
PMDA was founded as a creative consulting agency to help individuals, businesses and brands alike actualize their greatest potential, hence the name Potential Management and Development Agency. On the front end, PMDA serves as the tool that helps pry the top off of the container most people put themselves in. Most of the time when businesses or people are looking to grow and expand but remain stagnant or “fall short”, it’s due to trying to match a level or position that they think they should be at rather than maximizing on who they are.
When working with a client, the objective for us isn’t to just provide them with the business or creative solution that they need. We go beyond and ensure that whichever solution we provide allows for continuous and consistent evolution by integrating the mission and vision of a company or individual into a structure that promotes growth and continued impact.
As a founder, I am extremely proud of the influence that we’ve been able to have on both the businesses and the people that run them. It is a core belief of ours that the makings of a sustainable enterprise stem from its leaders and its values. So to be able to support our clients in both being and becoming their most optimal self helps fulfill our own mission and serves as a template for how developing your WHY allows you to obtain your Potential.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
This is surprisingly hard to answer. I try to take in all wins and losses the same, so in a way what might be considered as an exemplary moment, is to me a new personal level to beat. So although it’s hard to narrow it down to just one, I can say that I’m most proud of the moments in my career when I’ve reminded myself of just how much I’m capable of.
Or when I’m able to feel the power that comes from speaking Word into others or from creating a plan to carry out an idea/vision that once seemed beyond my own capabilities. All together, this is the feeling of knowing that I can do anything, but that there are things that only I can do. I guess having been able to turn that into a career- being able to not only fuel others but to fuel myself in return- is itself what I’m most proud of.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pmdallc.com
- Email: info@pmdallc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pmdallc/
Image Credit:
@abstract_mu (Muhammed)
@satcheltacumseh (Satchel Holmes-Williams)
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