Today we’d like to introduce you to Tadser Painchault.
Tadser, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
This used to be hard for me to talk about for the longest time. However, it’s a big reason why I do what I do today and why I’m committed to giving back. I was born in a small town in Colombia, South America. I have one brother and two sisters. My dad was an attorney and my mom a naturopathic physician. I’ve been an astute reader of body language ever since I was almost raped at the age of two. It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. Knowing that I was so little, selfless and weak, my survival instincts helped me to fight back
This happened on a morning in 1982 while my mom and dad were working. I was left at home with the nanny. There was a guest staying at my parent’s house. I’m not sure who he was. I don’t remember his name. I recall being in the living room playing with my toys when that “man” called me. He was standing in the hallway close to a bathroom that was between two bedrooms. Innocently, I went to see him. That’s when I became entangled in possibly the most frightening situation of my life.
I remember it like it was yesterday. His face, what he did and what I was forced to do. I cried and called for help but no one else was at home.
I fought until I had the opportunity to get away. I ran as fast as my little legs would carry me and hid under my parent’s bed. It was a heavy wooden bed that was placed in the corner of their bedroom. He tried hard to get under the bed and take me out but he didn’t fit. Then he found a broom and hit me many times trying to get me out from underneath. He tried to move the bed but it was just too heavy. He even tried to move my little body with the broom but I had a firm grasp on the leg of the bed.
I still recall his voice and the changes that happened to his tone. First aroused, followed by angry, then it was more controlled and “sweet.” However, I intuitively knew he was still mad. I remember the speed of his breath changing. I kept myself in the same spot. I’m not sure how long but I didn’t move until the nanny came back. I’m not sure what happened to her, where she was or why she wasn’t at home with me when that man attacked me. All I know is that the bed and my very basic survival instincts saved my life.
After this event, I began to use my body language to avoid attention and remain unnoticed.
I grew up in a time where Colombia was engaged in one of the bloodiest wars against M-19 Guerillas, Pablo Escobar, the Cali Cartels, and FARC Guerillas. There were years were civilians were targets of indiscriminate violence. Anyone that wouldn’t leave their house spoke against them publicly, defended others from them or went against their agendas was threatened, tortured, kidnapped, raped or murdered.
Being the daughter of an attorney that had a good moral compass in a country that was going through such chaos was extremely risky. Attorneys, journalists and politicians were some of the targets of subversive groups for defending their victims or talking publicly about the terrorist crimes.
My parents tried their best to keep us safe. We practiced martial arts, self-defense and took survival courses so we knew how to react in case of an emergency or a threat to our lives. We moved constantly, changed our routes, avoided potential danger but always lived in fear like most Colombians. Thanks to my parent’s efforts to keep us safe we survived many murder and kidnapping attempts against my family. We can discuss those stories another time.
How can you live your life this way when you’re a young woman that has to go to college and work every day? These were very turbulent times and the country was unsafe.
I learned that reading people’s body language was important to decipher intentions, recognize an attacker, thief, identify a kidnapper, a possible killer, a potential rapist, a friend or an enemy.
Analyzing everyone around me while moving was my way to prevent bad situations while deciding what to do next so I could continue moving. I became very fast at reading facial expressions and micro-expressions such as eye movements, body posture, breathing speed, hand gestures, the tone of voice, legs, feet posture, hidden feelings, clothes, bags, etc.
As the years passed, I learned to adjust my own body language. I knew that imitating other people’s gestures could help me gain a friend in an unfriendly situation, that a real smile could start a warm relationship and that using power postures caused people to take you more seriously.
I ended up graduating from college in 2005 where I earned a professional degree as a Physical Therapist. The knowledge I learned from studying physiology, anatomy, physics, corporal posture and body mechanics helped me dig deeper into the body language world.
Working daily with patients that needed orthopedic and neurological physical rehabilitation increased my understanding of this fact. Corporal posture is influenced by various factors such as the individual personality traits, physiological characteristics, biomechanics and education. Some of these aspects can be learned or changed.
For instance, one individual may have had an accident that left him/her with some type of body restriction. Another might have been born with a structural defect and may be compensating with bad body positioning because of muscular weakness. However, there’s something fascinating about our emotions, pain, feelings, and thoughts. They’re all expressed in a very similar way with similar facial expressions, microexpressions and gestures. It doesn’t matter the age, sex, race or culture.
Four years later in 2009, I married a wonderful man. I moved to Atlanta and we started a new life together. He’s an international best-selling author, social media revenue strategist and coach. With his help, I started my first Internet business. I worked for different online companies as an affiliate while helping my husband organize seminars, dinners, and arranging different events. I recorded his videos, took pictures, helped him choose his outfits and we traveled all over the world training our clients.
Working in the social media industry allowed me to keep researching and observing body language. This time I analyzed how people reacted when they noticed the body language of someone that’s on camera. Through the years I’ve studied hundreds of videos and pictures. I realized the way people perceive and react depends largely on what they see in the spokesperson’s body language.
It’s not only about the value of the content you share, the quality of the video image or the lighting (yes, that makes a better video) but the facial expressions, hand gestures, body positioning and tonality used during the video. People subconsciously perceive or read the content creator’s body language, they decide if the person is knowledgeable and trustworthy depending on what they have perceived. From there, they determine if they can give him/her a try, make an appointment, buy a product, leave a comment, leave a like or share their content.
I haven’t stopped educating myself in regards to body language. I’m constantly researching the science, reading books, and taking advanced body language training. The deeper I dive in, the more there is to explore and discover in terms of how intricate human behavior is.
For eight years, my husband tried to get me to start my own YouTube channel. He said I could share my knowledge with other people, reveal some of my experiences and build a helpful community around my passion. There was only one problem. I didn’t like the idea of making videos of myself! I’m a private person and never cared for being in front of the camera. I was perfectly fine with it. Posting a video of myself and having to deal with people’s positive and negative reactions was never my intention.
Last year, I was listening to a popular podcast where they shared inspiring personal stories each week. These were real stories from real people. I liked the way the information was presented and how they followed the individual’s journey.
That day was the turning point for me.
For the first time, I thought I’d like to do something similar. I could talk, share some of my knowledge without having to show my face on video, and could just be myself. I’d discuss what I’m passionate about along with things that moved me.
I knew I wanted to do this so I made a commitment that today.
Two months later, Planeta Hombre Podcast was live! I recorded my first episode then published it on iTunes. I figured everything out myself. I learned how to record, edit sound, rendering and post in different apps like iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher and Google play. Everything was a new world to me but fascinating.
Two weeks later, I created a Facebook fan page where I invited podcast listeners to follow my work so they could contact me, know when I had a new episode ready and leave me their questions via text.
One thing led to the next. The more comfortable I felt the more adventurous I became.
One afternoon I decided to make my first Facebook live video discussing the content of one of my episodes. I was shaking and very nervous but I was sincere. I didn’t make anything fancy. To my surprise, I received over 250,000 views on that video!
I’ve been unstoppable ever since. I go live on Facebook with educational content twice a week.
I talk about the information I feel comfortable talking about like health, body language, personal image and relationship insights. Sometimes, I even discuss my own private stories. I enjoy connecting with and helping the Latin community by sharing some of my professional and personal experiences without being pretentious.
We’ve quickly grown to over 39,000 followers so far in less than 9 months. The numbers continue to rise each day. All our videos have thousands of views and my most popular ones have over 1.5 million views!
Today, I feel strong enough to tell my story. I’m currently writing a book where I talk a bit about my life but mostly about body language and its effect on business success, confidence, social skills and relationships.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It hasn’t been smooth. Time has been my biggest challenge. I work from home and have two kids. I’ve been taking care of them personally since they were born. One of them is in school but the other is still a toddler and I prefer not to leave him with a nanny. My kids, their safety, and education are a priority to me. So, my struggle is finding the time to create content, write and record while juggling my responsibilities as an engaged Mother.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Planeta Hombre story. Tell us more about the business.
More than a business, Planeta Hombre is a community that’s committed to helping men and women build their business, master their body language, strengthen their leadership skills, understand the media’s perception of body expressions and re-shape their image.
What makes us unique is that we share a common ground. Like me, people have their own stories that have shaped them. They have their own insecurities. However, those insecurities cannot define who we are.
We can reshape ourselves, relearn and show the world who we really are through our image and body language.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t believe in luck, not in the traditional sense. I create my own luck by preparing myself, by working hard and by being positive. Like Gary Player, the golfer said: “… the harder I practice the luckier I get!”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.planetahombre.com
- Phone: 404-271-0571
- Email: info@planetahombre.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/planetahombre/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/planetahombrepodcast/
Image Credit:
Aljadia Painchault, Delfy Flores
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