GUIDING WOMEN LEADERS THROUGH REMEMBERING AND STEPPING INTO THEIR POWER
Dr. Monikah is the CEO and Founder of the award winning firm CEO Mastery, an executive and leadership development firm working with exceptional leaders who want to elevate brand position, engage their people, and increase profits while honoring their true purpose.
In addition to Dr. Ogando's success with CEO Mastery she took her first company to rank as one of Inc 500's fastest growing private companies in the United States. She is the author of 3 books, twice a TEDx speaker and keynotes in the areas of leadership, marketing and communication. She is also co-host of Your Circle of Influence podcast and host of the brand new Remembering Me podcast.
With a background in finance and holding two doctorates, in Psychology and in Comparative Religions, Dr. Monikah has become a foremost authority in building sustainable, leveraged and profitable enterprises.
As an Organizational Psychologist & Leadership Coach, Dr. Monikah matches data with dharma, results with relationships and leadership with service. She has served as a mentor to entrepreneurs through MicroMentor USA, to emerging women leaders through Women for Women International, Girls, Inc., as well as Big Brother Big Sister, and she regularly mentors business owners through her Thrive Tribe growing online community. Her coaching and mentorship have been featured on Authority Magazine, Forbes, CNN, and many other media outlets.
Dr. Monikah is based in Atlanta, Georgia and loves being a wife, mother, an unapologetic introvert and intractable Prince fan.
Monikah Josefina means "Wise Advisor" +"God's Increase"
True to my name, I've spent the last 20 years coaching and counseling leaders on their psychology, spiritual foundation and living the scripture "your gifts will make room for you and [evoke] the greatness in the greats."... In other words - articulate your gift, step into its power, express it in the world and let it feed YOU just as much as you expressing your gift feeds the people you are meant to touch.
I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, and my parents brought our family to the United States when I was 10 years old. My first experience of American education was the litany of tests they put me through because they couldn't fathom how an immigrant child who hardly spoke English was dominating 8th grade curricula at 10 years old. I was 4 grades ahead of "where I was supposed to be." Big inflection point in growing my purpose: Your bigness can intimidate others and they'll be quick to try to put you in a box. Don't let them.
Thankfully Mr. Richard Whaley, the Bilingual Coordinator at the local high school, encouraged me to apply to a school that would better leverage my learning capacity and address the academic rigor I had become accustomed to. Enter Phillips Academy Andover. Becoming a boarding student at one of the most prestigious college prep private schools in the country was a culture shock AND a confirmation of being self-governed. It taught me to manage my own time so I can complete my tasks, homework, projects, handle the social life, sleep, athletic requirements and other extra curriculars. And it taught me to use the adults around me as a guide, but not as an ultimate authority. The authority in my life was my own inner voice.
This also led me to choose the University of Miami for my undergrad studies because #1 they offered a full scholarship ride and, listen, immigrants recognize a good opportunity and take it!, and because my Caribbean blood was yearning for warmer weather. This is also why I took no summers off, graduating by age 20 with double majors because, I'd be a fool to fail classes or take a decade to graduate when it's costing this much money. By having to finance my own education, I confirmed the value of self-governance and self-reliance, but also to waste no time or effort and focus only on the steps that would get me to my goal.
It's not happening TO you, it's happening FOR you.
I deeply believe the game is rigged in your favor. Either you win, or the game isn't finished yet.
Out of school and into the "real world"
By the time I finished my undergrad studies, I married my college sweetheart, had two degrees and two children. It was time to get out in the real world and make some money. I went to work at a financial services company where I got a quick and dirty introduction to the world of wealth building, entrepreneurship and that money is not this boogey man nobody can get a hold of, but rather a tool that, when properly managed, can build generational legacies and create freedom. They're right, money doesn't buy happiness - what it buys is choices and speed, and when you can move freely and quickly, you are on your way to your own happiness.
My mentor in that company encouraged me to get licensed as a financial planner and stockbroker, and I quickly built a portfolio of "self-made" millionaires that wanted to build wealth by taking calculated, educated risks and wanted me to give it to them straight, no BS. My type of people. Eventually the work I was doing to attract, engage and retain high net-worth clients became a curriculum that later I sold to that company. I learned to always protect your intellectual property (cuz, honey, they WOULD have taken it from under me if I hadn't been advocating for myself) and leverage it to create money long after you're done creating it.
It's only a weakness if you don't leverage it.
Your "flaws" or "weaknesses" are simply strengths you haven't modulated yet. They are the spaces where you can create collaboration with others (and leverage THEIR strengths), and a power you perhaps haven't fully owned yet.
When I was young, folks always accused me of "asking too many questions" or "wanting to know too much". But that spirit of curiosity and not taking things at face value is what allowed me to enter into rooms I didn't know existed and uncover opportunities I didn't know had my name on them!
Impostor Syndrome & Paying Dues
By the time I finished my undergrad studies, I married my college sweetheart, had two degrees and two children. It was time to get out in the real world and make some money.
I went to work at a financial services company where I got a quick and dirty introduction to the world of wealth building, entrepreneurship and that money is not this boogey man nobody can get a hold of, but rather a tool that, when properly managed, can build generational legacies and create freedom. They're right, money doesn't buy happiness - what it buys is choices and speed, and when you can move freely and quickly, you are on your way to your own happiness.
My mentor in that company encouraged me to get licensed as a financial planner and stockbroker, and I quickly built a portfolio of "self-made" millionaires that wanted to build wealth by taking calculated, educated risks and wanted me to give it to them straight, no BS. My type of people. Eventually the work I was doing to attract, engage and retain high net-worth clients became a curriculum that later I sold to that company. I learned to always protect your intellectual property (cuz, honey, they WOULD have taken it from under me if I hadn't been advocating for myself) and leverage it to create money long after you're done creating it.
Fast forward to 2008, my company was ranked as one of the fastest growing companies by Inc Magazine. Yes! We made it to the Inc 500!
One little problem, though... 2008 was also the WORST financial year of my adult life to that point. Oh, and I divorced my children's father! I felt like, if these people knew how much money I've lost with this recession, they'd snatch this award back so fast!
I had to begin again - and I discovered that marketing myself online was a platform worth investing in to increase visibility, connect with my ideal clients and amplify my thought leadership.
Take Your Whole Self With You
Integrating the shadow sides of your leadership is where you can unapologetically show up as yourself, create relatability in your vulnerability and authority in your authenticity.
Growing a Legacy of Our Own
I went all in on my business - I used my background as a financial planner and stockbroker to create one of my signature programs, "Women Wealth + Worthiness(TM)" and relaunched other courses and programs as time went on and students and clients were clamoring for them. What this taught me was the power of creating, amplifying and leveraging your own thought leadership, your own intellectual property.
I also went all in on my personal mastery - earning two doctorates (in Psychology and Comparative Religions), moved to Atlanta where I met and fell in love with my now husband, and have decolonized the way I teach, speak and work with clients to own their full power and freedom. This has resulted in publishing and co-authoring several books with leaders in my industry, two TEDx Talks (you can find them on my YouTube channel), and a lifetime of memories as we continue to grow and evolve.
I know the road of self-sabotage, hiding, defending your smallness and being afraid, to gradually emerging in your authenticity and wielding your full power in the world. And I'm 100% on your team if that's what you're up to as well!