Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathalia Montenegro.
Hi Nathalia, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been an adventurer. Since I was a kid, I knew that my purpose relied somewhere beyond Brazilian borders. I dreamed about a place where I would feel that I belonged, surrounded by nature, with perfect waves, and a community made of people just like me.
Also, I always knew that I would run my own business. So, I started early on my studies and career in Business and Arts simultaneously. It led me to discover the power of managing meaning and how it impacts people’s lives.
I worked in a few companies as a brand manager but after experiencing more than one burn-out trying to solve problems that could only be solved by adjusting their foundation of thinking, I decided that I wouldn’t let myself go through that anymore. I knew intrinsically the problem why brands with so much potential weren’t growing, why they seemed to be in a constant loop of opportunities and struggles.
Without any guarantees that I would succeed, I left my job and started my own consultancy on Brand and Business Strategy.
My plan worked out well for a few years but it wasn’t enough yet. I was still missing my desired “paradise”.
At that time, I was certain that my paradise was in Australia somewhere waiting for me. Don’t ask me why, maybe it was the imaginary built behind the “new land” to be explored and its waves perfectly crafted by god.
So, I took the fierce decision to take a top-rated master’s study in Australia that would not only add to my career but it would also bring me closer to my envisioned paradise. I was 110% sure that my place was there waiting for me.
But it wouldn’t be as easy as I thought. The master course I wanted to take was really hard to be accepted, and as if it wasn’t enough, I would still need the scholarship.
For two years, all I thought about and breathed was related to getting the right qualifications for the master’s course and the scholarship. It was not only about my career but it was my paradise that was at stake.
I couldn’t see myself living anywhere else but in Australia. Finally, after a year and a half, I received the first answer: My application was accepted to one of the most competitive master’s studies. “Yes, this is my path.” I thought, reassuring myself that I was on the right track.
Then the scholarship response arrived months later, and the answer was: I wasn’t contemplated.
My world shut down. I felt lost.
I could only feel an infinite black space around me.
“How’s that possible?? This is not right! This is supposed to be my path, my paradise is there!” Thoughts like these would run in my head over and over again.
After a couple of months, already accepting my fate and without anything to lose, I stumbled across a really cheap ticket to Portugal. The adventurer inside of me was awakened “Why not?”
I left Brazil saying that I would stay for 2 or 3 months, just to clear my mind.
Those three months turned into three years.
Coming to Portugal without a path ready to be followed pushed me to create my own way. I launched two small businesses, traveled around, and co-founded a start-up related to the future of work. Until I felt something inside of me off again. The adventure I was living wasn’t fulfilling me anymore.
I realized that I wasn’t on the track of my calling: helping leaders to be more conscious and expanding their company’s potential through meaning. (Side note: it wasn’t so clear like this at that time. It took me a lot of harsh inner work).
So, I did the scariest thing ever: re-launched my consultancy business for an international market – alone.
One day, I went on a surf trip through the Portuguese coast and I stumbled across a small fishermen’s village. I slept there for two days. I had no idea at that time that the small village area was part of the world’s surfing reserve. It was surrounded by nature and dwelled by people from all over the world.
Those two days turned into two years now. And I don’t see myself going anywhere soon.
Paradise was found.
Today, I am happy and fulfilled with my work and mission. Grateful to work with clients on four different continents. From this small fishermen’s village, I am not only able to surf the best waves in the world but also I can help visionary business leaders to fulfill their vision by building meaningful companies that people care about. There is still a long journey ahead, but I am rested that I am on the right path this time, the path of surrender and intuition.
What I learned is that, in business or in life, paradises aren’t found but created. Created by the choices we make when we stick to our true values.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not a smooth road, but for sure a very exciting one with lots of learnings!
The first big struggle was identity detachment.
Once we believe fiercely that we are this or meant for that when it doesn’t happen, we lose a sense of self. But is also very important to create space to reconnect with who we truly are. And who we are truly is not depending on external factors in our lives. Understanding our values, what is important for us, and our perception of life helps us to create the external factors that reflect our identity, not the opposite.
The second big struggle for me was to take the decision (and action) to re-launch again my consultancy business without a network of support, very different from when I was in Brazil. Doing it just by myself was really scary, I doubted myself all the time. Fighting constantly impostor syndrome, fear of failure, and having to figure out every step by myself until I found the right people to support me along the way.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Into the Brand?
Into the Brand is how I named my boutique consultancy on Brand strategy integrated with Business Strategy. I help companies to expand and stand-out, building a brand thinking system that sets a strong foundation and clear direction to thrive in their market.
My clients are companies longing to make their brands more meaningful and their business more clear to their leaders and customers, so they can fulfill their vision.
My mission is to help visionary leaders to expand their companies with consciousness, growing a brand that people care about.
Companies expand when they connect deeply with their audience delivering outstanding value. When you care about the audience you serve, people care about your brand. Instead of wasting their energy focusing on how to overcome the “competition” or struggling how to get their audience’s attention.
The fact is, when you own your story and know who you serve, there is no competition, you just focus on your own path towards your vision.
I created a unique methodology which I named The promised Land Strategy to guide my clients to build a strong brand foundation based on what they do best as a company, to whom can benefit the most from what they do best, aligned with impact goals that fulfill the leader’s vision.
It is a story-based and humanized approach for effective business strategy. This is true because ‘story’ in this context is not only about how you present your brand to others but it is the unique thinking process your team use to think solutions aligned with the goals.
They are human-friendly guidelines, in other words, it is created taking into consideration behavioral and meaning psychology, the fundamental aspects of the human living, so it is intuitive and easy for people to connect and operate accordingly.
How do you think about luck?
I don’t believe in luck.
I believe in doing the inner work. I’ve learned that the world we experience is a reflection of how our mind is settled to expect. And by expecting, I mean also the deeper layers of the unconscious that we have no idea that is guiding our lives.
And I believe in action that we create the causes and conditions to what we want to experience in the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://intothe-brand.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intothe_brand/
Image Credits
Bruna Rezende @bruna.click
