Small Business Making A Difference
Gina Marotta - The Genius Guru
Chicago, IL
There are many different revolutions in this world. Gina Marotta, The Genius Guru, is leading one very important one, the mission to find and secure career happiness. "In the current state of our world, we face daily: fear, pressure, sadness, rejection, people doing scary things, and countless forms of suffering. Yet, there is also a movement of people seeking to live from peace, love, and happiness," shares The Genius Guru, who left her high-power career as a criminal defense lawyer and the Managing Director of Step Up Women's Network, to capture her own career happiness. As The Genius Guru, Gina guides others to do what they were born to do through her private lessons, motivational talks, and workshops. I Admire you Gina, your work, your business, is making a huge difference in people's lives, and your personal journey of self-discovery is one that everyone in this universe can learn from. You reinvented yourself from the courtroom, to the board room, to clients' dreams of happiness. Very few people are bold and brave enough to take the risks you have taken, and even fewer are selfless enough to impact the lives of others in the positive manner you do.
Gina in her own words...
1. You were nominated because you are “seriously going to start a happiness revolution.” When you hear that, what comes to mind? And do tell, what is a happiness revolution?
In the current state of our world, we face daily: fear, pressure, sadness, rejection, people doing scary things, and countless forms of suffering. Yet, there is also a movement of people seeking to live from peace, love, and happiness.
As it turns out, my piece of the pie in this life, at least for now, is to teach people about happiness in the context of their career, which is significant because we spend so much of our time at work. It’s been my own personal journey to create a career I love, so now I’d like to shift the experience of work for others.
I believe and know that at its highest potential a professional endeavor can be fulfilling and serve as a creative outlet for self-expression, an opportunity to connect and collaborate with others, and a chance to make a positive impact on the world. It is my personal mission to revolutionize our experience of our careers to align individuals, workplaces, schools, and educators with this notion of joyful, creative and meaningful work.
In the current state of our world, we face daily: fear, pressure, sadness, rejection, people doing scary things, and countless forms of suffering. Yet, there is also a movement of people seeking to live from peace, love, and happiness.
As it turns out, my piece of the pie in this life, at least for now, is to teach people about happiness in the context of their career, which is significant because we spend so much of our time at work. It’s been my own personal journey to create a career I love, so now I’d like to shift the experience of work for others.
I believe and know that at its highest potential a professional endeavor can be fulfilling and serve as a creative outlet for self-expression, an opportunity to connect and collaborate with others, and a chance to make a positive impact on the world. It is my personal mission to revolutionize our experience of our careers to align individuals, workplaces, schools, and educators with this notion of joyful, creative and meaningful work.
"As The Genius Guru, I guide people specifically around doing the work they were “born to do.” This means discovering and doing what is your inner genius, meaning; your natural talent that come easy to you, what is fun for you and expressive of your passions, what you desire to cultivate and spend time growing in, and what you feel a higher calling toward in your work."
2. Your story is a badass journey of self-discovery. Your journey is one of a woman who made two major career moves; from rising star lawyer who worked among Chicago’s top criminal defense lawyers, to founding Managing Director of Step Up Women’s Network, a non-profit with 10,000 supporters in Chicago, to helping others find their genius as The Genius Guru. How in the world did you manage the courage to make such bold changes? You were successful and admired, how did you decide to give that up?
Thank you for acknowledging my courage. While looking back it all feels incredibly right and rewarding, I did have to rally up my courage dozens of times to get where I am today. It was not always easy but it has totally been worth it.
Here are a few of my secrets:
(1) I had an inspirational role model. As a pre-teen, I watched my mom go through an inspirational journey of creating a career she loved in her early 30ies when she reinvented herself as a single mom. I have always drawn upon her story for inspiration. My mom passed away at age 39 when she was just a few years into getting her dream started. So, she also showed me that life is too short to not do what you love.
(2) I am fiercely committed to my freedom. We live in a world where the predominant thinking is that our destiny is shaped by the economy, our bosses, our family members, etc. I’ve always resisted thinking that my circumstances or others control me. I also have a low tolerance for feeling unhappy and limited, like I can’t do what I want. So, although it can seem scary, hard, time-consuming, and unreasonable at first, I always know there is a way to do the things I want to do. And so I do them.
(3) I created and leaned into a support network. Once upon a time, I used to try to do everything alone, feeling like I couldn’t trust other people. But I’ve learned that to do anything extraordinary, you need a support team. I call this a “tribe.” Another fun word being used these days is a “squad.” In each of my transitions, I turned to people I trusted and admired or created new connections to help cultivate my dreams. I talked for hours and hours with friends about my worries and doubts so as to come up with solutions. I took self empowerment trainings to learn new tools to break out of my own limited thinking. I hired coaches, therapists, mentors, and spiritual guides who helped me become more of my authentic self so I could find and trust the answers inside of me. On the contrary, the people who took the approach of shooting down my dreams or telling me what to do without regard for a deep knowing of me and my heart’s desires, I closed them out. They didn’t get a say.
(4) I listened for each next step. The way to bring a big dream to life, I have learned, is to take one step at a time. And as it turns out, that’s about all you really know as you go. So, along the way in each of these transitions, I just listened to myself (which is an art in and of itself!) to hear what to do next. My inner wisdom just told me: “call this person, go to this event, do this crazy thing, etc.” So I just always listened, mustered up courage, and took each step.
As for giving up being “successful and admired,” I will admit my ego had a field day when I decided I wanted to enter the coaching field. A part of me was saying that I had a law degree and was about to do work that was “beneath” my hard-earned professional status. Now knowing the amazing work that is involved in coaching I’m embarrassed to even share this. But I’d rather share and be honest that this is what our ego does. It contrives deeply emotional reasons to stop us from following our dreams. Luckily, I moved through that phase and now know that my training and experience as a lawyer actually makes me uniquely suited as a coach to relate to my clients’ professional pressures and responsibilities, spot issues for them, counsel them to creative solutions, and advocate on behalf of their dreams like nobody’s business!
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3. For both of your career moves, how long did it take you to go from realizing you were unhappy in your role to actually taking action to move forward?
About 2 years. I’ve learned that every big idea I have takes about that long from when I first get the vision until I am actually bringing it into fruition. This is very helpful to know! I used to put a lot of pressure on myself for every idea that I had to make it happen by tomorrow. Now I know better and really honor the creative process, of which I consider myself both a student and a teacher.
4. You used to work with Chicago’s top criminal defense lawyers on the highest profile cases in the city, ranging from political corruption to murder. Do you ever miss that previous life?
This is probably the question I am asked more than any other. The answer is no, and there is a great reason for my answer. The aspects of my work as a lawyer that I loved I also used as the Managing Director at Step Up and use now as The Genius Guru. I am an advocate, guide, counselor, writer, and media personality. Each transition allowed me to be more real and show more of my true self. So the reality is my career has gotten better and better with each transition as I apply my genius in new arenas and feel more free to express my creativity.
5. Before your second career move you declared, “I want to be the next Tony Robbins.” What an exciting statement. What about Tony motivated you to be an entrepreneur and become The Genius Guru? What do you do as The Genius Guru?
Tony has developed a business model around teaching and guiding people to reach their potential to live happy, successful, and meaningful lives. That’s what I am out to do specifically for people in the area of work. So, I’ve shaped my business vision around his model: one-on-one coaching, group workshops, speaking engagements, books, videos, and whatever ways technology will help me get out the messages I am meant to deliver.
As The Genius Guru, I guide people specifically around doing the work they were “born to do.” This means discovering and doing what is your inner genius, meaning; your natural talent that come easy to you, what is fun for you and expressive of your passions, what you desire to cultivate and spend time growing in, and what you feel a higher calling toward in your work. I have natural talent in spotting people’s genius. So I’m able to see into people’s desires and dreams often even more than they can at first. My job becomes about guiding them to see what’s inside them wanting to come out. A big part of my work is also helping people peel away the layers that stop them from doing what they love or doing it at their highest potential. Turns out, the biggest block to our career happiness is ourselves. I’m also very intuitive about spotting these blocks and seeing how they might tie back to someone’s past. So, I help people clear away their limitations to be free to go forth and do what is in their heart. And the third essential element is that I teach people about how to tune into their own inner wisdom which guides them around each step to take. When you can hear that inner guidance, you feel confident in taking steps that might otherwise seem crazy.
6. What is the most rewarding part about your business? What is a recent client success story?
It is most rewarding to see a client follow their intuition and take bold, courageous steps like quit a job, start a passion project, have a courageous conversation with someone, test out a business idea, or start a new business venture.
As far as a recent success, I had coffee this Spring with one of my very first clients. He’ll always have a special place in my heart as someone who believed in me and gave me a shot when I was just getting started. I’m going to keep his identity private, so let’s call him “Peter.” Peter came to me to help him explore the possibility of closing his business. This was a big deal because his company was his identity. In our work, we discovered major heartbreaks were in the background and influenced how he created his business. And so with a foundation of loss and not yet fully knowing himself, the business he was running day in and day out no longer represented him. It was a long and difficult process to decide to close his business. But along the way, Peter got to discover who he really was and what he wanted next. To see where he is today, several years later, I felt choked up with joy as he talked about his life. He’s in love, engaged, and his genius and experience from his earlier business guided him to co-found a new company doing very innovative work (which is so him!) in a similar industry but new arena.
7. You were top of your class in law school, a “genius legal writer,” and you were working among some of Chicago’s most famous lawyers. Yet, you found yourself crying on your shower floor. What nuggets of advice would you share with someone who is facing a similar feeling in their current situation?
Great question! This is where a lot of people who come to see me are starting out. Here are a few basics:
- Listen to those feelings. Don’t push them down even though they are uncomfortable. They are showing you the Truth that what you are doing right now is not working.
- Find comfort in knowing that this is a blessing in disguise. Whatever is out of alignment and causing your discomfort right now is also leading you toward the life that is more authentic for who you are becoming. Hang in there! It will all make sense with time.
- Create time and safe space to tune into yourself for answers. You know what’s best for you. So the best thing you can do is find time and helpful methods to explore your big questions in ways that feel safe to you. This is a great time to start mediating or to increase the amount of time you meditate. And remember, this will take time.
- Get support. It is very big question to ask: “Who am I and what do I want to do with my life?” So don’t do it alone! Encircle yourself with people you trust to be loving and supportive and to help you find your answers. This may be a great time also to hire a coach or take a class that provides you guidance around a process for your journey and also to be around others who can inspire you and remind you that you are not crazy but instead on to something awesome!
"Turns out, the biggest block to our career happiness is ourselves. I’m also very intuitive about spotting these blocks and seeing how they might tie back to someone’s past. So, I help people clear away their limitations to be free to go forth and do what is in their heart."
8. Along with your work as The Genius Guru, you share your story as a writer and as a speaker. What is your message during your talks? What do you hope someone walks away with after listening to you?
My story is the reason I can serve as The Genius Guru. What I went through in my two career transitions showed me what it takes to follow your heart and genius to do work that you were designed and born for. I had to figure it out, and so now I write and teach from my own story and the golden nuggets of wisdom that have come from my experience. Also, now that I’ve coached dozens of clients around their career transitions, I see trends. We all go through similar ups and downs on this particular journey. My hope is that when I speak, I prove to the audience that you can discover your particular dream and your inner genius, even if they feel nonexistent and buried, and also that once discovered, no matter how far away they may seem today, you can turn your dreams into reality through your genius. Over the course of my career I have proved this theory - twice!
9. You are a woman of action. Between career changes, not only did you emotionally explore what you wanted. You actively searched for what you wanted. You signed up for an empowerment class, you started a women’s networking group, created an all-day seminar, you danced in musicals, and found support and mentors. How important were these steps of action in getting you to where you are now? What would you like to say to your support and mentors?
These steps were EVERYTHING to get me where I am now! What I’ve learned in hindsight, and teach my clients about now, is that inspired actions from your heart and inner wisdom put you on a magical path to exactly where you are meant to go. I had no idea all those actions you mentioned would add up to the essential elements that qualified me to transition from being a lawyer to running a nonprofit about the empowerment of women and girls and even later would qualify me to be The Genius Guru.
For the people who supported and mentored me, I am incredibly grateful. I would not be where I am today without the contributions of literally 100s of people. And of course, there are a few key players that stand out.
I’d like to acknowledge and thank my friend Erlinda, who was my link to learning about Step Up. She changed my life in one conversation!
And I’d also like to thank “The Dream Team.” These are 3 women who formed an accountability club with me to share our dreams, provide support, and hold each other accountable to take daring actions that would bring our dreams into reality. Without these ladies, I would not have had the courage or confidence to start my current business. Thank you Christine, Dawn, and Molly!
10. “The discomfort began again,” at the five year mark with your role at Step Up Women’s Network. You’ve been helping others find their genius for four years now. I’m curious, what’s next for you?
The creative possibilities are endless in having my own business so I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this! What I’ve been working on lately is developing and refining a class about unlocking inner genius that I teach here in Chicago (http://ginamarotta.com/events/) and also developing and refining a private 3 session jumpstart program where I coach clients one-on-one to take their next courageous career moves (http://ginamarotta.com/programs/). Out of this work and from my own career experiences, I’m developing the material for my first book! Writing is the form of art where I excel, and so this is very exciting to put all I’ve been learning into one place for many more people to see and experience!
11. I Admire U, who do you admire?
I admire Liz Gilbert. Her book Eat Pray Love inspired and opened my spiritual journey and catalyzed courageous change for millions of people around the world. I greatly admire her as someone who bravely told her own story to awaken and benefit others. I desire to do the same. I want to share my story of unlocking my genius to give others hope and catalyze courageous actions to do the work they were born to do.
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