Influencer With A Voice: Alexa Carlin

Photo Taken By: Debra Gloria Photography, https://www.debragloriaphotography.com

1. Name?

Alexa Carlin

2. Where are you located?

Boca Raton, FL for now but I’m about to try the digital nomad thing for a while and travel!

3. Please tell us about ‘Women Empower Expo (WEX).”

The Women Empower Expo (WEX) was founded on the values of collaboration over competition. Our events bring together the most powerful and inspiring women to empower one another to turn their ideas into reality and take their professional and personal life to the next level.

At WEX you’ll be able to learn from industry experts and female leaders, network with entrepreneurs and change-makers, discover tools and strategies to take your business to the next level, and feel empowered to create a positive change.

4. When was WEX founded?

I founded WEX in 2016 and grew it to become the largest event for female entrepreneurs in South Florida and Washington D.C. within its first year.

5. What inspired you to start WEX?

There were two big things on my journey that led to the inspiration behind WEX. The first was experiencing the impact a community had in my life. When I was struggling with my health, I spent months isolated in my apartment too sick to be able to go out and publicly speak, so I began sharing and speaking through live streaming. I quickly built an incredible community of over 20,000 people who showed up every morning to watch my “Morning Motivation” livestreams. This community helped me get through some of my hardest days. Once I began to get healthy, I really wanted to take this online community offline understanding how impactful a community of support can be, especially as a solopreneur working from home.

The other part that led to the inspiration behind WEX was seeing a disconnect among female leaders in my community. Once I got healthy again I was speaking to a number of different organizations in South Florida and I was meeting all of these amazing women but no one knew each other. Everyone just stayed within their own industry or own paid membership group. I wanted to create an event that brought all of these diverse women from different industries together to collaborate with one another as I truly believe collaboration over competition is a key driver towards positive change and success.

6. As a nationally renowned motivational speaker in what ways do you motivate or inspire people?

By sharing my stories vulnerably and authentically I am able to create a real connection fostering change and action in the lives I encounter. When you are confident and courageous enough to share what you are currently going through, you show people that they are not alone on this journey. Through my speeches, my videos on YouTube and Instagram I want to show people that even though I’m going through challenges, i’m still chasing after my dreams and you can too.

7. In 2011 you founded inspirational blog “Hello Perfect”, what is it about? Please share.

Hello Perfect was a blog I started in college with the purpose to redefine perfection in order to instill confidence in young women’s lives. I hated how it was the norm for young women to put themselves down and I wanted to change this. Through the blog I started a campaign called “The Perfect Is” campaign where I went around asking people their definitions of perfect to show that there is no such thing as one meaning for the word. This campaign fostered the likes of Mark Cuban, Shaq, Steve Madden, Marc Jacobs and Rebecca Minkoff among others, each of them sharing their own definitions of perfect.

8. Any memorable story that changed you personally and professionally?

Yes! There are so many but one was when I got Marc Jacobs definition of perfect. I was interning at New York Fashion Week in September of 2012 with my best friend and the night before the event kicked off, there was an event called “Fashion’s Night Out” (FNO) which was a night all the stores in Soho stayed open late and had fun shopping parties open to the public. We had a list of the stores we wanted to hit up and explore but the streets were so crowded it was hard to get everywhere so I led me and my friend down this side street. Lined up on the street were Volvo Beetle cars that were painted like ladybugs for the launch of Marc Jacobs new perfume. We took a photo with the cars and models standing outside and then one of them mentioned Marc may be visiting the store tonight. There was no way I thought, especially since the Marc Jacobs store wasn’t even on the main FNO website, but we decided to go into the store and look around for a few minutes before heading out to the rest of the stores we had on our list.

The Marc Jacobs store was so small and crowded, we made one loop then ended up getting stuck by the register with people pushing us. I looked to the right of me and there he was, Marc Jacobs making his way behind the counter right next to me!

This was my chance I thought, so I introduced myself, told him about my blog Hello Perfect and asked him for his definition of perfect. He said, “Perfect, what is?” I of course thought that was a genius answer. I thanked him and as I was about to leave making room for everyone who was ferociously pushing us to get to him, he grabbed my hand to stop me. He was wearing a long sleeve button down shirt and he turned over his wrist, pulled up his sleeve to show me that on his wrist was the tattoo of the word “perfect”.

This experience, while an amazing story, really taught me a powerful lesson in following your purpose. This was the sign I needed showing me I was on the right path. It was a lesson of trusting your instincts, being open to different opportunities that may sway from the original plan, and to always always go for it! I was so nervous talking to Marc but I knew this was my one shot and as I always say in my speeches, I fear regret more than I fear failure.

9. On which topics do you speak upon?

Women’s empowerment, entrepreneurship, authentic leadership and confidence.

10. Do you have any upcoming events? When and where?

Yes! The next Women Empower Expo will take place on November 10th at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center. You can learn more here: https://womenempowerx.com/

Also- for an up to date list of where i’m speaking next, please visit: https://www.alexacarlin.com/events

11. Tell us about your journey from your first jewellery designing company to starting up a blog ‘hello perfect’ and WEX.

Hm… that’s a lot to write in a short response! But i’ll share this, each step along my journey has helped me become the person I am today and is helping me become the person I am supposed to be. I had to go through every failure, misstep, challenge and lesson in order to get to where I’m at today. I truly believe our life is this never ending puzzle and as we get older we start to see how all the pieces fit together creating this larger vision we have for ourselves. For example, the jewelry company I started in high school led me to my first internship in NYC which introduced me to a dear friend who then, 7 years later, booked me for my largest corporate speaking gig!

12. How do empowering women has helped ‘Women’? Any future plans to motivate people on international level?

Empowerment is a key driver to helping women succeed. Empowering women means not only showing them what to do but giving them permission to go do it! At WEX you not only get equipped with the tools and knowledge needed to take your business and life to the next level but you also meet an amazing community of women who will support you along the way. This third factor empowers women to never give up and truly take action on the things they want most in life.

Future plans to motivate people internationally- YES! Most likely it will start through speaking engagements on a personal level but who knows, we are already getting a lot of interest in Canada and the UK for WEX.