Creating Leadership and Legacy with the Power of Video with Diana Castro

Christine Li  0:01  
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode number 129. 

This episode was so much fun to record because I got to witness Diana Castro in action. She's a complete, visionary thinker who works with having beauty as our guide the beauty of showing up the beauty of having a mission and a message, and the beauty of creating a legacy that will have a significant impact in the world. Diana believes that visibility and influence are the new currency. She helps thought leaders and mission driven entrepreneurs to amplify their region impact by packaging their magic in video content, online programs and branded videos. She's a video producer, host of the leaders with a mission video podcast, video strategist and the co founder of four productions. Diana is a wonderful example of what happens when you're fully engaged in sharing your gifts with the world. And I am very grateful to be able to share her with you right now. Let's go listen to the episode.

Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li, and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped 1000s of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they can begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn a powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy, and how you can create success on demand. 

Welcome to the Make Time for Success podcast. Hello, everyone. I'm back for another amazing episode. I am sure today's episode is going to be amazing. Because I have my special guest Diana Castro with me and I know she is a Video Pro, a video Expert Video Producer, video strategist and a brand new friend and colleague of mine. I'm looking forward to getting to know her more on this episode, and to showcasing her wonderful work with you all on the show today. Welcome, Diana.

Diana Castro  2:28  
Oh, my goodness, thank you so much for the opportunity to be here.

Christine Li  2:32  
Thank you for being here. can you start us off by sharing with us anything you want to share about your backstory and what got you to this point today?

Diana Castro  2:42  
Well, I work with my husband. We're a small but mighty video production company. And our mission is to amplify the visibility and impact of those who are here to do good in the world to bring more awareness to vitality and health and wealth and love and connection and anything that helps us grow and expand or human experience. So we work with coaches and leaders and that provokers that know that they have a mission and vision to share with the world and bad are unapologetically owning that right and want to use the power of video to do that. I don't know since when you want me to start. But this has been my mission, I guess forever. I just was not truly fully aware of it until like about seven years ago, we've had our business for 1011 years this year. Before it was more of like doing video content, which has always been my my jam, but not really knowing the ideal person per se was just more of like, I have fun with video. Ever since I was little. I knew that. It was something that called me I wanted it to be an actress and my dad was like, You're not going to be kissing boys all day long. Like that's not like I have not bringing up a girl who's going to be kissing boys. So you better figure something different. And I discovered the behind the scenes of the world behind video and I was automatically head over heels like to be in a medium that it hugs all of the arts. And that supports this hunger of mine to learn and learn and learn about more things and more things and to be able to create from nothing. It's like anything from nothing. Creation is just like the most magical thing on the universe. And that was my beginning. I married someone in the field. He is the technical director and he has all of the technical side of things which is a beautiful part of video. I know how to do it. I don't enjoy it as much. But what I love Have to do he doesn't enjoy doing which is a perfect like, thing for both of us. We we both complement each other. And we've been doing this forever. And I hope I do it like until the last breath that I have, because I find it to be fun and exhilarating and a powerful medium to do good in the world. That's an amazing

Christine Li  5:23  
introduction and life statement and work statement. Thank you so much for sharing that with us. I am curious, have you always been expressive?

Diana Castro  5:37  
Yeah, yes, ever since I know. I have awareness of myself. Yes, for sure. Very much part of my DNA.

Christine Li  5:46  
Okay. Okay, wonderful. And how do you help others, that you work with your clients or other people in your life to nurture that part of themselves, because I know, a lot of people may not feel exactly in touch with that part of themselves.

Diana Castro  6:06  
And so it's first becoming aware of what feels expensive in their body. I also agree that this medium is not necessarily for everyone in the sense that if it doesn't feel energy rich, for some people, then there's so many other mediums that they can tap into like writing or blogging, or podcasting or whatever allows them to feel comfortable in their skin. But for me, it's just an invitation to explore what's in the other side of their fear. And without judgment, without expectation, it's just more of like, an invitation to do things that allows them the power to make an impact, because some people that's more important to them. So if it's kind of like asking them the right questions of what they value and honoring that for each individual, I think that that's kind of how I, I, especially for self expression. So,

Christine Li  7:06  
so really digging deep and finding what is meaningful to them, you find is helpful to get them to be more expressive and to be more comfortable there.

Diana Castro  7:17  
100% Yes, yes, yes.

Christine Li  7:19  
What is your theory about what might make many people feel like they need to keep that on the down low or not so brilliantly expressed in the world. What holds people back,

Diana Castro  7:33  
in my opinion, sometimes is fear of the unknown, sometimes is a fear of judgment, sometimes is a fear of being seen. Sometimes. I mean, it could be so many different things for so many different people. And fear is just information. And when they're able to kind of tap into, okay, like, what is this telling me and, and work through that. without judgment, I think that that's the most when people feel comfortable, and they feel secure, and they feel safe, that allows them to show up differently. And, and for me, that's the most important thing again, I do believe that video is one of the most powerful means in the world. But I also believe that there's people who maybe their gifts in writing, and that's how they show up, like they show up way better than they would do in video. And if that's their thing, then like, how do we tap into that maybe there's a way of doing video or where it's just the written word. And like, there's so that's the beautiful part about video that it doesn't is not confined to one thing, it's, it could be anything. So how can they take their passion and what they're good and how they shine the most and leverage it in a way that is explosive and that magnifies their, their, their message? Yeah, that to me is the most important thing.

Christine Li  9:13  
Okay, beautiful. And so important. I think with a video being accessible to everyone, it really is an option now, in short form very quick form on Tik Tok, but also in in much more substantial ways. I think right long form video, getting on stage doing the full presentation of your work. There's so many different avenues.

Diana Castro  9:40  
Yeah, that's a beauty could look like like, you know, this karaoke videos where you do, you can read the words that could be with kinetic writing, it could be with people just singing poetry, it could be it could be so many different ways. And that's the thing that people don't know what they don't know until they have have the opportunity to peek inside of the other side of what could be possible, while still honoring the way they feel and gradually, probably overcome whatever is stopping them or not necessarily or just, you know, ride the wave as best as they feel more comfortable. So that that's the beauty of it that it could, it could shape into the form of their liking.

Christine Li  10:26  
I love how you respect the person who is in front of the camera, you respect where they are, where they might be afraid and where they can grow into, and I love that about your style. That's beautiful. Thank you. You're welcome. I am curious for your own business development and journey. What kind of hesitations did you have to face along the way, you've been in this business for at least 10 years? And we both know that business has its up and down moments, can you share with us some of the parts that were a little bit more difficult for you?

Diana Castro  11:06  
Yes, so I've been doing this since I'm 20. And I'm 40. So I've been doing this for 20 years of my life, independently with my husband with our own company about 11 years ago. And during this 11 years, I feel like the business aspect of things I 100% agree with the same in that being in business as an entrepreneur is a spiritual journey is a journey of facing your own demons is a journey of, of continuous growth, it's a journey of self discovery. And through out this whole time, the journeys of not really knowing who we were for, of not honoring our own gifts, like just thinking that because it's easy for us is not valuable. And so, for me a lot of like not knowing how to quote properly, or to feel that yeah, like the part of the deal making. It didn't come very easy to me. For me my strengths are in creation and ideation and and teaching and more towards the, the creation is mainly my biggest strength. So the sales portion of things did not feel very easy to me, not necessarily the conversation of it, but like the closing of it, like asking for the sale and like understanding, like how to drive people into a funnel. And like all the technicalities of creating a sales system, like that did not come easy was not like, you know, like for some people is like, oh, that's like the simplest thing for me particularly. It was not the easiest thing and navigating that with my husband, that he he believed in this dream that I had of doing our own business, we left corporate because we felt like we were dying, like or so I was definitely feeling suffocated. And, and he joined me trusting that the dream that I have was was going to be true. And it has been, but not without like, oh, not being able to pay the mortgage for five months. And like always losing the house. And you know, having just $10.20 in the bank at some point and having to ask my mom for money and like all of that pugs heart of business that a lot of people don't talk about, because if it can feel very shameful for some, but like, it's been a journey of self discovery and, and I couldn't have done it without my husband by my side. Like you know, it could have been a lot easier to just drop everything and find another job and find something but he he stood by my side and and he still is by my side, like as we grow and continue to nurture because this to me is not a job. This to me is like this is part of my mission on earth. This is how we create legacy. This is what I believe in. This is my life. So yeah, I don't know, which would help how deeper if you have like, additional like more in depth questions, but it was it's been a journey of learning to value or work to see value. Because in my experience, what was true to me is that because things came very easy to me. I feel kind of guilty for charging for them like, like I remember one time we were sitting with a group of entrepreneurs and you This girl who I know from other social, you know, business networking events, within in the table, she was kind of sharing how she was struggling with her business and to put certain things together. And I kept asking her questions and then like I, one of my guests is like to put the dark like to kind of like connect the dots and things and, and come up with something visual that would represent like to synthesize something that for some could be complex that to me, that's a my world. I can see it through images and sound like I translate everything through images in my brain. And I saw it and I was like, oh, god, that's so simple. And I started to tell her like, so this connected with this, and I was telling her how to like, put it together. And a friend of mine who's sitting next to me he'll know, like, or struggle. This was like, whoa, wait, you're giving her like, the whole strategy for free? And I was like, Yeah, but the thing cost me anything. I was just like, but that's like, easy. And she stopped the lady. And she's like, if you want the end of whatever she's telling you, you're gonna have to pay her because that what she's giving you is gold. She's becoming two years have you been struggling with is? And the girl was like, she's like, Oh, well, like, I think it was like three years. And she's like, well, she just she just made it into like a three minute thing. And she gave it to you. And at that moment, when was when I had like this huge aha, that something that comes really easy to me doesn't necessarily comes easy to other people like I to me was like, as easy as breathing like I am a storyteller. I create stories, I make complex things simple. And I didn't value my own gift because it was easy to me. So that's I think one of the things that I invite others that may be struggling within their business is that sometimes we can tend to not value our gifts because it comes easy to us. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's easy for others. And that's why we need each other. So yes,

Christine Li  17:09  
yes, we need feedback. We need our friends, we need coaches, great coaches, we need our partners. Yes, we need others to help us see the value. And the impact of our work sometimes as well, too. I'm so glad that you've successfully made that journey and that you're thriving as a result to because not charging for your your gifts is really not going to get anyone anywhere really.

Diana Castro  17:37  
It's not and, and like realizing having people to give us that feedback of like, but that was an easy for me. It took me forever to figure that out. And that's powerful to like get to have people to kind of hold us accountable to our own worth. That's powerful.

Christine Li  17:56  
Yes, I agree. You mentioned the word legacy. And my ears perked up. And I'm really curious what you mean by that, and how you help your clients and customers, build their legacy secure their legacy? What does that all mean for you?

Diana Castro  18:17  
Oh, my God, that's a hot topic. And I'll tell you, I believe that video is this time capsule that allows us to not only copy paste ourselves into a digital medium that could be played over and over and over and over again. But I also imagine a world where my great great great grandkids could look back at all the content that I've created, and they could get a sense of who I was that my memory could live forever just because I I took a leap of faith and I recorded my thoughts and I recorded my teachings. And to me is how do I want to be remembered as usually what comes after the word legacy? Like how do you want to be remembered and my my thoughts on how I see the world and where I see beauty and how I see value on and in a world that feels sometimes can feel overwhelming and full of bad news. What people like me who have access to a medium like video and the access to leaders and how do I become bigger than myself? I like when I work with clients that for example, I work with someone who supports women who have lost a loved one or with with the power of grief. I don't just do a video. I also become part of that mission because I get to influence of how the message is packaged and so it's it's bigger than just myself. And for me video is that powerful legacy component in a world where now everything is digital in a world In the future, people might be able to visit you at a grave and put like an activate a chip that will have you talking to them and can have, like, you know, messages of you? How could we provide the content for that? Or have you know, so? Yeah, video is like, I sometimes tell my clients like we are able to see who will this knee was because he created video and we were mesmerized about where he was and what he did. And, and that could be you and that and that that is me. And yeah, how can we live forever, and make sure that we ensure that or passage through this short lifespan matters that it could transcend time. And that's, that's why I'm so in love with you. That's why I feel it's part of a bigger picture.

Christine Li  20:58  
Ladies and gentlemen, you have just heard the process, thinking of a visionary thinker, someone who can really think beyond the current confines of space and time and I loved hearing that. See that on video myself, as I'm looking at Diana, as she's processing all of this. Thank you, Diana for that. Now, I'm going to ask if you could share what video has done for any of your favorite clients, you know, what the impact has been, if you if you can and are permitted to do so. Do you have just a few minutes, but I would love to hear a couple stories.

Diana Castro  21:41  
Okay, um, my second clients when I went into business, her name is Maria Marine. She's in the Hispanic influencing world. And when she came to us, she had an idea she didn't really know how to execute on that idea. And I kind of interviewed her I took all of the information and we created a show called info conceito, then Maria Medina, like the little push from memory. And through the time that we were working with her, we were able to get the 100,000 plaque from YouTube. But beyond that, as of right now, she has over 10 million followers and Facebook alone and then she she she has like over 500,000 people on YouTube and she makes a living out of being an influencer, which is not necessarily the core of who I attract them. But she was like my second client. And she's been able to create a living out of monetizing her brilliance. She's a star personality, she loves entertaining people, she loves to make people laugh and all of this fun stuff. And that's just one example. She's, I mean, she does what she loves. And then another example that comes to mind is I have a podcast called leaders with a mission. And I invited someone that was in my BNI group at that time. And we did the video podcast and he published it and he got a call from someone in Panama to do a job for him just because because of the they saw the show. And like this I have calls from clients that are screaming like somebody watched her video on the called us to be on MSNBC and that's like the cherry on top like, it feels like we're doing our job it just it's so I get to celebrate with my clients that their message was seen, you know, beyond their things like I remember going to a like a chase business event. And someone got close to me and and they were like oh my god, I watch your show. And I was like I don't even know who they are. I felt like a pop star I guess it was a really weird feeling that somebody like they came up to me and they're like I know you don't know me but I know you I watch all of your content please don't stop doing it. It just it's a good feeling to know that it's not just my mom watch

Christine Li  24:21  
I think there's a lot more people than just your mom watching your video with all respect to your lovely

Diana Castro  24:27  
like mom you know you have to watch my video just make sure you like it and share it yeah BBB on like my my sister and my mom and but yeah, definitely feeling like it resumes like the vibration of my messages is getting farther and further and further and yeah, it just feels amazing and it makes me really aware of what am I putting out in the world. Beautiful.

Christine Li  24:56  
Now I would like to ask I had one more question. It's just escaped my mind though. How do you work with your clients? Because it sounds like a lot of it is just natural and fluid and easy for you. What is your style and process with your clients? That's my question.

Diana Castro  25:14  
Ooh, that's fun. So I'm a teacher as well, in a sense, I love learning from people. And I have like a thirst for curiosity and understanding how things work. So the first thing we do in order for me to be able to support someone in their content qualification journey, is to tap into their brain, like I want to connect to the motherboard. And I want to know, everything. So in this journey of me understanding who you are, and what you do and who you're for, and what are your packages and how to use them is like kind of me plugging in, into what's important to you on getting clarity. And a lot of this then gives my clients clarity, because they sometimes they have not been asked certain questions, and they get to declutter their message so that they can be more effective. And that is a win win, because it allows me to understand the big vision that they have. And it allows me to guide them through that process of what is serving them, what is not serving them, what could be phase one, phase two, phase three. And then once we know that, then we plan out the filming of things, one of the main packages that I currently have is that we create a content for the entire year, I tell people give me five days of your life, and we'll have content for the entire year. And we'll do everything for you, all you have to do is show up. So they show up for me to download their brain, they show up to film the content and to get you know, feedback on how they're presenting their content. Because we coach our clients through that process. And then we edit, we send them the like, we send them the branding structure of how the video looks likes, and, and everything. And then we do the posting for them. And then we rinse and recycle however, we see that the content is working. And for me, it's very much going deep into the soul of the business. And then from there, we look at the world outside on how the world is asking for their content. And based on that kind of like it determines the remaining of of the journey. But yeah, I hope that that answers, that's

Christine Li  27:35  
a very wonderful, very specific description of a magical process that you put your clients through, I'm sure it's a great relief for your clients to be able to work with someone like you who really cares about getting asked them the meat of the mission and the the truth of the mission, and then simplify it enough so that it's actually absorbed by everyone who might be looking for that person or not even knowing that they're looking for that person. That's beautiful.

Diana Castro  28:03  
Yes, yes, yes, I do tell them that, like, for example, we're very selective to who we work with, because I know that not everyone is ready, even though they might be a great candidate, they might not be the right season for them. So for me, it's important to know how they are energetically in that state. Like, there's people that are taking on everything like they wanted to podcast, but they're draining their energy, and they're coming from a depleted space. And I truly believe that everything that we create absorbs the energy from our creation. So if we're coming from a place of depletion and reset, man, because we're doing all of this to dues but nothing is working, like, if it's from the energy of I have to do this, then it may not be the right season for them to do that work, especially because it asks a lot from you. And that's what you're going to put out in the world. So for me understanding what are the motivations of their work, because I am going to work with them for an entire year. I want to, I know that the work that we do is so important. And I want to answer the phone like happy that I get to talk to you not like oh my god, this is the third time I'm trying to call you on your own answer and like, because it can get like that if the person is not in the right, energetic frame and may say that, yeah, we're tapping into the wrong, wrong timing in the journey, then I want people to be aware of how their energy is of how energy rich they are when they're in that creation mode, because that's what we're putting out in the world and I want them to know that. That is something that's going to stay there for a long time and that's their legacy. So treating it as such is my it's my job to be leading them to that promise. slant,

Christine Li  30:00  
beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Thank you. Thank you for showing us your visionary talents today and making us very, very excited about showing up on video the next time any of us who get on video, we're going to be thinking of you. And I want to thank you again for being on the show today, can you tell us how we can stay in touch with you and or start the process of working with you.

Diana Castro  30:27  
So you can find me at four productions that comm that's f o r productions with an S at the end that calm and all of my social medias are basically on there that ad for productions. And there is a tab inside of my website that is free tools. And they get to check out free trainings or free assets that I've created for people in their video journey. And yeah, they can check us out. And if they want to ask me more about how we can work together, they get to schedule a consultation call. And we can take it from there.

Christine Li  31:03  
All right, beautiful, beautiful. Thank you so much. work isn't each other over this screen. And I'm just so grateful to have had the chance to meet you in this way. It was really, really fun. Thank you, Diana.

Diana Castro  31:15  
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, I'll receive a huge hug from the distance. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness and all the beautiful questions. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Christine Li  31:26  
Thank you and return. All right, my dear listeners. Now I hope you're inspired. And please share your comments and feedback for Diana on her Instagram for productions and give her some love to and a hug right back to you, Diana. And thank you everyone for being here and supporting the Make Time for Success of podcast. If you would please leave a positive rating and review for the show. I would so appreciate that so we can get this legacy so of mine to the ears of more listeners. I will see you next week when the next episode drops. Take care everyone. Bye bye. 

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for success podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes and all the resources we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name procrastination coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success. I'll talk to you soon!

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