Who is Riah Gonzalez and what are you about in the world?

I am an expert in unconventional success. Really, I am a guide in helping people work through what their definition is for themselves. I’m an everyday person who is willing to be openly imperfect and claim my success anyways.

Tell us about a project that you’re working on and why it is important for you.

I’m working on my book that recently came out: it’s called Successful as F*ck, a No BS tale of Screwing Up and Succeeding Anyway.” I see it as an important project because I believe life is messy, and things happen to us, and we have to deal with them. Often, despite our best intentions, we will do things that hurt other people as
well. And when we are stuck in the fact that we’re not measuring up to what we were told or raised to believe success is, it leaves us feeling that we are not enough and we will never amount to anything.

Why you were drawn to this subject?

In 2020 I decided that it was the year of healing and abundance. I went about exploring different ways of healing things that had been hard in my life. Then so many things happened. I had a car accident; I had dramatic things happen with my business. Everything made me reevaluate how we walk through difficult things in our lives. It
I felt encouraged to own and speak my truth and feel accomplished because I was seeking a better life for myself.

What is the most important lesson you have learned while writing the book?

I have learned to embrace my personality and not feel like it is annoying to people or a burden to people. I’ve embraced the fact that I have my own flavor, and some people are going to really resonate with who I am, and some people are not – that has to be okay with me. The other very important thing that I learned was about my imperfections in being a mom. I learned how to embrace that and incorporate those lessons moving forward and how to forgive myself for things in the past.

How does this message affect entrepreneurial women?

I think as women who own businesses, we not only wear so many hats as business owners, but we also balance our personal life, and sometimes we can do that in a sense of imbalance, and we struggle with a lot of guilt because we feel like we are failing at our business. We feel that we are failing in our personal life. And so nothing gets the
attention that we want, and it makes us feel stuck and not enough. I think this message helps entrepreneurial women understand that their efforts are not in vain and the difference they’re making with the people in their personal life. Along with their clients and colleagues in business is an
accomplishment and a success.

Who is an important mentor that you look up to? Who do you follow and why?

I wouldn’t say that they’re a personal mentor because I’ve never met them. Mel Robbins is a huge influence and inspiration for me. I watched her TED talk early in my business and realized that I was living a life devoid of extraordinary things. I needed to fail miserably or succeed. Living in between was no longer an option. I love her authenticity and the fact that she feels very much like somebody that you could talk to one-on-one.

What is the one lesson everyone should learn about this topic and why?

Definitely self-acceptance. We are doing amazing things in the world, even when we don’t think so. It’s also important to embrace the hard times and our efforts, even when we are making mistakes. Just knowing that taking small steps towards improvements in our life is successful.

What would be three books that you would recommend to our readers and why?

1) Of course, Mel Robbins and “The High Five Habit.” I just love the way that she teaches connecting with yourself and viewing yourself in a positive light.

2) Mark Manson, The Art of Not Giving a F*ck. I love that he teaches us that not everything deserves our attention, and yet some things really do, and so we have to be mindful of how we are giving power to different things in our lives.

3) I would be remiss if I didn’t also recommend my book, “Successful as F*ck.” I think that people can see their own story through the lens of my story and never not feel alone or defeated. I think it’s a story of hope and a story that tells that there isn’t only one measure of success that we should all fit in.