What do you want your life to look like? Can you imagine it? Can you picture yourself there?

According to today’s guest Kat Garcia, imagination has been instrumental in getting her to where she is today – from television actress to co-founder and co-CEO of Ground, an AI-powered assistant for brand owners and growth marketers.

Kat began working at 14, when she was cast in a show. To be a successful actress, Kat says you have to be relentless, and you have to have a strong imagination. As adults, it can be hard to protect our imaginations. There are so many variables coming at you, and so many brilliant people don’t take the leap!

Her advice? Lay out your fears. Our fears are valid, and if you’re acting from a place of constraint, you’ll never be honest with yourself. It’s okay to consider different options. What are you afraid of? And what are the steps you need to take to succeed?

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Kat’s background as a television actress during her teenage years, which helped propel her into the corporate world
• The relentlessness required of acting that served Kat later on in her career – she became well practiced at not taking “no” for an answer
• Kat’s journey to co-founding Ground, from being selected by the startup accelerator Techstars, to a 3-hour conversation with her co-CEO before taking the plunge
• The importance of imagination and visualization, from filling in holes to imagining ourselves in certain places despite the fears we may have
• How Kat’s network eventually led her to where she is today, plus, her advice for potential founders and people who are in the thick of it

NOTABLE QUOTE

“You have to be relentless as an actress. I compare it to fundraising a lot. Because whenever I hear people talk about – ‘Oh, you know, it’s like, 100 meetings or 100 nos before your first yes.’ That’s statistically very much in line with acting because you have to do auditions. There’s no promise of a job. All you do is go to these auditions, and no one’s paying you to go to these things, and continuously interview and test. And it’s hundreds before you get a yes.” 

“In television, you have to really depend on the network to give you press. Everything’s in your contract. For me, I was like, well, I need control over my career. And so a lot of that was marketing myself. Every single job that I ever got as an actress was because I was really annoying and would go so far as to scrape people’s emails or phone numbers of the casting directors or the directors of those films or television shows. I would send them my demo and follow up. I just never took no for an answer.” 

LINKS/RESOURCES MENTIONED

Kat Garcia is the co-founder and co-CEO of Ground. Learn more about Ground’s powerful AI tools on their website and their upcoming collaboration with the Tory Burch Foundation.

Sarina is a career coach and consultant who works with startup leaders and entrepreneurs. Connect with her on her website, on Instagram, via email, and check out more episodes of the Career Memos podcast.