When Stress Puts You In The Hospital with Hannah Nieves

Hannah, how are you today?

I'm so good. How are you?

I'm good. I have some questions for you, but one thing that I'm very aware of is often when you're a new mom, everyone asks about the baby first and not you. So I want to ask about you first, then we can follow up in regards to the baby.

Well, thank you so much. Not a lot of people ask me that. And it's interesting. My daughter is now four months old and it's interesting when I describe motherhood, it's like this beautiful, intense, challenging, overwhelming. Like you feel the duality of both worlds all at once. And that's how I feel right now. It's just the duality of both.

All right, all right. Well, one question I should have asked first is, Hannah, what, what do you do? Like, how do you. How do you support this child of yours?

I love it. So I specialize in all things marketing, branding and pr. That's my craft. That's what I did in corporate America. Started my business doing this for other people. And then I built two distinct communities, H and House, which is where I teach and advise on startup women founders. And then Mason, which is our AI powered private network for high net worth founders, where I built a proprietary software built in. That does it for you. So those are two things that I'm focused on right now.

That's impressive. I mean, because when I first met you, I believe you're primarily focusing on pr. And fast forward to today, it's like, oh, I have this AI platform that connects, you know, high net worth women. Like, that's like, where, where did this idea come from? Like, what were you doing when that. That thought came to mind?

Well, it was interesting because about a year and a half ago, I unfortunately had a miscarriage. And it was at this point where I had hit all the milestones in my business that, you know, you see on paper, right? You know, hitting seven figures and having a team and, you know, just all the things traveling all over the place. And then I had a miscarriage and it was kind of like my whole world just like stopped for a moment and I started a question. I was like, what am I doing this for? You know, like, what is the reasoning behind this? And I started to think bigger and then I realized that there were so many women like me who, you know, they've achieved this, like, you know, monetary success in their business, but they didn't have a space to actually be fueled again. Right, because they were the person that was always fueling into their own Communities. And the options that were available were either a hundred thousand dollar masterminds, which is totally fine, or the communities they didn't feel seen and heard in. And so I went out and I created that for myself and that was the birth of Mason. So I birthed a human and then also a tech platform at the same time. And I decided to take my skillset and this is when AI was coming onto the scene. And I decided to take the skill set of AI and personal branding and thought leadership. And I was like, well, it'd be really interesting if I could create a piece of technology that could do it for these members where I don't have to be the person that does that. And so fast forward a year later, here we are and now we have a platform that's doing this for them. And we just launched. It's incredible, but, you know, it just goes to show you, when you have an idea and even if you don't know what you're doing, there are resources and people available to help you bring it to life.

You know, have you always been like that? Like as a child when you were given like a. I don't like a project for science, did you just like go all in? Whereas. Whereas if everybody else was like, kind of chilling, like, what did that like? I'm just, I'm just trying to get an idea of like what young Hannah was doing to become the person you are right now.

So it's interesting. I was adopted when I was 18 by my stepdad. My childhood was very interesting. I. My biological father was born in a refugee camp in the Holocaust. So that just like paints a picture of like what we're dealing with here. And so growing up in childhood, the only thing that I could control was my education and like, what I was doing. And it was interesting because as a kid now I joke that, you know, I'm like the modern day, like Matilda, but really, like, that was me when I was a kid and I would get lost in like reading and books and just like lose myself in that place because it was better than my own reality growing up as a child. And I knew that if I could like focus on my career and focus on my education when I was a kid, you know, that was my, that was my ticket out of that world that I was in. So that was like the starting point and it just like grew ever since.

As you're talking, I'm thinking about my, my niece Natalia, who's. She's about 25 years old, but she had challenges growing up as well. Just because my. My brother had Ms. And, like, severe Ms. To the point where, you know, he couldn't even walk. And unfortunately, he passed away a few months ago. But for her, as a kid, I was like, how do you. How are you dealing with this stuff? You know? And one thing that I think she may have retreated into was her academics, because she's never had below an A, like, ever. Not college, not high school, not elementary school. Like, none of that. And I'm like, if I were you, I'd be broken right now. If my dad was all messed up, like, I'd be on all kinds of drugs. So. And then she reads a lot, too. So maybe you guys should talk, because it sounds like.

Because, like, that is me. That is me.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's interesting. I mean, with this show, I often want to learn about my guests. Obviously, that's why you're here. But it makes me just think about, like, myself, my own experiences in my own community, and why people may behave the way they do. So normally we have this intro, and then I say, hannah, I would like to hear about the most challenging time in your life. And it seems like we kind of skipped that part. So I'll let you see where. I'll let you decide where we're going to go next with this, but the mic is yours to proceed however you see fit.

I love it. Listen, I'm an open book, and, you know, when it comes to discussing challenges, I think there's a lot that I haven't actually shared out loud and. Or with many audiences yet because I haven't found the right space to actually bring them up. But I think it's so important and powerful that you're having these conversations because it's not just, you know, the beautiful Instagram images and these milestones that you see on social media. There's a lot that people go through on the back end to get the. To get to where they are now. So thank you for doing this.

Yeah. And I think that's the issue. This one person, like, DM me on LinkedIn the other day after I posted something. Something personal. I can't remember what it was, but she's like, you know, thank you for this, because I've been suffering in silence with this condition. I have. She didn't disclose it. She's like. But I'm. It hurts even more because I'm still putting out pictures on LinkedIn where I appear to be happy. And, you know, people are just like, you know, chiming in, but they don't know that like every, like every comment actually makes it worse. And that's, again, part of the goal here is people are suffering in silence when, if they spoke up, they would realize there's a community of people who are either going through the same thing would support them, or at least be kinder just knowing that. So. And then beyond that, showing how people like you have navigated tough situations and come out stronger on the other side. So I'll let you choose what you want to speak about, but I would love to hear just one instance in your life where you went through a challenging situation.