Meet Mercedes Ramirez Johnson | Speaker & Advocate

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mercedes Ramirez Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mercedes, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I had worked in public relations in higher education and then in sales in the healthcare sector for nearly a decade. I had worked with incredible people, found caring mentors and learned so much during those years. Once I became a mother to twin boys, I knew I didn’t want to put them in daycare 8-12 hours a day. I knewI still needed two things: a creative outlet to fulfill my ambitions and a consistent way of create income. Going out on my own as a speaker/consultant was the best option for me. It gave me the freedom to create my own schedule and to continue using my skills acquired through the years. I also wanted to ensure that my boys saw a woman’s place is anywhere she wants it to be, not solely at home waiting on them hand and foot which I knew I could see myself doing.
So I signed on with a boutique speaker’s bureau to kick off my speaking career and began to learn the ins and outs of working with bureaus, creating relevant content, and forming strong relationships with clients. Within a year or two that boutique speakers bureau dropped me from their line-up and that hurt my ego badly . But being dropped by them created the biggest fire within me to forge my own path and meet as many people I possibly could that I could be a resource to. It was like being dumped by a boyfriend as a teen thinking “Oh yeah? Well watch me soar!” and it worked. One of my greatest weaknesses is being stubborn, but in this case my stubbornness kept me up at night researching companies, sending out informational packets about my services and hunting for business while my kids slept. I’m glad I stuck with it because I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Being a speaker in the professional development space is very rewarding. I’ve been able to split my business into two segments: Workplace Safety and Resilient Leadership. When I graduated college with a degree in international business I never would have thought I would have ended up a professional speaker. But after surviving a plane crash in 1995 (during my junior year in college), I kept getting asked to share my story of survival to small groups. I would think “why would anyone want to hear about how I survived the plane crash? I didn’t ‘do’ anything… I was just lucky and woke up alive the next day”. But I learned by sharing that story, it resonates with people. Everyone loves a comeback story and everyone reading this has survived their worst day ever. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves how strong we are, how brave we are and how much we are capable of accomplishing. So after years of taking PTO to do speaking engagements I finally decided to take my speaking career full-time and it’s the best decision I ever made. Was it easy? No. I got rejected by many speaker bureaus at the beginning. To this day I still get “we went in another direction” message from potential clients and that’s ok. It challenges me to make my customized programs as relevant and memorable as I can create them to be.
So I’ve learned that your worst day ever (for me, my plane crash that took the lives of my parents as well as 158 other people) turned into my biggest life force and motivator. If the lessons learned can help an organization stretch out their comfort zones, can make their worksites safer, or can embolden an individual to go after what they want in life, then it was all worth it. When I was hospitalized in the ICU for nearly 3 months after my plane crash I never would have imagined that all that time was just setting the stage for how I can help people and open their eyes to their own potential.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My subdivision has a cute little area referred to as the village shops, so we’d throw on some comfortable shoes and walk there to enjoy a hearty brunch. After that I’d suggest we’d take a little drive to visit the Dallas Arboretum. With all the beautiful blooms, outdoor sculptures and views we would spend a fun morning out in nature, snapping pictures and seeing the pop up exhibitions they rotate each season.

While in the city we’d drive over to the beautiful white bridge that connects over the Trinity River to catch the skyline views of lovely downtown Dallas. Then head over near The Joule hotel, take a picture of the big weird eyeball and find a rooftop bar to enjoy a good conversation during sunset.

I love trying new things with my friends so the next day we’d pop on over to a random pilates studio and try pilates for the first time together. It would either be invigoratingly fun or totally catastrophic, so either way it would give us a great workout and lots of laughs in between..

Dallas is a great sports town so depending on the season we’d catch a home game for one of the pro teams. My first choice would be a Mavericks game if she came to visit me during the NBA season. The people watching alone is worth the price of admission. If it’s during the playoffs the atmosphere is electric and completely unforgettable!

For some cultural adventures we’d go to my favorite Colombian restaurant La Casa Vieja on Beltine to enjoy some empanadas and I’d introduce her to La Bendeja Piasa (a huge platter of Colombian goodness that looks like it could feed a family of 4). If we stay there long enough (on the weekends) they have live music and dancing to work off the empanadas.

If live music is on the menu then we’d go to Legacy Hall in Shops of Legacy West in Plano. Their line-up of cover bands is fantastic and you can enjoy a number of eateries within ear shot of it all. But if she wants a quieter view of that live music I’d make a reservation for the rooftop/hollowed out Airstream at Haywire. Their drinks are fantastic and their grilled streak salad is the best I’ve ever had. Plus their menu has a strong Texas flair.

If she’s missing home then we’d drive over to 18th and Vine (on Maple Ave. in Dallas) for some Kansas City style barbecue. The familiar tastes and the familiar black and white photos of Kansas City on the walls will make her feel she’s right back at in the comforts of home. The first time I went there it was a good feeling.

To get our competitive juices flowing I’d suggest going to the Puttery miniature golf & bar in Grandscape. With four difference courses to choose from we can have a fun evening. Loser pays for dinner because I am extremely competitive and I wouldn’t be nice and let her win just because she’s my guest.

And my favorite place on earth is my home, so I would invite my friends over to meet her and have a nice cookout where we can share old stories and create new memories in my little corner of heaven.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My sister has always been such a positive influence in my life. She’s my biggest cheerleader. My four sons have also been a source of inspiration for me both in my professional pursuits and in my personal passions (like advocating for pediatric rare disease care). But fundamentally my biggest sources of inspiration have always been my parents. As immigrants to this country they left everything and everyone they knew to start brand new lives here in the vast unknown of the United States. That takes alot of courage. That takes confidence in yourself and confidence that all your sacrifices you make will be worth it for your children to reap the fruits of it all. I’ve led my life in hope that I’ve been worth all those sacrifices they made.

Website: MercedesRamirezJohnson.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mercedes-ramirez-johnson-5536234/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MRamirezJohnson

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063034280352

Image Credits
all photos are mine and I have absolute rights to the printing/displaying/sharing of these photos