About Michelle
Michelle Villalobos
MICHELLE VILLALOBOS teaches business concepts and skills to professionals in a fun and entertaining way. Her programs have been delivered collectively to over 70,000 people worldwide.
Her passion is delivering those "a-ha!!" moments that audiences love.
Her favorite topics: how to sell, market and promote yourself in a way that draws in business organically - getting high-quality referrals and clients.
Michelle’s client roster features names you’ll recognize. She’s delivered her trademark “never-boring” programs for Burger King Corporation, Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust, Frito-Lay and Lexis-Nexis, while Summit sponsors include Constant Contact, Brooks Brothers and Blue Cross Blue Shield, among others.
Michelle’s speaking style is casual and fun, and she regularly busts out a rainbow assortment of Sharpies to illustrate points using everyday, attendee-appropriate examples (she recently constructed a price-value matrix for an all-woman audience using her shoe collection - they loved it). (testimonials here)
Her most popular programs include: How To Communicate Powerfully (Without Being A Bit%&), The Perfect 10 In Sales: The First 10 Seconds, The Next 10 Minutes & 10 Days Later, You're Not Crazy, It's Just Your Personality Type, and You: The (Online) Brand, among others.
Michelle's Story
Michelle first became known in the magazine publishing world when she orchestrated a turnaround for Emilio Estefan and Ocean Drive Media’s struggling print magazine, Ocean Drive Español (with zero marketing budget or new hires), by identifying new revenue streams, developing innovative sales and marketing strategies, and employing email and newsletter marketing tactics (before they were all the rage.)
In early 2007, Michelle launched Mivista Consulting, Inc. to help small businesses achieve their own turnarounds. She began providing live educational programs, online articles and videos to teach those same business concepts and skills in a fun, interactive and hands-on environment. Mivista Workshops & Seminars was born.
Since then, MIVISTA has developed a series of workshops, which have captivated thousands and generated a large and loyal following. This success has drawn major sponsors and clients like Constant Contact, HSBC and Costco, who either hire Michelle to train their teams or use her events as a platform to engage a professional, high-level audience.
Mivista Workshops & Seminars has developed or delivered educational business programs for:
→ Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust
→ WebMD
→ Frito Lay
→ BNI
→ MPI (Meeting Planners International)
→ Burger King (Women's Leadership Foundation)
→ Great Florida Bank
→ Lexis/Nexis
In 2010, Michelle launched the Women's Success Summit, which immediately became Miami's largest business conference for women, drawing over 700 professional, self-improvement-hungry women twice a year.
Why do they come? Because Michelle advocates an “anti-marketing” (her term) approach to business, one that eschews traditional “push” tactics in favor of “pull” strategies that draw referrals, opportunities, media exposure, and ultimately, sales.
Her consulting work involves helping companies figure out creative ways to generate sales, and she also trains sales teams on how to upsell and cross-sell more effectively, particularly by learning to read personality type and connect on a deeper level – whether in person or over the phone.
In keeping with her philosophy of deliver value, the business follows, Michelle regularly sends audio, video and written content to her network – no spam, ever. Click here to join.
What makes Michelle's programs special?
Unlike other speakers, Michelle doesn’t “sell from the stage.” Since her core business are her events (not the back-room sales she could generate), she delivers high-value content every single time. In addition, she is a charismatic and entertaining performer. As one attendee recently said: “when Michelle enters a room, sparks fly.”
Michelle's philosophy on personal branding, social media, "anti-marketing" and business have earned her high praise from established businesspeople and organizations, such as The Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce, as well as private clients, individual workshop participants and attendees. See testimonials here.
Since Day One Michelle has offered a no-holds-barred, no-questions-asked, no-excuses performance guarantee with every program, speaking engagement, consulting project or product she delivers.
Popular programs
Some popular recent event titles are:
- The Perfect 10 in Sales: The First 10 Seconds, The Next 10 Minutes & 10 Days Later
- How to Communicate Powerfully, Without Being a Bi%&#
- Social Is The New Business: Be More Likable, Get More Business
- You’re Not Crazy, It’s Just Your Personality Type
- If They Don’t LOVE It, It’s Just SPAM!
- Rock Your Network!
- Why Women Play Dirty (& What To Do About It)
- Shameless Self-Promotion: How To Sell Yourself (Without Selling Your SOUL)
Background & Random Interests
Michelle was born in Medellin, Colombia to Cuban-American parents, moved to the USA at 2 years old, lived in Georgia, New Jersey, Colorado, Florida, and finally the Dominican Republic until she went away to college. Michelle is bilingual and biliterate and delivers workshops en Español también.
Academically-speaking, Michelle’s holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology Modified (with Math) and Spanish Literature from Dartmouth College, and an MBA from the University of Miami.
Michelle loves and practices Improv Theater, is newly obsessed with Social Media (twitter.com/mivi and www.Facebook.com/villalobosmichelle), often puts her life at risk skiing double black diamonds and racing her Mini Cooper, and is a lifelong devotee of Sharpies, which she uses in her workshops because they're fun and encourage creative thinking .
My Process - A Quick Overview Of Methodology from Michelle
My training methodology is based on one key belief: that people who participate and engage learn better. Whether trying to change beliefs, behaviors or develop skills, lecturing is simply not as effective as active learning.
Why? Because:
Why? Because:
→ People are naturally resistant to change (and resistance can kill a new project)
→ Adults are easily bored in lectures - but love interactive, hands-on learning.
→ People need to "buy into" programs before they will participate whole-heartedly.
I have experience in fields ranging from sales, marketing and business management to teaching, writing and the performing arts (like improv theater), I combined the relevant (and sometimes the seemingly irrelevant) elements of each to develop a unique approach to corporate education, workshops, management, team building and learning.
What I do is get people to actively participate in whatever experience I create so that new knowledge, behaviors and skills "stick." That approach, together with my background in business, psychology and learning, makes me uniquely qualified to create and deliver programs that generate results – guaranteed (all programs are satisfaction guaranteed, always).
In developing MIVISTA, I drew from both traditional and newer learning and behavior theories, including Deep Learning, Experiential Learning, Andragogy (as opposed to Pedagogy), Myers-Briggs Type Theory, Enneagrams, Evolutionary Psychology, Behaviorism and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). I use the Socratic Method throughout all programs, which contributes to making learning an active, engaging process.
LINKS TO CONTENT MENTIONED ABOVE
◾ Michelle E. Villalobos
◾ Improv Theater
◾ Deep Learning
◾ Experiential Learning
◾ Andragogy
◾ Myers-Briggs Type Theory
Click here for Client Testimonials.
Testimonials
Here's what some of Michelle's clients & partners have to say about working with her and MIVISTA, her consulting firm. Click on a category or just scroll down for all of the testimonials.
Workshop Participant Feedback & Testimonials
Personal Testimonials for Michelle
Facilitation Services Testimonials
Consulting & Strategy Testimonials
Media Inquiries
For media inquiries or to schedule an interview with Michelle Villalobos please contact:
Jessica Lurie
jessica@mivistainc.com
(888) 531-3830
Click here to see recent media with/on Michelle.
So what's the deal with the Sharpies?
Everyone always asks me about my "Sharpie picture," like "what does it mean, Michelle?" Well, quite honestly, the whole thing was kind of an accident. Here's the story...
If you know me well, then you know that I always carry a handful of Sharpies and a blank book to draw mindmaps, take notes, and explain things using diagrams and drawings (it's the ex-math teacher in me... but that's a whole 'nother story).
So what happened on the day of my headshot photo shoot (with Gio Alma) was, after we'd taken several very serious, professional, traditional "headshot" type pictures (see below), I wanted to take some fun pictures just for me. So I grabbed a a bunch of Sharpies from my bag and started hamming it up. Gio played along and snapped away.
Ouch.
So I asked the audience, "raise your hand if you agree with her?" Almost every single one raised her hand. I swallowed my pride and went back to the drawing board. There was no way I was going to do a whole new photo shoot, so I pulled out all the proofs that Gio had sent me.
And I came across those Sharpie pics. I started playing with them and I found one, ONE decent one that I KIND OF liked. I cropped it (cropped my roots out!!), put a frame around it, retouched it a little around the eyes, beefed up the color... and voilá! (See the transformation I created with Photoshop, below.)
If you know me well, then you know that I always carry a handful of Sharpies and a blank book to draw mindmaps, take notes, and explain things using diagrams and drawings (it's the ex-math teacher in me... but that's a whole 'nother story).
I also often use Sharpies and flip-charts in my workshops to keep things spontaneous and fun. (-->)
So what happened on the day of my headshot photo shoot (with Gio Alma) was, after we'd taken several very serious, professional, traditional "headshot" type pictures (see below), I wanted to take some fun pictures just for me. So I grabbed a a bunch of Sharpies from my bag and started hamming it up. Gio played along and snapped away.
When I got the proofs, I thought the Sharpie pics were silly, obviously not something I would use professionally (haha). I went ahead and chose a regular, "professional" head shot (at right -->) and posted it everywhere - LinkedIn, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, etc.
A few months later at the end of a speech about personal branding and networking, one audience member tentatively raised her hand and said: "But your portrait doesn't reflect your brand - you're fun, young and vibrant, your headshot is sedate and boring. It's beautiful, but it looks like it belongs on Match.com - it's not the you we met today."
So I asked the audience, "raise your hand if you agree with her?" Almost every single one raised her hand. I swallowed my pride and went back to the drawing board. There was no way I was going to do a whole new photo shoot, so I pulled out all the proofs that Gio had sent me.
And I came across those Sharpie pics. I started playing with them and I found one, ONE decent one that I KIND OF liked. I cropped it (cropped my roots out!!), put a frame around it, retouched it a little around the eyes, beefed up the color... and voilá! (See the transformation I created with Photoshop, below.)
So I tentatively floated it out on Facebook first... and the positive response was overwhelmingly positive.
Note that some people HATED (and still HATE) it, but I continue to use it in spite of that. Why? Because it's memorable, and it's aligned with who I am - the colors, the smile, the authenticity (I truly love of Sharpies and other office supplies), and it's memorable - and that's the purpose of a good headshot for personal branding.
Sure there are some people who don't "get" it. Guess what? That's quite all right. Those are not the people for me... The right people are the ones who love it. It's actually quite a good filter.
Note that some people HATED (and still HATE) it, but I continue to use it in spite of that. Why? Because it's memorable, and it's aligned with who I am - the colors, the smile, the authenticity (I truly love of Sharpies and other office supplies), and it's memorable - and that's the purpose of a good headshot for personal branding.
Sure there are some people who don't "get" it. Guess what? That's quite all right. Those are not the people for me... The right people are the ones who love it. It's actually quite a good filter.