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Real conversations for women who lead differently. Join Yvonne Heimann, Leadership & Efficiency Coach, for honest discussions with female leaders who are rewriting the rules on their own terms.
Every episode explores the challenges women face in leadership - from building effective teams to creating systems that grow your business without burning you out. We dive into what matters: balancing intuition with strategy, building sustainable success, and leading authentically.
Whether you're a digital entrepreneur, executive, or business owner, you'll discover practical strategies for team management, business automation, leadership development, and personal growth. No fluff, no cookie-cutter advice - just real conversations about what works when you're ready to step into bigger leadership while staying true to yourself.
This isn't about following someone else's blueprint. It's about finding your unique leadership style and building a business that supports the life you want. Join us to explore frameworks that help you evolve as a leader without losing what makes you, you.
Perfect for female executives, women entrepreneurs, business owners, and anyone ready to lead with both vision and heart. New episodes cover leadership strategies, business systems, team building, and the intersection of feminine wisdom and strategic action.
She Is A Leader is brought to you by AskYvi.com, where visionary leaders find personalized support to transform their leadership impact through people-centered systems that scale.
Yvonne Heimann [00:00:00]
I want you to think about the thing you've been carrying. The non-profit, the foundation, the cost that keeps showing up in your chest when you are laying in bed at night, or just sitting in the meeting you don't really care about. Or maybe you're watching somebody else do the thing you know you were supposed to do. And you've told yourself you're not ready, that you don't know enough, that you need more time, you need more money, you need more something. My guest today has a different theory about why you are still waiting. And I think it's going to make you just a little uncomfortable in all the best ways. I'm Yvonne Heimann, and this is She Is A Leader, the show for women who are done building someone else's dream and are ready to build their own on their own terms.
Today's guest spent 25 years in business and marketing before she ever stepped into the nonprofit world. When she got there, she couldn't unsee what was broken. Brilliant women with massive missions, no plan, no infrastructure, running on passion, maybe a little bit of coffee, and also just running out of steam.
Lisa Avila is a nonprofit strategist, founder of Poppy Grove LLC, and host of the Rich Nonprofit Podcast. Her four piece of philanthropic profit framework has helped her clients raise over one million in funding. She works with women who are ready to stop waiting to feel ready and start building the thing they've been carrying. Here's what I need you to know before we start.
The reason you are not ready isn't what you think it is. It's not a money problem, it's not a knowledge problem, it's definitely not a passion problem either. It's a strategy problem. And by the end of this conversation, you are going to know exactly what to do about it.
Yvonne Heimann [00:02:05]
Lisa, welcome to the show.
Lisa Avila [00:02:06]
Thank you so much, Yvi. I'm glad to be here.
Yvonne Heimann [00:02:11]
I love your take on when I saw your submission come through for the podcast. I love your take on nonprofit. The public perception always, at least in my circles, is nonprofit means I'm working 24-7, I'm giving everything for everybody else, and I don't even know how to pay my own bills.
Lisa Avila [00:02:32]
Yep, that sounds about right.
Yvonne Heimann [00:02:36]
So how do we change that? How number one, how do we change this perception? What what what how do we even get started on changing that perception to begin with, right? Because it's a walking talking limiting belief.
Lisa Avila [00:02:52]
It absolutely is. And it starts with us. It starts with us women saying, I'm not doing that anymore. Because most of us have gone through our lives being the martyr, checking the boxes, taking care of everyone else. And then we have these big passions, we move it into a nonprofit or foundation, and we're still doing the same thing. And then wondering why we're burned out and eventually say, I can't do this anymore. So it starts with us.
Yvonne Heimann [00:03:18]
And we might be a little, I think we are on the same page, but we are also on different pages, but we are on the same page. Because if I remember right, you also are one to say, stop with the whole passion thing. We need to, we need to. Uh-huh. I know, I know why I would at that. And again, ladies, if you are listening, if you're driving and listening, go stay safe, keep driving and listening. However, you might also want to check the YouTube video because Lisa's face right now was just as good as some of mine. And I know why. I think I know why. Let's talk about this idea of passion and why this can be a good thing and a bad thing.
Lisa Avila [00:04:00]
I love passion. I am a double Scorpio. I am so passionate about.
Yvonne Heimann [00:04:05]
Holy girl, I'm a cancer scorpio. You yeah, I have nothing on you.
Lisa Avila [00:04:10]
So there you go. So you understand. We love so fiercely and deeply our people, our things, our hobbies until we don't. And then and that is wonderful. It's so great to have that love and your heart on your sleeve.
But if you don't have a strategy behind it, you don't know what you're doing and it's all going to fall apart. And it's just so important for me to carry both. Carry both that passion, but then put something behind it because you're a nonprofit without the business and the strategy. You're you're just like I said earlier, the martyr.
Yvonne Heimann [00:04:48]
And I was hoping you would say something similar to that because I'm I was taught by a past mentor to never base a business in your passion. And I'm like, have we met? I am not going to survive the day if my passion is not included. And I'm using it as a fuel. We need to build the system around it. We need to build the frameworks and the processes around it.
So that I can stay in that energy without completely emptying myself out and then be like, yeah, just another hobby that I spend completely immersing myself in for five days and then throw it out. so yeah, it's it's this balancing act, right? Use the use the passion to feel yourself, use the passion to come up with the new ideas and survive the bad days and also build the framework around it.
Lisa Avila [00:05:40]
Yep. And speak up as right. I mean, that's also having that passion helps you as a woman, which I've seen women leaders, executives, it helps you speak up when you're in a boardroom or when you're in an all-male setting. And you really believe in this cause. And so it helps you kind of okay, I can do this. And then jump in with that passion.
Yvonne Heimann [00:06:03]
And ladies who are starting to speak up, I also invite you, start slow. I don't, it's like I've me my personal experience is like at some point I'm I'm reaching the passion of my head is gonna blow off. which might just go the other way as planned. And also I started to make it a practice. I started to make it a practice of setting boundaries and just saying no, it is a full fucking sentence.
Or asking for what I want, no matter if it's in the boardroom or the bedroom. I just took that in a different corner. But it's like nobody can read our mind, right? It's this idea of don't assume, don't assume Hubby is gonna take out the trash. Just fucking tell him. What do you need? What do you want, and do it before you are in a state of full-on blood passion, blow-up or resentment.
You have lived in both worlds, right? You are coming out of a full-on regular quote life, 25 years in business, before you ever walked into that non-profit world. What pushed you through that door? What changed?
Lisa Avila [00:07:15]
The wine industry. I live in Pasarobles, California, so wine country. And I had a great time being in wine, going to events, selling wine. It's a really great life until you realize I'm not changing lives. I'm I don't know that I'm helping people actually, but it's a lot of fun. And I saw vineyard workers' families when my kids started school.
They weren't they were underrepresented and I didn't like that at all. And so I kind of I made it my mission to help them and I started speaking up at school board and I went back to school and got my masters so that I could support them. And then I quit the wine industry and I went into the nonprofit world and started helping and doing what I could. And then I saw so many women who were following their passion and it wasn't working for them in this non profit sector.
Yvonne Heimann [00:08:13]
And you are you are also talking about coming from a line of women who climbed so the next generation had more choices. How does that show up in your everyday? How, what kind of impact does it have in in your work with a nonprofit world?
Lisa Avila [00:08:30]
My great-grandmother came here from Spain and was married off at 14. And I carry that story with me every single day to think of the choices that she did not have. And she was an immigrant. And it's just so important to me as I think back of my grandmother who left high school, my mother who got pregnant at 19, and you know, just all these things that happened. And then here I am a college graduate, my own business, three kids. I'm very privileged. But I know what it took to get there. And so I I use this privilege to help. I try to. I mean I realize it. And so I think about that every single day of what impact can I have? And with my three boys, they're gonna be fine out there in the world, right? So how can I help them to be kind humans and help others? Because we need that right now. We need that so desperately.
Yvonne Heimann [00:09:31]
Ain't that the truth? and interestingly, you are the second generation. So, what I'm referring to is what we often see in generational is you have the fighting generation that comes out of that survival mode. That was grandma, right? That started to build something. Then you have mom that got to a certain level, and then you have the first quote. Integrated generation. Don't don't know a better word right now where we often see the, yeah, this is a given. I'm fine. I'm awesome. It's it's all cool. I got at least halfway taken care of, however, you're you grew up. And you, as a second generation down from grandma, still have that passion and that view of remembering where we came from. I'm like, that's.
Let's be honest, one of the biggest issues right now here in the States for us of having forgotten where we come from and how we got here. And I always love to see when people don't forget it, when people don't try to erase history and be like, yeah, perfect. We we belong here. Which also brings me to your four piece of philanthropic profit because you look at nonprofits and philanthropic work from four pillars, pretty much. Purpose, we get that. Sure, that's why it's non-profit. We are trying we have some kind of a purpose, right? And you also have people. You have the promise and the platform. So do me do me a favor, walk me a little bit deeper through your four P's of your framework.
Lisa Avila [00:11:35]
Sure. So anytime I start working with a client, and I it's not that I choose to only work with women, but I really prefer working with women and we just we just jive, right? And they're usually moms, and so sometimes they forget who they are and what they want. Maybe they have that passion, but they've they've forgotten themselves. So I take them on a road back to themselves as they build this business nonprofit foundation, whatever it may be.
So I start with our purpose of why are you here? And like I told you earlier, I'm a double Scorpio and I believe in all of the woo-woo along with the strategy. So I'll say, you know, why do you think your soul's here for this lifetime? And some of them will, And then some of them go, what are you even talking about? So we really distill it down to their purpose.
Yvonne Heimann [00:12:23]
I I feel you on that one. I'm like, I'm like the in-between. I'm like, I'm all systems. However, my taro cards are right there too. No.
Lisa Avila [00:12:32]
Yeah, I'm gonna pull a card if I need to, but then I'm also gonna go jump over to Monday and put my tasks in, right? So yes, it's an and both. So once we figure that out, then we're looking at the people who they want to serve. Because at the end of the day, any business or nonprofit is not about you. It's about who you're helping and what community you are building. And I love human-centered design where you look at your end user and you are constantly thinking about what your end user wants, not what your board wants, not what looks good on a slide deck, but what they need. So that's super important. And then we go into the promise. Well what are you what are you going to do for them? You're are you going to be this, you know, person on the stage just telling them what they should do? Or are you going to make this commitment to serve them how they need to be served? And I think that's where that I know the impact comes in, but it's also remembering our stories.
It's remembering, right? Of what who came before us. And that helps with your promise. Because that's something you can wake up and think of every day when it's hard, when you don't have the funding, when you are just struggling. Yeah. And then go ahead. Well, the last one, the last one is the platform. And the reason I use platform is because I believe in systems and strategy so deeply.
To go along with this on your journey. So you've got to have the frameworks, social media if you so choose, your email platform, whatever it is, your CRM, your funding, all of that. You've got to have that because that's going to hold you for the rest of it.
Yvonne Heimann [00:14:12]
And I want to come back around to because you say wealth and impact aren't in competition, which is completely opposite to everything how nonprofit currently is perceived. And I'm assuming here, because you are the subject matter expert, I'm not. a lot of women in nonprofit, I'm assuming.
Carry a real discomfort around money. Now, let's be honest, that's probably not just the nonprofit space because I had to do a lot of work when it comes to money, right? So where do you believe this comes from? And how do you work through this and getting women into a fresh point of view, into a fresh worldview of wealth and impact are not in competition.
Lisa Avila [00:15:12]
Sometimes it can take a lot of work because there is that deeply held belief that I am helping people, so I can't make money off of doing that. I've seen this in so many different industries. You could be a yoga teacher. Well, I can't charge too much. Why? You're helping people. You're serving your community. You deserve to be well compensated and to have what you need as well. It you're not
And I know that these people, these creating impact, the healers, they are not gonna go buy a Maserati or maybe maybe they will, whatever. I'm not here to judge that, but they still need to be able to pay their bills, put their kids through college, do all the things that they need to do, maybe get a massage once in a while or go to therapy and talk about, you know, whatever it is. But so many women just think, no, no, no, no.
If I'm helping people, I can't make a lot of money doing it. But you know what happens when women make a lot of money? They help other women make a lot of money. Boom.
Yvonne Heimann [00:16:15]
And suddenly you have that ripple effect.
Lisa Avila [00:16:18]
Absolutely. And that is a great way to leave legacy and to pay it forward. I want to see more women's names on buildings. Why not?
Yvonne Heimann [00:16:27]
And it's I think for me, part of a logically, I know that, right? Logically, I know all of that. Emotionally, I'm still working on my money things. I'm better. Still some work to be done. one of the things is working through this with the point of view that yes, chances are the more money I make, the more I'm gonna give back. My team is gonna get paid more rather than just bare minimum.
I am sharing scholarships and sponsorships and all kinds of things, right? I'm giving back to my community because now I can. And that's kind of like what I put as a quote excuse to cancel out the I'm not supposed to making money because I'm here to suppose supposed to help people. So for anybody that needs just a little bit of carryover till the belief fully sets in, that's the thing that worked for me. Now
What I'm also curious, what does a rich nonprofit look like?
Lisa Avila [00:17:33]
Well, it was it's exact to me, it's exactly what you were just saying. You are rich in your team members who love what they do also, and they want to stick around and they want to help because they are well compensated. Not just money, health benefits, vacation. You know that team building. You have the same core values. That to me is rich. When you are working with a team that you love and you feel safe and you feel seen.
That's amazing. That is not your typical nine to five. And that's not the nonprofit that I worked for previously. So, rich is not just money. It's time. When I see an executive director client, when she will take a vacation finally after four years, and not look at her phone every five minutes and comes back and says, I had the best time with my husband. That is rich.
Yvonne Heimann [00:18:33]
What a concept being able to take a vacation without being attached to your phone.
Lisa Avila [00:18:40]
Right? Yes. Yes. And and be in the moment. I that I see that as my kids go off to college of, ooh, I could have been a little more present. So now, right? I mean, whatever. Hindsight's 2020. But that to me is rich when you are present with the people that you want to spend time with.
Yvonne Heimann [00:19:00]
Now you have clients raise millions of dollars. What separates the ones that that get there, that are able to do that, that are able to build a rich nonprofit in money and time, and the ones who stay stuck?
Lisa Avila [00:19:20]
What came up for me first is fortitude. And I am thinking of one client who is currently going global. And she is just so ready to do this because she has done the work. As I said at the very beginning, right? It starts with you. It starts with us. So you are doing the work of all the things. Believing in your passion, your purpose, why you are here, and then taking those steps, getting in front of the right people. It's not just about sending out an email and hoping people will hit your donation button on your website. It is about having those hard conversations, putting yourself in front of people that don't really know who you are, but they believe in you once they hear your passion and your strategy. And that's why we do a lot of strategy work together so that she can go into these meetings and say, I need a million dollars. Boom. Yeah. Now I'm going global. Boom. And then every little step forward, right, builds that momentum.
Yvonne Heimann [00:20:27]
Not me having a moment over here where I'm like, I'm I d when you said that, I literally was in that moment. I'm almost like, ooh, okay. I just found a spot where I need to put some work in, where I'm like stepping into a room like, Hey, I need a million I I need a million dollars.
I just found a piece of work for me. Thank you for that one.
Lisa Avila [00:20:53]
You're welcome.
Yvonne Heimann [00:20:55]
Now you're you are doing a lot of this work with your client on the coaching side on and helping them understand, get better, raise funds, have an impact, all of these things. And you are also running the Rich Nonprofit Podcast. So you've put quite a few things on your plate while hosting and building at the same time and doing other things.
How do you keep yourself from running yourself into the ground? How do you take care of you and not just teach everybody else to take care of themselves?
Lisa Avila [00:21:34]
No, like you said earlier, that boundary of no is a huge one. And it took me so long to learn. So long. Because I we go back to our intuition and the woo-woo or whatever you want to call it. If I feel a heck yes, I'm going to say yes. But if I have any inkling anywhere in any, you know, my throat, my gut, then it's a no.
Yvonne Heimann [00:21:58]
And I'm assuming, I'm assuming you have a similar process too of having your list of what's your focus right now, right? Where are we going? What is important in this season? And if it doesn't align, it doesn't align. Where it's like for me right now, we're starting a secondary company. I'm in Austin. There is so many things I can do here. I have about 10 different things I can do at any given day. And I have a lot of friends that are quite social butterflies. I am I am the grandma that's in bed by 10:30. So also let's not even start on periomenopause, my energy level being at 50%.
So right, and not even not even five years ago, I would have had full on freaking FOMO of oh my god, this friend is doing this, and he is doing that, and he is doing that. And might have missed a business possibility here.
And nowadays I know exactly where we are going. I know exactly where my first company is going. I know exactly where my secondary company is going. I know what I personally need by collecting data over the last few years on how my body is acting. And I have a focus. So if somebody says, "You are not going to this networking event?" I'm like, Nope. Doesn't align. It's not the people I need for my business right now.
It's not an event that is recharging me personally. I always hold on, how did that go? If it's if we thank God we are we are not a PG13 podcast. Fun, fuck, or feed me?
If it doesn't, if it doesn't meet my three F's, we're good. We're good. And the three Fs next to the next to the four P's, we all have our frameworks, right? But it's like it comes down to doing the work that you are doing with your clients to get down to your values. Why are you doing this?
What's fueling you, what's draining you, what do you need right now in this specific season personally as well as in your nonprofit or business or whatever it is? And when you were really clear on that, now suddenly no becomes so much easier.
Lisa Avila [00:24:20]
Yes, that is so true. And I love looking at it as seasons because it does change depending on what's going on in your life. You could have kids, you could be taking care of your aging parents. Okay, paramenopause right here. I never know what's going to hit and when. Doing my best. But I also have a system.
Yvonne Heimann [00:24:38]
Especially when the meltdown is happening and suddenly I'm just in tears for no obvious reason. I'm like, seriously? Really? We are doing this now?
Lisa Avila [00:24:46]
Right. But yeah, but go go get on social media and record your stuff and yeah, but what?
Yvonne Heimann [00:24:50]
Now looking looking at our audience of women, probably also some in that same emotional fucked up situation. And I I do believe my audience is also really impact-driven, right? It's I don't know, it's just something in our nature. and maybe, maybe they want to start a nonprofit, maybe they just want to have an impactful business.
I always like my audience walking away with one action step, right? We can we can be professional learners and never go anywhere. So I always like to have a specific action step. So looking out there to our women that might think wealth and impact do not connect, that having this inner urge of where I'm at right now is completely fucked up. I do want to have an impact.
and also pay my bills and they're ready to finally make this step and change something. What is that step? Where do we start? What how how do I get out of the rat race of this bullshit hustle culture and build something that is impactful and doesn't kill me?
Lisa Avila [00:26:07]
Do not blow everything up right away. I know that by just take a moment and breathe, right? I forget to do that a lot. So I'm constantly reminding myself of that. And I tell my clients that also. But if you can just stop, take a moment, look around your community, see what the need is, and take the next right step. You don't have to go start a nonprofit tomorrow, but what if you volunteered?
One day a month. What if you donated to a local nonprofit and then started working with them and seeing what the need is? It's just a little tiny thing. It doesn't have to be huge because I know when you start advocating, when you start helping, you want to do it more, and suddenly you find the time and the space in your life because other things that don't matter as much drop away.
Yvonne Heimann [00:27:00]
Gurl. And I invite you, ladies, when I get into the doing, which happens way too often, and I'm like, my God, my brain is not working, and I need to get this done. And the more I find myself fighting, the more I have developed the habit of stepping away and breathing. So really looking at this data point of the more frustrated you get, the more you need to step away. And guess what? Those five minutes of stepping away and breathing is not gonna make or break anything. So breathe. And deeply, not just into your chest, all the way down into your belly.
And use some voice with it too. There's even some researches with if you actually auditory exhale, it stimulates your brain in a certain way and and really helps you slow down. I need to dig into those researches. And my God, as always, Lisa, it's we never know where the conversation is taking us. And I love that it ends in breathing. So everybody just with us, take one deep breath.
Lisa, this conversation was everything. You came with the receipts, you came with the frameworks, you came with the action steps. So thank you for being here. And for everybody listening, if you are carrying a vision for a nonprofit, a foundation, a cause that won't let you go, this episode was for you. If you know a woman that is carrying that vision too, go share this episode.
Go show her that it is possible and you don't have to lose yourself in your impact. And Lisa showed you how she gave you the on-ramp, it exists. It is possible. I'm Yvi, and this is She is a Leader. Share the episode with a woman in your life who's been "almost" ready for way too long because she needs to hear it just like I needed to.
I'll see you next week and thanks Lisa for joining us.