Virginia Salas Kastilio is a serial entrepreneur who was named one of Inc. Magazine’s top 26 Women to Change the World. Having built multiple empires, she is currently helping “reconnect” humanity and bring consciousness into the mainstream through The I Trust You Movement (after previously disputing the social media landscape through her agency, Gini.TV). Virginia currently lives in Bali as she scales I Trust You, advises for different Blockchain projects and mentors some of the most influential thought-leaders of our time in personal growth and well-being.
We had a chance to have a conversation with her about her entrepreneurial journey and what is she up to with the I Trust You Movement.
1. Introduce Yourself?
I’ve been nomadic since I was three. Lived in the USA, Spain, Dominican Republic and Austria. Went to 15 different schools in 3 different languages.
After a very successful 3 year career at Apple Inc.,( before I left she was managing a billion dollars annually for them). Upon recommendation of my manager I moved over to Oracle in Malaga, Spain. Where I doubled my salary, whilst being the only woman on my sales team. Whilst at Oracle I spent over $10,000 in flights to fly back and forth to Salzburg to finally finish my degree in Sociology and English Literature, which I never needed or even printed out.
In 2015, after leaving Oracle is where my entrepreneurial journey began. After having been on Youtube since 2007, my real passion had always been media and content creation. So instead of coming up with a product and starting to sell without any experience. I branded myself as a “Happiness Researcher” traveled the world and grew my brand on social media.
After growing my Snapchat following with zero budget to tens of thousands of followers. It only took a few months until I started getting global recognition for my work. Like getting asked to speak at SXSW, come into the NASDAQ offices in Times Square New York or have lunch with the Head of Social Media of Sundance film festival. I was crowned “The Queen of Snapchat” by Refinery29.
Soon after I was asked to launch BBC One’s new Snapchat in London. Then I was speaking all over the world from VidCon in Amsterdam and Australia, to STEP Conference in Dubai.
Whilst I loved the colourful world of social media, my soul really longed for me to dedicate myself to my higher purpose:Which was to to reconnect humanity and regenerate the Earth. That is when I took my passion project and made that into my full time mission. I now runs “I Trust You” which is a community of passionate entrepreneurs who are transforming their own lives and the lives of others through unique coursework, events, and love.
2. You run your own marketing agency called Gini.Tv. What is Gini.TV and share with us how you decided to start Gini.TV?
I answered a bit of that above. But it really comes down to opportunity. I believe the universe is constantly communicating us and leading us down the path we need to follow in life next. I was “asked” to create a social media agency. Quite literally, so many people were offering me money to manage and grow their social media, because of the knowledge I had accumulated due to sheer passion.
3. What does being a successful entrepreneur mean to you?
Being a successful entrepreneur, means leading with your heart.
No amount of money, followers, network or relationships will ever matter if you are not in your heart. And being a successful entrepreneur means being: “grateful”. I would say gratitude is one of the most important states and values we can find ourselves in. It is vital for not only our survival, but to thrive in this human life.
Once that foundation is set, you need: resilience, determination, drive and the ability to really “sit in the shit”. Be in uncomfortable situations, step out of your comfort zone, as this takes so much dedication and commitment.
Lastly: Charisma will help you a great deal. Being a people person, understanding others needs, tuning into being of service to everyone you meet.
That leads to an incredibly successful entrepreneur.
4. Along side being in the media world you run your own organization called I Trust Your Movement. What is I Trust Your Movement?
“I Trust You” which is a community of passionate entrepreneurs who are transforming their own lives and the lives of others through unique coursework, events, and love.
This expresses ourselves in different forms:
1. I Trust University as a space that nurtures and cultivate extraordinary human potential. It is the learning platform of the future. It is the answer to a generation who demanded freedom in education and a path aside from the one our parents laid out for us. A university that empowers futuristic thinkers with the best of new philosophies and ancient wisdom’s in order to unlock the hidden potential within us all. It is the doorway to a better earth, and the key is you.
2. Humans I Trust is a high level network of business unicorns that are not only dominating in their field, but who are also dedicated to extending human life on Earth for as long as possible. We run global masterminds all over the world! Our next global tribe meeting will be on the 20.2.2020 at Envision Festival in Costa Rica. We are having our own camp and stage there. We also have a membership network and a platform to collaborate and find business opportunities within the network.
3. PledgeToEarth our non profit arm, to help regenerate the Earth, partnered with “The Global Empowerment Mission”. We flew down to the Amazon fires and were the first international aid in Bolivia to help with the fires. Now we are replanting trees!
5. You quit your corporate job in the IT field and decided to take a leap in exploring the world and developing I Trust You Movement? How did you decide to make this decision?
I watched the TED Talk by Gary Vee called: “Do What you Love, No Excuses” and went on a Tinder Date with a personal coach named “Morten Hake”, who told me I was playing small, didn’t need to do anything in my life that I didn’t love and wasn’t in my highest excitement. And he reminded me that I was perfect, alone for just existing and didn’t need any external validation or corporate structure to make the most impact in the world.
6. Within your organization, you also have a university for students who are interested in this initiative.
Tell us more about what do you’ll teach in the I trust you movement?
I Trust University is for change makers of all kinds. Both for successful entrepreneurs, the people with a dream of doing something more, finding their purpose and mission, for kids and for parents. We teach everything in between how to scale your business, social media, how to connect deeper within yourself in all different areas, biohacking and conscious parenting.
It’s truly the modern Hogwarts.
7. What would be your goals and objectives in the next year for I trust you Movement?
To grow our community to a million people, 5,000 students studying at our University, our Envision Camp of 150 people, run our first global event in Bali of 350 attendees where we book out an entire luxury hotel, our own show with millions of viewers.
8. Why did you decide to move to Bali?
Many of my mentors that I have the most respect for, told me this is the place for me to be.
I trusted them and they couldn’t have been more right. This is my home.
9. You’ve been appointed as a Good Will Ambassador for IIMSAM. How do you feel about this and what is your thought on the global Malnutrition?
I feel incredibly honored by this appointment. It is my purpose in life to do everything in my power to support the thriving of the human race. Providing proper nutrition should be a human right. So this could not be more important. It stand with pride for this purpose and know that together we will achieve so much. H.E. Remigio Maradona is a man that brings in only the best people around him, truly knowing and understanding everyone’s intentions. He is like a brother to me and I am happy to be in the presence of his leadership.
10. What is your thought on social media and why you focus more on Snapchat?
If you are a brand over $10m in revenue for the younger demographic, you should focus on working with Snapchat influencers and creating Snapchat ads. Why? Because they have INCREDIBLE CONVERSIONS, that you don’t see on Facebook or Instagram.
My thought on social media, it that it has revolutionized business and entrepreneurship in a massive way, creating an equal playing field for everyone. Anyone who is making under $5,000 a month and is struggling and NOT USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO ENHANCE THEIR BRAND, is crazy. You are wasting precious potential.
I do however feel it is time for a new platform that will take over Facebook and Instagram. The engagement is worse than ever and it’s not sustainable in the way it used to be. My guess is that it will be the platform “Voice” (www.voice.com) that is being launched by the most funded Blockchain ICO ever (EOS). With billions in their bank account and a genius team that is building on BLOCKCHAIN. I feel they could be the first serious contender Voice says: “We think social networking is due for a major rework. From the bot mobs, to the data tracking, to the shady algorithms behind our feeds, social media has not been a good friend to us.”
I agree with them.
11. Why do people need to pay attention to solving global problems?
Because, it’s your problem.
Our climate, our resources, are depleting before our eyes. In 10 years, there might not be a world to look forward to.
The body of our planet is our own body. We are the Earth. Trashing it, is only trashing ourselves, our lungs, our health, our future and the future of our children.
Right now, there is enough time.
In three years from now, if we don’t act, it’s too late.
I know it seems overwhelming, but there are solutions.
12. What is your key idea in life?
Once you realize that you chose to forget who you are and come into the live to have a human experience, and that everything deep down is perfect as it is. And all these little worries and thoughts and fears you have, are part of the agreement you made to “forget”. And you start to remember: Your life will be nothing but a perfect and blissful dream.
