Featuring: Jyssica Yelas
By: Natalie Ruiz
Tags: Founders, Women In Business, Leadership, Social Media Strategy, Founder Stories

Tell us about your work.

I’m the founder and CEO of Style Opal, a ladies-first social media and communications agency. We do everything from full-service social media management, to photo and video production, to my one-on-one consultations with purpose-driven entrepreneurs. I’m also the co-founder of Upper Left ladies, a community of women and femme creatives and entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest.

What do you love about it?

I love that I get to support entrepreneurs in building their dreams while they get their time back, supporting brands with making the difference they really want to in the world. I love connecting with other entrepreneurs on client calls or even in a group setting in my course. I love the freedom that comes with running my own business, and seeing that the impact I make is tangible. I love seeing my clients gain the confidence to show up on camera and express their fierce, true selves, whether it’s on Instagram Live or on a photoshoot.

Photo provided by Jyssica Yelas

What makes you great at what you do?

I think I make a great entrepreneur because I’m not very risk-averse, for starters. Ha! Jokes aside, I understand social media from a genuinely social perspective — I’m a natural networker and extrovert. Talking with strangers literally gives me energy. We’re here to connect and build relationships after all, right? When it comes down to it, we’re connecting with other humans when we engage on social media. There are humans behind these screens, and brands big or small need to bring their humanity out now more than ever. My team and I are able to see opportunities for brands and entrepreneurs to do this, and it usually happens through storytelling.

What is the most challenging part of your job?

Running your own business, it’s so easy to work all day every day. I really have to stay mindful of my time, how I choose to spend it and remember that rest itself is important for realizing the dream. At this moment, my time is my company’s most valuable asset.

What problems keep you up at night?

Knowing that there’s still so much work to be done for civil justice — and I’m here for it. It’s why I started Upper Left Ladies. And the fact that so many creatives — I work with many women, but really of all genders — have nothing but their own fear or false narratives standing in their way. Standing in between them and that first step, and it becoming a reality.

What does it mean to be a great leader?

To be vulnerable. To be a great leader is to sit next to somebody instead of towering over them, to show them the way, and to be an example of exactly what is possible. I was a cheerleader in high school and I still have people referring to me as their “cheerleader” — I wear it with pride, I sometimes forget that the word “leader” is a big part of that word. I really feel it; when people have affirmations and someone telling them “yes, girl, you’ve got this!” they’re so much more likely to take that initial step.

Photo provided by Jyssica Yelas

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Oh, you know I one thousand percent wanted to be an actress or pop star! Some of my strongest memories of my childhood are of writing and making up plays on the playground or at home, and then getting my friends together to play the roles and perform them. I later did start an improv club with a friend in middle or high school, always getting on stage with friends when I could. These days, speaking engagements or podcast interviews are about as close as that gets.

What was your first job? What did you learn from it?

Beyond babysitting or selling ladybugs by the seashore, my first “real” job was working at Pac Sun during high school in my hometown, Tyler, Texas. I’ve never thought about this until now, but that’s one of the first places I learned that you get what you ask for. I was probably the lowest-rung salesperson at the time, but I asked to try my hand at visual merchandising, and they let me. I was good at it, went on to study merchandising management at university at Oregon State, and that was one of my very first freelance services I offered once I graduated.

What’s something that people may not know about you but should?

I’m double-jointed, and I can make up a rhyming song about anything on the spot. I’m sure that comes into play for my writing skills somehow, right? Also, I’m good at puns, which probably speaks to all of these points except the double-jointed bit.

Who is one of your heroes and why?

My grandma is absolutely my hero. She and my papa adopted my sister and me when I was five, and she has been the greatest example of leading by love. She taught us to be generous, resourceful, that laughter is the best medicine, and to never judge somebody by their appearance, background, or difference of beliefs. She was a prisoner of war in World War Two under the Japanese as a young girl, and I think it gave her unbelievable strength. There’s actually a beautiful book about her parent’s account of this time that her brother wrote. It’s called “Guerrilla Priest” by Stephen Griffiths.

Photo provided by Jyssica Yelas

What is one of your superpowers?

I love this question! I feel I can see people for who they truly are. I can understand them and make them feel comfortable pretty quickly. Everybody has something beautiful to bring to the table. I love to help them recognize that and to see it brought into full light.

What is one of your favorite books?

I’m forever obsessed with Big Magic. I love the idea of creativity and ideas themselves being personified, and making the whole theme of “creative process” a little less precious. Absolutely everybody is creative because we are all creating — creating our realities if nothing else — every day. I also love A Clockwork Orange, which is a real curveball from there.

Image created by Natalie Ruiz

What professional advice would you give to someone?

In order to start your business or brand, the most important thing isn’t to have beautiful branding or a killer website, it’s actually to have your first customer or client. That’s when the business is born, and that’s where the real learning and growth happens.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Girl, just say those brilliant, “random” thoughts and ideas that are on your mind! They may not make sense to everybody, but for the right people, including some of those teachers, oh yeah they will. You’re also way, way smarter than you’re giving yourself credit for. Own that brain of yours.

What is one of your favorite quotes?

How about the entire Prince song, Starfish and Coffee? I’m also recently fascinated with the mantra that’s on a tarot card I keep pulling lately in my She Wolfe deck. It’s the six of swords, and it reads, “My next path leads to the sky.” There have been so many signs and reminders lately that what works for so many other people might not work for me. That can be frustrating, but it can be beautiful and empowering if I let it be. We’ve got to lean into our own journeys, and into our own intuition to figure out what the next step on it looks like.

Photo provided by Jyssica Yelas

What are some of your hobbies/ how do you relax?

My cats! Oh my gosh, I adore my cats. Cats are totally a hobby. My fiance and I have two of them, Kiki and Momo. It used to be three, and now that brother lives on the coast with my sister. I love to just lay and play on the ground with them. I’m always inspired by how intuitive they are. There is no “try” with animals. They just “do.”

I believe there is power in sharing our big dreams and audacious goals. What big dream of yours will you share with us?

I am so excited to be planning my own show right now! And by show, I mean podcast, but there will likely be a video element. This doesn’t seem that grandiose off the bat, but I have a vision in my mind of just how it can expand and help creative women and femmes build their dream lives and businesses. I have big dreams of who I’d love to come on that show. There is plenty of color involved in this vision — it gets me so excited.