Analiza:: Welcome to the Women of Color Rise podcast. I'm Analiza Quiroz Wolf, proud Filipino-American executive leadership coach and former CEO of a nonprofit and Captain in the U.S. Air Force. I'm also the author of The Myth of Success: A Woman of Color's Guide to Leadership. It's based on the lessons learned by many women of color leaders, including those on this podcast. We talk with successful CEOs and C-suite women leaders of color and learn about their leadership journeys. I'm on a mission to support having more diverse leaders at the table. If you're a woman or a woman of color who wants to sit at that table, you're in the right place. Now let's get into today's show.

I am so thrilled to be with Patrice Tanaka today. She's a bestselling author, public speaker on business and life purpose, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of three award-winning PR and marketing agencies. This includes the consultancy Joyful Planet, and the 5 0 1 C3 Joyful Planet Foundation. Her joyful planet entities focus on building purposeful driven individuals and organizations.I also have to say that Patrice is from Hawaii. She's born and raised there. She's a proud aloha, the Aloha spirit, and her vision is that we can have a joyful planet of 8 billion people. Actively living their purpose, leveraging their talent, expertise, and passion in service of others and our planet.Patrice, I'm so happy you're here. Thank you for joining us.

Practice:: Oh, thank you. I'm so excited to talk to you.

Analiza::Patrice, let's start with this question, which is, how do you identify and how has that shaped your career journey?

Practice:: I am a Japanese American, Asian American woman, born and raised in Hawaii, which informs all that I am today.Even though I live far from Hawaii in New York City, I try to live aloha, even here in New York City or wherever I am.

Analiza:: What does that mean, Patrice, when you say Aloha?

Practice:: Aloha. Actually, I sign all of my emails and letters with Aloha because it's my subversive way of actually saying love, even in business communications, because I think that I wanna do everything with a lot of love.You know, in every area of my life, in my personal and professional life. So aloha is this word that means love. It means welcome. It means I'm so happy to see you. I see you and accept you as part of my community, as part of my ohana, as we say in Hawaii. And that's another beautiful word, ohana, because it's your.

Community. I call it my beloved Ohana, which extends beyond my immediate family and my dear friends to the community in which I live and that I'm a part of. And I wanna be a contributing member of that community in a very positive way.

Analiza:: So, Patrice, you have founded these PR marketing agencies. You obviously have a way with words, even how you described Aloha and Ohana and you've, you've reached so many pinnacles of success, right?You've career achievement, the Hall of Fame, you've won, you know, best Workplace. You've done so many things, and did you know that you would eventually be. Leading this charge on a joyful planet of, of a planet of Oana and aloha. Was that part of Young Patrice's plan?

Practice:: Nope. Young Patrice was born and raised in Hawaii, and I must say very annoyed that I was actually living on this small island in the middle of the Pacific because I felt I should have been living there.Manhattan because I grew up on all these old black and white films from the 1930s and forties, and especially films starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and I always thought. In order to be like ginger dance, like Ginger Rogers, I needed to be in Manhattan, and then I could be wearing those long flowy evening gowns and dancing in the arms of a debonair Fred Aire, and that was not what I was going to find in Hawaii. So since I was eight years old, I think my drive has always been to live in New York City. And finally in my early twenties, I moved here. Now I've been living in New York longer than I ever lived in Hawaii, and it is my home, Hawaii. It is still my home as well. I feel both places are where I live, so I try to go home once a year to Hawaii to see my family and friends.

Analiza:: So let's fast forward. You are eight and you have this ginger Roberts ball gown dream, and you make it happen in your twenties, you move and have, I, I was in the, as a navy kid, and so I got to live in, uh, wahoo for a few years as a child. There's not a lot of people who tend to transplant and move to the mainland.So to make that move I imagine was a big move. And so you're here, you're making your dreams come true. I mean, you have this PR marketing career. So fast forward, did you become Ginger Roberts? Did you wear the ball gowns? How did this evolution happen?

Practice:: No, I moved to New York in my early twenties. I had long forgotten about Ginger Rogers, and I was just focused on my PR career isn't, you know, my first PR agency job and I focused so hard on my career that I actually helped my, um, then boss to build her small four person PR agency, such that seven years later it was acquired by Chiat Day, which was a big, hot, creative ad agency at the time. And so we were the. PR subsidiary of Shaday.I did not take up ballroom dancing until I was 50 years old, and only because. I went to see an executive coach after 12 years of building my first PR agency. After leading a group of colleagues in a management buyback from Chiat Day, we started an employee owned agency that was owned by the 12 of us involved in the employee buyback, and we were very successful over the next 12, and then nine 11 happened.Five months after nine 11, I was still so depressed and still reeling from the shock and horror of that day that I went to see an executive coach for help and, and she reassured me that she could help me, but said that first I needed to rethink. My purpose in life. And when I heard that, I was really annoyed 'cause I wanted her to fix me.I didn't want to, I didn't have the energy to rethink my purpose in life. In fact, I didn't even have a purpose to rethink. I think she was just being very gracious in saying, rethink your purpose. I couldn't get out of this exercise. So two weeks later at my next coaching session, I told my coach that. I brainstormed with myself and I came up with something that was informed by the nearly 3000 people who died in the Twin Towers on nine 11 because I and nine 11 and the Twin Towers was not too far from our office in the meat packing district. We could actually see one of the towers, and I told my coach that I kept thinking about those people that died that day because they went to work that morning and they didn't come home and their lives were cut short. All the things that they were planning to do ended that day. I said, and I wanted to be sure of that.When it was my last day that I was good to go because I feared that many of the people who died on nine 11 were not good to go because I think most people don't think about their mortality, especially if they're younger, right? They think they're gonna live long enough to accomplish what matters most, but you never know.So I told her that I came up with a purpose that would allow me to live the way I most wanted to live until the very last day that I died. So I told her that my purpose in life was simply to choose joy, to be mindful of joy and. And to share joy with others. It was a very simple three-part purpose statement.Choose joy, be mindful of joy, share joy with others. And I felt that if I did that every day, rinse and repeat that every day up to the last day would be a day filled with joy. And I've been living this purpose now for. 25 years now, right? 2000. Wait, I always have to do the math. Yes. 'cause I came up with it in, wait, maybe it's 24 in 2002. So is that 24 years? 24 years now, every day choosing joy, being mindful of joy, sharing joy with others, and it's not surprising to me that after I retired from my PR and marketing career, that I started a consultancy called Joyful Planet, which is focused on building. Purpose-driven individuals and purpose-driven organizations because I realized in the years that I co-founded three PR and marketing agencies, the power of being purpose-driven, whether as an individual or an organization.And so I felt that if I was gonna do anything post my PR and marketing career, it would be to help other individuals and organizations have clarity about their life, purpose and clarity about their business purpose, so they can operationalize their business purpose and actively live their life purpose because clarity about those two things I think. Will unleash the most success in your personal and professional life.

Analiza:: Let's talk about that, Patrice. So you went from head down, keeping this PR firm, like from continuing to succeed nine 11, the horror of that, and then you changed, right? It's almost like I'm now clear on my purpose. To choose joy, be mindful of joy, and share joy with others, that your life becomes something different.So I actually wanna bring us to that moment. 'cause you're different. Even when I first met you, you led with that and I was immediately attracted to your energy, your vibe, your. So can you talk to me about what that meant, practically speaking on a day-to-day for you as you went from, let's call it old Patrice, to this new version, this new joyous purpose?

Practice:: Yeah.

Analiza:: Build purpose.

Practice:: Well, I guess to give you a sense of how intense I was sometimes at work, one of my. Dear friends and colleagues actually dubbed me Ayatollah Tanaka because? Because I feel that if you can deliver work to me, that's 93%. I know you can give me, you know. More. I know you can do 95 or 98%, and I want more because our clients are paying us and we need to honor our commitment to them.

And so we need to deliver everything that we possibly can deliver to them. So anyway, so I, I. I'm coming from that. And you can imagine how stressful it is for someone living like that. Mm-hmm. And also employees who are having to live with a boss, A CEO, who is that driven? But it's because I was that driven that I, you know, that our agency when we started.You know, with 12 employee owners within eight years, we were named the number one most creative PR agency in the country among all PR agencies. And that is because.Of a business purpose that I articulated early on, which is that PT and company, our agency, is committed to great work, great workplace, great communities that work. That was our business purpose.

Analiza:: Mm-hmm. Great.

Practice:: work, great workplace, great communities that work because. It has to be all about producing great work, but in order to produce great work, you need to attract and retain top talent to produce great work. So you have to have a great workplace to do that. And then finally, top talent. If you're not paying the highest salaries in the land, you have to offer them. A compelling promise, which came to PT and company and helped us create healthy, sustainable communities within and beyond our workplace through the campaigns that we developed and implemented for clients.So be with a business purpose like that and try to operationalize that business purpose. How do you operationalize great work? Because every company says they do great work, right? So I decided. Alright. The shorthand for that in our business is we win a lot of awards. So I made everybody enter every campaign and every com component of every campaign in awards competitions because if you know you have to submit an awards entry and win, you better be doing great work.Otherwise, it's. Pointless to even submit. So we won almost 200 awards

Analiza::Wow.

Practice:: Within the first eight years, which is o one of the reasons that, uh, the, the PR trade magazine, the Holmes report now called Provoke Media, named us number one of the. Most creative PR agencies in the country, we do the same thing in trying to live up to, you know, great workplace.How do you communicate that? Well, you have to have a workplace that attracts and retains top talent, right? It's, mm-hmm. It's about the workplace itself. It's about the policies and procedures and whether employees feel. Good about being in that space to be able to produce great work. So we were the first agency, for example, to have a maternity benefits policy in the PR industry.And this was like six months after we let the buyback and we were in the middle of her. The onset of a recession, but we still had a maternity benefits policy that our, my fellow shareholders actually created. Walking the talk is really important, but after 12 years of doing that and producing award-winning work and doing it for clients like Microsoft and American Express, Target and Dyson, and Godiva. And Mercedes, we were exhausted, right? I was exhausted. And then comes nine 11 and we lived through at least two recessions and a.com boom and bust getting to past nine 11. So I was just, so that's when I went to the executive coach and that's when I. I came up with my purpose and the first thing my coach asked me when I shared my purpose, choose joy, be mindful of joy, and share joy with others. She says, she asked me, so what brings you joy? And I was like. Taken aback because nothing at that moment was bringing me joy. That's why I chose that life purpose, because I wanted to fill my life with joy instead of just being totally exhausted, unexcited and uninspired by my own life. That's how I was feeling when I came to that coach. So I wanted to go from joy to joy. That's why I chose that life purpose. So when she asked me that question, I said, well, nothing's bringing me joy right now. So she said, okay, well. Let's think back to a time when you did have joy, when something brought you joy. So before I could think, I blurted out, well, I love to dance. And then she says, oh, that's great. So do you dance? I said, no. She said, have you ever taken dance lessons? I said. No. She said, okay, your homework is to book yourself a dance lesson before our next coaching session in two weeks. So finally a half an hour before my next coaching session, two weeks later, I'm, I'm on the phone trying to book myself a dance lesson. And so within days I started taking ballroom dance, something I always wanted to do, but just kind of was too busy to do it and that. Actually is what changed my life because it was something I always wanted to do. I'm finally doing it at age 50, and then I got hooked and I started taking more lessons and in order to accommodate more lessons in my work week, I had to really kind of streamline.The way that I was involved at work and the oversight that I was providing to everyone there, and I didn't need to be as micromanaging as I was back then. And it was a good thing that I kind of loosened the grip because then everybody was able to come into their own. And so. That's really how it started.Everything that you do. Like for me, it was taking a ballroom dance, which I even got into competitive ballroom dancing. But that whole journey, which was about 10 years, and I wrote a book called Becoming Ginger Rogers, how Ballroom Dancing made me a Happier Woman, a better partner, and a smarter CEO.Everything that I did. You know, led to the next thing, and one of my partners, the one who dumped me, Ayatollah Tanaka, actually had this insight that I thought was really great. He said, you could never have sold our agency to another agency and not been the CEO if it hadn't been for your ballroom dancing.Because ballroom dancing is partner dancing, right? Mm-hmm. As a woman, you're the follower, not the leader. And both followers and leaders have equally important roles. Each of them has to play their role fully. And if a follower is trying to lead the leader, judges can see that you get penalized for that. So you must play your role as a follower, as a woman.And it's, my ballroom teacher at the time said, executive women. They are the hardest to teach because they always want to lead in the dancing, and that is not the role of a woman in ballroom dancing, and it's very difficult for them to stop doing that. But you must do that in order. To win if you wanna win in this competitive sport. So anyway, I learned a lot from ballroom dancing and things evolved from there. One thing led to another and after I left PR and marketing, I decided to start a consultancy and I couldn't start another PR and marketing agency 'cause I had a non-compete So. And I didn't wanna do anything. So I started a consultancy called Joyful Planet, which I mentioned earlier.One thing led to another, and then in October of 2024, after doing Joyful Planet LLC for I don't know how many years, 2016 to 2024, I decided, you know what I'm. Very passionate specifically about working with nonprofit leadership development programs that serve diverse emerging leaders who are committed to creating an equitable, inclusive, and joyful planet.So I think I'm gonna just do that however. Nonprofit leadership development programs have no money to hire a consultant like me. So then I decided, okay, then I have to start a 5 0 1 C3, and that's when I created. Joyful Planet Foundation. I asked some friends who support my work to support my little foundation so I could offer my services pro bono to nonprofit leadership development programs.And I launched my 5 0 1 3 on January 20th, 2025, which was. Martin Luther King, Jr. Today and the first day of the Trump administration, I wanted to put a stake in the sand that whatever was happening this year, I am firmly committed to. Serving nonprofit leadership development programs that serve diverse emerging leaders who are committed to creating an equitable, inclusive, and joyful planet. And that is what I have been doing for the past year. In fact, yesterday, January 20th, 2026 was my one year anniversary of Joyful Planet Foundation, so it's been a good year despite. All that we've been through the craziness of 2025 and continuing to this day.

Analiza:: It's a beautiful manifestation, Patrice, of your purpose statement, that it's not just about your joy, but also sharing joy.So, I wanna get some practical tips, and you've been so kind to support me in clarifying my purpose statement For listeners here who want to also create their. Purpose and their own, you know? Because if you're purposeful or more joyful, what three steps would you help them to, to narrow down to one, maybe not as crisp as yours, but here's a starting point.What three steps would you recommend for people wanting to create their own?

Practice:: I think. If you don't have clarity about your life purpose, the best thing that you can do is to pursue what is most important for you to do. Okay? What are you most passionate about? Pursue that because. By doing so, you will meet other people who are involved in that space who can help you, maybe give you ideas for what you can do if you want to make a career for yourself.You know, in your area of passion or doing what you consider the most important thing to do, and it's a real problem if you don't have clarity about your purpose, and you're also not following your passion or doing what you think is most important to do, because there then is a disconnect between who you are and what you.Should be doing in the world, what will bring you joy and what you're actually doing. And that disconnect is what brings people a lot of, of a great feeling of unfulfillment in their life. And so I, I feel that if you have clarity about your life purpose, it will inform everyone. Decision that you make going forward to, to guide you efficiently towards doing what it is that's most important for you.And I will offer this to your listeners. If they email me patrice@joyfulplanet.com, I will send them the 11 question questionnaire that I use in my Discover Your Life and Leadership Purpose webinars and workshops. And if they complete that questionnaire as fully as they can and email it back to me, I will help them discover and articulate their life purpose because it's. Not an easy thing to do if you haven't done it, if you don't know what your purpose is. The only reason I was able to come up with my purpose was because my training in PR and marketing and the fact that the work that we always did for clients was always trying to identify the essence of a brand, right, and then tease it out into a campaign able platform that we could build on year after year, and a platform that distinguished that company.

That brand from every other brand or company in their category and in the marketplace. Most people don't have that training. But because I did, it was easy for me to figure out what it is that I needed to do in order to live a more joyful life. And. My coach sent me back to rethink my life purpose, but she didn't give me any help to do that.She just wanted me to think about it on my own. Now, I think when most people are told they should do this, what they come back with is their goals and dreams and your life purpose is not. Just your goals and dreams, especially if your goals and dreams are to achieve success in something and to be able to take care of you and your loved ones period.Because life purpose is about how we will leverage our talent, our expertise, and our passion. In service of other people, not just limited to your near and dear loved ones, but in service of other people and our planet, right? Because that is what a life purpose is. It's about being in service. To other people and our planet.So a life purpose isn't just about your goals and dreams that may be part of your life purpose. But again, if it doesn't extend to how this serves other people and our planet and how it leverages our talent, our expertise, and our passion in service of others, then it's not a life purpose.

Analiza:: I love that, Patrice, that's so beautiful and I'm excited.Thank you for the offer. I will definitely share with listeners, Patrice. With that, let's go to lightning round questions.

Practice:: Okay.

Analiza:: First question is chocolate or vanilla?

Practice:: Chocolate

Analiza:: Cooking or takeout?

Practice:: Cookie or takeout?

Analiza:: Mm-hmm.

Practice:: Wow. Those are two disparate things. Alright, takeout.

Analiza:: Climb a mountain or jump from a plane.

Practice:: Oh, oh my goodness. Jumped from a plane.

Analiza:: Have you ever worn socks with sandals?

Practice:: Yes.

Analiza:: How would you rate your karaoke skills, scale of one to 10, 10 being Mariah Carey.

Practice:: One.

Analiza:: What's a recent book you read or favorite book?

Practice:: A recent book I read, which is really illuminating, was Barry Diller's memoir. He actually read it himself 'cause I listened to the book on Audible and you know, we know him as a successful serial entrepreneur and kind of a beast in business, but It's so fascinating to see, you know, how he came to be, what he became. So anyway, I love that book. Favorite book of all time maybe? Oh my God, there's so many. I guess when I was a little girl, my favorite book was Stone Soup and I love that book and it's kind of, and it really does inform. The way that I've lived my life and why I started my agency in the first place.So anyway, I love Stone Soup. I love a gentleman from Moscow or in Moscow because it talks about this lovely gentleman who even though he was imprisoned in a very lux hotel in Moscow, though he lived in. Ultimately lived in an unheated, very tiny Garrett at that hotel. He never lost a sense of who he was, and he never lost, he never gave into despair or treated people badly because of his despair.He was just a beautiful, beautiful book.

Analiza:: But what's a favorite way to practice self-care?

Practice:: Think about what your. Favorite thing to do and do it.

Analiza:: What's yours?

Practice:: Well, uh oh gosh. Well, I guess I love meeting people. And getting together with friends and people I haven't met before, because to me, that's like a discovery and it's, you know, it's, it's so rich because you, you, you don't know someone else's story.So that's probably my favorite thing. Meeting people and hearing their story and, and how they came to be who they are.

Analiza:: Patrice, what advice would you give your younger self?

Practice:: Don't worry about it. Doing everything too perfectly, and I find that a lot of Asian women, and I could say that as an Asian woman, they've been brought up to to be perfect and to not speak or not do a thing until things are perfect and it's just very confining and pretty stifling to not speak up until.What you have to say you think you know is gonna be perfect, and in the meantime, you lose a lot of opportunity to contribute in less than perfect ways that show so much more about who you are, right? Your fearlessness, your enthusiasm, your passion, your love, your interests, your strengths. In the way that you think, I mean, that's really important to be able to, to share, but, so if you're not sharing because you fear that it's not gonna be perfect and people are gonna judge you, I, I think that's a waste of time and energy.

Analiza:: I can see Patrice, you're on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram at Patrice Tanaka, so I'll definitely share that. And then last closing thoughts that you wanna share with our listeners.

Practice:: I think probably the most important thing to do in life to unleash greater success and fulfillment and joy, and not just in your own personal life, but in your workplace and in your communities, is to have clarity about.

Life and leadership purpose, and with that clarity, you can begin to actively live it and by actively living your purpose, that is how you unleash greater success and fulfillment and joy. That's why I really. I wish that every 18-year-old in the world had clarity about their life purpose, because that clarity will inform every decision they make going forward to help them efficiently get to where they want to go or be.So clarity about your life purpose.

Analiza::Beautiful. Patrice, thank you so much for sharing this great story and advice. We really appreciate it.

Practice:: Thank you for asking me those questions and for being sent so patient and listening, and I'm so glad that we were able to finalize your life purpose statement. That gives me great joy.

Analiza:: Thank you.

Practice:: Thank you.

Analiza:: Thank you so much for carving out time to hear today's podcast. 3 things before you go. First, if you found it helpful, please leave a five star review. Second, you can get a free chapter of my book, The Myth of Success: A Woman of Color's Guide to Leadership at analizawolf.com/freechapter. And lastly, if you're interested in executive coaching, please reach out to me at analiza@analizawolf.com. Thank you so very much