When dance was taken away during Covid, I had to say, ‘Who am i?” I realized dance was external, so I had to dig deep and realize what I loved about dance and see how I could put those things into myself and put them into other things. I’ve transferred those skills over and do one thing at a time. Ask yourself ‘What am I made of? What else do I have?”

~ Paige Leigh DeAngelo

Did you lose anything during Covid? All of us lost something or someone, and some losses were far more painful than others.

But even seemingly minor losses had profound effects, causing us to question our identities, our past decisions and our futures.

A dancer since early childhood, Paige DeAngelo lost that part of her identity when she was unable to dance on stage during Covid. Initially grieving that loss, Paige eventually looked inward to determine what skills she had learned during her dance career that she could transfer to other passions.

In 2021, after recalling the copious amount of makeup used during her dance days, Paige founded Aer Cosmetics, creating a sustainable mascara that allows the user to buy a small tablet of mascara as a refill, using the product’s original tube, rather than buy an entirely new unit every time. Now a recipient of over $70,000 in grants and business competition winnings, Paige is a full-fledged entrepreneur and will be bringing her product to market in the near future.

Here at Brilliantly Resilient, we love Paige’s emphasis on utilizing her transferable skills to rebuild her life after Covid’s sucker punch. What transferable skills can you bring to other areas of your life? Tune into this episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast to hear more of Paige’s words of wisdom, and listen for these additional bits of brilliance:

• I realized at a very young age that if I wanted something I was going to have to do it myself. I determine my final outcome.

• Everything is “figureoutable”–you just have to do it.

• You have to sit in the discomfort and be okay with it. You can’t make decisions about your life because you don’t want to disappoint someone else.

• Your closed doors are just as valuable as open doors.

Let’s be Brilliantly Resilient together!

XO,

Mary Fran & Kristin