Today’s post is about an entrepreneurial project and person who, honestly, I was eager to meet since a participant of the Ingenio and Ekin-IT entrepreneurship program told me about it a few years ago. I know that I should have done this a while ago, because I dare to say that I have found “one of my own”, one of those people with whom I believe I have so much in common and I consider would have been awesome to have known her before.
I want to dedicate this post with all my love, admiration and appreciation to a MORE THAN BRAVE colleague and friend who left us last Friday the 24th, her husband Sergio, and her children Iker and Amaia. Ainara, we still had some projects to do, but I promise that I will do everything I can to make some of our dreams a reality, even though it won’t be the same. This is for you.
Joy, positivity, appreciation, illusion, strength, energy and enthusiasm are some of the words that come to mind as soon as I finish talking to Paty de Luque Muntaner, CEO and founder of Fábrica de Valientes (Brave People Factory), a project that I’ve been following on Instagram for a while and that gave me the strength I needed more than once.
She describes herself as a hacker of emotional education and a person who wants, or better said, does whatever she can to improve the square meter we live in, because as Paty says, the world needs people who, apart from speaking, they do (how true! I will never get tired of repeating it, and if I did, I give you permission to remind me).
Paty is an eclectic woman in concerns, training and experience, who believes that respect, effort, sense of humor and appreciation are the best combination, and that the world needs those who, apart from speaking, they do. She is decisive, an entrepreneur and believes that competitiveness is not the way, COLLABORATION is. Oh, and her philosophy of life is: Create Change, Not Excuses. Leave your mark and be thankful for what you have. Travel. Respect. Be optimistic. Fight. Listen. Love. Read. Laugh. Laugh more. Learn. Go! Make something!
Besides that, Paty is a great leader who is well surrounded by a team of national and international collaborators, among which there are the Happiness director, the Free Time directors, the English coordinator, the happiness developer, the psychologists or the educators. All of them together promote the social intelligence (not only emotional), which is so important in a time like this, where the social has redefined and has regained an essential place.
According to our protagonist, we should know our emotions, control them, motivate them and at the same time acknowledge other people’s emotions; we should enhance and work on social and emotional intelligence in our society, that is, generate solidarity, respect, perseverance, creative minds, a critical spirit… in short, flexible, capable and collaborative people, who are willing to mobilize for the values that highlight the importance of talent. For Paty, that is the way, because emotional education is an opportunity and a necessity at the same time.
But what is Fábrica de Valientes really about?
It is, at the same time, an education program and a life project that was born in Palma de Mallorca in 2011 because “it was needed”, and that’s it. It’s a program that is set on 4 fundamental pillars: the culture of hard work (which gives meaning), the continuous learning (through life), teamwork and the learning based on challenges, and where they believe that if we prepare our children to be autonomous, flexible, sociable, strong, creative people with initiatives, we will be contributing to creating a better world.
In this Factory they aim for:
Making the abilities and talent all of us have visible, trying to improve the square meter where we live, through the motor we carry inside of us, which are the emotions.
They also have a few goals set to helping others, creating connections and looking into each other’s eyes while we train to acquire a series of personal resources about socio-emotional competences in a fun way. All of that with the goal of developing abilities:
- to strengthen our values, empathy and the ability to cope,
- to work in team in a positive emotional atmosphere,
- to learn how to resolve conflicts,
- to encourage cooperation as a way of working,
- for the mentality of learning in life,
- for the management of uncertainty,
- to use, identify and express our emotions,
- to stimulate creative thinking, and
- to strengthen proactive attitude to create actively and by practice a better society.
It is to be noted that in Fábrica de Valientes they have their own methodology that is different, attractive, creative and innovative where they use applicable innovative tools. Thanks to it:
- they design and organize thematic activities through which they create experiences sustained by attitude, creativity, the culture of effort and social-emotional abilities. And not only that, in Fábrica de Valientes they “play” with debate, creative dynamics, brainstorming, mind maps and LEGO. Because they believe in the game as one of the best learning methods.
I encourage you to take a look at the different subprograms Fábrica de Valientes offers for all ages, from primary school children to adults, teachers and parents, but take a look especially at the summer 2020 program they are already making. It is the best proposal to take advantage of our children’s EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, and strengthen their social and communication abilities (in English).
I would like to end this post describing what Paty believes to be being brave:
Being Brave means having your eyes shining when you talk about what you’re achieving, about the people you share your square meter with. Being Brave means understanding that we don’t have to do things halfway. That not always giving your best means winning. It means working hard, making an effort, showing your emotions and always choosing good humor and respect. It means appreciating what you have and who you have, and doing everything with love trying to improve the square meter we live in.
Once again, thank you, Paty, for your kindness and, especially, for your work.
Enjoy each moment of your life, be happy and make everyone else happy. And watch out, because we are almost in February of 2020.
Translated by María Ubierna Quintanilla and supervised by Arantza Arruti.