IIN is celebrating International Women’s Day all month long, featuring graduates who are using their IIN education to build impactful businesses that focus on improving the health of their communities around the world.

Miriam Rodriguez Marquez, Class of 2016, shares her story below in an incredible video. To learn more, check out her websites: Apoyo Lodge and Retreat with Miriam.

IIN: If you had to choose one word to describe your IIN experience, what would it be?

Miriam: Life-changing!

IIN: What inspired you to enroll in IIN’s Health Coach Training Program?

Miriam: I heard about IIN through an Ambassador who I follow on social media. She was a pioneer in the raw foods movement in Spain, and I learned that she was also a Health Coach trained by the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I was delighted to hear that it was an online program as I had already planned to spend a year transitioning from my previous career in aviation to a health-oriented business, but I wasn’t sure where I wanted to be based yet. The online Health Coach Training Program was perfect for me at the time, and then it turned out to be a great way to connect with people, learn from incredible teachers and professionals, and find the inspiration I needed to create my current business.

IIN: How has IIN helped you build and grow your business?

Miriam: I own Nicaragua’s first 100% vegan hotel, Apoyo Lodge. It is a health and wellness boutique hotel focused on plant-based cuisine, yoga, retreats, and overall helping people reconnect with nature, their bodies, and ultimately themselves and their life purpose.

I also founded Retreat with Miriam, offering health and yoga retreats, during which I apply many of the principles that IIN stands for. It is my way to do group coaching in paradise, condensed into one week where we jump-start transformational processes for those who are ready to take their health and wellness into their own hands.

I use many of the materials that IIN provided to me for clients during my retreats, depending on the theme and purpose of the week. I have taken many of the learnings from the program to apply them not only to help clients directly but also to help me grow my business sustainably.

IIN: What advice do you have for women entrepreneurs?

Miriam: Follow your heart and create a business that aligns with your principles and who you truly are. Do not start a business for the money or because someone thinks that is the trendy thing right now. Creating and maintaining a business takes A LOT of work – trust me, as a foreign woman running an alternative business in the crater of a volcano in a developing country, I know that well. But when you are doing what feels right in your heart, what you know is the right thing deep inside, it will not only make it possible to succeed but will make it the biggest joy to wake up to every day. I feel proud to say that I honestly think that 95% of people who walk into my business are amazing human beings in their own ways. They talk about their experience here and entice other equally amazing people to come. It is incredible what word of mouth can do for a small business owner. Whatever you do, do it with love and the rest will fall into place.

IIN: Anything else you think the IIN community would love to know?

Miriam: That this is one of the most beautiful global communities there is out there, and I am just so proud to be part of it!

Want to join this amazing global community of changemakers? Get our free Curriculum Guide to learn more about the program that can jump-start your health transformation and help you create a lucrative, fulfilling career.