106: From Immigrant to 7-Figure Solopreneur: Building Power, Purpose, and Homes on Her Terms w/ Danilda Polanco

In this powerful episode, Sean sits down with Danilda Polanco, architect, developer, and founder of Dope Architecture, to unpack what it really takes to build a life and business on your own terms.

Danilda shares her journey from immigrating to the U.S. at 19 with no English, to becoming a 7-figure solopreneur leading a respected design-build firm in Denver. Together, they explore identity, leadership, motherhood, and what it means to stop chasing balance and start designing your life with intention.

This conversation is a masterclass in resilience, self-trust, and redefining leadership — especially for women, immigrants, and anyone who’s ever felt boxed in by expectations.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How limiting beliefs shape our reality — and how to break them
• Why representation matters, but preparation matters more
• What leadership looks like in male-dominated industries
• How motherhood and entrepreneurship can coexist without guilt
• Why setting boundaries actually earns respect
• How to build a business that reflects your values, not industry norms

Chapters

00:00 – Danilda’s immigrant journey and early ambition
04:30 – Learning English, finding mentors, and building confidence
08:45 – Identity, mindset, and rewriting the story in your head
12:40 – Motherhood, sacrifice, and redefining success
17:00 – Why she stopped chasing balance
20:45 – Leading crews and building respect in construction
26:30 – Setting boundaries and owning leadership
30:10 – The vision behind Dope Architecture
34:00 – Representation, women in construction, and legacy
38:00 – Designing a business — and life — with intention
41:30 – Final leadership lessons and mic-drop moment

About the Guest

Danilda Polanco is an architect, developer, and founder of Dope Architecture, a Denver-based residential design-build firm known for excellence, integrity, and transformational spaces. With nearly two decades in the industry, Danilda is on a mission to open doors for women and minorities in construction — and to prove that you don’t need permission to build something extraordinary.

Connect With Danilda

🌐 Website: https://dopearch.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dope.arch/

No Limit Leadership is the go-to podcast for growth-minded executives, middle managers, and team leaders who want more than surface-level leadership advice. Hosted by executive coach and former Special Forces commander Sean Patton, this show dives deep into modern leadership, self-leadership, and the real-world strategies that build high-performing teams. Whether you're focused on leadership development, building a coaching culture, improving leadership communication, or strengthening team accountability, each episode equips you with actionable insights to unlock leadership potential across your organization. From designing onboarding systems that retain talent to asking better questions that drive clarity and impact, No Limit Leadership helps you lead yourself first so you can lead others better. If you're ready to create a culture of ownership, resilience, and results, this leadership podcast is for you.

Transcript

Sean Patton (00:00)
If you've ever felt torn between who the world says you're supposed to be and who you know you're capable of becoming, this episode is for you. Today's guests moved to the US at 19 with no English, built a Korean architecture, raised two kids, and launched a design-build company that was recently recognized as Best in Denver. You'll walk away with a new way to think about identity, leadership, and building a life on your own terms. Let's get into it.

Sean Patton (00:41)
Welcome to the no limit leadership podcast. I am your host Sean Patton and I'm very excited to have Danilda Polanco. She's an architect, developer and founder of dope architecture, a residential design and build firm in Denver. She was born and raised in the Dominican Republic.

She moved to the United States at 19, learned English from scratch, earned her master's degree from Pratt, built a career in New York's architectural world, and eventually launched her own thriving design build company. She spent nearly two decades in the industry and has become a powerful example of what's possible for women in construction and leadership. She's built crews, led complex projects, navigated motherhood and entrepreneurship at the same time, and now she's on a mission to open more doors for women who want to lead in the trades, not just sit on the sidelines. I'm excited for this because...

As you're about to find out, Daniella is bold, resilient and powerful and people need to hear from her. So Daniella, thanks for being here today.

Danilda (01:30)
Thank you so much, Sean. That was such a beautiful introduction. Wow. I'm like, you made me sound like Superwoman there. Fantastic. Thank you so much for having me. It is a total pleasure and honor to be on this podcast. And I just want to take the time to congratulate you on your 100 episode milestone. It good.

Sean Patton (01:38)
You are, you are. I'm just representing reality here.

Danilda (01:54)
It was a really good episode and I truly enjoyed. Congrats.

Sean Patton (01:58)
⁓ thank you so much. Well, thanks a shout out. So yeah, definitely go back and check. If you're listening to that now and you missed it, go back and check that out. And also, you know, feel free to, you know, cut out that intro and just like add it to your alarm clock. When you get up in the morning, you just be, just be me introducing you into the world as you walk into meetings and stuff. I mean, feel free, you know? ⁓ but yeah, so I was, ⁓ in our, you know, pre-interview, such an awesome conversation. Really, really enjoyed it. And

Danilda (02:11)
Yeah, that's what it is.

Yeah, thank you. I will.

Sean Patton (02:27)
I think that, so many people, whether, whether they, immigrated or whether they know someone or some, family member who did, or just a big transition, things can seem overwhelming. and there's so many lessons that happen in those major transitions. So tell me a little bit about, you know, moving to New York at 19, having, know, as, as you said, basically no English, and trying to start a

a career in architecture, like what were those early years like stepping into the big city?

Danilda (02:55)
That is such a good question. I don't get to remember those days too often, but I certainly, they're certainly with me. I remember graduating from undergrad in the Dominican Republic in my bachelor's in architecture and truly having absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do with that degree. And we were in Miami with my family visiting.

And we had to go to New York for one reason or the other to like change my baby picture on my green card. And, and I just really love New York. I, I'm like, I am not going back. This is fantastic. that vibe, that energy, that, empowerment and everyone had a purpose. Everybody was cool. this is where I want to be.

And little did I know what that greed was going to entail, what that decision was going to entail for me. I didn't speak English fluently. I only knew my resources of my education. And I just started getting very clear. I was like, have to learn English. This is my first thing of action. It doesn't matter how educated I am. If I don't speak English,

I am not going to move where I need to go. So I dropped everything. I was like a cashier at a Garden of Eden. And I told them, sorry, my grandmother is dying in the yard. I have to go visit her because I didn't know if I needed to come back. So I just made a lie. And I said, hey, let's study.

So I studied, I then made my other bold decision, which was I am not going to work on anything else but architecture. Because at the time I was really, I was a waitress, I took a bartending class. It was a whole process of options and that you get to have as an immigrant. You know, when you show up here as an immigrant, you think that

your space in society is a little bit limited, right? And you have to start from that base up. And that base up is just pure labor. And that I was like, you know what? No, forget it. I have to, I am more educated than the people that are managing me. And that was really what gave me the motivation to start an architecture.

In that time, was a really, was the economy was, good. was 2005 and I applied for multiple jobs as a drafter in architectural firms. I was hired and everywhere I went. So it really taught me that all of those restraints were really in my mind. They were not really in the society that I was in, but the limitations were in my mind. I.

Then went to work for a female architect, Margaret Salamone, who became my mentor and she ran a design build company. That was what gave me really the, the confidence to, to understand that I could belong in, in construction too. And she had a crew, she had a team of really good, really good contractors.

that held our hands all the way. But she really pushed me into getting my license. So she was like, have to get your license in architecture. You need to be able to have that optionality. So I went for my master's at Pratt. And that was another challenge because I knew English to a point, but not to the professional point that Pratt was requiring from me.

And, but it was an amazing, an amazing experience, an amazing challenge. that is how all of these elements came along. It was a process of education, efforts, of greed. And yeah.

Sean Patton (06:42)
Yeah, I

mean, and I want to call it like, I think one of the biggest revelations that to your point, you're seeing it, you saw it in this case through sort of that immigrant lens of what the path is, right? Like if you're an immigrant, like here's the story that I've been told. Here's the story I'm telling myself on what it takes or what it looks like to be an immigrant here. And I think that's such a powerful call out to challenge that. But I think it's also,

I mean, something with like my coaching clients I see all the time. It's like, it's all in your head. know, the way you see the world is not the objective world. It's the objective. You're seeing the world based on the beliefs and stories that you have in your head. And so many people, I think, and probably listeners call me, we all do, we're all human at some point, you know, fall victim to those stories, fall victims to the societal expectations.

Danilda (07:15)
⁓

Sean Patton (07:34)
This is just the way it's supposed to be. is what that idea of like, supposed to be, who am I supposed to be? What's the right thing to do? All these things that get in our way of asking, what do I want? And what I hear you said is you got really clear on like, none of that matters. What I want is this. And now I'm gonna change the story in my head to align with what I wanna create.

Danilda (07:46)
Correct.

that is exactly it. It really takes some times just to take that determination and that focus in that there is much more than what you have been told. And, you know, that was just kind of what you what I saw like truly in the news or just watching so popular as that you grow up. It was not something that it was given to me in my home, you know, but that is the idea that you have to come

here and just work 12-hour days as a laborer. That idea is thankfully long out of the window. I come from a culture where resilience and resourcefulness are in our DNA. As a Latina, I just grew up surrounded by people who made magic with what they had. I really think that that was what has shaped my approach to architecture.

They believe that beauty and function don't require permission. They just require vision. And architecture was my first love, but construction is where I found my power. I didn't really just want to design the dream. I wanted to build it. I wanted to touch it. I wanted to manage it and I wanted to protect it. And that is how Dope Architecture was born. It was from my desire to control the entire experience for my clients.

Sean Patton (09:12)
Hmm. What was that transition like to take a step back of like, have this great mentor, which, you know, let's pull out another great lesson here, search out and find great mentors in, whatever thing you're trying to do, especially when you're new, but really throughout life, you found it sounds like a great one. And I think would you say that. the mentor, the fact that she was a female and a strong female, leader.

Was that impactful in a particular way for you? Was that important?

Danilda (09:38)
It was definitely important because it was all I knew. So I worked for her from my, she was one of the first people that I work with part time. Then I went to work with other firms full time. And when I was in doing my masters, I just decided to just work with her because she was who gave me the flexibility. I graduated from Pratt. Then I started working full time with her for 15 years. So.

All I knew was that a woman could lead and a woman could lead the team. I didn't know any different. And that was actually, I think, something that really made a difference for me because she was just empowered in that sense. But at the same time, she run things a little differently than me. She was much more head to head with the guys and

I was the one that had to come in and like manage that that path for her in making the piece. But as lonely, as lonely, as lonely and truly, and as I got more confident in the work, as I got more experience with what we were doing, she was also letting me run with it much more. So it came to a point, like the past, the last five years before

Sean Patton (10:37)
Kind of that ⁓ good cop, bad cop thing.

Danilda (10:56)
I decided to open Dove Architecture that I was just basically running her business. I was doing the contracts, I was managing the guys, was selecting the material, I was just doing basically what I did. having kids within that process and decided to move to Colorado, where my husband is from, it was what kind of, it felt it was the next step.

I moved to Colorado in 2018. My kids were very young. I had a two year old and a six months baby. and I went for what was a cure. I started working for her remotely. I said, this is the time for my family. I need to focus on this, on this moment and give it to

Sean Patton (11:19)
you

Danilda (11:41)
to my kids, my time, my energy. I knew that it was not something I wanted to do in the long run to be a stay at home mom, but I knew that my family needed me at that time. So it came with this project that it was a really big home renovation that we are referred to by one of our clients in New York. And I hired

a general contractor who ended up leaving the project midway and me having to finish it up. And I remember that I didn't, I didn't offer to be the general contractor because of fear, because I didn't feel like I had the crew. I didn't feel like I, you know, I, I knew the city well enough and I didn't offer. And guess what? I had to do it.

and I pull it off. It was a beautiful project and I declared another milestone in my life. said, never again. I am going to get my GC license and I'm going to run this experience how I want it to be. And that is how Dope Architecture came along.

Sean Patton (12:48)
You you mentioned having those young kids during that time, and I'm sure there's, so many moments and, trying to make, making that work and, and you mentioned it briefly, but so many people, and I think it's especially true of women for probably a number of reasons about this internal conflict between these two roles of the career and what you, how you want to show up and who you are there and your identity there and the need to sort of, you know,

to show up, especially when the young kids and be that mom. so were there any particular moments in there that really stood out to you as big learning points or impactful moments or how you sort of like navigated during that particular time.

Danilda (13:27)
It was so tough, Sean. It was so tough. We are raised to have identities as career woman, as entrepreneur, as sexy beings, as anything you might want to think, you know, that female empowerment gives you and that you have been raised to believe. When you're faced with

just being at home, raising children, focusing just on like matching socks and preparing, mashed food. You have a lot of time to think and get in your head about what is it that you, who, who are you? Who are you? If now that I'm having a stripped out of all these labels, who are you? And

What made a huge change for me was that my daughter was like a year and a half and I was driving towards from dropping her off at daycare. I was trying to get back to work as you know, moms, we do the part time for a while, right? And my husband just always kept telling me like, I will support you. I'll support you if you want to go for.

more work, if you want to go on your own, I will support you. And I really didn't believe it. I didn't believe it as a reality in my mind, as how was I going to leave these little creatures every single time that, you know, like one got sick and how was I going to do this? And then I remembered where I came from. And I come from a woman that had

four kids, not just two. My mother had four kids. It was just a hillbilly girl, as she called herself, from a little town in the Dominican Republic. She grinded and made herself an OBGYN, probably one of the first female OBGYNs in my town.

And all along, we're having no male support, just a single mother with four young kids. And that moment, I thought, is it going to end with me? Is it really her efforts of showing my daughter, of showing other women? Because my mother was always empowering women to study. That was her legacy, study, study, study.

Is it going to really end with me just being at home and not going for my dreams and not giving myself a chance? I cannot tell my daughter tomorrow. I didn't do what I wanted to do because, you know, going to your play dates was, was more important to me. At the end of the day, it was not what it was important to me. She was going to have her life and supporting her from.

Side by side, it was important, but I no longer chase balance. I am designing my life the same way I design my buildings, this with intentionality. You know, some seasons it's more mom, some seasons it's more CEO, a dope, but I don't feel guilty about that anymore. I just stay aligned with my priorities and I communicate openly with my family and my team what I need. So.

You have to give yourself permission to be human and not a superhuman. That was how everything started.

Sean Patton (16:40)
Hmm

I mean, such powerful words there on like coming back to intentionality and then giving yourself permission to be human, not superhuman, because I think it's very easy. even as a, I'm trying to navigate this as a new dad, because I grew up with a single mom. And so my mom, no financial help, any help from my father, biological father raised me.

Danilda (16:43)
I'm

Sean Patton (17:07)
She was a college dropout at the time, went back to school, raised me, worked full time, put herself through undergrad and grad school to work with special needs kids. And I often reflect back on that as well of I tell people, with an example like that, how can I settle for less than I'm capable of? And that's a lesson that I resonate really with you. And then...

Danilda (17:14)
Yeah.

Correct.

Sean Patton (17:28)
And again, I know it's so much different, but even as a new father trying to navigate like what I want that to be one, because I didn't have an example. You know, like some people have dads where they're like, and I didn't have that. Like we have a dad and we're like, well, I definitely don't want to do that. You you got a bad example. like, well, I know what not to do. And some people are like, no, that was awesome. I like that part of it, of that, of my dad. And so I want to emulate that. I don't have any of that. And you know, with technology and with my career, I can kind of make whatever I want as well. And so yeah, it's this really interesting.

Danilda (17:41)
Yeah.

Sean Patton (17:57)
space. like, would almost be easier. Like if I worked a, you know, a 12 hour shift, four days a week job, or if I had a nine to five and someone else was telling me, this is when you're going to work and this is when you then I can be a dad. But it's like, I can go be a dad. I can walk downstairs and be a dad right now, or I can stay here and work. So it's, it's as an entrepreneur, it's so, it almost pulls at you more because it is up to you. And so it requires to your point, so much more intentionality and, and balance. I'm wondering when,

When, you do that and you talk with your family and you try to balance those things, how do you know, like maybe what are your like leading indicators of your like, something's not aligned? Like, where are my priorities need to be? where the season needs to be versus where it is, is not quite right. Like how do you know that?

Danilda (18:43)
Yeah, just by understanding my priorities. I really have my family is my priority. Believe it or not, my husband is more of a priority than my kids. And I openly can say this because if him and I are not good, nothing is good. What our relationship entitles, so, so many other things

are really depending on how well we are as the leaders of our family. So my husband is first and it is with someone that I spend, I just spend a lot of time during the week and we make little dates during the day and we just try to find that way of how to stay connected. And it is the priority when I remember that I'm here sitting.

You know, like just focusing on ordering a thousand little light fixtures. And then he texts me like, Hey, do you want to do yoga at 3pm? You know, I'm like, yes, I do. Because that is really my priority. What I'm going to remember tomorrow is all of this is for us. All of this is for the best of my family. So we have to be careful because early on I, I

I I was doing the right thing. I thought I was really making the priority, but no, I wasn't. I was just working all the time and just, you know, hustling here with my phone when I would pick up the kids, when I was at a show with them. And that is not the impressive. And truly age is what has come to give me more clarity. You know that the 40s are just enlightenment. So once I crossed that boundary, I was like, no.

This is the priorities my kids. So they know what mama is doing and mama needs their help. They are hired in my company and they have to work. So every week they have to go and like my daughter is my director of social media. So she has to record me. My son is my apprentice. He has to clean up. He has to bring water to the guys. He has to just do things. I tell them we are building the empire.

and I'm not doing it alone. So it is all of us doing it. They know sometimes I just have to pop up in the construction site before you go to the playground. But that is just, that is, that is what I'm telling you. I stopped chasing balance. is an interrelationship of my life and my family and what, what we are doing. Yeah.

Sean Patton (21:09)
So let's, before we talk about maybe the interests and the leadership side of your business currently, let's, you you so eloquently talked about your sort of vision for your life and career. What's the vision for Dope Architecture?

Danilda (21:21)
That is such a great question. architecture, my vision is to build a design-builder studio that leads with culture, with innovation, and that elevates my clients' experiences. I really want to not so much expand my team, but to mentor the upcoming designers and builders. I really want to give more opportunities for women.

and minorities in this field because I did it. think anyone out there really can do it. So I really see the architecture growing into a brand known for excellence, for authenticity, and for delivering truly transformational spaces. That is my focus right now.

Sean Patton (22:08)
focus. Note, so much of the construction industry are minorities or are, you know, especially in the Hispanic. I can, you know, and a lot of the subcontractors are contractors. But to your point, and tell me if I'm wrong on this, but it seems like at the sort of GC designer build, like that level, that leadership level, there's not as much representation is, can you speak to

If that's true, why that may or may not be true and where that's headed.

Danilda (22:37)
It is so underrepresented, Sean. This is really why I am going to probably in the next two years create a program for women to understand better this construction process. But I am very aware that when I show up, you know, I am carrying the dreams of so many people who never saw themselves reflected in this industry. So.

Representation matters, but excellence matters even more. I show up and prepare. One of the reasons that I think a lot of women might not jump into construction is because there is this belief of hostility in a construction site. You know, there is just this belief of like, they're just dudes calling themselves names and not showing up.

And, you know, you breaking your nails, you know, that is not the truth and reality that you can build for yourself. You can build a team of reliable people, reliable craftsmanship that work with purpose, work with pride is everyone I work with. And we run a highly respectful job site that

I think really summarizes the ideas beyond why you could be there or not. And, you know, as architects, we tend to have a really big ego of everything we're doing is just great and amazing, you know, and you show up and you might...

on their mind, your laborers, because they're just there, you know, hard working for you. But that is the key. That is the key. Are you capable of making the dream a reality for your clients? You know, making that dream a reality in a seamless way, in a beautiful way, maintain the integrity of your team, maintain them also

interested and intriguing the work because we are all designers, we are all creatives. And at the end of the day, I'm just a dreamer. If they don't bring my dreams to reality, I am nothing, you know? So I really want to see more women in construction. I think there is a tremendous opportunity. I think we already manage and

the home, I think it is time for us to build it too.

Sean Patton (25:03)
I love that. You know, you talk about leading these different teams and leading in a different way and creating a respectable job site. And I also loved how you talked about, we're all creatives. And it sounds to me like one of the keys to your leadership style is that empowerment and involvement in the creative process with, the people that you work with, with the teams that they're a part of building that something bigger. They're not just taking orders and swinging a hammer that they're

they're being respected as professionals and as creatives themselves. So tell me what that leadership style looks like when you're working with your own crews or different subcontractors or different leaders inside of that. What sort of leadership approaches and how do you get that sort of buy-in and get a level of professionalism performance that not everybody else does?

Danilda (25:53)
I think I lead with clarity, with confidence, and with compassion. I don't think I need to raise my voice to command the room. I show up very prepared, knowledgeable, and committed to my work. And I really hope that over time, I have shown people that expertise doesn't look like one single thing. So I really value the respectful partnerships.

I always make it clear that I know my craft and the results that needs to speak louder than any stereotypes ever could. my team knows that easy is not in my vocabulary. They know that that's fine is not in my vocabulary. We are going to do the best we can do. And it comes from.

My vision, I have to say, if I give them a task to do, have already seen how I'm going to do it and I walk them through it and everyone has a really good, by now we just have a really good method of communication. So how did this look at the beginning before I had this great team? Let's back up a little bit. You know what, what took me into weaving through.

the landscape of construction. I remember many times, Sean, that I sat in my truck and I will cry for a minute or whatever. I was just so overwhelmed and so overwhelmed by trying to play the game their way, the men way. Why do I say that? Because

If I would leave it to my guys, they will show up to the job site at 7 a.m. and they will, you know, bang it out until three and leave, you know, it's a labor day. So I don't expect anyone to be there like nine to five. So if we was up to them, they will show up at seven and so many times early on in my, in the creation of architecture, I would just struggle, you know, like call my sister. I need to meet my framer at 7 30 and all of this.

And I'm like, what am I doing? I am the boss. I am the boss. I say at what time we're going to show up. Hey, now meet me there at eight 30. I need to drop off my kids at a school and then I'll meet you. go to the extent to put it in the notes to the inspector, to the building inspector. I am dropping off my kids at a school and I'll be there at eight 30 AM. Like we need to start normalizing that we're all.

We all have other responsibilities and that our life is not just one single lane of professionalism. We are the composition of the tenderness of motherhood, know, of the drive of being an entrepreneur, of the grit that involves being a general contractor. I am all of those. I cannot separate one or the other, you know?

Sean Patton (28:44)
Yeah, it sounds like, you know, a key lesson there, is that people respect you more when you set boundaries versus if you try to just like accommodate whatever else's expectations, you know, like that's what I've seen too. I often talk with, you know, somebody who's like, I want, can't, story they'll tell themselves, right? It's like, well, I want to take care myself and be healthier, but I can't go to the gym, because if I do that, then I'll be, I'll get to work at, like you said, eight instead of seven and then

Danilda (28:55)
for sure.

Sean Patton (29:09)
And then what? And then what? And what I've always found, and it sounds like what you found too, is that people respect you more when you say no. When you're like, well, we're going to meet at 7.30. No, I actually work out till eight. That's a priority for me. You're like, oh, there's somebody who sets boundaries, who has self-discipline, and is leading themselves in a mature way. And that makes people respect you and want to follow you more.

Danilda (29:22)
Yeah.

Sean Patton (29:35)
then when you sort of become the person who's trying to meet and bend to the will of everyone else around you.

Danilda (29:43)
Totally agree. It is said than done and we all have to really go through the process of being spread out so thin that then you come up to the understanding that that is unsustainable. So you really have to prioritize yourself, your mental health, your body, and it will come. It will come for sure.

Sean Patton (29:44)
Hmm.

What's your favorite part about being and running Dope Architecture right now?

Danilda (30:13)
I love seeing what I design in material form. To being able to create something in my mind and just work it out with my clients, seeing how it's coming along and then seeing it finished, beautiful, shining.

changing their lives, it is an absolute pleasure to me that I get to experience very often. So I really want and love that process of construction, of design and construction.

Sean Patton (30:49)
When you think about leading into the future and leading like dope architecture into the future and people are listening, whether it's their own companies or they're inside of a larger company, they're trying to create their own vision or envision like what that change looks like. What is it going to need in your mind to shift or change or what sort of like transformation is in you for Danelda 2.0?

to create the next level of your business and life.

Danilda (31:22)
That is such a good question, one that I am constantly bouncing against too. I just want to dream boldly and execute intentionally. And what do I say about that? I mean that...

There is, what this process has taught me is that you can do absolutely anything you want in life if you truly believe in it and put your mind into it. You're saying on the 100 episode show of how blessed we are to live in a country where we have peace, where we have resources, where we are blessed with

so much more. When we are blessed with having opportunities, even when you don't go to school and get a degree. Look at the biggest entrepreneurs that have totally changed the world, haven't really going through that path. How many countries in the world allow that for their citizens? Not that many. You know, you need to follow the script. need to educate yourself. You need to

work for someone or for something. that perspective of the opportunity that I'm given right now, it is that I am going to go balls to the walls as far as I can with this. So right now it is about building my brand and my reputation in construction.

Why do I say that? Because as a woman, it is going to definitely take a little longer, but it's happening. It is, you know, we were recognized as like best architectural design firm in Denver this year. I knew I was hustling hard, but I was glad that someone was watching, you know? So what I think is that you don't have to fit into the industry. You can reshape it. The world is not made out of people.

Sean Patton (33:00)
Wow, congratulations.

Yeah.

Danilda (33:15)
that fit into places. It is made out of those that don't. is made out of, is reshaped by those that haven't found what they wanted and what they were looking for and gives it to the world. What is that that I'm giving to the world? It is creating gorgeous spaces for my clients without the headache and stress that traditional construction brings into their lives.

So that experience of, wow, I didn't know that this construction process could be delightful. We could have fun, you know, like picking materials and I could be updated every week of what was happening in my house and I could see the progress going on. didn't have to get calls of something exploding, you know? That experience is lacking in our society.

And I think that is something that a lot of women, we're mostly, I work in single family residential. So mostly women are the ones seeking the transformation in their homes. And I think women can continue that transformation in their home and actually learning how to build them, how to build their homes. Yeah.

Sean Patton (34:28)
Yeah, I love that. When you think about the process, that big bold vision and the term that comes to mind is scaling. So like as you go to scale, what does that look like? Are there certain challenges or new things in your business or new roles you're gonna have to assume in the future in order to grow?

the business as big as you want to make it versus the current role you have now.

Danilda (34:54)
Well, Sean, I am starting to understand what that growth means. And even if I want to grow in the directions that sometimes the business is pushing you towards, I, I often think, you know, there's always this idea of like, you have the business, it has to grow. You have more, you need to have more people, you need to delegate, you need to do all of these things. And then I think was Michelangelo.

delegating someone else to paint their masterpieces. Was any, you know, amazing creation really delegated and having the apprentices, the apprentices could be the support, but in this moment in my life, I want to sit on this seat and run my show one way by me with the design, with the management for as long as I can.

until I raise and learn how to grow other women to do this. I really want to focus on the women thing. I just see this going from dope architecture making me so much money that I could just then say, you know what, it is just time to teach. And I want to focus on teaching more full time than in construction. Yeah.

Sean Patton (35:54)
Yeah.

Hmm interesting.

Yeah man Didn't know this has been awesome and I definitely put you know people can follow you on social because the work you do is beautiful And your story there's so many great lessons there for other people to pull into their own their own lives Is there anything that I Missed that you wanted to make sure you got out to the audience today

Danilda (36:19)
Thank you.

You have been so great. I am blessed for you to have given me this opportunity. I think we have discussed the topics of empowerment, which is really what I want to do. At the end of the day, my mission is just simple. I just want to build with purpose and design with soul and lead with integrity. I just want every woman, every Latina

every immigrant and every dreamer who listens today to know that you don't need permission to create something extraordinary. You just need to believe deeply. You need to work intentionally and you need to trust that your vision is worth building. And I'm just proud of the journey and even more proud and excited of what the legacy is still that is still being shaped in my life.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Sean Patton (37:19)
That's a, yeah,

that's a mic drop moment. Danilo, thank you so much for being on today. This is fantastic.

Danilda (37:25)
You have been awesome. I appreciate it.