Diana de Avila

A lot has changed in the last 2 years since Diana's last Profile of the Month in March 2003 and we wanted to share her successful story of becoming her own boss and starting a new business venture with her partner.

Read Diana's first profile here Profile of the Month: March 2003


Where I am now:

Life never ceases to amaze me and present me with options. Like the oyster with the pearl inside, no matter where life has taken me, the pearl appears. Finding that “pearl” in life has helped me to go well beyond the attitude of day-to-day survival to a place of meaning and purpose. I spend my days working towards that meaning that drives my life and I welcome the adventures ahead. I am a stronger and much better person for living life as an adventure. When viewing my life this way, my physical being can take wings and transcend all the things that may weigh it down at times. In my own mind, I can fly.

2003 was the last time I visited these pages and shared my story. I’ve learned more now and am wiser for the journey. I’ve learned that the stresses of a work life need to be controlled stresses. I’ve learned that controlled stress in MS is the best kind of stress to handle (if any). The controlled stress of doing a type of job that I love allows me to take control of work and life instead of letting the work life control me. A controlled stress is the kind of stress that I can anticipate and ramp up for. It’s the kind of stress I can welcome as needed and say farewell to when it is time for stress to leave. Working as my own boss – I control the work that comes my way day to day. I was fortunate to have computer skills in my tool belt ready to leverage as needed. My skills have been my life and the way I find meaning every day. The skills I have at my disposal are ones I try to use for good (for something such as Tolerance4All – http://www.tolerance4all.org ) and for lifeblood and sustenance – http://www.dcfenterprises.com . I believe that the two are one and the same so often.

I’ve felt over the past year that I have had to make some life-changing decisions if I want to continue with the quality of life I am accustomed to living. I’ve repositioned myself for the long-term and thought out those things that will allow me to remain in the workforce for as long as possible. I’ve done one of those things in life that is both prized and feared: I have become my own boss and started a new business venture with my partner.

I love to work, it is in my blood. Whether it is work from a Corporate office or a living room couch, work can take many different shapes in 2005. Creativity and drive are part of my being and my mind is always running. Work with meaning is a large piece in the pie for me. When I was a student in graduate school, I learned about e-mail. Learning e-mail led to learning about the Internet. Learning more about the Internet led me to wanting to DO something on the Internet. I wanted to create the pretty graphics and web pages like the ones I clicked through every day. The thought of being able to create something with such global reach excited me and brought a new level of meaning for me. I spent years honing my skills and teaching myself from books. I taught myself enough to gain employment in the area of Internet development with 2 different corporations. Over the past 7 years, I’ve honed my skills more in the areas of project and business leadership. Driven as I was, a climb up the Corporate ladder was a very logical step in the process of staying tied to Corporate life. Along with the climb comes the stress of the climb. I learned all too quickly that stress led me into a state of more relapses. Each day became less and less predictable in the area of my health. I needed to make a change for long-term survival. The change would be an investment in my best interests.

Over the past 6 months I’ve climbed off the ladder and have been busy at work with my business partner learning the art of global trade and import/export. In that timeframe, we have developed strong relationships with factories in China who help us produce custom products – one of the most in-demand ones being silicone wristbands. We had originally leveraged the product for our own purpose – tolerance4all.org – and while developing a new relationship with a reliable factory supplier, decided that we could also help others source this item and that we could develop more manufacturer relationships. Over several months, we have created a business venture that helps us to spread many good messages, raise the level of awareness on many different topics, and helps organizations to raise needed funds for their own initiatives. It’s the type of business that warms my heart and makes me proud. Wristbands, developed in a rainbow of colors sent around the world for all different types of campaigns and causes.

I’ve been very thankful for the MSIF for helping me through the difficult time of diagnosis and giving me the opportunity to collaborate and share with others in a similar situation. With that in mind, my business partner and I wanted to bring several skills and connections to bare on a new project that could give something back to MSIF for all they continue to do. We created a website and campaign called www.beatms.org . This becomes our simple way to give something back for the work and research that MSIF does for people like me. And in turn, it helps to raise awareness, start an elevator speech and educate a few people along the way. If we band together: entrepreneur, manufacturer, non-profit and those affected with MS in some way … we can make a difference and see that the pearl in the oyster can be found with a little searching.


If you would like to contact Diana please send your message to info@msif.org and we will pass on your e-mail.