Most entrepreneurs don’t talk about the part where everything falls apart. Paola García Ayensa does.
By 30, she had already made her first million. As Chief Operating Officer of a beauty retail company she co-founded at 23, Ayensa oversaw expansion from two stores to 42 franchised locations across Mexico. She managed 125 employees, negotiated directly with suppliers in China, and built something she describes as being about “dignity and building something people were proud to belong to.”
Then the pandemic hit. Partnership tensions escalated. She was pushed out. When she tried to start over, malls stayed closed for six months. The result: bankruptcy.
“Your ego disappears,” she says. “You’re left with who you really are.”
The Unexpected Reset
What followed wasn’t a typical comeback story. A friend, Paul Kortman, reached out during that difficult period. He ran Connex Digital, a company specializing in automation and AI-enabled business solutions. Ayensa joined not as an executive, but in an assistant-style role.
“I went from being the employer to being the employee,” she recalls. “And honestly, it was the most grounding experience of my life.”
Six years later, she’s now Director of Happiness at the same company, working alongside Kortman and CTO Vera as one of its most senior leaders. Connex Digital works with platforms like Zapier, Make, and Workato, helping businesses scale through intelligent systems.
A Different Kind of Leadership
The transition from beauty retail to tech wasn’t straightforward. Ayensa’s background began far from boardrooms: she trained as a professional dancer and actress, appearing in telenovelas and productions connected to Univision in Miami. She later worked in PR and events with major alcohol brands before co-founding her retail business.
“Performing teaches you something very few business schools do,” she explains. “How to read a room, how to recover when something goes wrong live, and how to show up even when you’re terrified.”
That perspective now shapes how she approaches team wellbeing and culture leadership in a fully remote, globally distributed company. Her role blends client relations, operations, and what she calls human-centered design in how teams function.
Success, Redefined
Ayensa speaks openly about being Latina and how gratitude has shaped her path. Living remotely, she considers herself a global citizen while remaining rooted in her Mexican heritage. She credits her faith with helping her navigate uncertainty: “With Him, anything is possible.”
Today, she measures success differently than she did at 30. There’s travel. Balance. The ability to lead without needing to control everything.
“I loved building companies,” she says. “But I also love being part of one. There is peace in that.”
For those starting over, her message is direct: “If you’re rebuilding, you’re not behind. You’re refining.” It’s advice born from experience, offering a different narrative about what professional growth and resilience actually look like when the path isn’t straight.
