Episode 151 | Mastering Miracles for Unstoppable Success with Hazel Ortega

This episode is a powerful reminder that where you start doesn’t determine where you can go.

Hazel Ortega grew up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in L.A., surrounded by poverty, violence, and personal loss. A high school dropout on welfare, she faced seemingly impossible odds. But her story didn’t stop there—it transformed.

In our conversation, Hazel shares how one pivotal question changed her life: “Where do you see yourself in five years?” That question sparked what she now calls “Miracle Vision”—a method that helped her rewrite her story from survival to success.

Hazel walks us through how she built a life far beyond what she once thought possible: from earning her master’s degree to founding multiple businesses and even helping fund a hospital in Uganda. Her secret? Not a detailed plan—but belief, action, and the courage to dream big.

If you’ve ever felt stuck by your circumstances or unsure how to take the next step, Hazel’s story will inspire you to think bigger and act bolder.

About Hazel Ortega:

Hazel Ortega, M.Ed., is a global speaker and transformation expert who went from a high school dropout and welfare recipient to a multimillionaire entrepreneur. Raised in one of Los Angeles’ most dangerous neighborhoods, Hazel’s early life was marked by poverty, gang violence, domestic abuse, and the incarceration of both parents. Her transformation story embodies resilience, growth, and the miracles she teaches others to intentionally create. Today, Hazel is an acclaimed speaker, author, philanthropist, and founder of multiple businesses. She has spoken on prestigious stages, including the United Nations and the California Endowment, and her programs have touched over 45,000 lives

Resources:

https://www.themasteryofmiracles.com/

https://hightideglobal.org/

Mastery of Miracles Course

Book: From Bounced Checks to Private Jets: The Mastery of Miracles

IG: @hazelortega_official 

Check out Kay's Uncopyable Sales Secrets Video Series: https://www.beuncopyable.com/sales-course

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Transcript

My guest today is Hazel Ortega. Hazel is a dynamic force in personal transformation, entrepreneurship and social impact. She went from being a high school dropout and welfare recipient to founding multiple multimillion dollar businesses. Raised in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

Hazel's. Early life was marked by poverty, gang violence, domestic abuse, and the incarceration of both parents. Her transformation story embodies resilience, growth, and the miracles she now teaches others to intentionally create.

Hazel or , let's pretend I did all that. Introing and here we go. Hazel, welcome to the podcast. Oh, thank you for having me. Kay, good to be here. I really appreciate Jana Franklin, who speaks very highly of you referring you to me so I can learn more about you and what I've learned so far is unbelievable.

Really very impressive. Hazel, I'd like you to start with your background and then we'll get into your topic of miracles, transforming with miracles. So what about your background? Let's start there. I am the daughter of Mexican immigrants and they came here to the United States before I was born to live the life of their dreams, chasing the American dream.

Unfortunately that's not what happened for my parents. By the time I was born, they were already separated. My dad and my mom were teen parents. My dad was a became a drug addict. And my mom married and divorced many times while growing up. While I was growing up. And she was on welfare the entire time that she was here in the United States.

I grew up on welfare. Paid for food with food stamps. We lived in a 60 unit apartment building in a one bedroom apartment my entire life until I left at 19 years old. And we were there with my mom's husband's, whatever husband it was at the time. And my mom kept having children with each different husband.

So my mom has seven children with five different men. And it was tough growing up like that because every time that my mom broke up with a boyfriend, it was like a boyfriend or her husband. It was like they were leaving me, right? Kids don't know about problems that adults have. They take it very personal and and how that manifested itself in my adult relationships, it, it was like, you love me, but you could leave me.

And it really restricted my experience of living, my experience of relationships when I'm always holding back, because you could leave me. And then if that wasn't enough, my neighborhood was very violent. I grew up with the MS 13, which it, they've been a lot in the news lately. The Salvadorian gang.

The Deadly Salvadorian gang. They were am America's domestic terrorists in the eighties, and then they all got deported back to El Salvador. And now they're, a huge problem over there. And those were my neighbors. And because of that, I also experienced extreme violence with killings of my friends, of my loved ones that were gang related.

When I was just 21, 22 years old, my mom shot and killed her boyfriend when she was pregnant with her seventh child. She became a fugitive for five years. Then eventually went to prison for 12 years for that and I ended up raising her two, the two youngest of kids who were four and six years old. When my mom went to prison, they came to live with me.

At this time I had a 2-year-old and I instantly became a mother of a two, a four, and a 6-year-old. That's how and how old were you at that time? You said just 21. I was 20, about 21, 22 when my mom fled. And when she went to prison, I was about 27 years old. That is just an unbelievable story. Fact is stranger than fiction comes to mind and that you have overcome all that.

You were a high school dropout, even though you're very educated now. And I think you said, I read that you didn't graduate from high school even until you were 30, is that correct? At 30 years old, I earned my high school diploma. Wow. And then what? This is just an unbelievable story. I was jokingly asking you before, is this for real?

It's like you can't make this stuff up. So what, so then you did go on to become more educated, getting out of this cycle. Not only that, but thriving and being so successful. Just what do you attribute that to? I have many key things that I can say happened. It was like a recipe, right?

So I had mentors that saw something in me that I couldn't see in myself, and I paid attention and I listened. So I do take opinions from other people. I'm open to that, and I do it to this day as well. I always seek counsel and I. I take action. I don't just get good, a good advice, and then I don't use it.

So I take action when I hear. My mentors or somebody that I respect share something. I did that. So I got mentors in my life and then I changed my environment. So I, for people tell me, you were a big fish in a small pond. That's what happened. And I'm like, no, a fish can't grow big in a small pond.

You have to change your pond. And I just learned that sharks don't grow big either in a in a tank. You have, they grow as big as they can depending on their environment. Same for humans. And so I, I was able to get a job at a courthouse and then at a prestigious law firm, and now I'm surrounded by judges and lawyers and I'm not in trouble.

And that was the first. Thing that changed my life is changing my environment. So there I became exposed to people that were educated and encouraging me to go back to school and get an, get a higher education. Then nobody knew that I didn't even have a high school diploma. But there were a lot of opportunities if you had a college degree and I went to school, in the evenings and on weekends.

I worked from nine to five, and I went to school from seven to 10, and I went to school Saturdays eight to five, and on Sundays 10 to two. Wow. Yes. Talk about a work ethic above and beyond. Yeah, and I had three kids what I feel like a, I feel pretty lame right now. My problems seem very small. I have one child, none of the.

The challenges that you had so good on you. That's just amazing. Yeah. Sometimes people change because they create a big vision for their lives. I change because I had to, and one of the tips that I tell people is create a vision for what you want, and then the action.

Follows the vision, it has to be really big. So if I say I wanna lose 20 pounds, but then I don't say why, I probably won't lose a 20 pounds. But if I wanna lose a 20 pounds, like we all lose 20 pounds for our wedding, right? Or our, a wedding of somebody in our family, we would lose a 20 pounds for that, but just for no reason.

It's not going to happen. So we need to be creating reasons, the, what is the intention, why do I wanna do. That, why do I wanna do the 20 pounds? Why do I wanna have a million dollars? Why do I wanna have an education? The why is so important. That's what's gonna keep you on track.

So for me it was, I don't wanna be back in poverty. I don't wanna be on the streets. And that's what pushed me today. I create what I call miracle visions. And I create something that. It just makes me so excited that I can't just hardly wait to put the action behind it. I wanted to go back first to one of the things you said a few minutes ago, and that is change your environment.

I love having specific things that people listening can do, so that's a great point. Changing your environment. I didn't know that about the sharks. That's. Interesting. But. You needed to get out of that world. Of course, there was something in Hazel Ortega. I just can't imagine how you went from that background to not only having a vision of success, but a miracle vision.

He went so far beyond what most people would expect or even hope for. So I really like also the part about your why and it's funny, I just went hiking yesterday and one of the guys on the trip, his daughter's getting married and he said, oh yeah, we're on diets. We're on diets. So that is like the biggest classic reason to lose weight.

But you, do you need a why to. Drive you not just thinking about the actions. I'm amazed that you came up with such an ambitious. Ambitious vision and you know I love you wrote that book in the intro I mentioned from bounced checks to private jets. I love that title, but you really were a big thinker. So how do we think big like that?

How, I know you teach others to create miracles intentionally. How do we do that? Yeah. Thank you. Kay. Absolutely, and I wanna tell you that I didn't, I wasn't a big thinker like that. I wasn't. Somebody asked me, where do you see yourself in five years? I was 36 years old. I'm a psychologist by now, but I'm fist fighting with my sisters.

I'm bouncing checks. I'm divorced and I'm struggling, and life is not that great. When they asked me, where do you see yourself in five years, I thought and said I'm five years older, more bills, more problems, more of what sucks right now for me. And the lady told me you answered that really quickly, I'll be back in 10 minutes, give it a thought.

And a lot of things happened in that moment. Those 10 minutes made me realize that I don't dream. Made me realize that probably that's the first time I was actually thinking of the future and not survival mode. And that changed everything. In that moment. I got a voice that asked me, do you believe in miracles?

Yeah. Wow. So do you see it as a di divine message or a hundred, do you not define it or how do you define what happened? Yeah, it was like your higher self, right? I believe in miracles and so does 90% of the PO world population. And what happened was that my brain allowed me to see a vision that was unrecognizable to me.

The brain is a beautiful organ, a gift. To us, right? It protects us. It keeps us alive and safe, right? But it also limits our visions. Because if you are saying, I'm gonna lose 20, 40, 50 pounds, your brain is yeah, right? You just ate a Snickers five minutes ago. It, it keeps score, unfortunately, mostly of our negative attributes.

Because we probably have more of those. Yeah. That's what we focus on and of course I have women and men that listen to the podcast, but women especially, we are so self-critical and I think we think too small. And you thought. Really big. I think the average person, whoever that is me, we'll say me.

We get in our rhythm of taking care of business. What do we have to do? We just, we plot out, okay, these are my to-dos, this is my list, and we don't take that time pattern interrupt. Maybe whatever happened to you to allow that space to happen, and whoever said, I'll give you 10 minutes, was brilliant.

And what a difference she made in your life. Totally. In those 10 minutes I saw myself flying in private jets living in a pimp daddy mansion, the kind where music videos are filmed. Having a life that looks like I'm always on vacation. During this time, I worked 10 hours a day. I worked as a psychologist and I started my first business from the garage of my home.

And back in the day when it wasn't cool to work from home, if you worked from home, everybody knew you couldn't afford the rent at an office. So when things have changed? Yeah, things have changed so much. So the vision, inter the vision, the Miracle Vision works so well. And I go into corporations and I go into, jails and I speak to entrepreneurs and everybody that you can think of, and it unlocks a vision for everybody wherever you are. It creates a bigger vision than that, and it's easy and your brain doesn't hurt and doesn't tell you that you're being ridiculous because we haven't been programmed to make a miracle happen.

If you know how a miracle happens. It ceases to be a miracle, right? And so then we don't get stuck in the how, the, how is what stops all of us from dreaming bay because we start to realize, okay, if I'm gonna climb Kilimanjaro or Mount Everest I need to get in shape. And then you think about all the things that it takes to get in shape, and then you're like, nevermind.

I think too much. I'm out. Yeah. Or dieting, you just think about all the restriction of that and then you're like, nevermind, I'm not gonna do it. But if you think of a miracle, you actually allow yourself to say that. And that's what happened to me. And so I said, in five years I would have relationship with my sisters that look like we're in heaven based on a miracle.

Anyway, everything happened to me within two years, not five, without investing $1 and without going back to school and getting another degree. And so what I teach people is how to create your vision. That comes in my talk. I it is like an inspirational talk, right? I inspire everybody by my story and then they start to say, okay, if that happened for Hazel, it can happen for me.

And they dream really big. And then once you have that big vision. You fall in love with it, you want it. So that's what happened to me. I saw that vision. I never wanted those things before because they were not available. And why would I even dream that big? Like I didn't believe it could happen. And then because I fell in love with it, I wanted it.

And that was worth changing my actions. My actions of when my sisters wanna fight, I don't engage. I already saw the vision of what it looks like to love you, and I want that better than this. I already saw my body look amazing in a bikini, and I want that more than I want this cake, like that.

And I saw what it looks like to be on vacation all the time, and I want that more than I wanna just waste my money at the store shopping for things I don't need. And I started to change. Little areas of my life and little areas, little consistent actions. All of a sudden we're making transformations in my life.

The zeros in my bank account started growing. It's if you want, I. To be a millionaire, you can't be zero in your bank account. So I started to learn about financial planning and I stopped spending money and I started to see money pile up in my bank account and it felt really good. My confidence went up.

I actually attracted somebody who wanted to invest in me, and eight months later I was starting a new business that scaled really quickly and was a life changing. First experience, and I've had many like that ever since then. I have a couple questions. One is, I guess an observation. I like the way that you say when you start with the how.

I think so many of us get discouraged with when we start with the how, okay, here are the steps that I need to take. And like you said, losing weight means not eating the food you like, whatever sacrifices you're making. Without the vision, the end vision, it's a totally different. Feeling and concept, I would like you to share with us one piece of wisdom of how we can get that epiphany or whatever happened to help you think big and maybe it's not something you can explain or even that you know what happened, but yes, you not, you overcame things that were so difficult and then went so far beyond.

And so can you explain any of that? Yeah. And even better, I can give you a free resource I have. Perfect. Okay. I have a four minute free guided meditation asking you the same questions that were asked of me way back when I was 36 years old, where it changed the trajectory of my life from having a very small house to living in a mansion and.

The freedom in my finances and in my time and in my relationships and like who I am today. The website is the mastery of miracles.com. I. And it has a worksheet. I highly recommend you do it. You as well. Oh, I will. And by the way, as always, I put all the links in the show notes, so if you miss something that goes by, you can just look at the show notes and find the links and that.

Yes, I definitely wanna try that or do that. Hey, please do it right now. I use this recording even where I am right now, where I've already accomplished. Big, amazing things. I'm already in a new environment at any. Place that you are in your life, whether you're a battered wife or husband, or you are a high school college dropout struggling in a job that you don't like or a business you don't like, where ever or you're the woman of the year.

I. Which I just got that award. Congratulations. Yes. Okay. I think I read, the Entrepreneurs Organization, is that it? The organization you were honored by? No, the state of California. Oh, the state of California. Yes. Yeah. Oh, state of California. I did receive awards from entrepreneur organization.

I received the Global Impact Award. We built a hospital in Uganda in 2022. And, okay. So I wanna just have a little segue into that because yes. As, as well as being so successful, you are giving back in a big way. So I do want you to talk about that. I have a question. Do you, are you the one that reads that meditation?

That delivers the meditation? Yes. That we that, okay, good. We'll all know when we go to that link and try it. So I like the fact that you say. You can use it, whether you're a battered wife or I guess a CEO of a corporation, whatever. There's always more. There's always something you can approve on and giving back is a, you know what better next step if you have all the success, all the money, all the things that you can possibly need or enjoy, whatever the next step of course is to go out and impact the world and you really are.

Yeah. Thank you. What happens once you take care of your basic needs, then you wanna teach others, you wanna give back. It's actually like it, you're pulled in that direction. And I know many of us we wanna help no matter where we're at in our lives. We help but to help. An impact and make a big difference on, on the other side of the planet is incredible and it takes a miracle.

So I created a vision for myself that in 2026 I would have made a global impact. And not right now, in 2021 when I created the vision, I said, in five years from now, and. Before I knew it, I was connected to somebody in Africa who was looking for funding a hospital in Uganda for a school for orphan girls and boys and I got involved with this project and before I knew it, a hospital was being built and completed and I got an award.

And it is the best feeling in the world to do that. Yes, I could imagine. And in my own way, I, this podcast is to help others. Anyone listening to this podcast will be impacted and as you say it, it really is a wonderful feeling. I have not done anything on the scale you're talking about. I have done some mission work.

Some good deeds, whatever. But yeah, it feels really good to give back. And it sounds like two times at least you said, I wanna do this in the next five years, and it happened much more quickly. Yes. Effortless effortlessly as well. Okay. Even though it was all the way in Uganda. It could be probably the same effort, that less effort than you do on a podcast.

So we can do big things. We just make them hard in our own brain. The brain is that's why I said not now, like in five years from now. Because my brain thought, oh, that's something hard to do. Takes resources, takes time trusting and whatever that all of that story is and it's gonna be something hard.

And it actually occurred to me like it was. Really easy. So I appreciate being on your podcast and what you're doing is huge because it allows these stories to change other people's lives. That's why I'm here today, right? Because I wanna help end suffering in the world through sharing my story.

Because I believe if people would know how to get out of their repetitive negative thoughts. That they're stuck in, that they can actually live the life that they desire and then turn around and teach other people and help other people and make a difference in the world. We don't have to live in the world that we don't like right now.

There's a lot of things that I don't like in the world, so what best to do than to share my story and create all these, an army of people that are out there now helping each other, and there are a lot of people out there helping, but let's help like even in a bigger scale, I feel like all of us tend to default to the negative, some more than others.

I've had some people on the podcast, women of course, that just say they were born with a sunny positive. Personality and outlook, but for most of us, that mindset is something we really have to work on. And of course, this podcast is women in business. So if you're in any kind of business or sales, that mindset.

It's everything and it feels like it's a soft skill and woo. And what does that matter? It's everything. And so I really respect how you're looking at this and I love the tool, and so you're offering us a tool that we can take advantage of. And I know, as you said, you teach and you speak on this as well.

Yeah. And I do wanna say mindset is everything, because mindset is what gives you a yes. What you say yes to in life is based on what do you think you know, where do you come from, what is that mind, and so change it to a miracle mindset and anything is possible. And that's how I scaled my business to be the largest in California.

That's how I changed my bank account, that's how I changed my relationship and found the love of my life. Because I believed in the vision that I created that was based on miracles. And I think anybody can do it. I've had people write to me from all over the world that have used it and transformed their lives.

I, I love that. Like you said, what could feel better than that? And all of us listening and I'm getting a lot of this out of this too, so the possibilities. Are endless. The possibilities are endless, right? Yeah. But we don't think big enough. I think that is a big problem. Again, it's really amazing that you came from such a tough background.

I almost wonder if in some way I wanna ask you this in some way. Was that an advantage? Because if you grow up. Like I did having pretty much everything. I grew up in a middle class family, but I never had to fight for anything. And so do you think that background, obviously it helped create who you are today.

How do you feel about that? Adversity builds resilience, so for sure. It made me be like that kind of a person that fought. And then after though, once you. Not having to fight. Sometimes you still have scarcity, mindset to overcome. Even though you have all your finances taken care of and financial freedom, you could still be up against scarcity mindset.

Like you could have all, you could be like the wealthiest person at the table and won't pick up the bill because it's still never enough, so there's other things that come up after that, after you get out of that, resilience. Then the bigger the businesses, the more problems you have.

People say more money more problems. Yeah. And then you could build resilience even though you didn't build your resilience in, in your childhood because you didn't have my childhood or any kind of like a struggle as a child, we get things come up, we, our kids have struggles. We get sick.

In life there are problems and that creates resilience. Yes, and people think that pro, that problems are bad. But problems build us right and Right. We don't, I definitely, the saying goes, you learn more from your failures and Yes, in adulthood, especially starting out in sales, I was in sales for years and then in our business I've been doing marketing and sales and other.

Things too. So just if you're in sales, that's a small example, but that could really be discouraging and depressing. So you do have that adversity that you have to fight through, but then you, when you do, you feel so much more powerful and you build momentum. There are always struggles, but if you can say, Hey, I did that.

What else can I do? Exactly and keep challenging yourself. We survived COVID, our businesses survived COVID, whenever I'm up against a big challenge in my business, I remember that we survived COVID. Our businesses are still here. You know the ones that are still here and those that are not.

Sadly, hopefully they're onto some other things, that are that this taught them something. So yet we grow through chaos and adversity, and it doesn't. My childhood definitely was chaotic. However, I feel like just being a human being, we have adversity and chaos, and we're, oh yeah, no one gets out of this without really bad things happening.

Yes. But I wanna say to you that this is what I practice, okay? Whenever adversity and chaos happens, I say, what a blessing, because that's making me bigger growth. We're here to grow as much as we can. I tell people if you ask a tree, how much can it grow? How much does it want to grow? It says as much as I can.

If you ask a person, they say, I'm good most of the time. No. Whenever anything happens that is bad, you say what a blessing, because it is giving you that opportunity to grow as much as you can. If you stop having problems, you stop having challenges and everything is good all of the time, then why are you even here?

We're here to experience all emotions, not one consistent emotion. That's why you see billionaires that don't have a purpose unhappy. They need to be also still having those experiences, putting themselves in the situations where they have those experiences, and that's what makes life worth living, having darkness.

Then light and then you appreciate the light. You do all darkness, right? That is true. The yin and yang or whatever, however it works, of course, I don't understand. But yes, those challenges force you to really be the best version of yourself to bring out. All of the things that you've talked about, unless you just wanna walk, through your life and, pay your bills and take the bus to work, whatever.

But list the listeners of this podcast. We want to grow, we want to improve, we want to change the world. So I love this message. Let's talk as we close this out, about how people can get ahold of you and you can say the link to the manifestation or what did you call it? Oh my, the vision guide, miracle Vision Guide.

Okay. So yeah, please do it and then tell me all about it. I'm on Instagram, Hazel Ortega official, and I check my messages. So if you do the exercise, lemme know how it goes. I'll see if I can be the first one. Please do. Yes. My. The website again for that vision guide is the mastery of miracles.com.

And of course you could find me on LinkedIn, Hazel Ortega. Again, all the links will be in the show notes. Thank you Jana Franklin, first of all, and Hazel, thank you so much. This was a wonderful conversation that I really believe will change lives for the people that are listening to this and follow through, so I really appreciate you being on the show.

Thank you. Kay. I really appreciate the opportunity to share my story. So you've been a great blessing to me today.

 My guest today is Hazel Ortega. Hazel is a dynamic force in personal transformation, entrepreneurship and social impact. She went from being a high school dropout and welfare recipient to founding multiple multimillion dollar businesses. Raised in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

Hazel's. Early life was marked by poverty, gang violence, domestic abuse, and the incarceration of both parents. Her transformation story embodies resilience, growth, and the miracles she now teaches others to intentionally create.

Hazel or , let's pretend I did all that. Introing and here we go. Hazel, welcome to the podcast. Oh, thank you for having me. Kay, good to be here. I really appreciate Jana Franklin, who speaks very highly of you referring you to me so I can learn more about you and what I've learned so far is unbelievable.

Really very impressive. Hazel, I'd like you to start with your background and then we'll get into your topic of miracles, transforming with miracles. So what about your background? Let's start there. I am the daughter of Mexican immigrants and they came here to the United States before I was born to live the life of their dreams, chasing the American dream.

Unfortunately that's not what happened for my parents. By the time I was born, they were already separated. My dad and my mom were teen parents. My dad was a became a drug addict. And my mom married and divorced many times while growing up. While I was growing up. And she was on welfare the entire time that she was here in the United States.

I grew up on welfare. Paid for food with food stamps. We lived in a 60 unit apartment building in a one bedroom apartment my entire life until I left at 19 years old. And we were there with my mom's husband's, whatever husband it was at the time. And my mom kept having children with each different husband.

So my mom has seven children with five different men. And it was tough growing up like that because every time that my mom broke up with a boyfriend, it was like a boyfriend or her husband. It was like they were leaving me, right? Kids don't know about problems that adults have. They take it very personal and and how that manifested itself in my adult relationships, it, it was like, you love me, but you could leave me.

And it really restricted my experience of living, my experience of relationships when I'm always holding back, because you could leave me. And then if that wasn't enough, my neighborhood was very violent. I grew up with the MS 13, which it, they've been a lot in the news lately. The Salvadorian gang.

The Deadly Salvadorian gang. They were am America's domestic terrorists in the eighties, and then they all got deported back to El Salvador. And now they're, a huge problem over there. And those were my neighbors. And because of that, I also experienced extreme violence with killings of my friends, of my loved ones that were gang related.

When I was just 21, 22 years old, my mom shot and killed her boyfriend when she was pregnant with her seventh child. She became a fugitive for five years. Then eventually went to prison for 12 years for that and I ended up raising her two, the two youngest of kids who were four and six years old. When my mom went to prison, they came to live with me.

At this time I had a 2-year-old and I instantly became a mother of a two, a four, and a 6-year-old. That's how and how old were you at that time? You said just 21. I was 20, about 21, 22 when my mom fled. And when she went to prison, I was about 27 years old. That is just an unbelievable story. Fact is stranger than fiction comes to mind and that you have overcome all that.

You were a high school dropout, even though you're very educated now. And I think you said, I read that you didn't graduate from high school even until you were 30, is that correct? At 30 years old, I earned my high school diploma. Wow. And then what? This is just an unbelievable story. I was jokingly asking you before, is this for real?

It's like you can't make this stuff up. So what, so then you did go on to become more educated, getting out of this cycle. Not only that, but thriving and being so successful. Just what do you attribute that to? I have many key things that I can say happened. It was like a recipe, right?

So I had mentors that saw something in me that I couldn't see in myself, and I paid attention and I listened. So I do take opinions from other people. I'm open to that, and I do it to this day as well. I always seek counsel and I. I take action. I don't just get good, a good advice, and then I don't use it.

So I take action when I hear. My mentors or somebody that I respect share something. I did that. So I got mentors in my life and then I changed my environment. So I, for people tell me, you were a big fish in a small pond. That's what happened. And I'm like, no, a fish can't grow big in a small pond.

You have to change your pond. And I just learned that sharks don't grow big either in a in a tank. You have, they grow as big as they can depending on their environment. Same for humans. And so I, I was able to get a job at a courthouse and then at a prestigious law firm, and now I'm surrounded by judges and lawyers and I'm not in trouble.

And that was the first. Thing that changed my life is changing my environment. So there I became exposed to people that were educated and encouraging me to go back to school and get an, get a higher education. Then nobody knew that I didn't even have a high school diploma. But there were a lot of opportunities if you had a college degree and I went to school, in the evenings and on weekends.

I worked from nine to five, and I went to school from seven to 10, and I went to school Saturdays eight to five, and on Sundays 10 to two. Wow. Yes. Talk about a work ethic above and beyond. Yeah, and I had three kids what I feel like a, I feel pretty lame right now. My problems seem very small. I have one child, none of the.

The challenges that you had so good on you. That's just amazing. Yeah. Sometimes people change because they create a big vision for their lives. I change because I had to, and one of the tips that I tell people is create a vision for what you want, and then the action.

Follows the vision, it has to be really big. So if I say I wanna lose 20 pounds, but then I don't say why, I probably won't lose a 20 pounds. But if I wanna lose a 20 pounds, like we all lose 20 pounds for our wedding, right? Or our, a wedding of somebody in our family, we would lose a 20 pounds for that, but just for no reason.

It's not going to happen. So we need to be creating reasons, the, what is the intention, why do I wanna do. That, why do I wanna do the 20 pounds? Why do I wanna have a million dollars? Why do I wanna have an education? The why is so important. That's what's gonna keep you on track.

So for me it was, I don't wanna be back in poverty. I don't wanna be on the streets. And that's what pushed me today. I create what I call miracle visions. And I create something that. It just makes me so excited that I can't just hardly wait to put the action behind it. I wanted to go back first to one of the things you said a few minutes ago, and that is change your environment.

I love having specific things that people listening can do, so that's a great point. Changing your environment. I didn't know that about the sharks. That's. Interesting. But. You needed to get out of that world. Of course, there was something in Hazel Ortega. I just can't imagine how you went from that background to not only having a vision of success, but a miracle vision.

He went so far beyond what most people would expect or even hope for. So I really like also the part about your why and it's funny, I just went hiking yesterday and one of the guys on the trip, his daughter's getting married and he said, oh yeah, we're on diets. We're on diets. So that is like the biggest classic reason to lose weight.

But you, do you need a why to. Drive you not just thinking about the actions. I'm amazed that you came up with such an ambitious. Ambitious vision and you know I love you wrote that book in the intro I mentioned from bounced checks to private jets. I love that title, but you really were a big thinker. So how do we think big like that?

How, I know you teach others to create miracles intentionally. How do we do that? Yeah. Thank you. Kay. Absolutely, and I wanna tell you that I didn't, I wasn't a big thinker like that. I wasn't. Somebody asked me, where do you see yourself in five years? I was 36 years old. I'm a psychologist by now, but I'm fist fighting with my sisters.

I'm bouncing checks. I'm divorced and I'm struggling, and life is not that great. When they asked me, where do you see yourself in five years, I thought and said I'm five years older, more bills, more problems, more of what sucks right now for me. And the lady told me you answered that really quickly, I'll be back in 10 minutes, give it a thought.

And a lot of things happened in that moment. Those 10 minutes made me realize that I don't dream. Made me realize that probably that's the first time I was actually thinking of the future and not survival mode. And that changed everything. In that moment. I got a voice that asked me, do you believe in miracles?

Yeah. Wow. So do you see it as a di divine message or a hundred, do you not define it or how do you define what happened? Yeah, it was like your higher self, right? I believe in miracles and so does 90% of the PO world population. And what happened was that my brain allowed me to see a vision that was unrecognizable to me.

The brain is a beautiful organ, a gift. To us, right? It protects us. It keeps us alive and safe, right? But it also limits our visions. Because if you are saying, I'm gonna lose 20, 40, 50 pounds, your brain is yeah, right? You just ate a Snickers five minutes ago. It, it keeps score, unfortunately, mostly of our negative attributes.

Because we probably have more of those. Yeah. That's what we focus on and of course I have women and men that listen to the podcast, but women especially, we are so self-critical and I think we think too small. And you thought. Really big. I think the average person, whoever that is me, we'll say me.

We get in our rhythm of taking care of business. What do we have to do? We just, we plot out, okay, these are my to-dos, this is my list, and we don't take that time pattern interrupt. Maybe whatever happened to you to allow that space to happen, and whoever said, I'll give you 10 minutes, was brilliant.

And what a difference she made in your life. Totally. In those 10 minutes I saw myself flying in private jets living in a pimp daddy mansion, the kind where music videos are filmed. Having a life that looks like I'm always on vacation. During this time, I worked 10 hours a day. I worked as a psychologist and I started my first business from the garage of my home.

And back in the day when it wasn't cool to work from home, if you worked from home, everybody knew you couldn't afford the rent at an office. So when things have changed? Yeah, things have changed so much. So the vision, inter the vision, the Miracle Vision works so well. And I go into corporations and I go into, jails and I speak to entrepreneurs and everybody that you can think of, and it unlocks a vision for everybody wherever you are. It creates a bigger vision than that, and it's easy and your brain doesn't hurt and doesn't tell you that you're being ridiculous because we haven't been programmed to make a miracle happen.

If you know how a miracle happens. It ceases to be a miracle, right? And so then we don't get stuck in the how, the, how is what stops all of us from dreaming bay because we start to realize, okay, if I'm gonna climb Kilimanjaro or Mount Everest I need to get in shape. And then you think about all the things that it takes to get in shape, and then you're like, nevermind.

I think too much. I'm out. Yeah. Or dieting, you just think about all the restriction of that and then you're like, nevermind, I'm not gonna do it. But if you think of a miracle, you actually allow yourself to say that. And that's what happened to me. And so I said, in five years I would have relationship with my sisters that look like we're in heaven based on a miracle.

Anyway, everything happened to me within two years, not five, without investing $1 and without going back to school and getting another degree. And so what I teach people is how to create your vision. That comes in my talk. I it is like an inspirational talk, right? I inspire everybody by my story and then they start to say, okay, if that happened for Hazel, it can happen for me.

And they dream really big. And then once you have that big vision. You fall in love with it, you want it. So that's what happened to me. I saw that vision. I never wanted those things before because they were not available. And why would I even dream that big? Like I didn't believe it could happen. And then because I fell in love with it, I wanted it.

And that was worth changing my actions. My actions of when my sisters wanna fight, I don't engage. I already saw the vision of what it looks like to love you, and I want that better than this. I already saw my body look amazing in a bikini, and I want that more than I want this cake, like that.

And I saw what it looks like to be on vacation all the time, and I want that more than I wanna just waste my money at the store shopping for things I don't need. And I started to change. Little areas of my life and little areas, little consistent actions. All of a sudden we're making transformations in my life.

The zeros in my bank account started growing. It's if you want, I. To be a millionaire, you can't be zero in your bank account. So I started to learn about financial planning and I stopped spending money and I started to see money pile up in my bank account and it felt really good. My confidence went up.

I actually attracted somebody who wanted to invest in me, and eight months later I was starting a new business that scaled really quickly and was a life changing. First experience, and I've had many like that ever since then. I have a couple questions. One is, I guess an observation. I like the way that you say when you start with the how.

I think so many of us get discouraged with when we start with the how, okay, here are the steps that I need to take. And like you said, losing weight means not eating the food you like, whatever sacrifices you're making. Without the vision, the end vision, it's a totally different. Feeling and concept, I would like you to share with us one piece of wisdom of how we can get that epiphany or whatever happened to help you think big and maybe it's not something you can explain or even that you know what happened, but yes, you not, you overcame things that were so difficult and then went so far beyond.

And so can you explain any of that? Yeah. And even better, I can give you a free resource I have. Perfect. Okay. I have a four minute free guided meditation asking you the same questions that were asked of me way back when I was 36 years old, where it changed the trajectory of my life from having a very small house to living in a mansion and.

The freedom in my finances and in my time and in my relationships and like who I am today. The website is the mastery of miracles.com. I. And it has a worksheet. I highly recommend you do it. You as well. Oh, I will. And by the way, as always, I put all the links in the show notes, so if you miss something that goes by, you can just look at the show notes and find the links and that.

Yes, I definitely wanna try that or do that. Hey, please do it right now. I use this recording even where I am right now, where I've already accomplished. Big, amazing things. I'm already in a new environment at any. Place that you are in your life, whether you're a battered wife or husband, or you are a high school college dropout struggling in a job that you don't like or a business you don't like, where ever or you're the woman of the year.

I. Which I just got that award. Congratulations. Yes. Okay. I think I read, the Entrepreneurs Organization, is that it? The organization you were honored by? No, the state of California. Oh, the state of California. Yes. Yeah. Oh, state of California. I did receive awards from entrepreneur organization.

I received the Global Impact Award. We built a hospital in Uganda in 2022. And, okay. So I wanna just have a little segue into that because yes. As, as well as being so successful, you are giving back in a big way. So I do want you to talk about that. I have a question. Do you, are you the one that reads that meditation?

That delivers the meditation? Yes. That we that, okay, good. We'll all know when we go to that link and try it. So I like the fact that you say. You can use it, whether you're a battered wife or I guess a CEO of a corporation, whatever. There's always more. There's always something you can approve on and giving back is a, you know what better next step if you have all the success, all the money, all the things that you can possibly need or enjoy, whatever the next step of course is to go out and impact the world and you really are.

Yeah. Thank you. What happens once you take care of your basic needs, then you wanna teach others, you wanna give back. It's actually like it, you're pulled in that direction. And I know many of us we wanna help no matter where we're at in our lives. We help but to help. An impact and make a big difference on, on the other side of the planet is incredible and it takes a miracle.

So I created a vision for myself that in 2026 I would have made a global impact. And not right now, in 2021 when I created the vision, I said, in five years from now, and. Before I knew it, I was connected to somebody in Africa who was looking for funding a hospital in Uganda for a school for orphan girls and boys and I got involved with this project and before I knew it, a hospital was being built and completed and I got an award.

And it is the best feeling in the world to do that. Yes, I could imagine. And in my own way, I, this podcast is to help others. Anyone listening to this podcast will be impacted and as you say it, it really is a wonderful feeling. I have not done anything on the scale you're talking about. I have done some mission work.

Some good deeds, whatever. But yeah, it feels really good to give back. And it sounds like two times at least you said, I wanna do this in the next five years, and it happened much more quickly. Yes. Effortless effortlessly as well. Okay. Even though it was all the way in Uganda. It could be probably the same effort, that less effort than you do on a podcast.

So we can do big things. We just make them hard in our own brain. The brain is that's why I said not now, like in five years from now. Because my brain thought, oh, that's something hard to do. Takes resources, takes time trusting and whatever that all of that story is and it's gonna be something hard.

And it actually occurred to me like it was. Really easy. So I appreciate being on your podcast and what you're doing is huge because it allows these stories to change other people's lives. That's why I'm here today, right? Because I wanna help end suffering in the world through sharing my story.

Because I believe if people would know how to get out of their repetitive negative thoughts. That they're stuck in, that they can actually live the life that they desire and then turn around and teach other people and help other people and make a difference in the world. We don't have to live in the world that we don't like right now.

There's a lot of things that I don't like in the world, so what best to do than to share my story and create all these, an army of people that are out there now helping each other, and there are a lot of people out there helping, but let's help like even in a bigger scale, I feel like all of us tend to default to the negative, some more than others.

I've had some people on the podcast, women of course, that just say they were born with a sunny positive. Personality and outlook, but for most of us, that mindset is something we really have to work on. And of course, this podcast is women in business. So if you're in any kind of business or sales, that mindset.

It's everything and it feels like it's a soft skill and woo. And what does that matter? It's everything. And so I really respect how you're looking at this and I love the tool, and so you're offering us a tool that we can take advantage of. And I know, as you said, you teach and you speak on this as well.

Yeah. And I do wanna say mindset is everything, because mindset is what gives you a yes. What you say yes to in life is based on what do you think you know, where do you come from, what is that mind, and so change it to a miracle mindset and anything is possible. And that's how I scaled my business to be the largest in California.

That's how I changed my bank account, that's how I changed my relationship and found the love of my life. Because I believed in the vision that I created that was based on miracles. And I think anybody can do it. I've had people write to me from all over the world that have used it and transformed their lives.

I, I love that. Like you said, what could feel better than that? And all of us listening and I'm getting a lot of this out of this too, so the possibilities. Are endless. The possibilities are endless, right? Yeah. But we don't think big enough. I think that is a big problem. Again, it's really amazing that you came from such a tough background.

I almost wonder if in some way I wanna ask you this in some way. Was that an advantage? Because if you grow up. Like I did having pretty much everything. I grew up in a middle class family, but I never had to fight for anything. And so do you think that background, obviously it helped create who you are today.

How do you feel about that? Adversity builds resilience, so for sure. It made me be like that kind of a person that fought. And then after though, once you. Not having to fight. Sometimes you still have scarcity, mindset to overcome. Even though you have all your finances taken care of and financial freedom, you could still be up against scarcity mindset.

Like you could have all, you could be like the wealthiest person at the table and won't pick up the bill because it's still never enough, so there's other things that come up after that, after you get out of that, resilience. Then the bigger the businesses, the more problems you have.

People say more money more problems. Yeah. And then you could build resilience even though you didn't build your resilience in, in your childhood because you didn't have my childhood or any kind of like a struggle as a child, we get things come up, we, our kids have struggles. We get sick.

In life there are problems and that creates resilience. Yes, and people think that pro, that problems are bad. But problems build us right and Right. We don't, I definitely, the saying goes, you learn more from your failures and Yes, in adulthood, especially starting out in sales, I was in sales for years and then in our business I've been doing marketing and sales and other.

Things too. So just if you're in sales, that's a small example, but that could really be discouraging and depressing. So you do have that adversity that you have to fight through, but then you, when you do, you feel so much more powerful and you build momentum. There are always struggles, but if you can say, Hey, I did that.

What else can I do? Exactly and keep challenging yourself. We survived COVID, our businesses survived COVID, whenever I'm up against a big challenge in my business, I remember that we survived COVID. Our businesses are still here. You know the ones that are still here and those that are not.

Sadly, hopefully they're onto some other things, that are that this taught them something. So yet we grow through chaos and adversity, and it doesn't. My childhood definitely was chaotic. However, I feel like just being a human being, we have adversity and chaos, and we're, oh yeah, no one gets out of this without really bad things happening.

Yes. But I wanna say to you that this is what I practice, okay? Whenever adversity and chaos happens, I say, what a blessing, because that's making me bigger growth. We're here to grow as much as we can. I tell people if you ask a tree, how much can it grow? How much does it want to grow? It says as much as I can.

If you ask a person, they say, I'm good most of the time. No. Whenever anything happens that is bad, you say what a blessing, because it is giving you that opportunity to grow as much as you can. If you stop having problems, you stop having challenges and everything is good all of the time, then why are you even here?

We're here to experience all emotions, not one consistent emotion. That's why you see billionaires that don't have a purpose unhappy. They need to be also still having those experiences, putting themselves in the situations where they have those experiences, and that's what makes life worth living, having darkness.

Then light and then you appreciate the light. You do all darkness, right? That is true. The yin and yang or whatever, however it works, of course, I don't understand. But yes, those challenges force you to really be the best version of yourself to bring out. All of the things that you've talked about, unless you just wanna walk, through your life and, pay your bills and take the bus to work, whatever.

But list the listeners of this podcast. We want to grow, we want to improve, we want to change the world. So I love this message. Let's talk as we close this out, about how people can get ahold of you and you can say the link to the manifestation or what did you call it? Oh my, the vision guide, miracle Vision Guide.

Okay. So yeah, please do it and then tell me all about it. I'm on Instagram, Hazel Ortega official, and I check my messages. So if you do the exercise, lemme know how it goes. I'll see if I can be the first one. Please do. Yes. My. The website again for that vision guide is the mastery of miracles.com.

And of course you could find me on LinkedIn, Hazel Ortega. Again, all the links will be in the show notes. Thank you Jana Franklin, first of all, and Hazel, thank you so much. This was a wonderful conversation that I really believe will change lives for the people that are listening to this and follow through, so I really appreciate you being on the show.

Thank you. Kay. I really appreciate the opportunity to share my story. So you've been a great blessing to me today.

How can listeners connect with you? Linked In, Website, Email, other.

"hazel@hazelortega.com IG: @hazelortega_official www.HazelOrtega.com"

Do you have something I can help you promote? Is there anything else I should know?

Promote "Mastery of Miracles Course"

"hazel@hazelortega.com IG: @hazelortega_official www.HazelOrtega.com"

Do you have something I can help you promote? Is there anything else I should know?

The 5-Step Miracle Method to Transform Your Life Learn how to break free from cycles of poverty, trauma, and limiting beliefs. 

*MIracle Visioning

belief, changing your environment, and taking actionable steps toward your goal

Go from a “sob story” mentality to a “success story” mindset, creating a future free from the past’s limitations."

 with Hazel’s Miracle Method—a five-step process that makes miracles accessible to everyone, anywhere. Miracle Visioning for a Life You Love Discover the power of Miracle Visioning to build the life of your dreams by cultivating s. Overcoming Adversity: From Gang Violence to Global Influence Hazel’s story from hardship to success shows that no circumstance is too dire to overcome. She’ll share how to shift from a 

About Hazel Ortega

Hazel Ortega is a dynamic force in personal transformation, entrepreneurship, and social impact.M.Ed.

Hazel Ortega, M.Ed., is a transformation expert, global speaker, and philanthropist who rose from a high school dropout and welfare recipient to a multimillionaire entrepreneur. Raised in one of Los Angeles’ most dangerous neighborhoods, Hazel’s early life was marked by poverty, gang violence, domestic abuse, and the incarceration of both parents. Her transformation story embodies resilience, growth, and the miracles she teaches others to intentionally create.

About Hazel Ortega

Hazel Ortega is a dynamic force in personal transformation, entrepreneurship, and social impact.

Hazel Ortega, M.Ed., is a transformation expert, global speaker, and philanthropist who rose from a high school dropout and welfare recipient to a multimillionaire entrepreneur. Raised in one of Los Angeles’ most dangerous neighborhoods, Hazel’s early life was marked by poverty, gang violence, domestic abuse, and the incarceration of both parents. Her transformation story embodies resilience, growth, and the miracles she teaches others to intentionally create.

About Hazel Ortega

Hazel Ortega is a dynamic force in personal transformation, entrepreneurship, and social impact. As the founder of the Ortega Counseling Center, she has helped over 45,000 injured workers in California return to school and rebuild their careers. Her nonprofit, High Tide Global, aims to uplift one billion lives by 2032 through education, mental health support, and personal development programs across underserved communities in Los Angeles, Mexico, Uganda, and beyond. hightideglobal.org+2latimes.com+2hazelortega.com+2open.spotify.com+5hazelortega.com+5hightideglobal.org+5

Hazel's journey from a high school dropout to earning a master's degree in educational psychology and becoming a serial entrepreneur is chronicled in her book, From Bounced Checks to Private Jets: The Mastery of Miracles. She has shared her story on prestigious stages, including the United Nations and Necker Island, sharing platforms with luminaries like Sir Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, and Lisa Nichols. shoutoutla.com+5latimes.com+5hazelortega.com+5hazelortega.com+1hazelortega.com+1

Her "Miracle Mindset" philosophy empowers individuals to overcome trauma, poverty, and limiting beliefs. Hazel's accolades include the 2023 Global Social Impact Award from the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and a nomination for the 2024 Orange County Inspirational Women Leadership Awards. hazelortega.com+2hazelortega.com+2hazelortega.com+2hazelortega.com+3hazelortega.com+3hazelortega.com+3

Hazel Ortega's life exemplifies the power of resilience and the impact of intentional transformation. Her work continues to inspire and empower individuals worldwide to break cycles of adversity and create lives filled with purpose and success.

With: Hazel Ortega

Email: hazel@hazelortega.com

Attendee Timezone: America/Los Angeles

Meeting URL: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82583826865

Location:

This is a Zoom web conference

Created: May 19, 2025 9:45 am

Cancelled: May 29, 2025 8:48 am

Rejection Reason: Hazel had a time conflict and we will reschedule.

Please attach a short bio.

"Hazel Ortega, M.Ed., is a global speaker and transformation expert who went from a high school dropout and welfare recipient to a multimillionaire entrepreneur. Raised in one of Los Angeles’ most dangerous neighborhoods, Hazel’s early life was marked by poverty, gang violence, domestic abuse, and the incarceration of both parents. Her transformation story embodies resilience, growth, and the miracles she teaches others to intentionally create. Today, Hazel is an acclaimed speaker, author, philanthropist, and founder of multiple businesses. She has spoken on prestigious stages, including the United Nations and the California Endowment, and her programs have touched over 45,000 lives."

My assistant will pull your headshot from Linked In. (If you want me to use a different photo, please send to kay@uncopyablesales.com)

"Kirby Denison sent link to speaking kit"

What are three questions I can ask you about your career success? Sales, Marketing and Personal Branding are my main topics.)

"Signature Topics The 5-Step Miracle Method to Transform Your Life Learn how to break free from cycles of poverty, trauma, and limiting beliefs with Hazel’s Miracle Method—a five-step process that makes miracles accessible to everyone, anywhere. Miracle Visioning for a Life You Love Discover the power of Miracle Visioning to build the life of your dreams by cultivating belief, changing your environment, and taking actionable steps toward your goals. Overcoming Adversity: From Gang Violence to Global Influence Hazel’s story from hardship to success shows that no circumstance is too dire to overcome. She’ll share how to shift from a “sob story” mentality to a “success story” mindset, creating a future free from the past’s limitations."

How can listeners connect with you? Linked In, Website, Email, other.

"hazel@hazelortega.com IG: @hazelortega_official www.HazelOrtega.com"

Do you have something I can help you promote? Is there anything else I should know?

"Mastery of Miracles Course"

FYI Only: (no need to fill this out). I like to do a short "Bonus Question Episode." It's only about 5 minutes, after the regular episode. The questions: What did you want to be when you grew up? What’s something you want to do that you haven't yet? What's something you like about yourself? What's something about yourself you'd like to change? What's your favorite vacation spot?

"Thank you. I sent these to Hazel to have ready for the episode. - Kirby"

Please provide a physical mailing address so I can send a follow up.

"1600 Kanola Rd La Habra Heights, CA 90631"