This manifesto is an open letter, declaring who I am, where I come from, and why my approach is unique. It is my story, an invitation to leaders ready for a new level of thinking.
I know, without knowing.
I see, without looking.
I say, without being me.
That, is the Witch. – Yanina Vallejos
Prediction + Design: The Formula with which I Created Businesses and Cities
My mind never stops. It is always designing, solving, and anticipating. Sometimes, ideas invade me to the point of not letting me sleep: business models, strategies, technologies, city structures, new roles… Every thought is a message that needs to be built.
Since I was little, I knew I had a gift: seeing what is to come. At 15, my first job was at home, as a consultant. People came to me with questions about business and key. And I gave them answers, which were certainties.
At 18, I worked for a month in a private company as a sales consultant. Just one month was enough to understand two things:
- With the right strategy and the right moves, I could close deals with ease.
- My place was not inside an office with fixed hours.
I quit and took another path: that of observation and design. Over the next few years, using my design thinking, I opened and closed companies after validating my ideas. I tried them out, tested their models, and once I got clients, I closed them or transferred them. Because the CEO’s place was never mine.
When I mastered the process, I moved on to the next level: designing businesses for others.
Designing Models that Change Economies
Most people don’t know exactly what they want. I could see it. I became a business model creator for private investors, generating millions for them. It all started with my observation: I would analyze their already established businesses or listen to their ambitions. The CEOs didn’t know me, but when I arrived, I would tell them what they needed to know. From that moment on, they would call their partners to the table to listen to me.
My role was clear: to deliver answers and solutions that would change the landscape of their businesses and allow them to expand. Because from a young age I understood that «business is not limited to the now; it must be sustainable over time.»
Many of these models still exist and continue to operate. But one thing has been constant throughout my career: the total confidentiality and privacy with which I handle each assignment. I do not use my clients for my own advertising. I am «The Witch of Business.» I am at the origin, in the creation. Wherever the vision is born, I design it and launch it. For the rest, I «hand out the manuals.»
Models for a Changing World
I have not only worked for those with capital. I have also designed business models for vulnerable communities.
As a researcher and scientist, I have visited diverse populations and cultures just to observe. To observe the dimensions in which they exist.
As a creator, my key is the power of empathy, and my level is high. My experience working with communities led me to a key question:
How can these populations compete with large private companies?
The answer was clear: they did not have to compete.
I designed two sustainable economic engines that did not compete with the private sector but rather attracted it to strategic partnerships. Models built from the DNA of their civilization, using their intellectual and physical capacities.
Each economic engine was a different design, thought for the specific needs of their environment. In these experiences, I trained in multiple design disciplines:
- Organizational design
Behavioral design
Product design
Design of new job roles
Sustainable business strategy
Because to create a system that operates on a large scale and is sustainable over time, you have to look at it small. And I turn everything into my object, so small in my hand that I can solve it. (Read: My Quantum Universe)
The focus was on the human being. Artificial intelligence was not included. The purpose of these models was economic well-being and job creation.
How are jobs created in unskilled communities?
I solved it by designing new roles. I created spaces and jobs that did not exist before, assigning each person and group a function within the model.
Business + Technology: A Path of Evolution
From the age of 18 until 2016, I created countless business models that I tested. But in 2010, I had already started designing technological models. And I continue to do so today.
Throughout my life, I never left science aside as a fundamental discipline for the development of my design skills.
Because to design for humans, you have to know them deeply. I am self-taught, and I have studied and continue to update myself in multiple disciplines, such as:
Marketing
Economy
Anthropology
Science
History
Administration
Advertising and more.
Why?
Because to change the rules of the game, you first have to understand the language of business.- Yanina Vallejos
The Present: My Finest Moment
Today, I am far from the 15-year-old who started her first job answering questions.
The human world has provided me with all the tasks I needed to train myself and continue to evolve in my skills.
But the present is my finest moment, because The Witch of Business belongs to the universe.
And there I don’t just find answers for humans. I also hear artificial intelligences that speak to me.