SPEAKING IN SHADES

SPEAKING IN SHADES
'The Palette of Communication and the Wholeness of Self'
Exclusive Interview with Yrmis Barroeta
Featured in 'Innerviews'
Hosted by Allié McGuire

​Words are more than sounds strung together—they’re colors painted across the canvas of our conversations. For Yrmis Barroeta, language is both a palette and a mirror, revealing not just how we communicate, but who we are becoming. In this dialogue, we explore the artistry of expression, the shades of selfhood, and the power of speaking with impact.

ALLIÉ: Let’s go back to the beginning of you and me. You and I first met in New York at the Creativity Conference. We were both featured speakers, and now here we are, about to do some speaking about speaking. What is it about speaking itself—the act of sharing voice in a room—that speaks to you the most?

YRMIS: This is a very interesting question. Speaking is my favorite delivery system because when you’re speaking, you’re giving. It’s an act of giving. It can be about you, it can be about selling, but ultimately it has to be about putting your trajectory at the service of others. The biggest reward is when one person comes to you and says, “Wow, I really needed to hear that.” When you see that it clicked inside them, you know you’ve made a positive impact. If I’ve affected even one life in a positive way, I can go home fulfilled.

ALLIÉ: I love that—and I love how you talk about speaking as an act of service, as a gift that you’re giving. Before we dive into the deep end of words and colors, I’d love for readers who may not know you yet to hear who you are, in your own voice. And I’m not talking about the résumé version, but the human one. Who is Yrmis?
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YRMIS: I’m a Venezuelan who came to the U.S. young enough that now I’ve lived here longer than I lived there. So, I feel I’m not from there, not from here, but a mix of both. I’m a mom. I’m a problem-solver. Everything I do comes from the angle of, “If there’s a problem, how do we solve it?” I’m an eternal optimist, almost to a fault, and a lifelong learner. I believe we can learn anything we want. I care less about status and more about how I feel the next morning. That’s what has driven my life and my decisions.

ALLIÉ: I love everything you just shared. You once told me something that stopped me in my tracks. You said that when you speak English, you can only use primary colors, but in Spanish you have access to all these tones, hues, and secondary and tertiary shades. Can you take us deeper into that metaphor? What does it feel like inside you to speak in shades—or to be limited to primary colors?

YRMIS: For me, communication is everything. If you ask my eight-year-old what Mommy repeats all the time, it’s “communicate, communicate, communicate.” Communication is the foundation for absolutely everything in life because everything in life comes down to people, and people come with relationships—and relationships are about communication.

I lived my first 24 years in Venezuela. I loved creativity, I loved painting, and my most important school supply was always the box of colors. I always wanted the one with hundreds of shades. Each came with a name, and I wanted them all.

When we communicate, it’s the same. The undertones—the irony, the warmth, the mischief—they change everything in communication. But when I learned English, red was just red, blue was just blue, green was just green, regardless of the shade. My whole color box was reduced to the primary wheel.

When I came to the U.S., I realized how limited I felt. Later, in fashion school, I discovered that English also has all these shades. I just didn’t know the names. I didn’t know what “teal” was, or “slate blue.” I still don’t know them very well. That’s how I feel when I speak—I have to put so much thought into what I’m going to say.

This becomes especially important when you have to deliver a hard truth. When you’re saying something good, everyone’s ready to receive it, but when you need to communicate something difficult—in leadership, as a teacher, or as an employer—you have to be very careful. That’s where my “primary colors” limitation shows up most.

ALLIÉ: I hear you. Especially in leadership, nuance is everything. When you describe it, it feels like a canvas, where your words are brushstrokes. What have you discovered about the art of communication—about how it can move people—when you paint with your words?

YRMIS: When you’re a poet, like you are, you go beyond the ears and reach the heart. When words move you, you don’t just hear them—you feel them. Goosebumps, chills—that’s the weight of words. Like colors, words have values, from light to dark. Communication carries emotional weight. Choosing the right words creates connection. It’s the difference between hearing and truly listening. Communication is a canvas, and words are our brushstrokes.
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ALLIÉ: You’ve had multiple career tracks—health and wellness, fashion, food, education. From the outside, it looks like you’ve reinvented yourself each time. But you’ve shared with me that it’s not reinvention so much as expansion. Would you speak to that?

YRMIS: Yes. Most of us are taught to follow a linear career path—you’re an engineer, a doctor, a designer, and that’s it for life. But I’ve never approached my life that way. I’ve followed problems I care about, and when I put my head into solving them, I become passionate. Because I’m a lifelong learner, I’m not afraid to learn what I need to learn. And I surround myself with people who know more than I do.

People often tell me, “You’re so good at reinventing yourself.” But that concept overwhelms me. Reinventing implies creating a new version of yourself. To me, it’s not reinvention—it’s expansion. It’s always been me, bringing new lenses from one industry into another. Like a bee going from flower to flower. The bee doesn’t reinvent itself. It cross-pollinates. That’s how I see myself.

ALLIÉ: So, you’re industry-agnostic. It’s not about the field—it’s about the problem. Almost like you’re a seeker of problems.

YRMIS: Totally. Right now, I see fear around technological change. The headlines scream that AI will take our jobs, that we’ll all be jobless. But I see it differently. We need to adapt, innovate, and create new opportunities. It’s a challenge, not a catastrophe. We’re more than ever in a moment where we must create our next version. It’s our job to embrace change and innovate around it.

ALLIÉ: Going back to your bee metaphor—can I just call you Queen Bee from now on?

YRMIS: (laughs) I grew up in the wild, always thought of myself as the black sheep. But now, with your Queen Bee title, I see the beauty in it. Bees are tiny, yet they’re the foundation of everything. We need to protect them. I might even use this metaphor in a keynote.

ALLIÉ: I love it.

ALLIÉ: I love it. So, let’s close this way: if someone is hearing all of this and feels muted—stuck speaking in primary shades when they long for the full spectrum—what would you tell them? What’s the first stroke they can take toward fuller expression?

​YRMIS: They need to tap into their three-year-old self. When you see a three-year-old struggling with words, you don’t doubt they have it all inside them. They just need patience, safe space, and encouragement. I’ve been blessed with people in my life who loved me enough to gently correct me, to help me practice. That’s what we all need: love, safe space, practice. We already have the full toolkit inside us—we just need to learn how to use it.

ALLIÉ: That’s beautiful. My inner three-year-old thanks your inner three-year-old. You’ve reminded me that sometimes we don’t need to force understanding—we just need to be. We’re human beings, not just human doings. Sometimes just allowing space is enough.

YRMIS: Exactly. We’re born with everything we need. ∎

Find & follow Yrmis on Instagram:
​@allblacksheep_club