Pathways with Amber Stitt

Embracing Corporate Life & Spiritual Awakenings: Suzaita Hipolito's Pathway to Mindful Entrepreneurship

• Amber Stitt • Season 3 • Episode 10

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👋 Welcome to a special edition of Pathways with Amber Stitt: Pathways Unleashed! 

🎙️ In this inspiring episode, Amber sits down with Suzaita Hipolito—pharmaceutical executive, entrepreneur, speaker, author, and coach. 

📹 Recorded live at the Unleash Your Superpower conference in Delray Beach, Florida, Suzaita opens up about her dynamic journey from a high-powered corporate career to entrepreneurship, revealing the personal challenges she faced along the way.

💠 Together, Amber and Suzaita dive deep into the realities of “golden handcuffs,” identity tied to work, and the toll of seeking constant validation in a demanding industry. 

💊 Suzaita bravely shares her experience with Adderall addiction, the difficult detox process, and her powerful path to healing through self-discovery, mindfulness, and spiritual awakening. 

💪 Now thriving as she harmonizes her corporate career with entrepreneurial ventures in real estate and as a passionate biohacker, she shares her insights on harmonizing the mind, body, and soul, and the importance of embracing the unknown to unlock life’s endless possibilities.

❤️ Whether you’re navigating your own corporate journey, seeking personal growth, or exploring new ways of living authentically, this episode is packed with honest conversation, practical wisdom, and a whole lot of heart. 

🛰️ Tune in to hear how Suzaita turned her greatest challenges into opportunities for transformation and how you, too, can unleash your own superpower.

📽️ To Watch This Episode:  https://youtu.be/LInq6W5Lgtw 

🔗 Connect with Suzaita:

📲 Email: suzaita@araiyafunding.com   Business Phone: 858-815-3508

📲 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzaita

📲 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suzaitahipolito

📲 Website: https://araiyafunding.com

#suzaitahipolito #pathwayswithamberstitt #adderallrecovery #spiritualawakening #becomingyou #unleashyoursuperpower #biohacking #araiyafunding #amberstitt

📻 Thank you for tuning in to Pathways!

🔗 Connect with Amber on Social Media:

📲 Be sure to visit Amber's website:

www.AmberStitt.com

🎬 And remember, let's take action today!!!

=====================

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Suzaita Hipolito [00:00:00]:
And when we harmonize the metaphysical aspect of life, the spiritual aspect of life, and the physical aspect of life, that's when I know I'm thriving and I'm feeling like a badass. And that's what I experienced.

Amber Stitt [00:00:15]:
Is that the spiritual awakening you talk about? I wrote it down.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:00:18]:
Oh, yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:00:21]:
Hello and welcome to Pathways Unleashed, a special edition of Pathways with Amber Stitt. The Pathways Unleashed podcasts were recorded with special guests and the authors of "The Unleashed Entrepreneur" and "The Biohacking Entrepreneur", who were celebrating the book launches at the Unleash Your Superpower conference in Delray Beach, Florida in April 2025. Let's join the conversation.

Amber Stitt [00:00:46]:
We have Suzaita Hipolito.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:00:48]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:00:49]:
And you just flew in last night for this event where you've been talking about all these events this week. And welcome to the show.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:00:55]:
Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm getting comfortable.

Amber Stitt [00:00:58]:
Get comfortable.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:00:59]:
Pardon me.

Amber Stitt [00:01:01]:
We've had a lot of guests talk about entrepreneurial journeys and we've had a few corporate folks talk about corporate. And I feel like what I want people to know about you is almost like 3 parts. It would be corporate life. There's a 2nd part to it, just kind of like the detox of it all from your story. And then I have some notes here about new human, new lifestyle, new world. And so I want to talk about what that means to you, but I think we might have to go back a bit it and share it. It's not so much about authorship at this moment, but I want listeners to, if they are in that corporate position, that you might have felt is like the success, that amazing side of the world, then it kind of like starts unfolding and unraveling. I like how you share that with folks through your chapter.

Amber Stitt [00:01:46]:
And so can we talk about that a little bit and go back in time?

Suzaita Hipolito [00:01:49]:
Absolutely. I come from the world of pharma and clinical research and I've been in that industry for over 20 years. And just to put in context, well, I still do because I'm still in corporate. I help bring new drug therapies to market. It was my life, my identity for a very long time. Corporate life, glamorous corporate life, 6 figure income. And I really didn't know anything else except working the 9 to 5, working for a W-2. And I never thought that I'd be in this place where I am now as an entrepreneur.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:02:27]:
So I'll get into that a little later. But I think what Amber is kind of evoking out of me here is my journey with corporate life.

Amber Stitt [00:02:37]:
Because you said W-2, a lot of my clients are in positions that work for health systems. And then they might have something else. And we talked about how people are business owners and might do something else. But you were all-in, in corporate.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:02:48]:
I was all-in. And, you know, let's call it the golden handcuffs.

Amber Stitt [00:02:52]:
Sure.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:02:53]:
I mean, I was...First of all, I was very fortunate. Fortunate to be part of an industry where I can help make a difference in millions of patients lives all around the world helping with disease therapies and treatments. So that was a very, to me, a very honorable path. But what I wasn't prepared for was my corporate life, my role in corporate, I was married to my career and my career became my identity. And so when I didn't have my career, which I was let go a couple times in my career, I kind of lost who I was. I didn't know who I was.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:03:33]:
I also spent a majority of my career seeking constant validation and approval.

Amber Stitt [00:03:39]:
Production levels, bonus.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:03:41]:
Yeah, from the people around me because I didn't have a life outside of corporate. And so my whole world, I literally was so proud of myself thinking that, "Okay, I'm working 50, 60 hour weeks." I was constantly on. And that sense of constantly seeking validation from my work environment, from the people around me. I had no power. I was very disempowered. And it got to a point where later on in my career, I developed an addiction to Adderall.

Amber Stitt [00:04:14]:
Helped you stay in the zone and competitive.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:04:17]:
Yes. Because I realized I was having so much difficulty focusing. Then one day I went to go see a psychiatrist. It was at the beginning of my divorce. They prescribed me a cocktail of psychiatric medications for depression, anxiety and ADHD. And when I got that diagnosis for ADHD, I was like, "Oh my God, I finally know what's wrong with me. This is why I can't think." So then I started taking Adderall.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:04:46]:
And Adderall, for those of you that don't know, is a highly addictive, very toxic pharmaceutical drug that is one molecule away from meth. So it's like a cleaner version of meth, if you will. And I would learn this years later when I took Adderall. And I'm by no means promoting the use of Adderall, I'm promoting actually the opposite of it. It gave me laser focus. I felt on top of the world because of the focus and that kind of became my path.

Amber Stitt [00:05:18]:
And that probably felt a bit amazing because you could get even more dialed into the production that you want to meet. Because there are business owners, too, we're like, "Let's go chase that thing and then get it," and then this is the hunt. But you're now laser focused and you got something helping you. It's that high could be tricky, right?

Suzaita Hipolito [00:05:33]:
It's a double edged sword. It's that addiction as a high performer of wanting to do, do, do, go, go, go, always beyond and you know, accomplish, accomplish, accomplish.

Amber Stitt [00:05:44]:
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Amber Stitt [00:05:47]:
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Suzaita Hipolito [00:06:07]:
I had an addiction to Adderall that I could not function without it and I didn't realize my addiction to it until years later when the days I would not take Adderall, I could not function. I had no energy, I couldn't get out of bed.

Amber Stitt [00:06:23]:
That's like it has a shelf life per day, right?

Suzaita Hipolito [00:06:27]:
Well, you develop a tolerance. So the more you develop a tolerance, your doctor then increases your dose.

Amber Stitt [00:06:34]:
Sure.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:06:35]:
And I realized it was destroying my body. So then the 3rd time I got fired in my career, I was like...I'm sorry...it was the 2nd time I got fired in my career. It was at the peak of my Adderall addiction. And I didn't care about being fired. I just was so grateful that I didn't have to show up for work because at that point all I wanted was to stop taking Adderall. In my mind, I subconsciously committed that, "I am stopping this drug and I'm going to do whatever it takes."

Suzaita Hipolito [00:07:05]:
And I went through a 6 to 9 month detox period with it.

Amber Stitt [00:07:09]:
So you're like, all right. But it wasn't just weaning yourself off medication. You had to get your mind right because you can't just like...I mean that's a different thing. You talk about even sleep and being present. So I mean this is important, I think. And as we go into a more of a biohacking conference, but just in general, for our own lives, at any phase, treating yourself more kind.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:07:30]:
Right.

Amber Stitt [00:07:31]:
And allowing yourself to maybe.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:07:32]:
And there's other ways.

Amber Stitt [00:07:33]:
Yeah, so how did you pioneer this?

Suzaita Hipolito [00:07:37]:
That's an interesting word that you use. So first of all, I didn't share with anyone what I was going through.

Amber Stitt [00:07:43]:
Okay.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:07:44]:
I just did it on my own and I didn't have anybody that I felt I could open up to about it. But all I knew was I had to stop taking it at that point. I wasn't taking any other pharmaceutical drugs because in taking the Adderall, I was also taking sleep medication.

Amber Stitt [00:08:01]:
Yeah.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:08:01]:
So I was like, I gotta stop this. But the first 6 months was really difficult because I literally didn't want to get out of bed. I had no energy, and I had to figure out ways to just get myself out of bed, trusting that this is all going to work out.

Amber Stitt [00:08:16]:
Well, when you even switch a job that you hate, that's a weird trauma. Like a death in the family, too. So you were going through like a transition of you had done that type of work...

Suzaita Hipolito [00:08:27]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:08:28]:
And then you're trying to heal from.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:08:30]:
From that.

Amber Stitt [00:08:31]:
Yes. So that's like a double whammy right there.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:08:33]:
Right, right. And it was interesting. That company that I was working for at the time.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:08:38]:
Me getting fired was actually a very vindictive kind of move on the person. But I was like, I don't care. I'm just glad to be out of that environment because it was a really toxic environment across a 600 person organization.

Amber Stitt [00:08:54]:
Oh, sure.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:08:55]:
But what I do want to say to fast forward is now, I didn't know this at the time. I don't think we know it at the time when we're going through it. But my problem was not that I couldn't focus. It was because I didn't know how to manage my mind. I didn't understand my mind. I didn't understand myself. I didn't have the awareness.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:09:19]:
I didn't have the personal development tools. I didn't have a coach at the time. I didn't have the tools I needed to understand myself, to understand how my mind works, to understand how to make sense of myself in this world, and to understand that everything...we are the masters of our mind. Talk about biohacking.

Amber Stitt [00:09:40]:
You were doing it, but you were developing that new "Becoming You" is what you're talking about in that book.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:09:45]:
Yes, well, now fast forward to years later. So, first of all, one thing I want to say with Adderall is it was destroying my body and it really messed up my digestive system for years. So it wasn't until just a couple years ago that my digestive system started to normalize. I had stopped taking Adderall. And when was that? 2017.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:10:07]:
Was when I decided that was my last dose of Adderall. Late 2017. And now fast forward...now I'm a huge, huge fan of Dr. Joe's meditation, Dr. Joe Dispenza.

Amber Stitt [00:10:24]:
Okay, I was like, oh, is that...

Suzaita Hipolito [00:10:27]:
Yes.

Amber Stitt [00:10:27]:
Yeah. Yes.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:10:28]:
And I just. I believe that there's so much about our biology that we have a lot of dominion over just with understanding how our mind works, understanding our consciousness, having a relationship with a higher power, with a force greater than ourselves, and actually having our relationship with our bodies, with our spirit, with our soul and our mind. And when you understand how to orchestrate that symphony.

Amber Stitt [00:11:00]:
Oh, that's beautiful.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:11:01]:
The system of 50 trillion cells of our body. And also be here in our human form, recognizing that we're not just physical humans, we are spiritual beings having a human experience. And when we harmonize the metaphysical aspect of life, the spiritual aspect of life, and the physical aspect of life that's when I know I'm thriving and I feel like a badass. And that's what I experienced.

Amber Stitt [00:11:32]:
But the spiritual awakening you talk about, I wrote it down...

Suzaita Hipolito [00:11:35]:
Oh, yeah. There's a massive spiritual awakening. And I think that's the thing with corporate, if you're in corporate, I think part of the golden handcuffs comes because you don't have a lot of autonomy. Well, actually, I shouldn't say that, in my not W-2 right now, I have a lot of autonomy. But you...

Amber Stitt [00:11:52]:
Right, because you still have some corporate right now.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:11:55]:
I still am working in...

Amber Stitt [00:11:57]:
But it's different. It's that you have control over your life in that space.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:12:00]:
Yes.

Amber Stitt [00:12:01]:
You've chosen that role. So maybe we talk about that, too.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:12:05]:
Absolutely.

Amber Stitt [00:12:06]:
Business ownership can take so many shapes and forms. So I always want to empower people to think about it. There's all kinds of ways to do it.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:12:13]:
There's so many ways. So I've made peace with my corporate life. I'm very fortunate I get to still do what I groomed myself to do, what work groomed me to do in my corporate life. So that's my 9 to 5. I'm fully committed to that. It pays the bills, it puts a roof over my head. And on the side, I have a lifestyle as an entrepreneur and a biohacker. And I learned to bridge all the worlds now.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:12:46]:
And I'm very harmonious with how I live my life. So as an entrepreneur, I help savvy real estate investors grow and scale their investment portfolio. I have a very large network of lenders, and capital providers, and debt plan creators in the private money world. So I'm building that business at the same time I have my 9 to 5, which is very demanding. The way that I think of my 9 to 5 is, "Okay, this is a life that eventually I'm going to exit in pursuit of building a thriving business in the private money world." Then that business is what's going to help me grow and scale and pursue more of the humanitarian stuff that I do to give back to the world.

Unknown Introduction Speaker [00:13:36]:
You're listening to Pathways with Amber Stitt. For more episodes like this, plus so much more, check out the podcast page at: AmberStitt.com Let's take action together!

Amber Stitt [00:13:47]:
Now, let's get back to our episode.

Amber Stitt [00:13:50]:
Going back to your mind, do you think sometimes people just don't trust what they can't see so they don't spend time on this?

Suzaita Hipolito [00:13:57]:
Absolutely. I mean, unfortunately we, unless we have a model of possibility or unless we consciously make a choice to be open minded, to be more aware beyond what we know, what we see is literally limited to our belief system. So you have to make the choice to be open, to be like, "Okay, this is what I believe now and I'm open to what I can't see." But then that's where the fear comes in. So I work on this every day. Yeah, I work on when anxiety comes in because it's still the anxiety. And every now and then, well, actually it comes in when it wants to.

Amber Stitt [00:14:39]:
I talk to my anxiety and say, "No, no, not today."

Suzaita Hipolito [00:14:43]:
I'm developing a relationship with the anxiety. But it's like it's being okay with the unknown, it's being okay with not knowing. And then it's letting go and surrendering because that's where the magic happens. And literally this is where we want to control so much. We want to know. But when we want to control and we want to know, we limit what the universe can literally bring into our lives.

Amber Stitt [00:15:11]:
Teach us, bring in new opportunities.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:15:14]:
And think of it. I think of things in energy. So everything has energy. So if you're showing up in life, controlling and fearful and consistently anxious, you're blocking the frequency of what's possible. When you raise your vibration and you come from a place of, "Okay, I'm trusting life. I have total faith. I love you, universe. I know what's meant for me will come.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:15:40]:
I may not know how it's going to look like, but I trust the process". It's a different frequency.

Amber Stitt [00:15:46]:
Feels pretty cool.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:15:47]:
Right, and you're feeling it just as I am.

Amber Stitt [00:15:49]:
I had to tell myself a little bit of that walking into all these amazing people today and making sure that I do a good job. But I had to say, "I get to do this. Who gets to do this?"

Suzaita Hipolito [00:15:59]:
Yes.

Amber Stitt [00:16:00]:
And it was respecting that. You're being called to do certain things and you might not have full control as a...

Suzaita Hipolito [00:16:06]:
And you should.

Amber Stitt [00:16:06]:
I'm a pretty neurotic person myself. This is good for me.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:16:10]:
And you shifted. You shifted your mindset. I mean, we all have that.

Amber Stitt [00:16:14]:
That's right. Let's talk about it. And that's not like, "Oh, there's something wrong." It's like we all have our little nuggets of something floating around and the energy, but trying to remain in that positive space. And so when you're talking about business, I feel maybe I'm wrong. But when you explain what you're doing in conjunction, like with your 9 to 5, we'll call it, you're at peace with it and you're building it and it's happening.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:16:35]:
Right.

Amber Stitt [00:16:36]:
And that's pretty amazing.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:16:38]:
Yes. My skillset is in operations. Pharmaceutical clinical research is a very heavily regulated industry.

Amber Stitt [00:16:45]:
And there are patients with that too, I suppose.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:16:48]:
Right. And so I thought to myself, where can I really transfer my skillset? Well, the universe opened up an opportunity, many opportunities.

Amber Stitt [00:16:58]:
You've just been thinking and being okay with like, "I need to think about this."

Suzaita Hipolito [00:17:02]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:17:02]:
To kind of putting it out there.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:17:03]:
Yes, absolutely. And I'm seeing now where I can effectively transfer my skillset.

Amber Stitt [00:17:10]:
So, anyone local...because we're all going to be at the book signing together. So they get to meet you.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:17:15]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:17:15]:
And let's show the "Becoming You" book, too. With a community through what Wendy and Patricia have built. But also, I know that you're on LinkedIn. How do you want people to communicate with you and learn more about the projects that you're working on?

Suzaita Hipolito [00:17:28]:
Well, if you are a savvy real estate investor and you want to grow and scale your investment portfolio, reach out to me. I'll give my business number. It's 858-815-35...oh, shoot...it's 3509. No, 3508.

Amber Stitt [00:17:47]:
And we're going to have it in the show notes, so don't worry. Yeah, don't worry.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:17:50]:
Sorry about that. Yeah, it's not a number I kind of memorized.

Amber Stitt [00:17:54]:
That's what happens now.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:17:55]:
But anyway, or you could also reach me at: suzaita@araiyafunding.com so, suzaita @ araiyafunding.com and it's A R A I Y A. A R A I Y A: Araiya Funding. That's the name of my firm.

Amber Stitt [00:18:12]:
And then community keeps evolving and new projects arise, and the world's just beautiful. But, I feel like that's what when you're writing this, this is before, I read just a few years back, I was telling Wendi before, I think you were here, that this is the first book that really introduced me to her. And then I'm reading all your stories and I'm like, "Oh, my gosh, I want to get involved with this community." Back to the book before we wrap up. New Lifestyle, New World. This is where it's kind of like shedding new things in the space of how we've coined business needs to be a certain way.

Amber Stitt [00:18:41]:
And again, back to not being able to see tangible things. Sometimes we have to be okay with what we don't know. And I feel like that's what you're really cultivating. And it's inspiring because I think sometimes we work off fear a lot, and that prevents us from taking these leaps, or even being here in an event like this together this week. We have to talk ourselves out of it and trust that that's okay and put yourself in different positions. And so here come opportunities from that.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:19:06]:
Right. I think you make a really great acknowledgement that we often come from fear. I mean, it's easy to do when our world is designed by default for us. We've been taught at the very youngest age to come from fear. So the work is disentangling from that energy and recognizing that, first of all, it doesn't have to be that way. And we have a choice in every moment to come from love, possibility, collaboration, authenticity, opportunity, openness, expansion, and surrender, and trust. And while some of this may sound a little bit "Woo," but that's actually the piece that is missing for many people. I mean, throw in the "Woo," because you would be surprised how much your life can shift with just a little bit of woo.

Amber Stitt [00:20:06]:
No, we're not talking like woo girls, because in StrengthsFinders™, we talk about winning others over. But, allow yourself to have some of that woo, which is like, it doesn't have to make sense completely.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:20:15]:
Right. There's a whole unseen force, a power greater than us that is governing every atom of our existence.

Amber Stitt [00:20:27]:
It sounds like you're okay with that.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:20:28]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:20:29]:
Made peace with that, right?

Suzaita Hipolito [00:20:32]:
I have a relationship with it. I cultivate it every day.

Amber Stitt [00:20:35]:
Well, I need to get some more woo. I'm gonna get more woo from you later this week. You'll need to give me tips. All right, everybody. Suzaita, thanks for being here.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:20:44]:
Thanks for having me.

Amber Stitt [00:20:45]:
I'm excited to hang out with you. Yes.

Suzaita Hipolito [00:20:47]:
It'll be a fabulous weekend. Yep. Bye, everyone.

Amber Stitt [00:20:52]:
Thank you for joining us for this special edition of Pathways Unleashed, recorded at Owwll headquarters here in Delray Beach, Florida. Join us for more powerful conversations with real people who dared to design life on their own terms. Until next time, keep taking action on your unique path!