Ylani Estwick has always paid attention to the ideas that keep returning.
Even when the path ahead was unclear, she understood that certain creative instincts were not distractions. They were directions. Throughout a career that included traditional work, freelance copywriting, and marketing roles, Ylani kept feeling pulled toward work that could hold more of her creative voice, and eventually, help other creative entrepreneurs trust and lead from theirs, too.
That instinct has shaped the business she leads now: a creative leadership mentorship practice built around a simple belief: strategy works best when it begins with the person behind it.
Long before she became a creative leadership mentor, Ylani knew she wanted to make space for work that fueled her creative passions beyond a conventional 9-to-5 or the familiar structure of freelance work.
She did not always know exactly what that work would become. But she was willing to follow the ideas that kept asking for her attention.
“It always felt like if I didn’t follow the thread, it would never leave me alone,” she says. “Who am I to not listen to where it was leading me?”
That openness led her to start her first business as a website copywriter. It was a natural extension of her freelance experience across copywriting and marketing, giving her a foundation to build something independently. But it was also the beginning of a larger realization: the work she was meant to do would keep evolving as she did.
For Ylani, leadership did not begin with a title. It began with the willingness to take her own instincts seriously.
Four years into her copywriting business, Ylani began to notice a change.
The business had served a meaningful purpose. It gave her stability, experience, and proof that she could build something of her own. But her relationship with the work was no longer the same. Projects began to feel heavy, and the love she once had for writing started to disappear.
That was not a small signal.
Writing had always mattered deeply to Ylani outside of the work she was paid to do. When it began to feel depleted inside her business, she knew she needed to listen rather than force herself to keep going.
“At some point, I realized I simply couldn’t continue doing things the way I had been. A new direction was necessary.”
At the same time, another idea kept surfacing: the desire to become more of a thought leader. She did not yet know what that would look like or how she would get there, but she gave the feeling enough room to become clearer.
At the end of 2023, Ylani closed her copywriting business. At the beginning of 2024, she opened the business she leads today as a creative leadership mentor.
It was not a pivot built on having every answer in place. It was a decision to honor what was no longer working and make room for a direction that felt more aligned.
Ylani does not separate intuition, softness, and values from leadership. They are part of the way she makes decisions, builds trust, and supports others.
Even when circumstances have felt confusing or frustrating, she has relied on something deeper than a perfectly mapped-out plan. Logic has its place, she believes, but it is not always what leads someone toward the work they are meant to do.
“Intuition, softness, and values have always guided me. They are part of what makes my integrity so solid and what I bring to the table as a person.”
That approach is now central to how she mentors creative entrepreneurs. Rather than beginning with a rigid strategy or a list of prescribed tactics, Ylani starts with what is actually happening in a client’s business and life.
Only then can a meaningful strategy take shape.
It is a more human approach to growth, one that recognizes that a business cannot be separated from the person leading it. Capacity, voice, ambition, uncertainty, and change all affect what comes next.
The transition from copywriter to mentor strengthened Ylani’s self-belief, momentum, and trust in her broader vision.
She has learned that she does not need a complete blueprint before she makes a move. She needs the first step, the willingness to take it, and the trust that the next layer of clarity can come through action.
“I don’t always have to have the answers, I just need to know the first step for every pivot.”
That trust has grown over time. It has helped her see that leadership is not about performing certainty for other people. It is about building enough belief in what you bring to the table that others can begin to recognize their own capacity, too.
For Ylani, the strongest leadership creates impact beyond the individual leading. It changes the way people see themselves.
“A strong belief in what you bring to the table supports your leadership and your connections with others. It leaves people with an impact that helps them see the ways they are able to feel the same within their own version of leadership.”
Community and family have been essential to Ylani’s journey. They have motivated her to strive for more while also supporting her through every season of building, shifting, and becoming.
Without that support, she says, the journey would not feel as fulfilling.
That sense of connection also shapes the way she approaches her work. Creative entrepreneurship can feel isolating, especially when someone is navigating a transition or trying to build a business that reflects their real voice. Ylani’s mentorship makes room for both the business decisions and the human experience beneath them.
Start with what feels most alive right now.
You do not need to know every step before you begin. You do not need a flawless plan, permission from someone else, or a perfectly polished version of your next chapter. But you do need to choose one thing that feels true enough to move toward.
That first move builds momentum. Momentum creates direction. And direction often reveals what certainty never could.
Ylani Estwick is a creative leadership mentor who supports creative entrepreneurs in building businesses designed for the long run through their leadership and voice. Her work begins by looking honestly at what is happening in both business and life, creating space for strategies that are rooted in the person behind the work, not just the next tactic or milestone.
She is currently preparing to relaunch Anchor Session, a 75-minute intimate strategy call designed to help creative entrepreneurs gain clarity, identify their next aligned move, and build momentum toward what comes next.
You know those women you admire?
The ones who carry themselves with elegant composure?
The ones who seem to lead with sophisticated ease?
The ones who have sustainable success, the kind that feels as good on the inside as it looks on paper?
They’ve moved from survival mode to mastery mode.
They’ve learned to lead from calm authority instead of constant vigilance.
They’ve mastered exceptional emotional intelligence, not through more effort, but through rewiring the patterns that were keeping them stuck.
You know those women you admire?
The ones who carry themselves with elegant composure?
The ones who seem to lead with sophisticated ease?
The ones who have sustainable success, the kind that feels as good on the inside as it looks on paper?
They’ve moved from survival mode to mastery mode.
They’ve learned to lead from calm authority instead of constant vigilance.
They’ve mastered exceptional emotional intelligence, not through more effort, but through rewiring the patterns that were keeping them stuck.
