Stephanie Ortez Lopez Quintanilla – Fayetteville Fury

After a quiet build up to the career of the young, shy American and El Salvadoran dual citizen, Stephanie Quintanilla finally saw glimpses of international footy for both countries that contributed to her upbringing.

Firstly representing USA at the IFA Futsal World Championships in Spain in 2022, then getting the call to training camp for La Selecta (El Salvador National Team) in 2023. The latter bringing an added challenge to hopefully break into the roster for one of the Gold Cup matches in the group stages having shown up for consecutive training camps.

At this moment Steph was looking for any other competitive advantages she could get, and looking for added support, increased clarity in her unique values, and further exposure, she joined our Postur Training Camp™ along with fellow domestic club footballer, Brandon Rodriguez (both captains for the Fayetteville Fury women’s and men’s sides).

The Reality

Steph was going from the main star as captain for Fayetteville Fury in the NISL, to being potentially considered as an extra for the El Salvador Women’s National Team. The extreme difference in environments posed an incredible challenge both physically and mentally as she dealt with nothing but praise for her domestic club, while facing the disappointments and stress at the highest level and still not making the cut to the final roster. Meanwhile, struggling to find ways to financially support her journey, and remain motivated in the process.

The Goal

Our goal was to truly dig deep into Steph’s story, past and present, find her strengths and weaknesses, and see if we could create a healthy level of consistency in her off-the-pitch routine to support her on-the-pitch performance. We also planned to take advantage of this new international milestone in her footy career to increase her brands exposure and value.

The Process

Beginning the training camp with an initial strategy session, Steph was able to share her unique childhood upbringing and how she tended to remain in the background due to not ever truly fitting in with her peers. She explained how she slowly gained competitive game experience, but truly developed her skills playing with her brother for hours. As she got older she learned to lean into her self-driven nature and in times of injury, or in-between seasons, she would show up with a trainer to work harder than anyone else and continue to improve. This self-discipline and high standard were quickly noted as strengths for her to identify with in her brand messaging more and more. She liked to define it as perseverance and resilience.

I’ve never been so excited to join a zoom call especially to talk about my feelings.

– Steph Quintanilla

Sometimes our greatest strengths can actually work against us however. And as we moved through the phases of the training camp, while Steph continued to fight for a spot on the Gold Cup roster, we could see this high standard for herself add a little too much extra pressure that actually impacted her performance, and more importantly her mental health. This was where the small shifts in her daily habits became truly important.

The Research

We also conducted a player brand audit, in order to paint a practical picture of Steph’s personal brand and its connection with her audience. In the audit we were able to see the same shyness that she had in her childhood showing up in her digital presence. Although she had become much more outgoing in her real world presence, her social profiles were set to private and this was counter-productive to her goals in gaining exposure. With this big change, and some much needed updates to her profiles she quickly saw some improvements in engagement.

The impact of the training camp on my brand/footy had a huge one follower wise! I went from 800+ to 1280+.

– Steph Quintanilla

The Results

During the 3 month Postur Training Camp™, Steph achieved her goal of getting rostered for not just one, but two Gold Cup matches for El Salvador. This achievement was followed by the disappointment of not getting rostered again, and although it has continued to be tough to crack the roster she has been working on her new daily habits to keep her head up and focussed on a healthier approach to the growth in her career, taking it one day at a time. Little by little, day by day.

On the branding side she made the updates to her profiles and strategized ways to talk about her values beyond just being a footballer.

We identified some brands she might be interested in partnering with and prepared ways in which she could initiate these relationships, while she mapped out the next steps in her career.

The Conclusion

I have become more open about my journey. I talk about what has happened throughout the months and I’ve now talked to athletes wanting to go pro, telling them to have a strong mentality… resiliency and perseverance.

– Steph Quintanilla

Steph is now in connection with The Players Network (A Community of Pro Women’s Footballers Abroad), she’s begun a potential partnership with Rizos Curls and received some free product from them, and she’s built a solid support team around her that support her career goals and her self-development. She has also improved her communication with this team which has resulted in even greater mental and physical performance, and further opportunities.

Most importantly she herself can truly feel the growth herself, and has set herself up for the next few months as she gets back on the pitch for Fayetteville Fury in the NISL as a leader for her teammates and the future generations of footballers, while looking towards the next step up in her domestic career and keeping one eye always on that next National Team call-up.

Some other potential career opportunities beyond the pitch have also begun and she now has new decisions to be made about how those might turn out. Plenty to look forward to this year and beyond!

Go give her a follow on IG: @stephnilla11

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