“We all need a great circle of empowering strong women to push us on all the hard days but also celebrate our wins.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I’m a mom of three; two boys ages 13 and 11, and a girl age 6. My kids are my whole world. I own a women’s clothing store in Vancouver, Washington, and we specialize in size inclusivity and ethnic fashion. All things girlie is who I am; I love personal shopping and styling my clients and myself (give me all the fun hot tools to play with my hair all day and bright lipstick because it’s a staple) because showing up feeling my best is important. It also empowers other women to do the same.
Personal styling and shopping is what I do because fashion is for everyone and we always feel better when we like our outfit. The store was a dream I had with my best friend from middle school; that’s what bonded us. (Funny story) she didn’t like me but loved my outfit and her mom made her hang out with me [she laughs], we’ve now been best friends for over 17 years! I’m also the girl who loves to get dirty and camp (any outdoor activity hiking and swimming the river is what I do all summer here in the PNW, where I was born and raised). Count me in on long weekends with my girlfriends because we are the tribe we keep! We all need a great circle of empowering strong women to push us on all the hard days but also celebrate our wins. I love to travel. Hawaii is my favorite but Japan, Africa, New York, and Italy are on my long bucket list. I’m also a adrenaline junkie, so skydiving, roller coasters, all those things…count me in. My goal is to have my store in multiple locations where I can shop a little differently for each location. (Depending where its at…weather and all that).
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I have one older brother. My parents are divorced, so childhood was different in each house. At my mom’s, I was an only child. At my dad’s, we had a blended family and I had a step brother and 2 step sisters. I was the oldest. I graduated from high school in 2007 and became a mom shortly after. I stayed home with my kids until I opened my boutique. Coming from a divorced home had its challenges, but it made me the strong, independent mother and friend I am today.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: Being a business owner isn’t for the faint of heart, but if you always go back to your core values and stay humble, you can get through any hard day and you always appreciate the wins. (That’s what I’ve learned.) Believe came about because we wanted to inspire women to follow their dreams (that’s what we did), and when you put your whole heart into something, anything is possible.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism, to me, is rejecting stereotypes and expectations put in place centuries ago to keep women in their “place.” And replacing those expectations with love, acceptance, support, and encouragement. There are millions of women in the world and there are millions of ways to embody womanhood. Feminism is cheering for every woman in whatever way she chooses to be a woman.
“We can truly change the circumstances in our life by shifting the way we think and feel about ourselves.“
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: My energy ignites when I am able to learn from my own hurts and setbacks, and share my own learnings and growth to empower others to do the same. The best feeling for me is when I am able to hold space for someone and see their own lightbulb moment click for them. Witnessing a client go from wanting to doing—by using their fears to propel them to do the scary thing they were once wishing to do—it’s so beautiful to see one’s confidence build right before your eyes. It took me 36 years to learn that my outcomes in life would not change unless I created the change that I wanted to see in my life. This is when I took my very first personal development course. This course was supposed to last a weekend. That weekend led me to moving out of my home in LA and moving to Chicago to live closer to my parents. I was doing all of this growth work on myself; I decided to step into my uncomfortable and go to school for social emotional intelligence in leadership and coaching. This work lead me to meeting my husband, having a baby, and moving to Iowa all in the same year! I am a transformational life coach and speaker who empowers women to “Go from Self Doubt to Self Love,” and I have been coach for over 5 years now. I am currently coaching 1:1 clients, teaching my 5 week course: Reboot Your Relationship with Yourself, and hosting my podcast titled “Real Talk with Ru: Going from Someday to Day One.” Available on all of the platforms.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I grew up with a mother with schizophrenia, so unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to have a traditional mother/daughter relationship. As a child, I did not realize how traumatic this experience was. I pushed through life and looked for happiness through others. I was an East Indian American girl growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, trying to figure out her place in the world. Where she fit in. I “followed the yellow brick road” to see where it would take me. It took me to become a social butterfly. Being a queen of networking. Being active in softball, basketball, track, and tennis. My competitive spirit led me to becoming ranked third for tennis in the State of Nebraska landing me a tennis scholarship at an NAIA School. My “fearless” attitude took me to moving from Nebraska to NYC to land an internship with Donna Karan. From working in the fashion industry, I fell into working as a background extra in TV and films, which took me to LA and working at Universal Pictures. I was in NYC during 9/11, I traveled to Pakistan to film a documentary to show the beauty of the country. I was always searching for meaning in my life. Growing up with a mother with mental illness, it wasn’t until my late 30’s that I came to the realization that I was running away from a lot of childhood sadness. I was a “people-pleaser” who was afraid to really say what was on her mind out of fear that people wouldn’t like the real me. I thought that if I picked the most glamorous jobs, lived in the biggest cities, that I would find happiness. The busier I was, the more that I would do for others, I would not have to focus on the deep-rooted stuff. I would not have to focus on my sadness. What I found out was that no matter where I lived, if I did not tend to myself, this sadness would follow me wherever I would go. The way that I felt about myself. The way I felt about my work, money, my relationships. It would never feel like enough. I would never feel satisfied. The real work was getting to know myself. What I wanted and needed to live a meaningful and purposeful life.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: What I have learned and continue to learn is that I am constantly learning about myself everyday. That my life is endlessly evolving. All of that sadness, the pain, those lonely moments, those “no’s”, have empowered me to become the woman that I am today. There were so many moments that I didn’t understand why these “ouches” were happening to me.What I am learning is that these have all been detours to guide me to this very moment to serve others and share my learnings with others in the hopes that they, too, can overcome their blocks. Our past does not have to define who we are today. Our past story does not have to be our current story. We can truly change the circumstances in our life by shifting the way we think and feel about ourselves. The moment that I chose to get into the driver’s seat of my life, create boundaries, and learn that it is not my job to make everyone happy, my life continues to become richer and richer everyday. I shifted from being a victim of the circumstances in my life to continuing to step into my power each day; no matter how scary it may feel on some days. Showing up for yourself is the ultimate gift one can give themselves. Continuing to learn and grow, to be better than you were yesterday.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: To me, feminism means celebrating ALL of who you are. Owning your fears, your joys, your sadness, hurt, and anger. Celebrating ALL OF YOU! Showing up, speaking up, and continuing to share your gifts with the world. This is how change happens.
Q and A with Jennifer R., Perth, Australia, born in Munich, Germany
“Your mess becomes your message and will actually gift you that deeper meaning and purpose you’ve been searching for!”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: My whole life, I have been passionate about finding an answer to: What makes our life truly beautiful? How can I have the most fun and enjoy myself? It wasn’t until later as I matured that I added: While contributing in a meaningful way and leaving behind a legacy I feel proud of? And the desire to want to live a beautiful life in every aspect has taken me for the most incredible journey!
Today, in my work, I am most passionate about raising the feminine energy…the energy of love, passion, joy, and compassion. To support women to know, love, and trust themselves more so that they can speak with authenticity, passion, and power about what matters to them most! That we can heal ourselves and build bridges in our relationships…be it romantic, family, friends, business, or our communities. It’s communication, creativity, and relationships I’m really the most passionate about…they are the key to everything we want!
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: It’s a surreal experience to belong to a culture and history where half of me tried to eliminate the other half and understanding that I would have been sent off to a concentration camp because of what religion and “bloodline” my Nan belonged to, had I only lived a few years earlier. So, I grew up with that knowledge, yet experiencing a life that was the complete opposite. My family isn’t perfect (I mean whose is?!), but there’s nothing I am more grateful for, as I was blessed with a home and family full of love, laughter, and where we always took care of one another and stuck together.
So, although I didn’t grow up religious and I didn’t come across my “spiritual” path much later in life, looking back, I realize that the foundation of my faith as I would call it today, was set long before I ever had the words to describe it. I am not blind to the most horrific acts of hate humans can do to one another…but I also know that beneath it all, love is the only truth, and that when we are open and willing to forgive, beauty and love is the creative force that has no match. I have also always been passionate about traveling and meeting new people, as we always traveled from the day I was born, as our families were spread across so many countries.
I believe that openness and feeling of love and security within my home gave me the foundation for my passionate, creative nature and desire to connect with people from all backgrounds and walks of life! I love people, and it’s connecting with people and from my relationships that I have learned the most! I left home very young to live in the UK and later traveled to South East Asia by myself and then ended up in Australia where I built my first seven-figure business and have been allowed to call home for almost 10 years now. As I looked back on all the decisions I made and how I ended up where I am, I realized that I have followed my passions and intuition, even when it didn’t make that much sense or I didn’t know exactly where it would take me. The times I have struggled and suffered the most have been times where I have let my fears rule and lost that intuitive nature within myself.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: The most valuable lesson I could share with anyone is to truly trust that life, the universe, God…whatever term sits well with you, really has your back! We all have a unique path in our life. You are unique and gifted and there are things you can do that no one else can or will. I was blessed to be very successful in business and financially when I was only 26 years old. Equally, the more successful I became, the more insecure and fearful I became. Before I was 30, I ventured into some of the darkest places I have been, feeling so disconnected from myself and absolutely miserable. I felt so guilty and helpless, even though on the outside [it appeared] I had it all…yet, on the inside, I felt so lost and sad. But that really became the turning point in my life where I realized: The key to a beautiful life, full of purpose and meaning…can only be found within!
So, I reconnected back to my intuition, that really has guided me all my life and dedicated myself to make myself feel beautiful and powerful from within! To have the confidence to speak about the things I really want to say and do the things I truly want to do, no longer being a prisoner to my own insecurities. And the irony of it all is that today, the foundation of my beautiful life rests on those dark and challenging times. All the bad hands I thought I had been dealt were really blessings in disguise, so my greatest piece of wisdom I can share with anyone is: You are YOU for a reason! There is nothing more important than knowing, loving, and trusting yourself! Have the courage to follow your passions and dreams as your beauty is your power! The difficult and challenging times aren’t always what they seem, as your mess becomes your message and will actually gift you that deeper meaning and purpose you’ve been searching for!
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: I have made it my creative work and business to raise feminine energy in the world and create spaces where women can reconnect to themselves to feel more beautiful and powerful and have the confidence to speak and express their truth…yet…I would no call myself a feminist. Like so many words, it’s so heavily loaded with connotations and means so many things to so many different people, that I prefer not to restrict myself by being put in a box. One of the main tools I use and teach is the seven feminine archetypes and the reason I love it so much as it helps us see how what is right for one woman is not right for the other. That doesn’t make one right the other wrong, they simply have different dominant archetypes and different paths to walk.
For me personally, feminism is about raising awareness of the feminine energy, to recover the feminine wisdom that has been lost in thousands of years in patriarchal rule and for us women to feel beautiful, powerful, and confident to express our truth once again. It is about understanding and honoring the masculine energy as our counterbalancing part, so we can evolve into having relationships in all shapes and forms that allow us to move forward as a human species. For me, feminism is about forgiveness and building bridges, not looking to attack and seek revenge. For me, feminism is truly an inward journey, where the outward world is simply offering us opportunities to reflect back to us how far we’ve come and what more still can be done.
*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.
Q and A with Olivia, from Charleston, SC, living in St Louis, MO
“You will always have a problem if you look for one.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A:I am most passionate about people and natural disasters. I love helping women come out of their shells and become the person they want to be.
My obsession with natural disasters came after I lost 80% of my possessions in Hurricane Michael, Panama City Florida, October 10th, 2018. In December of 2018, I partnered with a close friend and helped with the #ComeBackStrongProject. We hosted the event at a local mall in Panama City. We gave toys and supplies to those in need at the event. It was a kick start to my humanitarian efforts.
In February of 2020, I volunteered in the Bahamas to help with the hurricane Dorian relief efforts with the organization All Hands and Hearts. I plan on volunteering every year going forward. I am also writing a hurricane survival guide for tips and supplies after the storm.
Olivia has lived in a lot of places; her husband is in the Air Force. She’s lived in Charleston, South Carolina; Panama City, Florida; Atlanta, GA; and St Louis, MO. But her favorite place is wherever she is helping rebuild communities after natural disasters.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I was born a Buddhist in South Carolina. My mother was born Catholic and converted before I was born. My father was an atheist. His parents were Jehovah’s witnesses. Needless to say, I have much respect for people with different religious views.
We were not wealthy by any means. We always had the cheapest house in the best school district. My mother and father were very big in our education. Despite the lack of funding, my parents always found ways to share life’s experiences with us. We went on vacations and tried a variety of foods.
My father was addicted to drugs, and my parents divorced when I was 8. A little about my family dynamics. My mother was 35 when she had me, and I’m the oldest of 3. She didn’t have children in her first marriage. My father was also married previously, but did not have any other children. When my parents were first divorced, my mother went to college. She actually got her double masters while being a single mother of 3 with minimal family help. (That is part of the reason I have the drive that I do. I honestly feel extremely privileged to be able to build my dreams without the same obstacles she had.)
I started working when I was 15. My father moved back into the house when I was 16 for two years to help my mother co-parent. They weren’t together; they just loved us more than they disliked each other. They were actually friends “sometimes.” I did pageants and went to 6 proms and was relatively popular in my town and city. My dad moved out when I was 18, and I moved in with him when I got out of high school. My father passed away when I was 20, and I paid for his funeral. I was also in an abusive relationship at that time.
I did a lot and learned a lot on a little, but it is definitely a part of what made me the woman I am today.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: Never give up. No matter how hard it gets. You will always have a problem if you look for one. Your perception is your reality and sometimes you get in the way of your own growth.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: Equal treatment of men and women. I’m very textbook definition when it comes to this topic. My thoughts have developed over the years and I fear that women are losing touch with their individual power.
*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.
Q and A with Lea Ann, Jeffersonville, Vermont
“A valuable lesson I have learned through my journey is to just keep working on things little by little and be patient with myself.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I’m passionate about food, community, and bringing people closer together. I am currently working on my food truck, which is in its 2nd year. Business is doing great and I am expanding quickly. I have always been a chef and I seek validation through my food. But I thoroughly enjoy making people happy with the food.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: My younger years were a mess. My twenties were crazy, but I learned how to focus and work on my goals (even though mentally and emotionally I was very unstable). I have an anxiety disorder that was a graveyard by drug use. Now, I am more centered, but it’s really because I’m so busy. I thrive in high pressure.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: A valuable lesson I have learned through my journey is to just keep working on things little by little and be patient with myself. I have learned a lot and continue to learn a lot about validating my own work and learning to delegate. I can’t do it all myself, and I’ve created this amazing momentum that makes people want to work with me!
My dreams have become my reality through my actions. Learning to love myself and consider myself worthy of a good life, a loyal and loving partner, and family has been a journey that I will continue to travel. Overcoming fear and becoming the person I am meant to be on this planet: spreading love and inclusion, being one with all my brothers and sisters, lifting up the downtrodden, and creating magic.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism means living in a world where I have access to the same opportunities as anyone else as a woman of color. Feminism means I will fight for everyone to have the same access to resources and respect from one another. A world where liberty is truth. Strength comes in numbers and women lead, guide, and support humanity as it should be.
Olivia has lived in a lot of places; her husband 
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