A Collective Voice Erin Joy

Whether we realize it or not, most of us grow up believing that happiness lies within the cultural, societal, and familial boxes we were taught to live within.  We push aside our yearnings and our dreams because they would require us to step outside those boxes and risk being cast out from the ones we love.  In this week’s episode, I talk to Erica Hernandez.  As a first generation Mexican American, Erica grew up internalizing her familial and cultural norms, which led her to believe that if she took another path, she would no longer be accepted by her family and loved ones.  In this episode I talk with Erica about battling between what she was taught she should embody or following her dreams and what her soul was craving. As a child, with a dream of wanting to be a performer, Erica remembers being told by her family “people like us don’t do that.”  What she told me was that she internalized that to mean that someone like her can’t live their dreams.  Erica shares her story of how she stepped past these beliefs and the limitations she put on herself, and how she stepped into her truth and finally started to believe she was worthy and how she finally gave herself what she felt she never received growing up… the space and permission to dream.  Erica is now a creativity mindset coach, a podcaster and a podcast producer, and she just launched a new course called Hello Creativity which is focused on helping 1st gen and women of color step into their creative identity and overcome their fears of going after their dreams.
 
Relevant Links/Socials:
 You can find Erica on Instagram:
@thee_erica_hernandez https://www.instagram.com/thee_erica_hernandez 
Erica’s Podcast, Hey Sister Soul Sister
@heysistersoulsister.podcast   https://www.instagram.com/heysistersoulsister.podcast 
 


 Follow A Collective Voice on Instagram:
@acollectivevoice https://www.instagram.com/acollectivevoice/
 Follow Erin Joy on Instagram:
@_erin_joy https://www.instagram.com/_erin_joy/ 
  
I would love to get in touch with you!  Head on over to @acollectivevoice on IG or my personal IG and send me a DM!  I would love to hear what resonated, or I would love to hear YOUR voice if you want to share any of your story.  
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Many of us walk through our lives with stories of past pain and trauma.  Stories that have never been told and that we carry with us, sometimes until our last breath.  Choosing to take that first step to healing is no easy task and choosing to stay on the path of healing is even harder still.  In this week’s episode I talk with author Christen Bensten.  Christen is the founder of her women-owned business, Blue Egg Brown Nest, she is a mom of three, a writer, a painter, an avid reader and Jesus-lover, and a foster mom to homeless kitties.  But Christen is also shining the way for others and becoming a role model of how beautiful life can be when we choose to turn towards our pain and grief and choose freedom.  In this episode, I talk with Christen about her recently published memoir, Starving, and her story of growing up in a constant state of fear, how she managed her anxiety and depression on her own and what it took for her to find love and healing.  In her memoir, Christen takes the reader through her childhood trauma and her harrowing journey from ‘fear to freedom.’ In this episode, you will hear Christen talk about some of the details from her book, including her difficult relationship with her mother, growing up in a cult-like evangelical church that practiced exorcisms and speaking in tongues and attending a private school where punishments involved duct-taping kids’ mouths closed and tying children to chairs with rope.  Christen’s memoir is shocking, inspiring, sad, and hopeful.  Reading Christen’s book was powerful but hearing the power in her voice as she tells parts of her story left me in awe.  Christen’s memoir is a learning and remembrance that we sometimes must put ourselves first and leave behind all that we once knew and believed in order to save ourselves.  It is rare to be invited into the rawness of one’s story and Christen has swung the door wide open - her words and her voice are truly inspiring others to break free from their past and move towards mental and physical well-being.

Relevant Links/Socials:
 
Where you can find Christen: 
Christen’s Author/Personal Website: christenbensten.com 
Christen’s Memoir, Starving: https://www.amazon.com/Starving-Memoir-Christen-Bensten/dp/B091HZP9WX/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 
 Christen’s Business Blog, Blue Egg Brown Nest: blueeggbrownnest.com
 Instagram: 
@christenbenstenauthor - https://www.instagram.com/christenbenstenauthor/ 
@blueeggbrownnest - https://www.instagram.com/blueeggbrownnest/ 
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Follow A Collective Voice on Instagram:
@acollectivevoice https://www.instagram.com/acollectivevoice/
 Follow Erin Joy on Instagram:
@_erin_joy https://www.instagram.com/_erin_joy/ 
  
I would love to get in touch with you!  Head on over to @acollectivevoice on IG or my personal IG and send me a DM!  I would love to hear what resonated, or I would love to hear YOUR voice if you want to share any of your story.  
Support the show

I will be the first to admit that it was not until recently in my life that I have been able to fully acknowledge and own my worth as an individual and as a woman.  It took a lot of deconditioning for me to believe that I am worthy and to be able to listen to and trust my intuition again.  I know I am not alone in that journey, but in this week’s episode I talk to a woman who, from a young age, has always known her worth and has always been strong in the knowledge of who she is.  Rebecca Stalek is a mother, a wife, a doctor and a successful business owner of two Pilates studios, and she didn’t achieve all of that by hiding her voice.  In this episode, Rebecca talks about her journey of becoming a successful doctor, and then ultimately deciding to leave medicine to become her own boss.  She talks about how her ability to trust her intuition and trust her instincts is something she has been able to hone in on her whole life, and how she has always had the knowledge that she is worthy. Sometimes we don’t need a big life lesson to teach us what our worth is.  Sometimes, we just know.  And I think that is such a rare and beautiful quality.  Although Rebecca has always known her worth and been able to listen to and trust her intuition, she also talks about how she has learned to be a little more quiet, to slow down, and how practicing meditation and mindfulness have become a daily practice for her.  Rebecca is absolutely unapologetic about who she is, and her confidence is nothing less than inspiring.
 
 Relevant Links/Socials:

You can find Rebecca on Instagram at:

@rudeboylova https://www.instagram.com/rudeboylova


 Rebecca’s Pilates studios – Instagram and Websites:
 East Meadow, NY Location:
@clubpilates_eastmeadow - https://www.instagram.com/clubpilates_eastmeadow 
https://www.clubpilates.com/location/eastmeadow
 Forest Hills, NY (Austin Street) Location:
@clubpilatesaustinstreet - https://www.instagram.com/clubpilatesaustinstreet 
https://www.clubpilates.com/location/austinstreet
 
 Follow A Collective Voice on Instagram:
@acollectivevoice https://www.instagram.com/acollectivevoice/
 Follow Erin Joy on Instagram:
@_erin_joy https://www.instagram.com/_erin_joy/ 
 
I would love to get in touch with you!  Head on over to @acollectivevoice on IG or my personal IG and send me a DM!  I would love to hear what resonated, or I would love to hear YOUR voice if you want to share any of your story.  
Support the show

Creating the life we want can sometimes feel like an unachievable goal.  We can see the vision so clearly, but how do we actually get there?  How do we bring that vision to life?  Well, in this week’s episode I talk to a woman who has done just that. Sandra Washington is a spiritual empowerment coach and an entrepreneur, and she created the life she has always wanted by rediscovering how to let her soul become the driver of her life. Sandra talks about her multi-faceted journey to getting to where she is today – from sobbing on the floor, quitting her job and moving to Australia, to learning to face her wounds instead of running away, Sandra has learned that part of her truth was not necessarily shedding an identity but instead fully embracing who she has always been. She also talks about how processing the good in our lives, cultivating self-love, and investing in ourselves are some of the most important things we can do.  Through Sandra’s passion for life and the work that she does, it is clear that she is living her soul’s purpose, and her enthusiasm for it all is nothing less than contagious.
 
Relevant Links/Socials:
Where to find Sandra:
Instagram: @sandramwashington https://www.instagram.com/sandramwashington/ 
Website: www.sandrawashington.com 
 
 Follow A Collective Voice on Instagram:
@acollectivevoice https://www.instagram.com/acollectivevoice/
 
Follow Erin Joy on Instagram:
@_erin_joy https://www.instagram.com/_erin_joy/ 
 
I would love to get in touch with you!  Head on over to @acollectivevoice on IG or my personal IG and send me a DM!  I would love to hear what resonated, or I would love to hear YOUR voice if you want to share any of your story.  
Support the show

For most of my life I was disconnected and out of touch with the very parts of me that make me a woman.  My heart, my womb, my body, my pleasure…I felt embarrassed and ashamed to fully step into and own my womanhood and set free my feminine energy.  But the hardest part was that I didn’t even realize how disconnected I was.  In this week’s episode I talk with Jasmine Rose of @humblewildwellness.  Jasmine became a couch and mentor of mine about a year ago, and when I met Jasmine, I had no idea of the beautiful journey back home to my body and my heart that she would help to guide me on. Jasmine is a womb priestess, a doula, and a holistic fertility specialist – she guides women back to the wisdom of their womb and she teaches through joy, play and pleasure, how to cultivate a relationship with yourself through connecting back to your heart and your body.  Jasmine has quite an amazing story and journey, and in this episode, Jasmine tells us the story of how her biggest initiation of remembrance began when she started bleeding and it didn’t stop for 365 days.  She found herself having to take her healing into her own hands after being left with no other options through our medical system.  It was a journey that led her to reclaiming and remembering her voice and her truth, and it allowed her, as she says, to really become the storyteller of her own story - which is a feeling I think so many of us desire and can relate to.  We talk about dismantling the old stories and narratives that we have been taught and that have been passed down to us for generations, and how we are in a time when it is finally safe for women to speak up and be heard.  As Jasmine said so beautifully, we, as women, in this present moment, have the opportunity to be the ancestors that change the way we relate to our bodies, for our daughters, granddaughters, and all of the future generations.  We are the future ancestors, and what permission and freedom are we leaving for the next generation.  
 
 Relevant Links/Socials:
 Follow Jasmine on Instagram:
@humblewildwellness https://www.instagram.com/humblewildwellness/?hl=en 
 
Follow A Collective Voice on Instagram:
@acollectivevoice https://www.instagram.com/acollectivevoice/
 
Follow Erin Joy on Instagram:
@_erin_joy https://www.instagram.com/_erin_joy/ 
 
 I would love to get in touch with you!  Head on over to @acollectivevoice on IG or my personal IG and send me a DM!  I would love to hear what resonated, or I would love to hear YOUR voice if you want to share any of your story.  
 
Support the show

This week’s episode was SO much fun to record!  In this episode I talk with Sammy Be Love about ALL the things.  Seriously, we talk about it all.  Sammy is a healing, pleasure and business mentor and coach, and she teaches how to liberate yourself from old stories, how to own your desires, and how to embrace pleasure and be turned on by life. Sammy is someone who leads from the heart and shows up every day, unapologetic about who she is. Through her own journey of finding safety to show up for herself, Sammy has become someone who jumps full body into the pleasure of herself and life every single day.  Sammy starts off by telling us about her story of sexual assault and abuse at her workplace, and how this led to the moment she decided to prioritize her authenticity over everything else.  Throughout our conversation we talk about pleasure, embracing our truth, the importance of prioritizing yourself and your desires, and sooooo much more, but the overall theme is that we are writing our own story, and that we GET to write our own story.  
  
Relevant Links/Socials: 
Follow Sammy on Instagram: 
@sammybelove  https://www.instagram.com/sammybelove/?hl=en 
 
Follow A Collective Voice on Instagram:
@acollectivevoice https://www.instagram.com/acollectivevoice/
 
Follow Erin Joy on Instagram:
@_erin_joy https://www.instagram.com/_erin_joy/ 
 
 
I would love to get in touch with you!  Head on over to @acollectivevoice on IG or my personal IG and send me a DM!  I would love to hear what resonated, or I would love to hear YOUR voice if you want to share any of your story.  
Support the show