Black Writer Therapy Podcast

What becomes possible when Black and brown women stop treating suffering as proof of strengthand begin listening to the life moving through our bodies?

In this Black Writer Therapy session, Ella sits down with speaker, author, coach, and facilitator Veronica Lynn Clark for a deeply honest conversation about sexuality, spirituality, pleasure, healing, and the courage to trust ourselves.

Together, they examine how patriarchal and religious conditioning separated women from the eroticnot simply from sex, but from the vital, creative power that helps us recognize what feels true, joyful, nourishing, and fully alive.

But this conversation does not remain inside the wound.

Veronica and Ella move toward play. Pleasure. Self-love. Safe spaces. The cycles of expansion and contraction. The meaningful moments that become the quilt of a life. They explore what it means to anchor within ourselves, shed beliefs that no longer belong to us, and create spaces where women can awaken without being rushed, silenced, or shamed.

This episode is for every Black and brown woman who knows healing is not merely returning to who she was. Sometimes healing is freeing the woman she was taught to abandon.

Suffering is not our birthright.

Joy is not frivolous.

The erotic is not shameful.

It is life force. Memory. Power. And a call to come fully alive.

In this session:

Reclaiming the erotic as a spiritual and creative power
How play opens the door to self-discovery
The connection between pleasure, joy, and liberation
Healing the beliefs that taught women to abandon themselves
Creating emotionally and spiritually safe spaces
Learning to trust the bodys truth
Honoring lifes cycles of expansion and contraction
Awakening the collective vitality of Black and brown women
Building a life from moments that carry meaning

About Veronica Lynn Clark:

Veronica Lynn Clark is a speaker, author, coach, facilitator, and host of the Liberate Your Orgasm podcast. Her work brings together emotional intelligence, somatic practices, spiritual reflection, and deeply human conversations that help people strengthen relationships, navigate change, and return to self-trust.

Connect with Veronica:

Website: https://www.veronicalynnclark.com/
Podcast: Liberate Your Orgasm

Keywords: Black womens healing, erotic power, sexual liberation, sacred sexuality, feminine embodiment, embodied self-trust, reclaiming pleasure, Black women and joy, spirituality and sexuality, religious conditioning, patriarchal suppression, generational healing, somatic healing, safe spaces for Black women, collective liberation, Veronica Lynn Clark, Liberate Your Orgasm, Black Writer Therapy

Author Freda J. Day joins Black Writer Therapy to discuss her memoir, From the Green Leaf to Greener Pastures, her legal fight connected to the OWN Network hit family saga drama, Greenleaf (June 21, 2016, to August 11, 2020), and the pain of believing her intellectual property was used without permission, credit, or proper channels.

For Freda, the hurt ran deeper because it involved Oprah Winfrey someone she says she trusted enough to send her book to, and someone many Black women have regarded as a symbol of possibility, visibility, and cultural power. 

In this conversation, Freda shares why the alleged IP theft felt personal, what it cost her to fight for recognition, and what independent Black women writers need to know about protecting their stories.

• Erasure of Black women's contributions to the literary world.
• The importance of protecting intellectual property for indie authors
• Frida Day's willingness to take on the communications mogul, Oprah Winfrey for allegedly using material from her memoir without permission. 

• Ella Shawn's Black Writer Therapy Podcast
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• The importance of self-care rituals in maintaining well-being.
• Beliefs about aging can be challenged and redefined.
• Creativity should not be limited by societal expectations of work.
• Places can have a profound impact on our sense of self and belonging.
• Awakening is a universal journey that many are experiencing.
• Surrendering to one's soul's desires can lead to greater fulfillment.
• Storytelling is a powerful tool for connection and healing.
• Shamanism offers a framework for understanding our relationship with nature.
• Personal growth often involves confronting and healing past traumas.
• The language we use shapes our reality and experiences.

In this powerful, soul-deep episode of Black Writer Therapy, host and unlicensed doula-therapist Ella Shawn (a.k.a. Vicki) welcomes Vonetta RainEmmy awardwinning graphic designer, shamanic practitioner, and author of The Shamans Apprenticeto the proverbial couch.

Together, they explore what it means to say a revolutionary yes to your sacred work, walk away from a glittering career, and devote your life to healing, ceremony, and community care. Vonetta shares how she went from designing Super Bowl and HBO title sequences to leading over 800 private and group retreats around the world, supporting people through trauma, loss, illness, and lineage repair.

This conversation moves through reincarnation, soul family, divine masculine and feminine roles, ancestral cemeteries in Asheville, and the deep craft of writing a cathartic memoir that follows your consciousness from age three to now. Its tender, ancient, funny, and so Black Southern it hums.

Saying Yes to Dharma

How Vonetta left an Emmy-winning graphic design career to follow her sacred God-purposeful work.

Why simply saying yeswithout knowing the outcomeis a revolutionary act.

800 Retreats & the Practice of Service

Building a word-of-mouth global practice with over 800 ceremonies and retreats.

Supporting people through PTSD, depression, grief, illness, parenting, and ancestral patterns.

Soul Family & Reincarnation

Vonettas early introduction to reincarnation through her grandmothers past-life memories.

What soul family is, how it feels, and why she prayed to find hers.

The difference between the family youre born into and the soul family you keep finding across lifetimes.

Ease vs. Peace

Ellas distinction between peace (fleeting) and ease (embodied).

How Vonetta chooses to walk with grace and ease instead of chasing success.

Ancestral Land, the South & Shared History

Being a happy Black Southern woman whose ancestors were enslaved on the same land she loves.

Vonettas grandfather in Asheville, NC: caretaker of one of the oldest slave cemeteries in the U.S., community gardener, and quiet community builder.

What it means to honor both the horror and the possibility in Southern soil.

From Industry Chase to Inner Descent

Why the chasing happened in the industry, not in the spiritual work.

How leaving advertising became a descent into self rather than a pursuit of self.

Intentions as Healing

Ellas word-nerd dive into the medical definition of intention as the healing process of a wound.

Reframing intentions not just as goals, but as energetic containers for healing.

Writing The Shamans Apprentice

The plant medicine ceremony that took Vonetta to the center of the earth in a crystal elevator and started the book.

Being told to write it as fiction first, then given permission to tell the story as memoir.

Writing from the consciousness of each agethree, five, twelve, college, and beyondso readers can feel her evolution.

How the act of writing became not just healing, but a final release of shame, blame, and trauma.

Healing vs. Healed

Vonettas shift from Im always healing to I have healed so much.

Where she still feels shes healing now (finances, stewardship, and business systems).

Black Southern Womanhood & Long-Term Love

Ella on 30 years of marriage and choosing her high school sweetheart.

Divine masculine as protector/provider; divine feminine as creator/community-keeper.

Black women claiming joy, land, and lineage in the South.

Vonetta Rain is an Emmy awardwinning graphic designer turned shamanic practitioner, ceremonial guide, and author of The Shamans Apprentice. After a successful career creating high-profile campaigns and an award-winning title sequence for HBOs Carnival(e), she answered a deeper spiritual call that led her to apprenticeship with a Peruvian shaman.

Over the past two decades, Vonetta has facilitated over 800 private and group retreats around the world, supporting people through trauma, ancestral patterning, illness, grief, and spiritual awakening. Her memoir, The Shamans Apprentice, traces her journey from a normal American childhood to a life devoted to healing, ceremony, and soul-family communitytold through the evolving voice of her consciousness from age three onward.

The Shamans Apprentice by Vonetta Rain

Bacchanal by Veronica G. Henry

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

The concept of intentions as the healing process of a wound (medical definition)

This episode includes a mid-roll spotlight on Southern Momentum Publishing House (SOMO), Ellas hybrid publishing home for Black and Brown women writers seeking somatic, decolonial, and sacred writing spaces.

Listen to Black Writer Therapy every Thursday on the Alive Podcast Network app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Download the Tap-In app from Alive Podcast Network and choose Black Writer Therapy as your favorite show50% of your subscription supports Ella and helps keep these conversations going.

• Excavation is a crucial stage in the writing process.
• Black women writers often face unique emotional challenges.
• Listening to oneself is essential during the excavation process.
• The ordinary can be a source of profound inspiration.
• Self-discovery is intertwined with the writing journey.
• Small details in everyday life can enrich storytelling.
• Vulnerability in writing leads to deeper connections.
• Naming emotions can empower writers to overcome blocks.
• The publishing industry often overlooks ordinary Black experiences.
• Writing into the ordinary is a revolutionary act.

• "Excavation is a crucial stage in the writing process."
• "The ordinary can be a source of profound inspiration."
• "Writing into the ordinary is a revolutionary act."

• 00:00 Introduction to Black Writer Doula Sessions
• 01:25 The Importance of Excavation in Writing
• 03:27 Understanding the Excavation Process
• 13:29 Excavation as a Self-Discovery Journey
• 20:23 Writing into the Ordinary
• 36:08 The Complexity of Black Womanhood in Writing
• 42:16 Affirmation and Closing Thoughts

• We are moving the Black Writer brand in a new direction.
• Shame and guilt are significant barriers to creativity.
• Shame originates from external expectations, while guilt comes from within.
• Emotions like shame and guilt can block creative energy.
• It's essential to identify where shame and guilt manifest in the body.
• Practicing gratitude for shame can help in releasing it.
• Guilt can lead to a lack of trust in oneself and decision-making.
• Creative freedom requires letting go of past burdens.
• Engaging in self-reflection is crucial for emotional healing.
• Community support is vital for writers to thrive.

• The journey of writing is often filled with challenges and setbacks.
• Community and collaboration are essential for success in the publishing industry.
• Self-publishing can empower authors to take control of their work.
• Mental health and healing are ongoing processes that require daily attention.
• Authenticity in storytelling resonates with readers and creates connection.
• Rejection in the publishing world is common and should be viewed as redirection.
• Affirmations and positive self-talk can significantly impact mental well-being.
• Building a supportive network can help underrepresented voices be heard.
• The importance of setting boundaries in creative work to avoid burnout.
• Writing can serve as a therapeutic outlet for personal experiences. Naming characters gives them identity and depth.
• Ending a story can be challenging and emotional.
• Life is often about the journey, not just the destination.
• Living in the present is crucial for happiness.
• Detaching from current reality can help in creating new narratives.
• Gardening symbolizes patience and growth in life.
• Taking control of book sales empowers authors.
• Social media is a tool, not the only way to connect.
• Authenticity in marketing is essential for authors.
• Building genuine connections is more valuable than social media presence.

• Format Changes
• Introduced Black Writer Therapy Doula
• One Author Chat/month
• Deep focus on healing, expanding community, and raising divine feminine energy
• More Intentional

• Latasha Crystal has been passionate about writing since the eighth grade.
• Writing serves as a healing medium for Latasha, helping her process her experiences.
• Imposter syndrome is a common struggle for many writers, including Latasha.
• Supportive friendships play a crucial role in personal growth and overcoming challenges.
• Latasha's debut novel, 'Rocky Crescendo,' focuses on a shy girl discovering herself through music.
• The themes of self-discovery and acceptance are central to Latasha's writing.
• Latasha enjoys blending genres in her writing, often mixing elements of middle grade and young adult fiction.
• Writing about mental health for middle schoolers is important to Latasha.
• Latasha's upcoming project is a rom-com about a good girl and a bad boy.
• Latasha believes in writing what you wish you could have experienced.