This conversation is one that I could not wait for and was also slightly nervous about! She is an incredible whimsical magical creature whom I get the privilege of calling a friend. Jazmín or Jazzy, as I lovingly call her, is a true guerrera with a fiery and gentle heart. You’ll get to hear the giggles and sighs of two friends having a conversation that is simply the resumption of what we explore on a regular basis.

Here is a little more about Jazzy!

Jazzy is the daughter of two courageous people who created a life in the U.S. out of nothing, her life is a continuation of their journey to self. She feels deeply honored to share this existence, with all its grief, heartbreak, joy and love with so many kindred souls. She considers her life purpose is to grow her capacity to love herself and others, and then manifest that through her actions. On a personal level, Jazzy is most proud of the beautiful lifelong friendships that she is blessed to share with wonderful women and queer people. She is proud of the relationship she has co-created with her parents who, despite having lived completely different lives, know her, cherish her, and teach her how to be a loving, principled, grateful human. Professionally, she is most proud to have made decisions about where to work and study with and alongside her family, friends and community. She is proud that she enters institutions of higher education, government and law with her village of people and that all which she gets to bring back belongs to all of us. Being outside! Hugging trees. Eating mushrooms. Holding her mom's hands. Making people laugh, and Dancing bring her deep joy!

May you sit in the sacred as you witness this conversation. And I hope there's a little sprinkle somewhere in here that gives you hope, fosters your light and supports you in whichever way you need to be supported in this moment.

You can find us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-healing-nook/id1810614972

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4O3Yj3Gd98zOQocCqYeNiv?si=15d0d40e63dc4f90

Learn More: https://www.equityfirstconsulting.com/my-healing-nook

Episode 5: Isoke Femi

Title: The Power of Embracing the Soul’s Journey

This conversation is truly a treat! This conversation is honest, joyful and soothing to the soul. Simply put, it is sacred. It was such an honor and privilege to have the opportunity to sit with Isoke for this conversation and to witness her in her existence.

Here is a little more about Isoke!

Isoke is a psychological practitioner, minister of metaphysics, and black woman conjuror. She completed her advanced degree work at the Institute of Imaginal Studies, where her research was on the liberating potentialities of African-derived ritual, particularly the ritual pattern of call and response. Isoke has spent most of her professional life (since 1985) facilitating groups grappling with social oppression. Isoke maintains that liberation ultimately necessitates that humans recognize their divinity. For it is only the Divine Self, which is also our collective shared Self, that is able to alchemize the intense energies that emerge when groups attempt to reckon with a past characterized by domination and exploitation.

May you sit in the sacred as you witness this conversation. And I hope there's a little sprinkle somewhere in here that gives you hope, fosters your light and supports you in whichever way you need to be supported in this moment.

You can find us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-healing-nook/id1810614972

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4O3Yj3Gd98zOQocCqYeNiv?si=15d0d40e63dc4f90

Learn More: https://www.equityfirstconsulting.com/my-healing-nook

Episode 4: Nayeli Bernal

Title: The Power of Unconditional Love

This conversation feels like the smoothest silk velvet, so soft and loving, it is sacred. If you are in need of some soul soothing, this conversation is meant for you. Let yourself be wrapped in the absolute unconditional love that is Nayeli; a magnificent human being so grounded and solid in her core, and so gentle and spacious in her existence.

Here is a little more about Nayeli!

Nayeli Bernal moves through the world guided by courage, kindness, and wholeness. Born in Michoacán, México, she carries the legacy of her P’urhépecha and Afro-Mestizo ancestors, people shaped by resilience, resistance, and an unwavering commitment to liberation. She immigrated to California at age eleven and became the first in her family to attend and graduate from college in the United States. Nayeli holds a B.A. in Psychology from UC Berkeley, a certificate in Translation from the National Hispanic University, and a Master in Public Health from San Francisco State University.

She currently serves as a Community-Engaged Researcher at Stanford University’s School of Medicine and is the founder of Papalotl Consulting, a community-based research, evaluation, and strategy practice. With a career spanning two decades, she is proud of the ways her work creates space for voices too often dismissed, and of the relationships she’s nurtured with partners navigating complexity with courage, humility, and care.

But what she’s most proud of lives outside of any job description.

She loves the life she’s built along with her wonderful partner and children, a life that honors inner compass, curiosity, and collective possibility. She finds meaning in spaces where joy and transformation go hand in hand, and believes her life purpose is to love and dream freely. She’s proud of learning to listen to herself. Of speaking up, even when it’s hard. Of making room for softness, creativity, and connection.

She finds joy in movement, time outdoors, tender friendships, and the quiet rituals of everyday life. She loves crisp walks, warm hugs, thoughtful questions, slow mornings, and the kind of laughter that makes you forget what time it is. She believes in showing up messy, honest, and full of heart. And above all, she moves through the world with a quiet insistence that joy, love, and justice belong to all of us.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we enjoyed having it! And I hope there's a little sprinkle somewhere in here that gives you hope, fosters your light and supports you in whichever way you need to be supported in this moment.

Learn More: https://www.equityfirstconsulting.com/my-healing-nook

The Power of Answering The Call of The Universe

This episode is so special because this person is just such an incredible human being! Lara Kaur is a magnificent photographer who answered the call of the universe to follow in her life’s purpose, and is transforming the world one magical photo at a time.

Here is a little more about Lara!

Lara Kaur is the founder of LKP, a creative studio dedicated to crafting spaces and imagery where individuals are seen, heard, and celebrated for who they truly are. Raised in a family separated across continents and the daughter of immigrants, Lara understands the power of photographs as emotional connectors, bridging the distance between loved ones. This connection to photography led her to pick up a camera early in life, creating and documenting images of and for loved ones and community.

Lara believes that photography offers us a universal form of connection, healing, resistance, and historical memory. With a background in social work and education, she honors the transformative power of photography in her work. Lara is committed to creating spaces where people—especially those whose stories have been overlooked or misrepresented—are seen and celebrated for their authentic selves. Through her work, she strives to co-create imagery that fosters connection, belonging, and grounding, ensuring individuals are recognized as they truly see themselves: empowered, seen, and understood.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we enjoyed having it! And I hope there's a little sprinkle somewhere in here that gives you hope, fosters your light and supports you in whichever way you need to be supported in this moment.

This conversation could have had a million different names, because Jenny gifted us with so much, but the through-line is the open heartedness with which she journeys through this lifetime. The ability we have to rabbit hole into corners of the earth we never predicted is one of my favorite things about my chats with Jenny; they are full of heart, laughter, wonder and pure joy! Join us as we explore healing chronic pain, moving through intergenerational healing, practicing critical hope in times of uncertainty, and much more 😍💞.

Here is a bit more about Jenny:

Jenny Levine-Smith is a writer/researcher, a loving and fierce mom to two beautiful humans, a deep and curious thinker, a ride-or-die friend and partner, a lifelong learner, a Yiddishist in the tradition of the Jewish Labor Bund (the 'u' is pronounced like in the word 'hood'), a Mets fan, and a certified super-cryer.

She is most proud of regularly being willing to look openly and honestly at what she does and how she does it, being able to recognize when it's time to evolve, and then shifting to work in ways that are more aligned with who she is, who she wants to be, and how she wants to show up in the world, in my community, in her family, and in herself. Jenny works hard to live in alignment and integrity, showing up from a place of compassion and love. She is proudest of the times when she can do the hard parts: namely, (1) showing HERSELF the compassion she so naturally affords everyone else, and (2) looking honestly and lovingly at the parts of her that feel less beautiful so that she can reach out to her loved ones and make repair when she has hurt them.

Jenny’s life purpose is to seek and cultivate healing for herself, for and with her family, past, present, and future, and to support other people in finding it as well. Living with both intergenerational trauma and PTSD from childhood trauma, learning through her healing journey how these hurts can fragment us from within and sever us from each other, experiencing healing moments and the presence and joy that is possible when she can string some of these moments together... it's all she wants for people.

There is so much that brings Jenny joy including Baseball, her kids, good food and wine, great sex, spending time with friends, family, and her man. The dark of winter, dawn and dusk, the way the trees in NorCal glisten in the sunlight right after it rains. Puppies. Hugs.

Oh what a joy to get to spend time with this human! I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we enjoyed having it! And I hope there's a little sprinkle somewhere in here that gives you hope, fosters your light and supports you in whichever way you need to be supported in this moment.

You can find us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Learn More: https://www.equityfirstconsulting.com/my-healing-nook

Eugene Merrill Calhoun ll, also known as Gene! In true poetic form, Gene describes himself as an “Earthling, male, ‘Africanus Americanus,’ born to this Earth in the middle of the 20th century: June of 1950.”

In this conversation, Gene and I explored what it means to engage in healing as a daily practice moving beyond the mind deep into our hearts. We reflected on the power of reclaiming our agency by engaging in practices of loving, listening, forgiving, and much more.

Here is a bit more about Gene.

What are you most proud of in your professional career?

I am blessed to have worked with young people for the better part of fifty years. I'm proud of the fact that the work I've done as a mentor, life coach and youth ally seems to be exactly what I was put on this earth to do. They let me into their lives and I grew a great deal as a result. Young people have been my greatest teachers.

What are you most proud of in your personal life?

I'm proud that my wife and I are celebrating 40 years of marriage. Proud that together we raised two wonderful children who have grown to be absolutely wonderful adults.

What do you consider to be your life purpose?

I figure my life purpose is to let my light shine and encourage others to do the same.

What brings you joy?

Playing with my 18 month old granddaughter, flying kites ,playing music with people, dancing with my wife, being in the mountains camping.

Anything else you feel called to share?

"Life sucks if you let it suck....I've decided not to let it suck"

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we enjoyed having it! And I hope there's a little sprinkle somewhere in here that gives you hope, fosters your light and supports you in whichever way you need to be supported in this moment.

Learn More: https://www.equityfirstconsulting.com/my-healing-nook

Follow us on instagram: myhealingnook

Welcome to My Healing Nook, a community space filled with love, joy, and peace where we can exist and learn together. Join these important conversations with local voices grounded in the everyday realities of living in our communities. Let’s build our collective vision for the world we want to create, and for how we move forward as a people, building new ways of being with ourselves and in community with each other that are grounded in healing and move us forward to help us evolve as a species. Conversations will be brought to you twice a month for this transformative exploration of what it looks like to be steadfast in our journey toward liberation.

Learn more about Ana Lugo: www.equityfirstconsulting.com

Follow us on Instagram: myhealingnook