Dr. Antwon Martin shares his experience in finding his passion and purpose after an injury changed his plans of becoming a professional football player. Dr. Martin and I discuss the important role professors and mentors play in our life journey. Dr. Martin shares a personal experience with a professor who fueled him to become a professor and prove that he would turn out to be more than what that professor predicted. We discuss the importance of validating yourself internally and pivoting when your plans change rather than giving up on your goals. 

Dr. Antwon Martin is an author, speaker and professor. The Lord has blessed him to be an empowering and relevant voice to this generation. He has been featured on television, radio and other media locales due to his exceptional accomplishments. Humility, compassion and integrity best describe Dr. Martin. He is an effective and dynamic speaker that is known for his powerful, rousing delivery. This educated college professor has a resume of educating in 500+ seat lecture halls at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to intimate settings at private Universities. He believes that there is prominence in academic achievement.

He can be found on Facebook and Instagram as Dr. Antwon Martin or at [email protected].

La'Ketha shares leaving the military after 24 years of active service to open up her own spa with her husband. She shares her passion for helping her clients feel confident in their skin. La'Ketha discusses how skin care is a form of self care and how building that relationship with someone can be healing for both parties. She shares advice for people who want to open their own business and is open and honest about her journey towards mental wellness. 

La'Ketha  began her career in esthetics as a spa business owner in 2013. Before finding her passion for “All things Skin.” After over 24 years of active duty service, she is retired from the United States Army. She earned a Bachelors in Political Science/General Studies and Masters in Information Technology and Business Administration.

In this episode we meet Jolene Ruiz an aspiring professional dancer who auditioned for 10 years before making a competitive team. She shares her grit and passion to continue pursuing her dream and challenging herself to improve after every audition. We discuss the importance of mindset and language as Jolene shares the best piece of advice she received. Jolene is the co-founder of a non-profit organization called The Full Out Foundation which aims to empower students through cheer and dance. We talk about the importance of nurturing children's big dreams and teaching essential skills like time management, discipline, and hard work. She shares her struggle with dreaming big growing up as a first and second generation American as well as how suppressing her emotions held her back. 

Jolene Ruiz is the Board President for Full Out Foundation a nonprofit that serves students in the La Puente School District by providing elite cheer and dance training along with academic support. She is from Southern California where she is a wife, granddaughter, daughter, sister, cousin, God Mother, and friend. She danced professionally, even spent time dancing in Mumbai, India, and has worked in a variety of fields including skincare, professional sports, and academia. She is currently the interim Student Life Coordinator at a community college in northern California and a student at Cal Baptist University studying to earn her Master’s in Sport and Performance Psychology and become a Certified Mental Performance Consultant.

You can learn more about the organization at: https://www.fulloutfoundation.org/ and she can be reached at [email protected] and on Instagram @mrs.jolene.r 

In this episode Dr. Victor shares his personal experience with toxic masculinity and we discuss as a society how being "too masculine" is negatively impacting men. Everyone suffers when we suppress and hide our emotions. For many, their families, cultural upbringing and/or society has conditioned them to have no feelings, and be super self-reliant which leaves little room for connection with others. We discuss the importance of balancing the masculine and feminine energy that we all possess. As psychologists we share our experience working with men in therapy and encourage more men to reflect personally on how their feelings or lack of is impacting their life and relationships. We discuss the stigma related to therapy, medication and share our own mental health struggles and therapy experiences. 

Dr. Victor Ramos is employed at Kaiser Permanente Dept. of Adult Psychiatry in the San Francisco Bay Area. He supports the development and provision of services in a new crisis-based telehealth position. He has over 10 years of experience in a variety of settings including outpatient programs, primary care, residential treatment, corrections, college counseling and an inpatient hospital. He’s worn many hats including: individual therapist, group facilitator, consultant, clinical supervisor, and adjunct lecturer. He’s worked extensively in medical settings, providing brief services to patients in need of a better understanding of how to best manage the impact of their chronic health problems; in addition to screening for common mental health disorders. Dr Ramos completed his pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship with Contra Costa County Health Services, where he specialized in Pain Psychology. Dr. Ramos completed his doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA; a Master of Arts degree in Counseling from the Clara University and a BA in Religious Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara. He has advanced training in various therapeutic orientations (ACT and CBT) and uses an eclectic-interpersonal approach to meet the unique needs of each patient. He notes that he believes it is in the relationship, with ourselves and others, that we have the greatest capacity for happiness and suffering; it is his hope to help increase people's motivation to pursue more of the joy in life based upon alignment with meaningful values and goals. Given his background in clinical health psychology, he also enjoys developing wellness strategies and plans that support the individuals whole health – mind, body, and spirit.

“Mental health is not a destination, but a process. It's about how you drive, not where you're going.”

He can be reached at [email protected].

Trigger warning: This episode contains discussion regarding sexual abuse. 

In this episode we discuss the importance of following your dreams and finding a way to accomplish them. Maria Elizabeth shares her personal story of hope and resilience. She discusses how she did not let her undocumented status keep her from pursing her goals and going to college. She shares her healing journey with sexual abuse and attending therapy for 3 years during college. We discuss our indigenous ways of healing and how that led her to Chinese medicine. Maria Elizabeth also shares tips/advice for someone wanting to start their own business. 

Maria Elizabeth Barrera was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. She immigrated with her parents at 6 years old. She grew up in La Puente, CA. It was in 5th grade that she realized that she was undocumented due to the widespread media coverage of Proposition 187 which would strip undocumented immigrants of access to public education and emergency services. As a junior in high school she was told her access to college would be limited due to her undocumented status. Instead of giving up, she became involved with an immigrant rights organization.  As a result, she became one of the poster children for the passage and implementation of the now law AB 540 (Dream Act) which allows undocumented high school students to pay in-state tuition if they have attended a CA high school. Maria Elizabeth went on to start the first undocumented student support group at UC Davis and interned at the State Capitol. After graduation with her Bachelor’s of Political Science she became a Statewide Organizer for an immigrant rights organization. As a Statewide Organizer she helped establish the first statewide network in CA that composed of over 60 colleges in CA. Maria Elizabeth shifted gears and became more dedicated to the Healing Arts. In December of 2017, she received her Master’s in Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine. Her specialties are pediatric care, women’s health and pain management. On September 2019, she held a ribbon cutting ceremony for her own wellness center in the city of Whittier. Maria Elizabeth is also a mother and a life partner.

For additional questions or information she can be reached at: www.athenaacupuncture.me IG: athena_acupuncture, Facebook: Athena Acupuncture

Dr. Elise Sanchez gets personal and shares some real struggles and stories of how shifting her mindset from a victim to creator helped her get through tough times. Owning our stories is so important so that they do not own us. She shares some personal "failures" that helped her grow into the person she is today. She shares how to find the positive in everything and express gratitude while also taking responsibility for what is within your control to change. Dr. Sanchez ends with some projective exercises you can try to uncover your subconscious thoughts. She ends with inviting you to reflect on your life challenges from a creator lens. 

Dr. Sanchez provides insights into death, trauma and the importance of healing. She discusses how life is always trying to teach us something and whatever we suppress will continue coming back to us with added force until we heal it. She discusses how the subconscious mind works to protect us. She shares the power of affirmations and taking responsibility for our lives. 

This episode is dedicated to Lorieal Green, RIP. Here is the link for anyone who would like to donate to her son's scholarship fund. 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/lorieal-green-memorial-scholarship-fund

For anyone listening that is in pain and in desperate need of healing. I SEE YOU! Reach out to me if you need more information on how coaching or therapy can help you. Be well!

The host Dr. Elise Sanchez updates listeners on what she has been up to lately. She discusses the importance of rest, awareness regarding our resistance, and listening to your inner voice. She provides statistics for the podcast as the one month anniversary has just passed. Speak the Secret averages about 200 downloads per episode. The most listened to episode is the first episode about the host and the podcast. We are now international with an audience in 9 different countries! I forgot to mention that I compensate all my guests, I know many of them are willing to do it for free but I do not expect anyone to provide free labor. I am happy to donate to their special causes/organizations as well. I support anyone who is actively trying to make the world a better place. Continue to send in your topics of interest or ask me questions for a Q&A episode. Thank you all for being a part of this journey with me! Be sure to tune in until the very end for some words from my favorite guest to date! 

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month so we are ending with another taboo topic. Our guest shares her journey of being diagnosed with breast cancer at age 54. We discuss the lack of care her primary doctor provided as she went a whole month without anyone telling her she even had breast cancer. She shares the importance of listening to your body and advocating for yourself when you know some thing is wrong. It was when she requested a second opinion that she had a very different experience at City of Hope. She shares the emotional roller coaster she went through individually and with her family while she went through treatment. Patty is raw, open and honest about her experience. She provides tips and suggestions for someone who was recently diagnosed and offers support, encouragement to family/friends. 

Patty Romero is a 60 year old, retired breast cancer survivor. She identifies as Hispanic and has 5 siblings. She has been married to her high school sweetheart for 42 years. She has three adult children, three daughters through marriage, four grandchildren and one grand fur baby. She worked for the LA County Sheriff's Department and was medically retired after 22 years. She now mentors women who have been recently diagnosed and spreads awareness and is a breast cancer advocate.

For additional information you can reach her at [email protected] and on instagram @nana_patty.

https://www.cancer.org/

https://www.youngsurvival.org/