In Episode 17 of The LeadHer Shift Podcast, host Alian Ollivierre sits down with mindset mentor and holistic healer, Jacqui Letran. From rebellious teen to award-winning author, Jacqui shares her powerful story of healing, identity, and inner transformation. They dove into how childhood trauma, subconscious programming, and self-talk impact our leadership journey, and why healing your inner girl is essential to becoming the woman you’re called to be.
Transcripts:
Alian Ollivierre [00:00:00]:
Welcome to the Lead Her Chef podcast. This is what I like to call a safe space. A space for bold women building their power, presence, and purpose from the inside out. A space where we explore what it means to lead with clarity, courage, and conviction. So wherever you are in the world. Hey, I'm your host, Aliane Oliver, and I am super honored that you're tuning in today. Hi, guys. Alian Oliver here, back again with Lead Her Shift, Another dynamic woman from around the globe.
Alian Ollivierre [00:00:44]:
We've been talking to so many, but Jackie is particularly special. She's a mindset mentor and holistic healer. I just wanted to make sure I got it right, and we're gonna delve into what that means. Right. But first, let me introduce you to Jackie. I'll let her share a little bit about herself and her a little bit about her story, and then we'll go deeper into what that title actually means. So over to you, Jackie. Talk to me about who is.
Alian Ollivierre [00:01:16]:
Let me define Jackie. So let's put it this way. What are two words? If you could even narrow it down to two. What are two words that describes Jackie?
Jacqui Letran [00:01:31]:
Inspired.
Alian Ollivierre [00:01:32]:
Okay. Inspired. And happy. Happy. Okay. Why happy? What is it that makes Jackie happy?
Jacqui Letran [00:01:43]:
Well, you know, I really am very blessed. Such a beautiful point in my life where everything has just fallen into place. Not by accident, you know, by a whole lot of work and a whole lot of planning.
Alian Ollivierre [00:01:58]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:01:58]:
But I'm at this where the things I've been wanting to create, I've created. And I just love every aspect of my life right now, from personal, professional, romantic.
Alian Ollivierre [00:02:09]:
Wow.
Jacqui Letran [00:02:10]:
It's amazing.
Alian Ollivierre [00:02:11]:
Yeah. I feel like. Feel like, in a way, and you could correct me if I'm wrong, but in a way, you feel complete is what I'm hearing. At least. Is that. Am I right in saying that?
Jacqui Letran [00:02:25]:
Yes. Complete, blessed, just content. I mean, life is good.
Alian Ollivierre [00:02:31]:
Life is good. That's amazing. So, you know, in tracking back, we've. We've been dealing with. And this is very off topic, but we've been dealing with COVID for most of the year so far, at least. And then you say. Then you say, I'm happy. I'm complete.
Alian Ollivierre [00:02:54]:
So what makes that so even in light of all the challenges that has been happening globally? Has something shifted since COVID or. It didn't matter as result of COVID.
Jacqui Letran [00:03:09]:
So, you know, Covid is definitely a very traumatic thing for many people, and many people are dealing with a lot of loss and suffering, whether it's income loss or loss of people that they care about.
Alian Ollivierre [00:03:22]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:03:23]:
And lots of Freedom. Right. Because we're now, like, living in a very different lifestyle.
Alian Ollivierre [00:03:28]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:03:30]:
I feel completely blessed that my life haven't changed that much. My health is fantastic. All the people that I love, their health is fantastic. I have an amazing relationship with my husband. We have stability in our income. We both work from home. We really enjoy being with each other. I mean, like, it could be a lot worse.
Jacqui Letran [00:03:54]:
And I know there's a lot of people who are not in such great circumstances. My heart breaks for them. But again, I'm just grateful that my husband and I, we worked really hard to set up our life the way that we have it right now.
Alian Ollivierre [00:04:08]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:04:09]:
Actually just realized our dream just last year, really, right before. So we've been planning on him leaving his corporate work. I brought my business online three years prior. He was like, I'm not quite ready to leave corporate because he's a C level executive and really good money and he have a good title. So he wasn't ready. But we've been working at it and working at it, and finally he was ready and he retired at 47.
Alian Ollivierre [00:04:40]:
Wow.
Jacqui Letran [00:04:41]:
And so we started doing what we dream of doing for a long time is we sold everything, moved ourselves, our four cats and our dog into a motorhome and traveled the US and we did seven months straight. I'm telling you, it was just so much fun. And so we were. And then we went back to Florida, kind of like, you know, to stabilize and rework some things and get some more things set up so that we can travel again. And we were supposed to be on the road in April for the rest of the year. And then Covid happened. So. Yeah, obviously not on the road, but again, you know, we are so blessed that we have the opportunity to do what it is that we want to do, and that is just work in a way that's fulfilling to us rather than work to make ends meet.
Alian Ollivierre [00:05:37]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:05:38]:
Completely blessed.
Alian Ollivierre [00:05:40]:
That's so funny, because I was literally in the process of asking you what's a fun fact about you? And I just feel like just deciding I'm gonna travel the way how you did and in the way you did is even bigger of a fun fact than I thought. What was that like, though? Like how. How in. In having such a journey. So let's start with the journey itself. In having such a journey like that, is there anything. Any challenges that you came up against or any triumphs you had, whether whether with your mindset shift or with something that actually physically happened? Like, is there anything that you could share about the Experience that you had.
Jacqui Letran [00:06:28]:
The experience being the RV life.
Alian Ollivierre [00:06:30]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:06:32]:
It was a huge challenge. I'm not gonna lie and say it was just rosy and perfect.
Alian Ollivierre [00:06:37]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:06:38]:
The biggest challenge is my husband. He had a big identity shift. In fact, he felt like he lost his identity. And so there were just a lot of time where he's like, what are we doing? I know we talked about this. I know we planned this, but are we being responsible? You know?
Alian Ollivierre [00:06:58]:
Right.
Jacqui Letran [00:06:59]:
Left. This amazing corporate work where everything is guaranteed. Well, not really guarantee. We found out. Right.
Alian Ollivierre [00:07:04]:
Yeah, true.
Jacqui Letran [00:07:06]:
But at that point, he's like, you know, income's guarantee, health insurance guarantee. I just go in the office. I know what to do. I've been doing it for 30 years, you know, and what are we doing?
Alian Ollivierre [00:07:18]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:07:20]:
So there was a lot of that. Our relationship struggled a little bit at first because he was just not happy. You know, we both expected that once he retired, we'd be like, oh, party time.
Alian Ollivierre [00:07:33]:
It's not as easy as that, is it?
Jacqui Letran [00:07:35]:
I was, until he wasn't, you know? And I love him so much, and it's hard to see the person you love struggling so much.
Alian Ollivierre [00:07:44]:
Right.
Jacqui Letran [00:07:44]:
For me, because I'm a mindset mentor and one of my biggest goal in working with all of my clients, helping them to create internal peace.
Alian Ollivierre [00:07:54]:
Right.
Jacqui Letran [00:07:54]:
And so that's what I love doing. That's what I'm really good at, and that's something I couldn't help my husband do. And so there was a lot of that mindset. So, like, you're talking about, like, really? Am I really that good of a holistic healer if I can't help my husband? But of course, we all know you can't help someone who's not ready for help.
Alian Ollivierre [00:08:16]:
That's it. Yeah, that's it. Yes.
Jacqui Letran [00:08:20]:
He needed that time and space to figure things out for himself. He needed to mope. He needed to go through all of those different emotions that are normal when you. He basically had an identity loss.
Alian Ollivierre [00:08:32]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:08:33]:
And even when you want that identity loss, when it happened, it's still like, oh, that's not what I thought it was gonna be like.
Alian Ollivierre [00:08:39]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:08:40]:
And you're never quite ready.
Alian Ollivierre [00:08:42]:
Yeah. In a lot of it. In a lot of ways, he couldn't see around the corner. And when he got around the corner, it was like, wait, hang on. This is not what I pictured in my head, you know? Right.
Jacqui Letran [00:08:53]:
And so he had his struggles, but now he's on the other side of the other corner. And I tease him all the time. I'm like, you Want to go back to work? No. Why would I want to do that? You know, he's like, no, we've got it good. I know that everything that we worked for, we really do love. And he realized, you know, he struggled, which I totally gave him space to do that.
Alian Ollivierre [00:09:18]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:09:19]:
My initial, like, I need to do this for him. No, I don't. He needs to do that for him. Yeah, he's ready. I can step in and give him extra support, but, you know, he has to go through the process himself.
Alian Ollivierre [00:09:31]:
Yeah. And you know, one of the things that it remind. That story reminds me of is that one, you don't know what you don't know. I mean, you just don't know what you don't know. But also, sometimes the most obvious ways of helping, especially our loved ones or our partners, team members, is in knowing when not to help them, if that makes sense. You know, because sometimes I always say this, all help isn't helpful. You know, and oftentimes the way we think they need help isn't necessarily how they need help or require help. So that's a very powerful, powerful point.
Alian Ollivierre [00:10:16]:
But I want to get back to Jackie. Jackie is a multi.
Jacqui Letran [00:10:19]:
Can you finish that thought? Because I think listeners could benefit so much from that. We tend to help people the way we want help.
Alian Ollivierre [00:10:29]:
Right.
Jacqui Letran [00:10:30]:
In reality, most people just want to be heard.
Alian Ollivierre [00:10:33]:
Exactly.
Jacqui Letran [00:10:34]:
Not looking for you to solve their problem. They just want that moment to vent, to know that their thoughts, their feelings matter. And so one of the best things that you can do for your loved one is just really listen.
Alian Ollivierre [00:10:46]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:10:47]:
Ask this very important question that we don't tend to ask. How can I support you? And then let their answer be the answer and stop second guessing them.
Alian Ollivierre [00:10:57]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Literally let them share or tell you how they need it and not decide for them. Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:11:07]:
And oftentimes I'll say, just listen. I just need someone to listen to. I need someone to balance these ideas of.
Alian Ollivierre [00:11:12]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:11:14]:
And so I teach my clients that and I. Down the road a little bit. I remember. Oh yeah. Best thing I can do for him, you know, is this. But sometimes when you're in the thick of it, you get caught up with all the emotion and all the stories and all of that and you forget some of the tools that you know.
Alian Ollivierre [00:11:33]:
Right.
Jacqui Letran [00:11:33]:
Realize. Okay. You know, I've forgotten, but now I remember. It's always a good time to kick that in gear and see where it goes.
Alian Ollivierre [00:11:40]:
Yeah. And I think also it comes down to, it comes down to personality types too. You know, understanding that different Personality types receive or accept help differently, but. But also different personality types give help differently as well. And knowing how to maneuver that or just that no matter what the setting is, whether it's a personal family member or a team member, as part of a corporate team, it's important to kind of understand who's around you, understand what they need. Exactly. You know?
Jacqui Letran [00:12:17]:
Exactly. I love it.
Alian Ollivierre [00:12:21]:
So, Jackie, you are a multi award winning author. Like, talk to me about what? Talk to me about that.
Jacqui Letran [00:12:29]:
Thank you. I have four. I have 16 awards for three of my books.
Alian Ollivierre [00:12:35]:
Six. Okay, wait, stop. Let's pause, let's soak that. 16 awards, that's crazy.
Jacqui Letran [00:12:43]:
16 awards for the books. And I'm just super proud of them because if you were to ask me before I wrote the book if I would have ever imagined I would be an author, I would think, nuts. I never dreamed of being an author. I never thought I was a good writer. I never see myself as, you know, a teacher for a very long time. Even though I've been teaching ever since I was 23. I just never really realized I was teaching.
Alian Ollivierre [00:13:14]:
Right.
Jacqui Letran [00:13:14]:
I never gave myself that. That acknowledgement. But yeah. So I have four books now. The fourth one haven't won any award yet. It just came out last week.
Alian Ollivierre [00:13:24]:
Okay, give it time.
Jacqui Letran [00:13:29]:
That one actually is probably not gonna win award. It's not an award type book because it's a companion journal to my very first book.
Alian Ollivierre [00:13:36]:
Right, okay.
Jacqui Letran [00:13:38]:
And so the first three books, all my books are written to teen girls. Oh, yeah. It's a population I'm super passionate in serving.
Alian Ollivierre [00:13:48]:
Right.
Jacqui Letran [00:13:49]:
Talk about the why, if you want to know the why. Yeah, but all the books are for teen girls. And the goal of my books are really to help them to understand how their mind works so that they can be in control of their thoughts, their feelings, their actions. And with those tools, they can build their self esteem, self confidence, self love, and could then go after the things they want with courage, with confidence, with clarity. And so I wrote it for the teen girls. But the content of the books are what I teach in my private practice, which is primarily adults. Okay, so same content written for teens.
Alian Ollivierre [00:14:26]:
White teen girls though, is it? Yeah, white, white teen girls specifically, why not women?
Jacqui Letran [00:14:32]:
Or, you know, because I was once a teen girl. I was once a very struggling teen girl and I did not have the resources and I made a lot of mistakes and I put my life in jeopardy. I put my mental health in jeopardy. I made just terrible decisions. And at that point in my life, I didn't know where to go for help. But to be completely truthful, I'm not sure if I would have sought help, you know, if something was available because of the fear of judgment, the action, the fear of being shame or shunned was pretty strong because of my experience as a teenager. I made a decision very early on, in fact at 17, that I was going to be a source of support for other teens.
Alian Ollivierre [00:15:23]:
Right. So I think it's fair to say that your 17 year old self will definitely be proud of you today.
Jacqui Letran [00:15:32]:
She loves me, I love her.
Alian Ollivierre [00:15:36]:
Of course. So do you mind sharing at least one of the experiences that you would have gone through as a teen and how it would have led you here today?
Jacqui Letran [00:15:49]:
Okay. I will go to the one that is probably most shocking and I laugh when I tell their story. It's not because at that moment it wasn't painful or scary, it was very traumatic.
Alian Ollivierre [00:16:00]:
Right.
Jacqui Letran [00:16:01]:
But again, on the other side of it, I've learned so much. And because of that experience, I am where I am today. So I'm actually very grateful now for the experience back then. No, not so much. And I never ever want anybody, any teen girl to go through this, you know, So I was a rebellious teenager, troubled kid. I had depression. And usually with depression there's multiple ways of reacting, but two big chunks is this rebel like crazy or withdrawn, right? And I was the rebelling one. So I was the one that was bullying other kids at school because I so weak, so unsure, so scared of everything, right? Like if I wasn't this big person, I was going to be picked on.
Jacqui Letran [00:16:52]:
And it was just the mentality I had was killed or be killed, right? And so I went around school picking on people, picking fight. I mean, I was just a mess, but inside I was dying because that's not who I am. I mean, all I really wanted was someone to acknowledge me and to say, hey, Jackie, you're okay. You know? You know, I see you. But nobody saw me. All they saw was this very angry, obnoxious, noxious girl. So I was dismissed constantly for being the troublemaker. Whereas again, I was just a wounded little girl needing love and attention and not knowing how to seek it.
Jacqui Letran [00:17:29]:
And so I met this man who we quickly became sexually intimate, right? I was like, I don't want to have a baby. I know I don't want to have a baby. I need to get on birth control. I knew that much.
Alian Ollivierre [00:17:42]:
Yeah.
Jacqui Letran [00:17:43]:
And so I went to the local planned parenthood three times. The first two times I was so scared. I mean, I got there and I Filled all the paperwork, and I snuck out. I was like, I'm doing the wrong thing. I felt so judged. I felt dirty. I...
