Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Heather Wilson, Founder of Embodied Diversity, located in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I'm a Trauma-Informed Leadership Mentor, Astro-Ancestral Healing Guide, Embodied Empowerment Coach, and Inclusive Culture Catalyst. It is my passion to empower forward-thinking individuals and organizations to embody the transformation of deep cultural programming and conditioning and shifts to higher consciousness for a more just, peaceful, and compassionate world.

Tell us about yourself

I started working as a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Practitioner in 2013 and opened my coaching practice in 2015. I would say that my family, and my ancestors, specifically, are the main inspiration for my work. My maternal ancestors are from the Visayan islands of Leyte, Samar, and Iloilo in what is now known as the Philippines. My paternal ancestors are from all over West Africa, primarily Nigeria and Ghana. I also have paternal ancestors from the British Isles of Northern Europe. I experienced a massive energetic clearing of ancestral, racialized trauma in 2018, where I shed many, many layers of internalized oppression I inherited from previous generations on both sides of my multiracial family. Since then, I have been walking the path of continuing to break intergenerational cycles and becoming a responsible steward of my ancestral wisdom and indigenous spiritual traditions. In my healing practice, I empower female-bodied "cycle-breakers" to alchemize ancestral wounds into creative potential.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Honestly, my biggest accomplishment is being my true, unadulterated self. Of course, it felt really good and affirming to have my unique gifts as a trauma-informed facilitator and DEIB thought partner recognized by both a legacy healthcare company and an innovative tech start-up in 2022. However, I think that was only able to happen once I realized and fully embodied my value on my own.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Besides having the courage to just get started in the first place, one of the hardest things is staying in the game after you hit those inevitable "brick walls" over and over again. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart; however, the personal growth I've experienced from making it through those rough patches has made it all worth it. It's important to stay humble and maintain a willingness to adapt and evolve.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Be discerning when it comes to sharing your "early stage" ideas with just anyone, family in particular. Protect your sprouts! Let them grow and develop for a while before you open the gates to your garden of creativity and expose them to outside influences/opinions.
  2. Develop your trauma-informed leadership skills. Over the past several years, the world has changed dramatically. Enduring an unrelenting global pandemic, economic uncertainty, racism, violence, misogyny, the erosion of rights, and mass death are taking a cascading toll on all people in different ways. People are traumatized, burned out, exhausted, and "emotionally constipated," - to put it bluntly. The world, which was already unsafe and unjust for so many people, specifically BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), women, LGBTQ, and other marginalized groups, has fundamentally shifted, and so has the workplace.
  3. Inclusive cultures of belonging and well-being are a reflection of a leader who has done the "inner work" of transformation. In essence, how people FEEL at work, or the "vibe" of an organization/company, is the energetic transmission of the leader. So, whatever dysfunction or toxicity comes up within your teams, it's ALWAYS a sign that you, as the leader, have work to do on yourself. Have enough humility to self-reflect and get a coach so that you can make the changes necessary to elevate not only yourself but everyone around you.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.heatherrebeccawilson.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heatherrebeccawilson
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/embodieddiversity/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-rebecca-wilson-657a6051/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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