The Truth About Addiction
Dr. Samantha Harte is a speaker, best selling author, coach and sober mom of two. She is here to tell the truth about her life, which requires telling the truth about her addiction: how it presents, how it manifests, and how it shows up again and again in her recovery. This podcast is one giant deep dive into the truth about ALL TYPES OF addiction (and living sober) to dispel the myths, expose the truths, and create a community experience of worthiness, understanding and compassion.
If you are a mompreneur and are looking for a community of like-minded women who are breaking all cycles of dysfunction and thriving in business, family, body image and spiritual well-being, join the waitlist below!
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The Truth About Addiction
How Vulnerability Created My Career, My Marriage, And My Mission with Dr. Sam
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What if the thing you’re most afraid to admit is the key to your freedom? We trace a raw, unguarded journey from chasing fame to facing addiction, from an overdose to a doctoral degree, from a collapsing marriage to a rebuilt life anchored in self-trust. The turning point isn’t a single breakthrough; it’s a practice—reframing the 12 steps through a trauma-informed lens, learning to forgive yourself, and building a regulated nervous system that can hold truth without running.
I talk about the Brooklyn beginnings, the go-go dancer detour, and the seductive certainty of school that hid a spiraling habit. Sobriety didn’t magically fix the mess. What changed everything was asking different questions: If I’m powerless over people, the past, and outcomes, what do I actually control? How do I speak to myself when the shame is loud? The answer led to small acts that grew my capacity—decorating a tiny apartment, opening a micro-studio, and crafting a continuum of care that treated both pain and “soul sickness” like codependency, people-pleasing, and hyperproductivity.
Loss sharpened the mission. After my sister’s death, I vowed to match grief with equal joy, and that vow pulled me back into dance, into a surprise choreography gig that took me on tour in Japan at 40 with two kids, and into a book that blends story with method. Along the way, I discovered a love for the stage and launched Heart Conscious Creators, an immersive event built on the idea that vulnerability becomes a superpower only when held by self-trust. If shame scrambles the signal, safety restores the sound—and the sound of intuition is clear, calm, and deeply practical.
Press play to hear how forgiveness can be a system, not a slogan, why nervous system safety is the ultimate growth strategy, and how to take the smallest brave step that leads to the next. If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review to help others find the show.
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A Heart-On-The-Line Introduction
SPEAKER_02Welcome back everybody to the truth of the video. Today is a little episode. And I knew there was nothing for me to kill. I didn't have to tailor my messaging to corporate America. I didn't have to tailor my messaging to a bunch of entrepreneurs who may or may not understand addiction. I knew that even if these folks didn't come from a substance abuse background, they were going to understand the depth and weight of the inner work that I had to do to get where I am today and overcome what I have. And that that message was going to land and I was going to be able to make it relevant to them. And so I just laid my heart on the line. I completely laid my heart on the line. I started my talk differently than I ever have. I was funny in more parts without trying to be. I just added levity. I was animated, but in a way that was completely authentic to me. And I got my first fanning evasion, and it doesn't even surprise me because my whole heart was in it. So I'm really looking forward to you guys getting a listen to this, and I would love to hear what you think. You can click a link and book a free discovery call with me. That's always in the show notes. You can write to me on Instagram at Dr. Samantha Heart. You can send me something on my website. I have all kinds of ways that you can email and contact me. Please share the episode, share the show, leave a review. I mean, I just love hearing from you guys. So I won't keep you any longer. Enjoy. And I'm just smiling thinking about it. What a cool experience. See you guys soon.
Chasing Stardom And Finding Addiction
Overdose, Denial, And Control Games
Grad School Grind And Work Hard Play Hard
Hitting Meetings And Borrowed Faith
Marriage Strain And Emotional Collapse
Redefining The Steps And Self-Forgiveness
Hearing Intuition And Building Safety
Starting A Business From A Loft
Firing, Hustle, And Finding Grit
Infidelity Revealed And Inner Sturdiness
Meditating On Hope And Staying
SPEAKER_03Thank you for hanging in there because that was really deep and intense and fantastic facilitation, by the way. But I I think all of us maybe could take a nap right now. So just trust and believe I'm gonna shake up the energy in this room. So I grew up in Brooklyn, New York in the 1980s. And as a young kid, I was a little bit impulsive. So I was taking the subway into Manhattan long before it was a cool thing to do. I was dying my hair blue and purple way before it was a cool thing to do. And I was the girl at 13 that got an eyebrow ring and a belly button ring. Okay, and and my mom came with me, by the way. But there was something about getting a tattoo that I was afraid of. For some reason, I was like, well, that would just be dumb because I don't even know who I am. So what would I put on my body that I could live with forever? And my mom and my dad and my sister, they all got tattoos, which they later regretted, of course. And it was not until 37 years old that I got my first tattoo. I really did. I waited. And it's on my back. And it's hard to see. But it says, Vulnerability is my superpower. And I'm here to tell you that it's yours too. Now that wasn't always the case. In 2002, I did something that shocked the people that knew and loved me the most, and I quit school. I was getting a communications degree at Boston University. I was top of class, mom was super proud, and I said, sorry everybody, I'm pursuing my dreams of becoming a star. Because what I really wanted to do when I was young was sing and dance all over the world. And for context, this was when Brittany Spears was all the rage when she danced at the VMAs with a snake around her neck, and every young girl wanted to be her. And I was like, move over, Brittany, I'm coming for ya. So I moved back to New York City and I start the audition process and I see this thing on a website called Backstage, and it says, looking for go-go dancers in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Okay. You guys, the dream was not to be a go-go dancer, but I was like, I got that one in the bag. Like, for surely I'll get a yes. So I go on the audition, I can see the way the producer's looking at me, and I'm like, nailed it, get the call, get the job, and I start taking a Greyhound bus all the way. Now, you guys, I don't know if you know anything about the East Coast. I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and I'm like, how far away could Atlantic City, New Jersey be? It is so far away, okay? And I was getting maybe$200 for the entire weekend, but at the time it was the best thing I had going for me. And I sat on that nasty Greyhound bus, but when I got into the casino, it was like I had arrived. All the girls there were young and beautiful and talented, and everybody wanted to be the next big star. And so I'm going every single weekend and I'm waiting for my big break, and something happens. I fell in love with a guy. I mean, don't worry, guys, that is not what this story is about. But I fell face down in love with a guy, and I had just gotten my heart broken at Boston University by a guy who didn't believe in monogamy, but I was gonna change his mind. And I was sure I was not gonna have a boyfriend. I was like, yeah, you're cute, guy in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but I'm I'm doing the single thing for a while. And and that completely didn't work, and we fall fast and we fall hard. But I also fell in love with drugs and alcohol. Oh God. Drugs and alcohol were the solution to the problem of this unrelenting critical voice that lived between my ears. Because nothing I ever said and nothing I ever did was good enough. And perfectionism had a noose around my neck. And so when I took a sip of alcohol or took a little sniff of cocaine, it all went away. Good luck, by the way, pursuing entertainment, which is known for its rejection, when you have an unrelenting critic living inside of you. So within a year's time, I was drinking and using more than ever. I was getting all the no's and none of the yeses. I was still the go-go dancer. And by the way, I was clothed. I just didn't have that many on. And I just couldn't do it. I couldn't do it anymore. School was so safe, it was so seductive. School was an if this then that. If I study hard enough, then I'll get an A. If I get enough A's, I'll graduate top of class, and if I graduate top of class, I'll get the job. And that's a surefire way to a stable life. At least that's what my mama told me. So I move back and I go back into college and I'm kind of doing dance, not really singing, and I get my degree. Drugs and alcohol are still a thing, but I'm managing it. I'm controlling it. Yeah. And I lived by this mantra work hard, play hard. Right? What did that mean? That meant I studied like crazy so I could get the A. And then I partied like a mad woman so I could release. And it was lather, rinse, repeat. Lather, rinse, repeat. And I decided that entertainment was just way too risky, and I loved the body. I was a dancer. I loved how it moved. I started to be a personal trainer, and well, okay. What's more prestigious than a trainer? Oof. What about a doctor of something? But doctor in front of my name. And my roommate in New York City was going to grad school for physical therapy. And I thought, hmm, that's interesting. Never had rehab before. But I could open my own practice, I could be my own boss, I could work with athletes. It kind of felt sexy. And sure enough, I had none of the classes that she needed to get into graduate school for physical therapy. Because I was a creative. So when I got my communications degree, I took as many creative writing classes as I possibly could, and I had none of the sciences. So when I found out what was required, I just thought, let me give it a shot. Let me just study and take one chemistry class and see how I do. And sure enough, once I started, the ball was spinning, and I said, well, screw it, now I'm all the way in. Hardest couple years of my life, by the way, going from creative to chemistry, physics, biology. Okay. But lo and behold, there comes a day close to Christmas time in 2007, and it's my acceptance letter into my doctoral program. And what do I do? I call the drug dealer, obviously. I call a girl who parties much harder than I do because she's gonna co-sign my addiction. We call the dealer, we get a whole slew of cocaine, and we just tinker around New York City. The lights are glimmering, and we're going to all those outdoor shops and getting all of our Christmas presents for our family members because you know we have to see them in a couple days, because it's almost Christmas time. And I'm getting more and more and more high. And I get back to my apartment and I'm starting to feel funny. Can't put my finger on it. She's really busy wrapping presents. She's in that Coke tunnel. I don't know if you know, but if you know, you know. And I I'm trying to get her attention, and I just say, Oh, I'll just go into my room and rest. Well, the next thing I know, she's hovering on top of me. And I'm on my side, and she looks terrified. And she's on the phone with 911 because I overdosed and I was seizuring. And she thought I was gonna die. Now that scared the shit out of me. But was I done using? Oof, no, no, no, no, no. I knew I was losing control of that. So I did what addicts do. I cut and paste, I tried to only use after 5 p.m., only on Saturdays, only wine, never beer, no more cocaine. I'm gonna switch from uppers to downers. And then eventually, it was every day and it was all the time. And by the way, that cute guy from Atlantic City, he did become my boyfriend. He did. And he partied with me for a little bit, and then he was like, you know, I'm kind of done with this. And I remember thinking, well, that sucks because I'm just getting started. So there was a line in the sand in this relationship where he was done, and I was just getting going. So when I switched from uppers to downers, he didn't know about any of it. And when I overdosed on cocaine, he didn't know about any of it because I knew he would run in the other direction if I told him. And he was the only proof left that I had that I was worth anything at all. And then he found a prescription pill bottle in our New York City apartment, because by then we were living together, and he held it up and he said, You're still fucking doing this shit. He looked at me with so much shame in his eyes, and it matched the shame that I felt inside. And I thought, if I don't do something about this right now, this man is gonna leave me, and then I'm nothing and I'm no one. So I called this guy, Bobby. Used to be a personal training client. He was 22 years sober from heroin addiction. And he seemed so happy. He was the only person I knew who was sober. And I confessed everything, and he said, Come on, kid, let me take you to a meeting. So he takes me to a 12-step meeting. I sit in the back like this. I'm looking at the 12-steps and I'm hearing the word God, God, God, God. And I grew up in a house where if you believe in God, you're a fool. Because there's no such thing. And the only person you can count on is yourself. So I'm othering myself to death. I don't look like you, I don't drink like you, I don't have the same problems as you do. In fact, I'm gonna be a doctor. Don't you know who I am? But I was out of options on figuring out how to control and manage my drinking and drugging. So I stayed begrudgingly. Bobby took me through the steps as best he could that first year, and I borrowed his faith until I had some of my own. Things started shaping up a little bit, moving through graduate school, and eventually I became Dr. Hart. And the relationship seemingly survived. He wanted to move to LA, and I thought, okay, maybe my dreams of becoming a star could still be a thing. If it's not New York, it's LA, right? So off we go. We're engaged now, and I'm thinking, oh my God, we made it. We made it. This guy stayed with me. I can't believe it. But the thing is, I hadn't established a sense of safety inside. Perfectionism, performing. Those things kept me safe for a time. This man's love for me kept me safe. But then in the early years of our marriage, he pulled away. He just pulled away emotionally, financially, physically, right when I thought we were making a fresh start. And I stared at him and said, What are you doing? We're getting married. Why are you rejecting me sexually? Why can't you look me in the eye? If you're if you're cheating on me, just tell me. I'm not the cheater, you're the cheater. What do you think? This just goes away because you got sober. See, I wasn't the best addict. I got real sloppy by the end. I lied and I cheated on him more times than I could keep track, and he was such a good codependent. He stayed when he shouldn't have. And all the ramifications of that showed up on the front end of our marriage. And I did what I had always done in school with him. If I could just say the right thing, if I could just do the right thing, I'm gonna make him change his mind. He'll forgive me. And then I'll be okay. But nothing I said and nothing I did changed this man's mind. And I was five years sober and filled with rage and anxiety and self-loathing. I slept on a couch for a weekend to take a break from my shitty marriage. And my husband politely said we weren't really ready to live together again, so I slept on another friend's couch for a month and then another friend's couch for three, and finally, a sober girlfriend said, You can't live like this. If you are not ready to leave your marriage, that's fine. But you gotta find a place that you can call your own. That terrified me because you know what that meant? That meant failure. I finally couldn't figure it out. Well, turns out perfectionism collapses in matters of the heart. There is no if this then that through heartbreak. So I get an apartment and I sign a lease and I'm at rock bottom. Rock bottom wasn't my overdose. No, I still had survival skills that really worked for me. Now I had nothing. I didn't have drugs, I didn't have alcohol, and I couldn't control, manage, and manipulate the world around me. I didn't want to die, but I couldn't go on living the way I was living. So now what? Fortunately, I had remained sober, physically abstinent, though spiritually bankrupt. And this woman at a meeting spoke from a podium and I was drawn to her. And I said, I need your help. She said, Alright, we get together. I've done the steps now three times. She's looking at me, wanting to do them again, and I'm just dreading it, dreading it. She said, What if we do the steps on your marriage? I go, What do you mean? Well, what if instead of I'm powerless over drugs and alcohol, we said I'm powerless over my marriage, my husband, the past, the future, every other person, place, thing, or situation. And when I try to exert power over these things that I cannot control, my life becomes unmanageable in the following ways. Well, unmanageability was pretty clear by then. But then what do if that is true, what do I have power over? Ooh, nobody ever asked me that question. Huh. So we go through the steps in this fresh way. We get to the ninth step, which is making an amends. Interesting that the previous facilitator talked all about forgiveness. Boy, was I dreading this step. Five years sober in the marital crisis with the man I cheated on. You want me to say I'm sorry? Again? I already hate myself. Do I have to hate myself into perpetuity? And she just stopped me and she said, Have you ever made an amends to yourself? I was like, what are you talking about? I didn't even know that was a thing that people did. Because if you're a hardwired type A and you grow up using perfectionism as a survival skill, it doesn't even occur to you to let yourself off the hook. Because it requires a complete collapse of your identity. But what choice did I have? So I got into rigorous action around self-forgiveness. It was not like I waved a white wand and suddenly left myself again. No. I walked around with a dark cloud of depression and anxiety for days and weeks and months. But I became conscious of the way I was speaking to myself. And I was in the business of forming a new identity. And I stopped every time I said something mean, and I said, What would a woman who loves and forgives herself through her worst mistakes say or do right now instead? And I had to dream it up. I had to imagine from within me, in a way that was resonant and safe in my nervous system, what that would be. And then I had to say it again and again and again. This went on insidiously for eight months straight. This is where the real Healing began. Well, it turns out the miracle of self-forgiveness work, of compassionate inquiry, is that when we have a way to clear the shame, we can hear the whisper of our God-given intuition. And I hadn't heard the sound of her voice in decades. Because when she spoke up in my house, she got punished for it. Shame scrambles the signal. But safety restores the sound. And I was finally becoming safe inside. And so she said things to me like, girl, you gotta decorate this apartment. You're gonna be here for a while. I was 32 years old, I didn't even know what my favorite color was. I had been married, I had to pick out the flowers and all the things, but I just said yes to whatever my husband wanted because my needs didn't matter. And now they did. Turns out I love the color blue. Oof. Something about the color blue just gives me this wild and soothing energy at the same time, right? So I got some teal pillows and I made this really cool decor in my apartment. Why does that matter to you fine folks sitting here? Well, turns out if we can take a step in the direction of our divine intuition that's really small and safe, we start trusting ourselves so that when the next nudge comes, that's scarier, we're more willing to take it. And of course the next nudge came. And it said, girl, you have a doctorate, but you are$100,000 in debt, making$33 an hour. This shit ain't working. I think you should start your own business. And I was like, What? You know me talking to me. What? I have no business doing that. Or did I? Because I kept treating patients, and then they would get discharged after 12 sessions, after being 60 or 70% better in their physical body, and I was like, where are they going? So I asked them, where are you going? When insurance tells you you're good enough, and they're like, I don't know, I guess I'm gonna hire a trainer or a yoga teacher, a Pilates instructor, and I thought, oh, fuck if you are, you're gonna hire me. What if I become your strength and conditioning coach? You already know me, you already trust me. If anything flares up, I've got you. What if we could create a vessel that stays ahead of the inflammatory process? Oh, and suddenly strong heart fitness was born. And I've been in business ever since. Though it has evolved as I have. The other nudge she said to me was, I think you might be able to work your marriage out. Now, this part is a really long part that I'm not gonna get into. But just know, it got a lot worse before it got better. Okay. I moved back home, but a little part of me said, Don't let go of this apartment you've been living in and healing in. In fact, you should ask the landlord if you could convert it into your first fitness studio. Because I happened to be living in, in my marital separation, in a mixed-use building nine blocks from the Pacific Ocean. This was before the went the rent went crazy, by the way, in Los Angeles. It was a$1,400 gorgeous loft. And I was like, hey, can I uh make this a little gym? And they said, go for it. So I moved back in with my husband, thinking we were okay. And I have my studio, and I start bringing the patients there. Now, obviously, my boss wasn't very happy about this, and when she caught wind of it, I got fired. Okay. I had to think real quick. I was a brand new entrepreneur, but I had my intuition and I had my intellect, and we were synced up now. So I did things like go with my clients to their doctor's appointments. Of course, the doctor didn't know. I'm just a bystander sitting in the office, and I suddenly insert myself and say, Hi, I'm actually Samantha. I'm so-and-so's physical therapist. We've been working together for three months. This is what we've been doing together. They make amazing progress. This is my facility. This is where I'm. I wasn't gonna bring business cards and a bag of cookies. No, no, no. I was gonna get FaceTime. I started to get really clever and really creative. Turns out when I moved home, I also found out my husband was cheating on me. Like I had cheated on him. It was a five-year affair with the same woman. Oof. But the thing is, I was sturdy inside when I found out. It hurt like hell. But I knew I was gonna be okay. So I moved out again. Guys, I should totally be a professional mover. I moved out again. I'm running my business. Going to my 12-step meetings. And my intuition, about eight months later, and a lot of sex later, she shows up and she says, Are you sure you're done with this man, with this marriage? To which I said, Are you fucking kidding me? And she was so sweet. That's the thing about our intuition. The sound of her voice is nothing like my critical voice. It's clear, it's calm, it's curious, it's compassionate. It just offers up a suggestion. She said, it's okay. If you don't want to stay. I completely support you. You have fought a good fight. But I'm just asking because if you're not done and if there might be a happy life somewhere on the other side of this mess, you might need to stay. You might need a fight. She just put it there in front of me. And I was like, oh, you know, so irritated because I knew, I knew I couldn't turn away from her anymore. She had just gotten back into my life. She was the most important thing. So I was running the business, having a lot of sex across all of Los Angeles, getting my big fuck you out to my husband, you know? But I was meditating on the possibility of reconciliation. And every time I meditated, every time, same visual came. Told you I grew up in New York, going on the subway, and it was like waiting for the train. Has anyone ever waited for the New York City subway in the middle of the night? It never ever comes. I was looking down the dark hallway, and there's no train, it's just pitch black, and then all of a sudden, the headlight on the train comes through. Every time I meditate about my marriage, that's the visual. I don't know what to make of it, other than there is a flicker of hope. God damn it! There is a flicker of hope. I cannot fucking believe this. I cannot believe that I'm gonna have to forgive this man and try to make this thing work. But the thing is, I had learned just in time how to forgive myself. Now, listen, if somebody had told me, hey girl, by the way, just so you know, it's gonna be like 12 years before you really thaw out and fully forgive him. Still wanna do it? I would have been like, hell no! We're still married today. We are happily married with two beautiful children. So I'm back in this marriage and I'm running my practice and I'm living a sober life in the 12-step rooms of recovery. And these things are very separate. But I'm starting to notice in my patient presentation something that I call soul sickness. These people are well to do. They live north of Montana Avenue, if you know, you know. And they are not substance abusers, but they seem to be suffering from emotional cycles of addiction and dysfunction that are not much different than the addicts in the rooms of recovery. And I'm thinking, huh. Well, that's odd. And I'm spending so much time with them because I'm a cash-based practitioner. I don't know if you guys get more than 15 minutes with your practitioners, but I have an hour every time, and I'm thinking, I want to say something about this, this codependency, this people-pleasing, this hyperproductivity that's keeping them stuck in cycles of inflammation. But who am I to say that? I'm a doctor of physical therapy. I'm not a psychologist. Don't I need a big old degree for that? Massive imposter syndrome. It was like an itch that I couldn't scratch. And somewhere along the reconciliation process with my husband, we have a home and we're looking for a second one. Ooh, life is getting good. We fly to Austin, Texas to look for an investment property. We don't find one. And we're waiting in the Austin airport to fly back home to our kids. And I get this message. Text message. Incessant. The New Jersey area code. Don't recognize it. Call end again. Call end again. Call end. What? It's Jessica. Jessica's my big sister. She's a lawyer. She lives in the suburbs of New Jersey. She has a big, beautiful house. Two amazing kids. But it wasn't Jessica on the phone. It was a friend of Jessica's. And I knew what she meant when she said that. And I said, please tell me that's not true. Please tell me it's not true. And it was. My big sister died on March 13th, 2022, when I was in that Austin Airport, because I am not the only addict in my family. And I don't remember much about that day. I remember two things. I remember the call, and I remember dropping to my knees and wailing like a dying animal. And my husband has since told me that I turned to him on the airplane. And I looked him dead in the eye and I said, I'm writing a fucking book. I don't remember saying that. My little whisper, my little sweet, beautiful, intuitive voice, that whisper became a roar. I knew I had to do something about the spiritual side of health and wellness. So I started writing furiously about all the hardest things that I had lived through, all the spiritual lessons I could extract. And I submitted my work and I got rejected just like I did in entertainment, but I was used to it and I didn't give a shit. Because the book was getting written no matter what. And I wasn't waiting for permission to publish it. And I eventually found my people, and they said, What are you writing this for? Is this just a memoir? It can be. You have a lot of really great stories, but do you want this to be prescriptive in some way? After all, you have doctor in front of your name. And I thought, you know, I kind of do want it to be prescriptive. And they said, Well, what helped you the most? And I was like, oh my god, when I worked those 12-steps in a modern and trauma-informed way, that's when I cracked open. That's when the light came in. That's what this book is. I'm gonna be the girl that 12-step the world. Now amazing things happened when I started writing my book. Because they say this thing in recovery that we need to match the level of calamity in our lives with equal amounts of serenity. And I remember in my marital crisis when I found out he was having the affair, I thought, well, what's the application of that in this situation? Well, I need to match the level of resentment I feel with equal amounts of forgiveness, or I am screwed. What about now? What am I gonna do in the wake of so much sorrow? I'm gonna match the amount of grief I feel with equal amounts of joy. And I started to chase down joy like the air that I breathe. So I started dancing again and I started singing again, and I joined an equinox in the suburbs, and I took the dance class there, and the teacher looked at me and she said, Where have you been? A couple weeks later, she had to move locations, and she said, I'm so sorry guys, this is gonna be my last day teaching. We're gonna have to find somebody. And my hand went up. Now I had taught dance in a lot of gyms in my 20s. I had also taught dance in really fancy studios throughout my course of figuring out what I was doing with my life. This was like a demotion. I'm going back to a gym, but something happened for me. I take the job, three months in, there's this strange man peering through the back of the class as I'm teaching, and I'm thinking, if this guy walks in halfway through my dance class, oh hell no! I will make a fool of this man. You don't just walk into somebody. He walked in. And he crushed it. And I was like, who are you? We're not in Hollywood. We're like grown folks in the suburbs. What are you doing here? He said, Well, I used to be a recording artist and I was in a boy band. I went on tour with Britney Spears. Brittany. Tell me more. Yeah, I was signed to Michael Jackson's label and the Madonna's label, and I'm going on tour in Japan in a couple months, and I said, full stop. Do you have a choreographer? He's like, um, no. I said, Well, how about I listen to some of your music and I make something up and I put it in front of you? If you like it and you need somebody, maybe you'll hire me. I created my own luck because I didn't wait for permission. He hired me. And at 40 years old, with two babies at home, in the wake of my sister's death while writing this book, I went on a five-city two-week tour all around Japan and had the fucking time of my life. It is not too late, and you are not too old. When my book came out in 2024, I had a book launch, figured I should gather some of my closest friends and tell them my story. And I fell in love with public speaking. Who knew? I thought, I think I want to do this, like for real, like for a career. I just realized in the wake of my sorrow, I'm really good at this other thing that gives my life great meaning and great purpose. But nobody knows who the hell I am. So I guess I have to create my own stage. And that's when Heart Conscious Creators was born. Which is a soulful event that I started in Los Angeles in 2024, that is immersive and experiential and a reflection of the woman that I have become today. None of these external risks would have been possible if I hadn't built the safety inside of myself first. Because when the system is regulated, it cannot easily be uprooted. Vulnerability is your superpower. As long as you learn to trust yourself. So I'm going to leave you guys with my favorite quote from Brene Brown, whose work I'm sure you know. And she says, owning our story is hard, but it is not nearly as difficult as running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky, but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love, connection, and belonging. Only when we are brave enough to explore the dark will we know the infinite power of our light. Thank you guys so much.
SPEAKER_04All right, we have dinner served out here. Continue to network.
Reconciliation Slow Burn And Family
SPEAKER_01Um realken up I hear the desperation call. Take me to my knees. I'll open my face to jump over the breeze. I get tired of the forces on my head. That'll break the battery. I am bigger than my page. There's a no Ding so I got the thy, don't make a change. I am bigger than my pain. There's a no deep so I get the time.