Turning Health Challenges Into Healing: Dominique Sade on Qigong and Wellness

In this episode of Cultura Convos, we explore Dominique Sade’s journey of reconnecting with her roots and the different layers of her healing and wellness path.

Dominique, founder of Dominique Sade Healing & Wellness Institute, opens up about how her health challenges became a turning point that led her to discover Qigong, commit to the practice, and eventually teach it in a way that is rooted in lived experience.

Qigong is a holistic mind-body practice that combines gentle movement, breathwork, and meditation to support energy flow, reduce stress, and restore balance in the body.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Reconnecting with her ancestors
• How health challenges can reshape your path
• Experiencing and practicing Qigong
• What led her to begin teaching Qigong

This conversation is a reflection on healing as a journey, one that is influenced by our roots, our experiences, and the choices we make to come back to ourselves.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hola, welcome to Cultura Combos, a space for stories and reflections of identidad y cultura. I'm really, really excited to be continuing to create the space so that we can become the best version of ourselves by writing and rewriting our stories through a place of strength instead of shame, instead of embarrassment, instead of fear. So I'm really, really excited to be sharing some of my own reflections and also bringing guests to dive into deeper conversations. I am many things, and right now your host. I am also a daughter, a mother, a life partner, and the author of Two Homes, Dos Casas, a children's book that I wrote that is also all about identidad, cultura, family, and love. And you can check that out at leatswise.com. I'm really, really excited for today's episode and for you to be able to join this conversation that I'm having with Dominique today. We had a beautiful conversation where I was inspired once again. I left feeling more reflective, and we talked about different parts of her journey, specifically talking about her ancestry, something that I admire just in how that is a part of her life. And I was really surprised actually in her answer. We also talked about her creative journey and how that has evolved over time, her entrepreneurship, and then food and her journey in that and her relationship with it, which has also evolved and now she is plant-based. So I'm really, really excited for you to join. If you enjoy deep reflective conversations, I know you will like this one. And if throughout the episode there is something that you love, there's someone you think about, go ahead and send them this episode. And I'm really excited for you to be here and now be also a part of our conversation. So let's get into it. Welcome to Guldura Combos, Dominique. I'm super, super excited to have you. I'm so excited to be here, finally, right? I know. The more I was looking at my outline, I'm like, I am really, really excited to talk to you. Even though we're friends, so we've talked before. You are one of those people that your presence is felt in a room. And maybe because I know you now more, I'm like, even when you're quiet, because you can be the person that's more observant, kind of studying, feeling the room. It's like I you we still see you, right? Because you carry that aura of peace and stillness, you know. So I'm really excited to have you here for not even all the things that you do, just who you are as a person, and even us seeing our journeys evolve over the last few years. So I'm gonna start by sharing a little bit more about you and what you do, and then we'll keep the conversation going. Perfect. Um, so Dominique, you are a health and wellness consultant. You are also a daughter, a sibling. You are a creative, an artist, you are a person who really is on their journey of like healing and helping others heal through movement, through the body.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Um, that was beautiful. Thank you. It's always interesting because it's like I do so many things. How do I like tie it in? But that was like beautifully expressed, and yeah, that's what I feel like I've been here to do with all these different titles, ultimately, is really to just remembering who I am in every step and every breath, and in that be in service, you know, just know that everything that I have gone through, grew through, is not in vain, and that the most high is working through me. So, like that is like my number one purpose is to be in service. So my company is Dominique Shade Healing and Wellness Institute. And uh at first, that name came to me here in Georgia, but I've been doing this since 2017, right? When I was in New York City. Uh but I think I wanted to just have more of like a household name because I was like, wait, do I name my business after this modality? But I do this modality and I do that. So I just wanted something that will just be like the household name that can just hold all the modalities that I offer. Um, so Dominique Shade, Healing and Wellness Institute was born here in ATL. I love that.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

And um, I wanna I wanna read something that I saw on your LinkedIn. There was a sentence that did pop that I was like, I need to ask you. This is what it says. My mission is centered around healing women, decolonize the body, and open space to remember the intelligent divine wisdom that's stored within. Can you pack that for us? Because this sounds amazing. And I was like, oh MG, like I need to like, yeah, unpack that for us.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Yeah. So I feel, I believe, and I know and witness that a lot of us have lost our way. You know, we were born into the world, and some of us have become of the world, and um, forgetting the freedness, as I'm speaking specifically right now about women, forgetting our fluidity, um, have shifted into um an energy that's more masculine. And mind you, we all men, women have feminine and masculine energy. However, women are meant to be more feminine, meant to be more fluid, meant to have a flow, uh, a nurturing aspect to themselves that that is like the heartbeat of their home, the heartbeat of their family. And, you know, over time, as life be life, we've gotten hard. We've gotten hard in our in our bodies, we've gotten hard and unclear in our minds and our hearts have been tainted. And so I want to help women who have, because of the different um obstacles, challenges, trauma that they've been through, and that trauma, those um experiences being stored in the body, a lot of us are operating from anxiety, from worry, from doubt, from confusion, from all the things that actually zap our joy. And joy is where our creativity lives, joy is where love thrives, joy is where the expansion comes from, right? And so when we're um in those lower states of worry, anxiety, depression, sadness, whatever, we're walking around forgetting who we are. And this is a result of the world that was made and not that the earth that we were created to be enjoyed with, right? So I want to help women to remember who we are, why we were created, and that the things that happen to us, um, I like to say that they happen for us. Like there are opportunities for us to go deeper. There are opportunities to um heal and unpack. There are opportunities to um ask questions about why we're here, why did we go through that, right? And so they are opportunities for us to grow through these obstacles and these challenges and the traumatic experience that we might have had so that we can remember to be of service to other people, to help ourselves first and our families, our friends, our communities, right? And um and be back in that joy space to flow again, right? And to feel light in our hearts. So that's pretty much what I wanted to express in that sentence.

SPEAKER_03 8:27

And for you, when you think of like, you said like why we were created. What like what what do you think? Like, what comes to your mind when you think of that? Like, why were we created?

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Well, I what comes to me is like um two parts to it, maybe more as I continue journeying, right? Because this is I'm sharing from my insight from this point of where I've evolved. Um, but there is a part of us that's like we are nature, right? We are feminine beings that are part of nature, and we are here to bring balance to the masculine energies, right? Um, not to, you know, I know that um there are a lot of memes out there. There's so much out there that has this gender war. Um, but honestly, we are here like the yin and yang, if you ever look at the symbol, we're here to be counterparts, we're here to balance each other, right? And not to be against each other. So just remembering who we are in the nature kind of natural aspect, right, from that divine space. And then the other part is remembering why you're here. That is a conversation between you and God, right? And then I can probably help you through, you know, prompts, journal prompts, through practices, through um different modalities to help you remember and unlock and unpack certain things that might have kind of like thrown you off path, but now we have tools and practices and support and community that can help us realign. And so that conversation with God, conversation with uh community with other women can help you remember, okay, what else am I here to do on earth?

SPEAKER_03 10:16

Yeah, I love that. I love that. Yeah, I know. I think that's another reframing that happened with me when I went to a conference and it was like instead of asking, like, what do I do? What do I do? It's like, you know, finding your gifts. How do you there's a lot of passions we might have, like which ones do we want to put energy towards? And it's like more talking with God, like what would God want me to do? Like, how can I be of service with yeah, some of my gifts, talents, and things that I want to cultivate. So, which I do feel like this is part of that, which I always feel in alignment with so far, the people I've had and the episodes I've done. So I'm really, really excited. Um, when it comes to, and I didn't even put masculine feminine energy in like the questions, but I do want to talk about it because I do feel like I've been really, really like I feel like I don't know, I don't want to say I'm late to this, but I would say I was like Marcel first brought it up to me like a few years back, and I was kind of like, eh. I don't know if I believe in that, you know, because I thought of it more of like what you're saying, like the gender war and all that. But then when I started more looking into it, I and I think giving birth had a big shift in that because I've been able to, it's so easy to love her. Like it's so easy to love my daughter. And I had a therapist where I was like, I never it's just so easy to love her to express, like I even had friends or family who'd like would kind of wonder, right? Like, am I gonna be like the super tough, strict, like like I literally had a friend ask me, I'll give you an example. I had a friend ask me one time if I thought, like, let's say my daughter or son at the time, we didn't know, like, did a little trick. Would I be the person that's like, oh my gosh, that was amazing? Or would I be like, girl, that was a half an inch jump. Like, you know what I mean? And I was like, and when she asked me, I was like, I don't know. I don't know what kind of mom I'm gonna be. Um, however, now almost two years in, I am totally that mom. I will make it like you jumped, you know, 10 feet in the air, you know what I mean? Like, and then I just like I it's just so easy to show her affection. And I had a therapist going back to the masculine feminine energy that she also was very like belie, you know, talked about that kind of the feminine, feminine and masculine energy in all of us, and and and she said something to me, like she said, you know, I don't think that it's a coincidence that you were given a little girl first because it's bringing out a side of you that you hadn't really experienced, or maybe to your point, the decolonized part, right? I've been I've been sitting with this question of like how much of my masculine energy is because I that's how like that's part of my story and my roots of like my parents coming here to then me, I gotta go, go, go, go to school, go to work, I gotta do my thing. I'm independent, I gotta you know what I mean? And it's like to your point, like you know, kind of becoming something else, like you said, of this earth. And I and I have been I have been kind of exploring that, like how much of it is really like I became that because that's what I had to do or I thought I had to do, versus no, let me slow down, let me do things because I like to do them and that's it. Like, you know what I mean? Um, and being more mindful of that, um, you know, and then also like to your point, both masculine and feminine from what I've learned now have amazing traits. It's just they're just different, it's not like good or bad, you know. So, so yeah, I I love that and I can totally see you doing more of that. Okay, so I'm I'm now gonna pivot a little bit, which I think is still related because this is actually the first question I wanted to ask you. Okay, Dominique, you're a person that is one thing you know, I really admire too is how I feel like you're very intentional with learning about your roots, knowing your story, parts of your heritage. Um, you know, one thing I mentioned to you before we started talking today is like how when it comes to your connection with the ancestors and your ancestors, it's maybe I'm wrong, but this is how I perceive you, where it's like it's it's more of a part of your life. It's the way you, you know, the way you talk, the way the things you do, like it's almost like this constant connection. And I admire that in the sense that I in terms of like even talking, let's say to my ancestors, like to my ancestors in general, the ones I never met, and then to like my grandma, or it's it hasn't been like it was in the past few years, you know. So when I notice that in you, I'm like, I love that. I feel like it's I love that. So I want you to tell us more about that journey.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Yes. Um, that journey has been an emotional journey for me because um I feel like for a long time, my family doesn't really speak that much, right? We don't really talk that much. Um lately, yes, because I've acquired skills that help at least my parents to talk to me. Um so it was really hard because um I don't know a lot of my ancestors. Um, and I've been kind of detached from the extended family. And I wanted to just go on a journey to like connect. I want to connect. And the first thing I did was um I wanted to ask my mom more about my her grandmother, my great grandmother. And she showed me a picture one day. Um, and to me, it was more about trying to connect with the energy, because energy doesn't die, right? It's ever going. Our vessels may change, they may go however we want them to, you know, either in the ground or in a vaser whatever. Um, but our energy, our spirit is always going, always flowing. And so to me, I always felt like our ancestors are here to help support us the same way that we're here in this realm to work for the most high God. I feel like they're there doing the same thing in their realm. And they're able to uh help assist and guide, right? But there are also ancestors that don't want to do any of those things, too, right? That they're probably need some healing. So for example, my grandmother, paternal grandmother, um doesn't have the best story from what I'm hearing from my father's side. Um, and then one day when I was writing my book, I'm writing a journal actually called um Poor, like Pouring Out, uh, and it's a grief journal. And I wanted to connect with my grandma who has this just every time you mention her, it's just all connected to um negativity. Like she did so wrong to my father, my aunts, they're just going through it, right? However, one day something called me. Like I just felt like really tight in my body, felt like I needed to release something, but I didn't know what it was. But I was called to my personal altar. And I was also called to call my grandma by her name and forgive her and let her know that you are forgiving. I don't know what came over me, but something said that you need to forgive her. Um, you need to still love her, um, so that she can be at peace, knowing that she is forgiven, she is loved, she is still appreciated for doing what she did for the best to the best of her ability, right? I'm bringing that up because there are also ancestors that probably feel trapped, that probably feel guilty, and you can feel that inside of you. You can feel the generational trauma that's in your DNA because it is all connected. We are all connected, right? So part of me feels in my ancestral journey that I have to also not just call on the ones that I believe are the ones that are great manifestors and had all the land, and I have to also call on the ones that were hurting, that were in pain, that were suffering, and do the work of forgiving them so that I'm not carrying their pain, their suffering, the heaviness. Um, so I can release that within myself by doing the work of forgiving and helping them release that because we're all like connected through this invisible strength, right? Um, so that was a part of my ancestral journey, just working on forgiving. And the ones that I don't know by name, I visualize their silhouette and just kind of like work through them one by one from my mother's side to my father's side. Um, I like to not so much, it's not like a worship. It's more of like, thank you for helping me. Thank you for guiding. Thank you for blocking things that need to be blocked. Um, thank you for helping me to remember. Thank you for sharing through dreams or or messages uh what it is that I need to let go of. So my ancestral journey is still explorative because again, I don't have that many stories from my my both my mother and my father's side that can go back, back, back, back, back. Like sometimes I I sit and I feel like a little, I don't know, a little lost, right? Like where, how far do I go? So I do my own research. I know that my family is from, my lineage is from St. Thomas and St. Kitts and uh the Virgin Islands, right? So I know that I may have the Tainos there that are part of my lineage. So I try to work with that energy. So I think I have my ancestors as this melting pot because it's like, you know, I feel like I was from here and then I came from there and then all over the place. So um it's just beautiful and it's also um it helps me to have a connection, not just with um the religion I was brought into, but have a connection on a deeper, wider spiritual kind of lens.

SPEAKER_03 21:59

Yeah. I feel like there's there's so many things you said and one two things that I wanna mention is one, okay, so when you so you said it started with connection. You actually didn't know a lot about your ancestors, right? When you then you said you have one of the things you do is like you visualize a silhouette. When you said, okay, I want that connection, I want to learn more, actually don't know a lot of names. How did that start? For example, visualizing them as silhouettes, something that has just come to you as you journal, as you explore, or do you search how to connect and get closer?

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Okay, so um there was a oh, this was a long time ago where I was um in this workshop, a virtual workshop, and I have to, I forgot the name of the book that she mentioned, but that's where I got it from. Um, because there is a practice where you can visualize your ancestors, and some people even use like uh objects and put them on like a board or something. I developed it on my own from there. Um, sometimes during like maybe different seasons, I'll change my altar, I'll give flowers and change my water daily. Um, that came from me, you know, just wanted to give them um something of each element of the earth. Like um another book is Sacred Woman by Queen Afua. Uh, she helped me to kind of do other practices to help me connect with my womb and also the ancestors. So that's an amazing book, uh, The Sacred Woman.

SPEAKER_03 24:00

I love that. And you know, it's interesting because I know I I had talked to you about this one time where when I did start also trying to get closer to my roots, and one aspect of that was thinking about my ancestors, thinking about their stories. And I it was interesting because I grew up going to like Catholic church, going to mass, right? Although my mom, like actually her my mom on my mom's side, my grandma was like pro like was going to Protestant church. So my mom actually switched. So when I was born, I was going, she's very spiritual beliefs in God, but it wasn't like she was very open. Like I do love my mom for that. She allowed us to explore different churches, she was like, you know, it's it's God, so whichever like you decide, that's fine, as long as she does want us to kind of follow praise something, right? The thing is that I always heard, you know, like you only pray to Jesus and you only pray to God, right? So in the beginning, and sometimes I still think of this, like it's still kind of like an evolving thing when it came to getting closer to my ancestors and talking to my ancestors, it was like, oh my gosh, like, is this like bad? Because I'm like, quote unquote should be praying to God only, right? So then so that was interesting to me. Um, and I know I I I I don't know if you remember, but I asked you about it one time, like, how do you do it? Um even though I'm like, it's my grandma, like this is my my people, my roots. Um so now I've I've you know what what I've learned, and I don't know if you have anything to add to that, is more like one, I've kind of released that idea that it's like in my mind, it's like, no, God is everywhere, therefore this is another vessel, kind of like how you were talking about. And it's just conversations, and I think ultimately they're all connected in the same way. So it's not like one over the other. I don't think that's how it works, at least how I'm I'm evolving in that journey and how I feel right now. Um, but it it is like um I remember feeling like, oh my gosh, I I don't even know my mom would like that, you know? Would she be like, All right, you're tripping? I don't know, because our family have been disconnected too, right? Like how many generations?

SPEAKER_00 26:21

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

No, I agree with you. For me, it is um it is having simply a conversation, um and just acknowledging. Um I would say that uh that was a thing too, to feel like, oh, they're gonna like feel like I'm doing like, you know, it came up a few times, like, oh, you're doing that voodoo stuff, and you know, like um, but I I still acknowledge that there is a most high God, but that's you know, whose omnipresence everywhere. Um, and you know, that those those ultimate prayers, I would say, goes to the most high God, and my conversations goes to my ancestors, but I still have conversation with God. It's like it can be we can get lost in all the semantics, but I always think that God knows our hearts, right? And you and I just know what I just know what I'm doing and what's in my heart. I agree.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

And also like the other thing that relates to it, to your point, because I sometimes when I'm deep in my thought, I'm like, even when I think of like my identity, how I identify, like, I'm like, well, how back would I go? Right? Like when you think of ancestry, like I mean, are we talking about a few generations? How back do we go? Like that all then it's ancestry forever, and then we're all connected, and you come, you know what I mean? So one thing I've been thinking about too is like um to that point, you're right. Like, once I feel like then I'm like, okay, now I'm losing the purpose. Like, it's not even about that, it's just like again, the the connection, the human experience, knowing that we're spiritual, we're energy, like so. Anyway, that was I um that was like really, really beautiful. So thank you for opening up about that. You talked a little bit about your heritage. Tell me more about how you identify as it relates to like your culture, your heritage, and then what parts of your identity do you feel like are most present that you think of the most?

SPEAKER_01 28:47

Uh what I think of the most, I connect more to my Caribbean side. Um, so the Caribbean culture is really big. It's influenced by the foods that I eat, um, the music that I listen to. Um I enjoy going to my Caribbean carnival. That's where uh I wind my waist, you know, get all of that trauma out, you know, all that celebration and just remembering um the roots that I I decided to connect to the most. My mom is from St. Thomas, my grandmother on my mother's side um is from St. Kitts. Um and I do know that on my father's side, they're from St. Thomas too, but my father was born um in Harlem, New York. And so, and my dad being more immersed in, I guess you can say, American culture, um, and he listens to a lot of like house music. Um, my dad's very open and very spiritual as well. And so I appreciate that. Um, but I always say that my my dad gave me house music and my mom gave me soca, you know, and I just love the two. They are both liberated music, and not the house music like that's doom, doom, doom, not that one. It's like more of that afro spiritual um house music that just takes you on another vibration, another realm. And soca does the same thing. It's just like once you're just like in it, it's just like, oh my gosh, I'm liberated, I'm free, you know? So I love those two.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

Yeah, Marcel introduced me to Soka and Calypso and like you know, and I honestly yeah, it's life-changing. And it's it's crazy that you say that too about the house music because uh growing up well not growing up, when I was in college, we used to take growing up, growing up, I used to dance house. No, um growing up when I was in college, we took a few, you know, I I California well Long Beach LA area is not too far from Vegas. And and you know, we used to go to Vegas and then also just in college, like we went a few times with our friends, and when I thought of house music, I always thought of that, like what I you know, so for me it was like I like house music. That's what I would say, right? Like, I like house music, but like it's not like I'm not gonna be in a house music club all night because after a few songs, I'm just like over it, right? It's just like to your point, and then you know, and I'm used to like all other kinds of music, like Mexican music, merenguis also I got into bachata in college, all that. Fast forward honestly, only in the past years, like I don't know exactly how many, but in the past years when I moved here, um one of my friends is really into like EDM and then like Latino EDM, and she would talk about how like it was so spiritual and how much she loved it and like how it was so freeing, and then she talked to me about house and the roots of house music going back to the black community. Um, and I was like, Oh, I didn't know that. And then her friend was telling me too, and so then now I had other like black women around me who would talk about how spiritual it was, and you know, for me, all I knew was like the club in Vegas who played the house, and so I started it and I'm and I'm starting to think I I told this to uh Marcel recently that you know there's so many things we do, like for example, I journal a lot too, I know you journal a lot. And one time I heard one of my friends say, you know, for me, journaling is spiritual. You know, I've jogged for a long time. I love like maybe because I grew up near the beach, so I would do runs in the beach, and then one of my other friends one time said, like, oh, running is spiritual. And and when I when I've heard comments like that, I'm like, oh I like I had never thought of that. Like running is spiritual, like, yeah. Oh yeah, journaling is spiritual. And I was talking to Marcel last time, I was like, babe, I'm I'm realizing it's like this is a spiritual experience as humans. What we do is spiritual, like everything is spiritual, right? Until someone reframed it differently. But the more I started reflecting on all the times I've heard someone say that, like, like, like to your point, house. Oh, it's it's spiritual. So yeah, I hadn't thought of that, but um, until I know you had brought it up and then like other women I met that I'm like, uh yeah, but I agree. Um and I and I and beyond your like identity in terms of how you identify like Afro-Caribbean, beyond that, when you think of like, you know, kind of like our parts of our identity, whereas whether it's like aspects of our personality, whether it's our sex, our gender, like which parts of your identity or parts of who you are do you feel like are more at the forefront? Like do you think about more often right now in this stage of your life?

SPEAKER_01 34:17

In this stage of my life, what I how I am, I am identifying myself is a woman of God. Um and I try not to get caught up in so many labels. I'm a woman of God, and that's what I stamp at the forefront. That's when I get up. Am I moving like the woman of God? Um, what are my intentions? Are they are they in alignment as the woman of God? You know? And so that's where I'm at today. I love that.

SPEAKER_03 34:55

Yeah, I feel like once I change into a child of God, it's different. It's just different because you can't get like kind of like where you said the semantics of like of labels and this and that.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

Um I like the woman of God. It's like I'm on a mission. I know, like, because as we continue to evolve, you know, I may go into a different space and I might feel like I'm identifying with this group and this community, and like it can always change, but at the core, what would be um everlasting? At the core, what would be that why, that focus-oriented movement based on what am I identifying as? And that woman of God, I feel like that is like the foundation. And the others are just like, oh, they're they're a part of like the journey. But at the core, I have to make sure that no matter where I go in the different spaces and different people I meet or the different labels I I attach myself to, um, that I just remember my why. You know? And so yeah, I just stick to that.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

I love that. And I think to to your point, it's almost like, you know, earlier you said some something like, you know, we are uh we come into this earth and then we come become of this earth, right? And I feel like even though at least in my journey, what I've what I think about and kind of how I frame things, it's like we we live in a society, we are here on earth, we are nature, we can choose like all the things we believe to be. But on one hand, we understand that human connection is important, right? Like human kind of we ask ourselves like who we are, we want to feel like we are connected to something, to someone. And then at the same time, a lot of these labels, it's almost like they're earthly labels, labels that are created. So whether it's like, you know, when we talk about identity for sure, like in terms of racial and ethnic identity, it's like, oh, they were just labels that were put on people, right? Like, even I have a friend that's not that wasn't born in the US, and she's like, the amount of times it's so crazy to me that you grow up having to check boxes of like your racial and ethnicity. And and we know those things are ingrained, right? Like, so I'm saying all that to say it's not like dismissing that. It's like, okay, acknowledging we are in a society where race, culture, ethnicity are part of it. And at the same time, to your point, remembering that those are kind of earthy labels, and at the end of the day, you're choosing to be a woman of God.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

I feel like also it helps me to not close myself off when I'm entering different rooms. I feel like I'm able to be um non-judgmental, right? And understand that yes, we have these labels that helps us to have uh to identify each other, which is great. But I also don't want to get caught on to that so much to where I close myself off with connecting, right? And I look at it as like the ecosystem. Yeah, we can identify every plant, every insect, animal. However, that I want to be careful not to have that illusion of separation because ultimately, if I say I'm a woman of God, I'm and uh and I know what I'm connected to, and that I know that I'm part of nature, that I'm part of that ecosystem too, and that I know that we all need each other to continue that flow of life, and that we can remember in the deepest part of ourselves that we're here to do this collectively, you know, and not to get so attached to like I gotta stay with this group or that. It's beautiful because we still have that in nature, right? But also know that we are a part of something much bigger.

SPEAKER_03 39:12

And thinking of that, like other parts of you, I was another thing I was thinking as I was prepping for our conversation, I was thinking how you know I met you here in Atlanta, and you are f also a person that's a like you were saying earlier, you have a lot of passions, you have you're creative, so you create different things, right? Whether it's your business, your art. Can you talk to us a little more about that creative journey?

SPEAKER_01 39:45

Yeah. The first uh vision that came to mind, my first memory, was when I was encouraged to write. So, and why I'm like so into journaling and selling journals. So there was, I was little, I don't know, I don't think my brother was born yet. So I might have been like five or six years old. And I remember being so angry. I don't know if my dad took me home early from the park, I don't know, but I was expressing a whole bunch of anger. And my dad was like, gave me this marble black and white notebook and a pencil, and he said, write it out. Go write it out. And I did. And I remember I used to, my favorite, like kind of like safe haven was putting like a blanket in the tub with all my favorite toys, and then I'll just be in the tub and I'll write. And so that was like the beginning of like my journaling kind of journey. Um, and you know, moving on, like my dad and my late uncle um was always into like me expressing myself. They wanted me to be a model, so that's where it started with fashion was me being a model. Um, you know, my uncle was in the fashion industry, stylist, photographer, and it was all about the dramatics, you know, just being in the show. And I'm like super introverted, but I'll do it anyway. And they were like, yes, do it, turn around, you know. So fashion was introduced to me at a very young age, but at first as a model. And then I wanted to um go to fashion industry high school um because I was interested in all the the fashion shows and in how they had the models. And but I ended up learning how to create clothes. Um and I got into creating lingerie and swimwear. My mom and my dad both were very stylish. So I didn't even know we were poor. I don't even think we were because I think that's a mindset, but we were from the hood. And they made sure that I looked like Hillary Banks from Beverly Hills in freaking 183rd and Marsh Avenue. Anyone listening to this knows 183rd and Marbus Avenue, know that my parents was just like in a whole nother dimension when they did that. And I became a target, a complete target, where I've gotten into a lot of fights because of like the way I looked. And colorism was a thing then, too. Um, so because I didn't get along, I didn't act, my parents did not raise me to act like the girls in the hood. So I was always looked at as different, um, called an Oreo because I spoke differently than them. So I stood a lot of, I stood home a lot and I would just draw, I would write, um, I had Barbies and I would try to like cut little clothes and make them new clothes instead of the clothes that they came with. Um, I was always exploring in that way. I loved video games. Um, so video games, I didn't jump double dutch. I didn't know how to do all those things with the girls there. So in that aspect, I wasn't girly there with the community. But um that was like the beginning, just being alone and feeling like I was different, but knew that I needed to express myself in some ways. Um, so journaling was introduced to me very young, expressing myself through style, helped helped by my parents, um, how I wanted to look and feel today. You know, there was one time I'm in elementary school, and I'm like, I want something Afrocentric. I want Bantu knots before it became a thing now. And my mom did the Bantu knots for me, everyone was teasing me. I did take them out at lunchtime because I was like still young and didn't want to be teased like that. And my dad would always be like, sweetheart. No, you're beautiful. This is how you want to express yourself. So just it reminded me that it's okay to be different. Um, so I was always interested in finding new ways of expressing myself. As I got older and still was in the fashion industry, I noticed how much I loved dancing and how much I love to just move my body in a certain way. And not just in the like bashment parties type of vibe, but more so like, oh, I want to be like a contemporary dancer. Um, so after college, I did shows in New York City where I would incorporate like yoga flows with contemporary floor dance, just to like while someone was doing spoken words, and I would just move my body to that because I felt like I didn't know the term at the time, which is like somatic movement, which I know now, but it was just like moving in this freedom way, being fluid, um, activating that that feminine energy, right? So dance is another way of expressing myself. Um and I'll go back a little bit. My junior high school was an art, like a performing arts high junior high school. So we had to draw, we had to sing, we had to dance, we had to act, we did it all. Um, and uh painting, you know, I well, let me go back. I'm all over the place right now, right? Because no one asks me these questions. Um, I'm loving it. I'm like, now it's more of like the more you talk, the more I'm like, oh, of course. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah. And with fashion, you know, I even went ahead and showed during fashion week, you know, like you can Google uh blank B-L-Y-N-K by Dominique Chade, and you see like some fashion shows in the past. Um yes, and I love fashion, I love expressing myself, and I love that that expression can also help others. It's always has to tie into that. And so I remember in 2020-ish, 29, 2009, uh, 2010, I was engaged. Um, I was engaged and I was going through it. Something inside of me felt like um I needed to like not marry this person, but I was going through it, and it was the first time I had my very first panic attack where I had to get rushed to the hospital, had this monitor on me, and just kind of like going through it, had a bald spot. I was going through it. And um that was like an ongoing situation, and there was one time in my um panic moments, anxiety moments, where I decided to take a paper and a kind of like marker pen, and I started drawing mandalas. Um, and the mandalas was was the start to help me um calm my nerves and not go in so much and into a panic state um before I knew how to meditate. Because meditation before um I became a meditation teacher was the most challenging task of all. And I used to get so frustrated because it was like, this is supposed to help my anxiety, but it's giving me more anxiety. I don't understand why. So I'm not gonna do it. So for a while, I just couldn't do it. So I had to do something else. So mandala. So that's why with my art, it evolved where I'm like everything that I do with my art is gonna have a mandala in it. Because that was the start of me creating this. Well, when you say mandala, what is that? Oh, so oh, you can't really see it, but they're like um they usually come in a circle shape, and they're designs that's in um repetitive, going around and around, and you keep changing the lines, you keep changing um the designs, and you go around in a circle and a circle, and it kind of helps um with your mind, it helps calm yourself, calm your nervous system. So I just would draw them over and over in a circle, and then I just kept getting better and better at them. I was just like, oh, I want to put this on my canvas, on my journals. Yeah. So I love that.

SPEAKER_03 48:36

I love hearing, you know, the different points of kind of like your creative journey, you know, because I feel like just, you know, your dad playing a role, and then also you kind of finding your way and then being kind of part of, to your point, expression in a lot of ways and using that to serve others. And I yeah, I think you know, the more it's like the the more other people do and tap into their gifts. That's why I said like you inspire me in a lot of ways, because it could be like such a nice outfit. And I'm like, oh yeah, like that looks good. I need to like I I need to look good too. You know what I mean? Not in a just more in a way of bringing out a part of me that reminds me that I like that too, right? So um, so yeah, thank you for sharing all that. That's beautiful. Many of you may have heard me talk about my first children's book, Two Homes, Dos Casas and Dos Casas. And you can purchase it at anitswatis.com/slash books. I wanted to write something that would speak to children. And my goal and my vision is the stories that are gonna happen between families when you finish reading the book to be able to tell part of your story parents to kids and vice versa. So uh this book is available as a bilingual version, so primarily English with sprinkles of Spanish throughout. And then this one is fully in Spanish, and they're both available on my website at edithsuarez.com. Don't forget to click subscribe and add yourself to our newsletter on our website so you can stay in touch. And I I wanna use that to pivot a little bit to your practice now. So you did say, you know, you art was a form of meditation, journaling. And then so I met you in I don't know if the first class I took was Kijong, but it's the most vivid always in my mind because it was I had never experienced Kijong, and it's to your point, I learning to slow down is something I've been working on for a while, still working on it. So I guess Kijong was the slowest class I ever took. However, I would have a hard time with yoga sometimes because it felt so slow, and I used to think I don't think that anymore. Um, but I'm working through that where it's like I had to do these like high-intensity workouts to be like working out, and I realized like no, my body needs different flows. So, anyway, how do you describe kijong?

SPEAKER_01 51:25

Like tell us what it is, yes, and I noticed you say uh key kijong. Uh oh in Japan they say kijong, and then China is uh qigong, and Japan is the K. Okay, so qigong or kijong? Right, so I'm gonna say qigong because I was uh taught from the Chinese tradition of the Taoist traditional practice, so that's why I'm using qigong. And um, so again, qigong is um an ancient Chinese practice that really helps us with health health development. Um, it helps us to develop our health and vitality. Um and we do that through meditative movements, through um breath work, meditation, um, through the meditative postures. And as you continue on the Qi Gong journey, it also it also goes into a spiritual development as well. Um, so ultimately we are uh practicing. So you have qi and you have gong, and qi can be um translated to a life force, it can be translated to breath, um, energy, and then gong is like the practice to master, right? So we're on this practice of mastering our life force energy. Um, because as we go through life, we we come out and we're little babies and we have all the life points inside of us, and then over time the points get off, and we like the video game, you see the little dot going low, low, low. Um, but with the practice of qigong, we can um kind of restore ourselves, we can um hold on more to our essence, more to our energy, and not lose so much of that vitality where we can feel youthful again. So much, so many of us feeling exhausted and fatigued, lethargic because we are so stressed, right? And so we have depletion of qi. And now we go through this practice of cultivating the qi energy and circulating in our body and letting it feed us and also reminding us that we are nature and that we have access to this qi energy within and outside of us, right? And what made me practice this, um I was such a fitness, you could say like guru type of thing. That's where I started with the whole thing. And it's just like, now I'm gonna get the baddest body, like, and I'm gonna have all these fitness classes, and I love weights, I love um hit classes, I loved feeling that masculine energy. Like I could do as many push-ups as you. I was going in. And that is not necessarily a bad thing, but um none of this is bad or good. It's just all perspective and it's about your uh your personal journey. So, with that in combination of like being stressed out and learning more that was happening internally for me through the doctors, um my body crashed, like literally crashed um in and out of the hospital. It was just a very daunting experience, just going through it. I mean, um, I remember I had to like go under so they could put a microphone uh little camera in my esophagus and down my digestive tract. Um, and I had like malgastritis, which is the number one cause of that is stress. Like I was just so stressed, and on top of that, working out more stress, right? Um, so my body gave me warning signs though. I didn't really know that that's what they were until you kind of like learn more. And when I shut down, the body shut down completely. Um I was like asking the creators, like, all right, I I need your help. Like, what do I do? How do I, I don't like the way I feel. Like I just felt sick and my eyes were dark, every I was skinnier. It was just like, oh, life is getting zapped out of me. So I met my first teacher who I'm who lived in Chicago, and there was like a like a uh Yoruba parade in Brooklyn. So I met him there. He introduced me to both Qigong and um meditation, um, Vapashana. So that's where I started um through my first teacher. And I just kind of like took it and flowed with it. Like this was going to be the practice because um, again, when I started the meditation on my own, um, it wasn't working for me at that moment. But once I started doing vipassana with the community, and what I like about it is like you meditate with other people and then they share their experience. So when someone else said, you know, it feels like when I meditate and someone is stepping on my chest and I can't breathe, I was like, oh, me too, you know. So, oh, this is a thing. Like we have to just go through this. So, you know, it just kind of helps when you're doing practice with community. Um, so I again was in and out of the hospital. I wanted healing and I knew that I didn't want to go on the pills that they kept offering me. Um, and I knew I wanted to challenge myself and get to the root of it and go on a holistic journey. So I started with a Passiona 10-day silent retreat. Then I started um practicing Shigong, and little by little, like all the symptoms that I was having was starting to go away because I was re-regulating my nervous system. You know, like one of the things that I know for sure is that the body cannot heal under chronic stress and inflammation, right? And you have to do something to help bring you back to homeostasis. Um, so because of what the practice has done for me, such a beautiful practice and a gift to me, um, to help me bring back that health and vitality to help me to heal my body, to to bring clarity in the mind and purify the heart. I was like, no, I have to teach this to other people. Because it's been so, so it's so sacred, it's so loving and comforting, and it works as much as you work it, as much as you connect with it. And for me, it it just feels like it's a part of me now. It's just embedded. Like this is the practice that I have to do daily. And even if I'm not doing it daily, it's still within me. Um, and then I hope to teach it to as many people as possible because you know, so many of us we have suicide rates that are up. Um, depression is at an all-time high. I mean, mental health um imbalances is uh uh epidemic now. Grief, so many people are grieving. Um, so there is a need for this practice, and so I'm dedicated to teaching it, I'm dedicated to practicing it, uh, and this has helped transform my life.

SPEAKER_03 59:24

I love that. And I will say, like I'm inspired, one hearing your journey and different aspects of it, and it makes me think of what you said at the start, which is like you believe that nothing happens in vain, and um like as you're talking, I'm seeing how everything is connected in your life, and I'm like, I'm so excited for you to continue uh what you're doing and and just evolving and like you know what life has for you and stuff. And I'm also thinking as you're talking, like sometimes because like for example, you study the practice, you teach the practice, you have a different not just relationship with the practice, but understanding of the practice, whereas like for me, I don't even I wouldn't even be able to tell you what happened when I took your class. It was just like I was I remember there was one move you made us do where it was almost like we were kind of just going like this to our hand, right? And again, I think because I've you know obviously it's also my journey of where I'm at, like there's certain yoga classes I would take that I I also think I was in a different mindset to your point, what you give to it, how like how much you open up, and I think as we evolve our our even relationship with the with the sessions, with the practice, however you call it, will change. But I remember you had us do this one um move, and in that class, I felt so at peace, I felt relaxed. Um, there's just so many aspects of it, and I think part of it is because of how you're kind of explaining and guiding us through it. Um, but the funny thing is that one time I was telling a friend, I was like, dude, I've never done so many slow movements in my life, but but I was enjoying it. It didn't feel like, uh man, when is this class over? You know, like this is a little too slow for me. And it was it was just amazing, right? And then I was like, I told my friend, I was like, I've never done this movement.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:36

And then she was like, um, she said, I guess I've only done it when I put on lotion. And when she said that, I was like, dang, dude, you just made me realize that even lotion, I'll be rushing, like, like even with the lotion, I don't be taking my time. I just be like, like, you know, why am I doing all these things so fast? So it's like I've never caressed myself in that way.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:10

Oh my gosh. But I think um, that's the other thing I loved about your class that after you do the journaling, I don't know if it's in every class, but at least in the classes I've gone. So I that's another thing that I really enjoyed because it yeah, it allows you to in that moment write whether whether there was something you fell, whether there was like a message you received, an intention or all that. So thank you, Dominique. I I really appreciate you sharing that and like explaining that. And I'm excited, like I'm really excited for your journey to to see where it grows, right? Um, so thanks for sharing all that. I I see how all the things are connected, and I want to start wrapping up by shifting a little bit to the food part because I think that is related to your kind of holistic wellness approach to what you do. And I I feel like we have a whole episode just on food, and I'm thinking specifically about you know, one of the memories I've talked to you about is how when you know, in my own journey with food, I've did, you know, for a while I was like, oh, I'm not I'm gonna do the whole vegetarian thing, and then I did the whole pescatarian thing, and then I was like, okay, I'll do the vegan thing. So anyway, I I've kind of tried a lot of things. And one thing that I shared with you one time is how I realized for me in that moment of my life, I don't know if today it would be different, but in that moment of my life, I realized that I was allowing the labels to kind of consume me. Let's say I would say when I started doing like the V and thing, I think I did it for like a year or something, and it was kind of like okay, I found myself um eating worse actually than I was eating prior to that. And I realized that for me, it was like, wait a minute, what is my why? And for me, my why was I wanted to eat better, I wanted to eat healthier, I wanted to eat uh more greens and vegetables, and and and you said to me one time, like, you know, that's why for me, for you, you say plant-based. And I think that for me that also resonated because it was almost like reminding me that what I want to do is eat more whole foods and more plants, right? And so can you talk to us a little bit about um yeah, your journey of like with food as it relates to like how you eat now and then what brought you there.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:06

So how I eat now, um plant-based, I focus a lot on Whole Foods. Um as often as I can, I'll make a lot of things from scratch, including my cookies, uh, popcorn, like little snacks. Um and it's about connecting, just connecting like the way I want to connect my ancestors. Um, that's another way of connecting with them. It's the foods that they used to eat, um, how we used to eat. What got me there? Well, there was um a few attempts to eat healthier. Um, and there was a diagnosis that was uh pre diabetic. And I'm like, what? Pre diabetic? Like, yeah, you You're about to be diet like diabetic if you continue on this, whatever you're doing. Um, so I used to eat. Um, I mean, I'm from New York City in the Bronx, the bodega is right there in every corner. And so I'm eating little Debbie's, I'm eating all sorts of cookies, um the bacon, egg, and cheese, like all sorts of stuff. Like whatever you think New York is, like that's what we did, you know?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:34

And which is so crazy because I feel like that's a whole nother life of Dominique that I never met. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:41

It's like we have different lifetimes, and I'm like, Yeah, I can picture that.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:46

Yes, the drinking, and when you're drinking, you want to eat more, especially after the club, you want to go to the dynam, having big burgers. I mean, I was a foodie and I ate because I wanted to feel good, right? That was like the thing. I want to feel good, I want the belly to be full, not really worrying about anything else. When I heard that, and then after that, found out that my anemia was super low, like I had uh they call it chronic anemia because they couldn't figure out even if they gave me iron pills, nothing was improving. Um, and then um fibroids. So I had multiple fibroids, and my periods were really bad. I mean, calling out the work, calling out of work, crawling on the floor. Uh, my partner at the time, waking up at 3 a.m. just to go to the store to get me Tylenol. Um, so this is way back before anything was herbs and stuff. Um, because I'm like, I need something because this is painful. So all of these things, I really just did not want to feel this way anymore. And my partner at the time was like, I'm tired of losing sleep. So one time he came home with um Wild DM extract. Um, and to put in the water to drink before my cycles there and during the cycle. And that was the beginning, I would say, of like the herbal part of my journey. Just like, oh, this was actually helping. Um, and those diagnoses, I was like, nah, I want to like fix this before I'm like, I don't want to put a pen in my body because of diabetes. Like, that's crazy. Um, so the first person that I was introduced to was Dr. Seb Sebi. Um, and I was like, okay, I'm gonna go on this alkaline diet and I'm just gonna like start juicing, and then I documented my journey um via Instagram uh just to help hold me accountable. Um so I started documenting it. And at the time I was still eating like egg white, um, but I took out dairy and I was still eating like meat occasionally, um, like for like Thanksgiving. Um then uh when I found out more about like the fibroids and everything else, and then I had a scary diagnosis that I will not share here. Um and that that one really shifted me into like a holistic whole plant aye tao, which if anyone doesn't know what iTau is, is it's rooted in the Caribbean culture where it's it's the terminology before there was vegan, plant-based, or you know, all these different terms. In the Caribbean culture, there was iTau, where you made everything from scratch, you avoid um um uh additives, like you don't use any sugars. Everything is just from nature from scratch, not manipulate it as best as possible.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:00

Right. Um so um, yeah, I was taught by my elder in Jamaica how to cook. I tell how to prepare. We don't say cook, we prepare food, um, how to connect with my pot, how to bless my so things now became more intentional, you know, blessing my pot, blessing my kitchen, um, setting the energy, charging the food with good energy, um, thanking Mother Earth, thanking everybody who participated for me to have all of this that's on my counter right now. Um, so it became more intentional. Like, why am I eating what I'm eating? Oh, to heal my body, to connect with ancestors, connect with the earth. Um, it became more like a sacred act, like a ritual every single time I entered the kitchen. Um and you kind of like want to forget about what you need to heal and let it just become a lifestyle. And then next thing you know, levels are back to okay. I'm not pre-diabetic anymore. My cycle, I mean, my cycle even just now just finished and it was like three days, and I didn't even know it was kind of feel any pain. You know, like when you're eating good, you're reducing your stress and the anxiety goes away too. Because now you're nourishing yourself with um nutrients that helps regulate your hormones, right? That helps regulate the nervous system. And so everything started because there was an issue, there was an imbalance, there was inflammation, there was just a lot, girl, there's a lot going on. The body is like, come on, what are we doing? Like you're feeding us things that we can't even use right now, right? So I have a bunch of waste, gotta get rid of it, gotta change my lifestyle. And I'm just so grateful for those diagnoses. I'm grateful for that because it helped in everything that we've gone go through. If you kind of look at it as like initiation to become the healer within, you'll see that you can appreciate that part of your journey so much more. Because without that, I wouldn't have the Vipassana meditation, the qigong, the connecting to the ancestors, um, the preparation of food with intention, right? And speaking of like the different labels, you know, again, not being so caught up in labels, but you know, Oreos are vegan, right? So if we just kind of like just stick with labels and not have intentions behind what we're doing, we'll just be like, yeah, I'm gonna just eat whatever is no meat, okay, no dairy, I'm just gonna eat it, right? And you're still sick, you're still not feeling filled with vitality and and your health is in a decline, right? So when we start to have these intentions and we want to eat nutrients, we want to have a nutrient-dense plate. Um, I think it makes things easier for you to like commit to because you know now that there's like power behind everything you're doing.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:11

Yeah, yeah, I love that. And what as you're talking, the more examples and the more you bring us into like parts of your story. I'm like, what I love about so much is that you're literally a person that is taking things that happen. You said earlier, like, I don't think hap things happen to us, they happen for us. I think though that is like a reframing of of how you think and the power of that mindset because you literally have taken the things that have happened to you and then like owned it in a way that it's gonna make you a more healthy, a more healed person. And I'm like, I love that because it's like, yeah, you're it's almost like you're controlling what you can control and then choosing to be intentional in the way that you wanna kind of go and pivot, right? And like it seems like it's it's all in that same kind of element of like connection, healing, wellness, like more holistic, right? So it's yeah, as you're saying, I was like, dang, I haven't even eaten today, and probably what I was gonna eat, I don't think I'm gonna eat anymore. The reason why I say that, I don't think I'm gonna eat because one, I haven't fully cooked what I'm gonna cook today. Um, and I probably was gonna grab a snack before I eat, eat, right? But one thing you taught us in the class that I took with you was like pausing, asking yourself, why do I want to eat that right now? And that has helped me so many times when I want to grab like Hachitos or like chips at the store. Yeah. I'm like, I think of your um Dominique, I'm like, okay, what do I really want to satisfy with those chips? Right. What is that craving wanting? But I also something that helps me is asking myself, how am I gonna feel after? And I know that it's not gonna satisfy or feel any, I'm not gonna feel any better. So I mean, I still again I love chips, I still eat the things that I want to eat. I just try to be more intentional of how often I eat them. And I love how you said preparing food and that connection to food. It made me think of one time my grandma, so my paternal grandma lived till she was like 95. And you know, my dad tells me how you know they raised animals. One time I was talking to my grandma, right? She actually preferred eating red meat, and she used to tell me that the chicken gave her headaches. So she's like, I just eat. If I'm gonna eat meat, I'd rather eat red meat. And then I said, but she I literally still remember her telling me, she's like, but you know, miha, nowadays it's different because before you used to know where your meat was coming from. Even today, I can't trust the meat that I'm eating. And I always think of her because it made me think of, you know, how she ate growing up versus 95 years later, it was so different. So I think it's that uh connection to yeah, where is our food coming from? Um, especially when we think of how our ancestors ate versus let's say how our parents ate, and then now how we're shifting how we eat, right? I remember taking this class one time, like at a conference or something where it was talking about like ultimately when we eat, we're feeding ourselves, you know? Like we've kind of shifted to like, oh, we want this bomb food. And like, okay, yes, food is amazing, and it could be healthy and bomb, but sometimes we focus so much on like, oh, we just want something bomb. We just want something like that's delicious, versus is it feeding my cells? Because the cells is what we need to feed, and our hormones send messages to our body, so like what are we bringing in, you know? So I think that that's the other thing of like you were talking about you feeding yourself and being intentional with that. You saw all the benefits, like the energy that came back to you, the cramps going away. And it's almost like once you experience that, you're like, why would I go back?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:34

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:35

Yeah. So thank you for sharing that. Um all right. The last part, I'm gonna ask you this, and then we're gonna go to like a few fast style, and then we'll end it there. What is one narrative you reframed in your life that has had one of the biggest impacts for you?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:57

That I reframed. What's coming to me is how I view luxury, how I view a luxury lifestyle. And before uh I used to define luxury by what I have in terms of the tangibles like my name brand bags or my shoes or you know, the car. And that was luxury to me. That could be part of it, right? But now I had to think to myself, like, what does luxury mean to me now? And I came up with three words. Um luxury means ease, having ease, having peace of mind, and having resources, access to resources. And I always said to myself, and even if you ask like my friends from New York, my family, the way I used to host, I mean, one of the last time I I hosted Thanksgiving, um, it was incredible. You would have thought we were in like a mansion or something. Because I love to have this luxury lifestyle, like this way of being. And if I have ease, if if I have this ease, if I have peace of mind and access to resources, then I feel like ah, this is luxury. This is this is the quality of life that I want to embody. This is the quality of life that I'm working towards every day. And anything that is the opposite of ease, peace of mind, or strips me from resources, it gotta go. So it's becoming my new blueprint, like luxury. I need to live a luxurious lifestyle, and I need to embody that as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:05

Yeah, I I feel like it's so important what you're saying when it comes to like sometimes we use these words, and the more I'm on my own journey, I realize we need to pause and do what you did, which is like define it for yourself, you know, because we have these like just internal like beliefs or visions of what we've been told luxury is, and and maybe that does maybe somebody else defines it different, but for you, it's like you've been able to pause and like and really it's like align your values to your now. Like maybe luxury at one point meant that for whatever reasons, and now in this season of your life, you're like, wait a minute, what does it actually mean? Um, because you're clear on what is important to you. So yeah, that's I love that the ease and the peace of mind is like and if you were to think back to your younger self, like what words of wisdom or encouragement would you tell a younger version of you, let's say 20-year-old Dominique.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:23

Oh, 20-year-old Dominique. Um I would say I would say that you don't have to hide your sensitivity. You're highly sensitive, and that is your superpower, and to use that superpower to help others to um not be ashamed that you're sensitive, that you're an empath, that you're introverted, you know, and to know that that is a quality that helps you to connect deeper to others because you feel so deep, you feel everything, and that is going to take you a long way. So you don't have to hide it, you don't have to pretend, you don't have to wear a mask, own it.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:19

Yes, I'm owning that. Um sometimes I feel like everything you say, I'm like, I can't I can't talking about that. So I have to like pause myself and be like, all right. Um, I'm gonna leave it there. So as we now end this episode, Dominique, I did want to ask you a few just questions um in general, more like fun questions that you can share with us. So the first one is it's gonna be three of them. The first one is um, what is one thing that is bringing you joy right now?

SPEAKER_01 1:23:02

Ooh, one thing that's bringing me joy. Oh man, that's a beautiful question. I would say my new my new job. I'm getting into a new environment. Yeah. Okay, so um it's so interesting because I would never thought that I would be in hospitality and um it's still connected to wellness and I get to uh help people. However, I just got hired to the top hotel, let people do their own research because I don't want to give out the information right now. But the top hotel that is so hard to get into, and just knowing that I just kind of like really mastered that that interview and just meeting this, the director there, who's just a phenomenal woman, um, and knowing that it's gonna open doors of opportunity to teach Qigang in this space of really like luxury, like you know, of hospitality, um, is just bringing so much joy because I feel like I'm still bringing me there. There's not a mask. I'm I'm Dominique, I'm Dominique Shade, I'm the woman of God, I'm all these different things that is in the space. I get to be me. Um, and I get to learn how to um just be more in that space of service because I love to be in service. So that's bringing me so much joy right now. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:43

Yeah, that's awesome. And then what is a go-to plant-based dish that you love to prepare?

SPEAKER_01 1:24:54

I love to prepare only because everyone loves it, uh, my plant-based lasagna. Because I love when people love what I make for them. And it's been a hit. Like, I even did vending and shared the lasagnas to people, and they were just like, wait, this is vegan? This is plant-based. Like, so I love to prepare that and I love to see people's expressions when they eat it. And what do you like?

SPEAKER_03 1:25:19

What are the like the main ingredients?

SPEAKER_01 1:25:21

So I use a gluten-free pasta, lasagna um pasta, um, uh mushroom meat, um, tomatoes to make my own tomato sauce, spice it up. Um, I make my own cheese. Um yes, it is you never had it? I never oh, I was gonna make it.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:44

Telling me about it, but you told me it was a hit and you told me about it. Every time we we talk and we talk about the food part, you have told me it's a hit, but we haven't got an outlook or something. And then the last one is what is a book you read that has left a lasting impact in your life?

SPEAKER_01 1:26:02

Oh, um, I have to go get it real quick. Can I do that? So I can remember the title?

SPEAKER_00 1:26:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:17

This book. It's called All the Joy You Can Stand. One-on-one Sacred Power Principles for Making Joy Real in Your Life by Debrina Jackson Gandhi. It is, I mean, I'm I read this the first time in 2022, and I'm reading it again because I just want to refresh her on joy.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:44

It's amazing. Yeah, amazing.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:47

I need to get that.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:48

Yeah, awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:50

Well, thank you so much, Dominique. I really enjoyed having you. I I know we can keep talking and talking and talking, so I have to like hold myself back. I can feel like I can comment on everything we talk about. So it's almost like I'm also like learning to like, okay, pause, yes, take it in. And I I I loved our conversation. I I always learn so much, and it makes me reflect. That's what I love about this space, and it's almost like whoever listens, it'll speak to them in the way that it needs to be spoken to them in this part and in this season of their lives, you know. So I appreciate you uh for coming, for saying yes, uh, this early on in my Kultura Camos journey. So thank you, and thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:40

I appreciate you too for being interested in me, and it's so interesting because you're so interesting.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:49

You're so interesting, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:52

Thank you for helping me speak more about me because I often hold space for others, so it It's um it's a good practice to talk about yourself as well and uh and v to verbalize it. Cause I do write, but to vocalize is different.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:13

Yeah, and it was inspiring. Like I feel like the as you were sharing your story and and we've talked about this, right? Like sometimes it's easier for us to see all the like dopeness, amazingness, and others, and then we kind of like you know, I guess it's a little bit could be more challenging to uplift that in ourselves. So it's almost like I think the more we each other do it, we we are reminded to do it too, yeah, in a way. So no, I thank you and tell us your Instagram, because I know that's one of the places you're active, and then in your LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:51

Yeah, so LinkedIn is uh gonna be Dominique Shade and or Miss Dominique Shade. I should know that, right? But Instagram is at miss ms dot Dominique Shade. So that's D-O-M-I-N-I-Q-U-E S A D E.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:12

Awesome. Well, thank you so much, and we'll talk soon. So if you made it to the end of the episode, my assumption is you were loving it. And if so, I want to hear about it. Like, what did you think? Is there anything you've left reflecting, you know, inspired by? Um, you can either email me at hola at editsuarez.com, you can send me a message on Instagram where I'm most active or even LinkedIn, um, or comment whether it's on YouTube or another platform that you're listening to. So let me know your thoughts. Let me know what you thought of. I'm really, really excited to continue this, to continue growing this community. And I know that the people that need to hear this will hear it, you know. So I'm grateful for you. I am grateful for this space and the people that are accepting to come into it. So have a wonderful, wonderful week.