Meet Stephie Red

Stephie, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
In my younger days, while working for my father, who is super neurotic and has the narcissist personality, I would get so frustrated and stressed out at work. The way I helped myself to relieve some stress from the work day, was to come home and draw little cartoons about what frustrated me that day. Drawing helps me relax and brings my stress level down. I made up some sketches and started to call these drawings “Working with Dad!”

I have continued to be drawn to men that I feel comfortable with, because that’s my comfort zone of what I knew growing up. Narcissistic, unhealthy relationships. (I could write a story just about those relationships alone.) I will share a big one with you, in this article: I did not know it at the time, but I was dating a man for over a year who not only turned out to be a conman, liar and had a criminal record, but during our relationship, he was involved in 13 works of art that were stolen from a museum. This is the single largest property theft in the world. The theft remains unsolved to this day.

Fast forward… I got married to a charming man. As the years went by, his true colours started to come forward. I started to notice more and more of his narcissisms entering the relationship. After some time, I was getting super stressed, unhappy and unhealthy. I remembered the Working with Dad sketches I used to create to get my frustrations out. I figured it couldn’t hurt to start that up again. Only this time is was not my dad (since I no longer worked for him). This time is was my husband. I also noticed my friends and family did not like coming over anymore when he was around. Making the sketches I did, was good therapy for me. I started to create more and more, since there were so many incidents that kept accumulating.Social media was the next big thing and I wanted to create my own page which I called “Marc the Narc”. I started to post my images there and noticed lots of women began to interact with their own comments. I eventually opened up a private room that you needed acceptance in order to join. I wanted to keep it a safe room for whom ever needed a safe place to escape. That is how The Narcissist Escape Room came about. In just a few months, my Escape Room grew to 8000 members.

I started gaining a lot of feedback from the members in the group, as well as followers on my social media, thanking me for creating this page. Some narcissist survivors gained strength and managed to get out of their narcissistic relationships. Many women were very grateful for me creating this page! They love the feeling of knowing they were not alone in this uncanny lifestyle. I am happy to help narcissist survivors realize that this is no way to live. They appreciate knowing that they are not the only ones going through this. The support these women, and some men are receiving has given them strength. It makes me feel great to know this is helping others who deserve much better.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
As time has moved on, I continue to make my sketches because I see that the narcissists in my life are only a burden to my mental state. I started an online e-store to only sell inspirational products and everything positive. I personally create all the images and designs that you are able to purchase for yourselves. These are reminders for victims to gain strength and grow. I would love to offer a percent in the future to safe houses, to help survivors that may need it. Then they too, can start their next non-toxic chapter.

Coming from a very artistic family and having those talents naturally in my genetics, (which I enjoy very much) has been another blessing for me. A combination of my art skills, plus the entrepreneurial way of life, which is how I grew up, has helped me create what I create. I hope my products can be shared to many out there who need the added support to gain more energy to do what they need to do, to make them feel good about themselves.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think outside the box, I keep moving forward with ideas and creativeness and the most important thing you can do is be consistent and do not give up! You will have good days and bad days. The tough part is to be resilient on the tough days. If you are having a real bad day, take a break, take a breath, go for a walk… clear your head but always come back to continue to grow.

What ever you feel very good and confident in creating, go for it. Do not let anyone try to stop you or talk crap about what you have passion for. Focus on yourself. Life is short and it speeds by super fast.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
I have been working a lot on ME and I will continue to do so. I am learning and practicing to be good to myself. It is important not to beat yourself up, especially over people who are toxic in your life. Remember this is YOUR life and only you know what is good for you. Listen to your guts, look for red flags. Those are 2 things I have been doing but this time I am listening to them and not pushing them aside.

Like I mentioned before, you live once and life is super short and definitely speeds on by. Start to be good to yourself. Love and give yourself the care needed. Listen to your gut! What makes you feel good and what makes you cringe? Take the path of feeling good. It’s also better for your health and peace of mind.