We’re looking forward to introducing you to LaShawna Epps. Check out our conversation below.
LaShawna, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
I’m most proud of building a solid, authentic identity of the LaShawna I’ve always desired to be. And instead of pretending I was already her, both to myself and the world, I actually did the inner work. I have cultivated a consciousness and presence within that has created the highest, most elevated version of LaShawna to date!
This version of me is where my spiritual identity, rooted in Christ for years, finally met and refined the woman of LaShawna; the part of me that still needed a whole lot of personal development I would’ve never admitted to before because I actually thought I was good. Truthfully, I don’t even think I realized how much refinement I needed… not to the level of the intense inner work I’ve actually done.
But now? The woman I see in the mirror is the same woman the world encounters, and my life has started to reflect more and more of what she is worthy of and deserving of.
I’ll never say I’ve “arrived,” but I will say this with my whole chest: I’ve left!
And I am never going back to the version of me who thought she was so clear on who she was before 2021. Because once you see and experience truth operating inside of you, you can’t unsee it, therefore, I will never again settle for a life beneath the identity I’ve built and the God I serve!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am LaShawna Epps, Founder and CEO of A BeYOUtiful Life LLC, a transformative personal development company. I am a keynote speaker, mindset coach, mentor, author, and transformation strategist.
I am truly grateful to God that I get to serve my clients by helping them become the highest expression of themselves in this world. I also facilitate workshops and presentations for corporations, colleges, churches, and nonprofits; guiding audiences in elevating their awareness around mental health hygiene, stress and overwhelm management, emotional intelligence, and self-care.
In one-on-one settings, I coach my clients to get UNstuck so they can become UNstoppable, as I help them remove their “possibility blindness” by redefining what’s possible, UNlocking the transformation within.
As part of my commitment to holistic wellness, I’ve create practical mental health hygiene, self-care, and stress management guides to support my clients on their transformative journey. These tools offer simple, actionable steps that anyone can use to elevate their overall well-being. And because I believe this information should be accessible, these same guides are also available for anyone to purchase on my website. – www.lashawnaepps.com
In addition to my coaching and transformational work, I am also a line dance instructor. About a year ago, God told me to incorporate line dancing into my wellness platform, and I’m so glad I listened! Today, I’m thrilled to say I get paid for something I’ve loved for over 15 years, and for the last four years, I’ve had the joy of teaching it. As a mindset coach, it makes perfect sense: dancing supports emotional release, reduces stress instantly, encourages self-expression, boosts heart health and blood circulation, improves memory and cognition through repetition, and builds community and connection. A win-win on every level!
My mission is to impact as many people as possible with the truth:
You are enough. You are worthy of everything you desire. You deserve it.
I teach my clients, and audiences, that they are the creators of their lives, not victims of it. There is more to them than meets the eye. They were created for purpose, with purpose, on purpose. And when they show up in this world knowing who they are, whose they are, and why they are, they move with certainty, fully convinced that their contribution to this world is needed, and valuable!
I am also in a season of scaling my business—but in a way that allows me to work smarter, not harder. I’ve discovered that I love speaking to audiences far more than I ever imagined, so I’m leaning into that calling and actively seeking more stages to share my message. At the same time, I’m working toward automating key areas of my business where it makes sense, so I can expand my impact without exhausting my capacity. That’s all I can say for now, but just know… there’s more unfolding.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
I truly used to believe I was ugly. Physically ugly. I thought my nose was too big, my lips too full, my teeth bucked (even after three rounds of braces), and I struggled with nodular-cystic acne from age 12 into my twenties. I also thought I was too skinny and longed for a more voluptuous figure. Even though I was “light-skinned,” I didn’t feel I had any of the outward features that were celebrated in my black community. I compared myself to women I admired—Jayne Kennedy, Janet Jackson, Irene Cara—and spent hours in the mirror trying to make my lips smaller, push my nose together, and cover my acne with makeup (which I started wearing at 13).
In my twenties, my perspective began to shift, though many insecurities lingered. But after giving my life to Christ, doing the deep inner work, and healing parts of myself I didn’t even realize needed it, everything changed. Today, I love who God created me to be—just as I am. I no longer desire to be anyone else or look like anyone else. I am in full acceptance of how God designed me, and I am profoundly grateful for it.
Now, I can honestly compliment other beautiful women with integrity, without envy or comparison. Every single day, I remind myself of my own beauty—not to convince myself, because I am already convinced—but because I know it. Even if someone rejects me or never tells me I’m beautiful again, it doesn’t shake me. I call it “God-fidence.” I don’t reject myself, and that’s enough.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me to chase silence like never before. It drew me closer to God, encouraged me to meditate more in His Word, and sharpened my awareness of the Spirit’s nudges within me. But more than that, it taught me to take full ownership of my part in everything I didn’t like in my life. I stopped blaming circumstances or other people and started examining my own actions, words, and identity. That shift upgraded me to the woman I am today.
Many people want to change their reflection in the mirror, not realizing the mirror will always reflect what you are casting into it. The world responds to what you give it…it obeys you every time. I had a choice: continue allowing pain to become suffering, or turn my pain into purpose by deciding to do something different to create different outcomes, on purpose!
Pain is universal; everyone will experience it. But suffering is a choice. You don’t have to stay stuck because there is always a way forward. The difference comes when you make a decision that shifts everything in your life. For me, that meant renewing my mind to truths about myself, and upgrading my belief system. Our beliefs feed our thoughts, emotions, actions, and ultimately our outcomes. Once I understood that, it became crystal clear: I could not change my life until I changed what I believed about myself and the life I was capable of having.
As Tony Robbins says, “People change when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change.” When you get to the end of yourself, you are willing to see different perspectives, take bold action, and do things you’ve never done before. That’s where freedom begins!
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Absolutely….more now than ever before!
I always say I operate from a place of A.T.V.—authenticity, transparency, and vulnerability. That’s the space I live in because that’s what people crave, and honestly, it’s what the world desperately needs. It’s also the most magnetic energy you can carry. I don’t have the time or the desire for anything less.
The way I speak, show up, and engage, whether in person, online, on a stage, virtually, or in a written post, is the same. I’m not a fake or phony person. One thing I tell people who spend time with me is this: “I don’t waste words.” If it’s not truth to me, I won’t say it. I’ve cultivated strong power of discernment, which includes knowing when to stay quiet.
My energy is too valuable, and expensive, and I refuse to waste it on people, places, or things that are not aligned with who LaShawna is today. This isn’t about being better than anyone; it’s about knowing what serves me, my peace, and my upgraded identity. When you’ve done the inner work, you become very clear on what is nourishing to your growth and what is not.
At this point in my life, I don’t make room for anything that pulls me backward. Either you influence the environments you’re in, or those environments influence you! And I’ve chosen to be intentional about which direction that flow goes.
Now that I truly know who I am, and I genuinely love who God created me to be, I stand firmly in that. I love what I bring to this world, and from here on out, I am only upgrading for growth! Nothing less!
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I am absolutely doing what I was born—better yet, created—to do. I believe that with everything in me. I believe we were all created on purpose, for purpose, with a purpose, and when you finally tap into that, your why, that’s when you truly start living. That’s when real fulfillment begins!
Truthfully, I never would’ve chosen this path on my own. Speaking, coaching, mentoring? I once believed I was just “average,” that I had nothing significant to offer the world, not in any big or meaningful way. So I lived from that mindset. I made decisions based on the limited understanding I had of myself and life. I wasn’t unhappy, but I was living far beneath my potential. Fear was my ceiling—fear of failure, fear of not having the money, fear of not being worth the investment in the first place. My old paradigm wouldn’t even allow me to imagine more.
Even when I wanted to start a YouTube channel back in 2016—faith, beauty, lifestyle—I talked myself out of it endlessly.
Who’s going to listen to me?
I don’t know enough.
I know nothing about cameras or editing.
So I did nothing. For years.
But when I turned 50 in 2019, something rose up in me and I boldly declared, “I am not sitting here any longer waiting for anything. The time is NOW.” And I started… but even then, I waited another year before I really committed. Then 2020 came, COVID hit, the world shifted, YouTube got crowded, and although I grew, I knew I could’ve been much further ahead had I started earlier.
And then God tapped me on the shoulder.
Late 2020, sitting at my corporate job (a job where I was making very good money), God asked me, “How long are you going to sit here and keep burning daylight?” I didn’t fully understand what He meant at the time, but during my Daniel Fast at the start of 2021, His plan for my life began to unfold.
By June 2021, I resigned from corporate and stepped into full-time purpose.
And A BeYOUtiful Life LLC was born.
I am no longer living by what I was told by my previous small and limited mindset to do. I am living by what I was created to do—and that has made all the difference! And there is nothing else in this world I’d rather do than continue to impact individuals in becoming the highest expression of themselves to this world!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lashawnaepps.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/le_styl3/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lashawna-epps-104262140
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lashawna.mackeyepps/
Image Credits
All of these photos were taken with my camera or shared with me from friends
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
