Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ahyoka Yeshua El. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ahyoka, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
According to the American Psychological Association, resilience means “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.” When I reflect upon this definition and my life, I have been cultivating resilience since I was young. From childhood sexual trauma at the age of 10, living through the Rodney King Riots in LA, at times not having enough for food, to working in an entrepreneurship environment over 20 years with all the highs, lows, pressure and stress, I have seen and experienced a lot that cultivated the resilience in me.
However, I didn’t realize I was resilient. It was just “life” to me until recently. Once I completed my healing journey from the sexual trauma I realized, what I experienced and how I adapted wasn’t supposed to be normal. The challenges I faced, the struggles, the mental anguish, the uncertainty, doubt – all of that is not “normal living.” Yet, through all I faced over the past 34 years I also succeeded and pressed through in many ways. I received my MBA while managing a multi-million dollar campaign that had me on the road consistently. I helped on numerous occasions keep our family business alive when I was the only one working in the office and we had no business. I’ve been with my husband for 28 years and we have three children where I survived an emergency c-section, postpartum depression twice, prepartum depression and thoughts of suicide. I’ve gone on to become an International Speaker, two-times International best selling author, and CEO of my own company. I’ve hosted a radio show called Janna B. Speaks, written for the Atlanta Voice under the column Naked and Unashamed, curated safe spaces through my events The Oasis Experience, where women were able to come, release and receive healing. Homeschooled my three children and kept my sanity, on most days :). Impacted small businesses, brands and entrepreneurs alike by helping them streamline their success and truly understand who they are and were created to be. Given and served others with joy even if we were struggling. All this and more. Yet, through it all I’ve come to understand my resilience comes from my faith in Yahweh. Without Him, I would not have survived all the various obstacles I have been through on my journey to fully becoming who He created me to be. I needed to go through the adversity so I could understand first hand my process of cultivating resilience. Why, because now I understand I’m called to serve other driven #BOSSMOMS of faith who are ready to triumph over trauma, cultivate resilience and flourish in life and business.
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?
My name is Ahyoka Yeshua El and I am a wife to an amazing husband of 28 years, a #BOSSMOM of 3 whom I homeschool (lots of adventures there), a two-time International Best Selling Author, International Speaker, CEO of Streamline Success Intl, the Vice President of The K.I.N.G. Reigns LTD, a BIPOC Investment group and I hold the position of the treasurer as well as the Superintendent for the online university the company hosts for its members. I currently sit on the board of The World Economic Empowerment Foundation (W.E.E.F.) whose mission is to start a charitable revolution as the treasurer. Whew, that was a mouthful!
After graduating from American University with a degree in Elementary Education, I went on to work in my family business for 20 years. While there I was able to experience what it truly means to be an entrepreneur. From my first position at the front desk to COO and some CFO responsibilities when I left. Over those years I served clients in the US and International as well. While at the company I went on to achieve a major goal in my life, receiving my MBA. Over those years I worked in client service, leadership, branding, messaging, training, team development, project management, logistics, budgets, finance, operations and execution. I have helped national and international brands, small businesses and entrepreneurs in various industries accelerate their goals, increase their profits and streamline their success.
After such a long time, I finally decided to step out on faith and pursue my passion – speaking, training and teaching! That’s when I launched my company Streamline Success International. A training, strategy and consulting company which houses three brands – Janna B. Speaks, #BOSSMOM University and Streamline Success Strategies. The company’s mission is to empower #BOSSMOMS of faith to triumph over trauma, cultivate resilience and flourish in life and business. The goal is to teach them how to grind differently so they can chase their dreams without sacrificing what they love the most – their family, their time, their freedom or themselves.
Through speeches, digital and physical products, online courses, live events, strategy sessions, mentorship, and retreats, #BOSSMOMS achieve this goal by receiving the tools, training and strategies needed to help them gain clarity for their vision, develop a strategy for monetization, create a roadmap to streamline their success in 30 minutes or less and learn how to grind differently to maximize their time, impact & profits.
What I do isn’t work – it’s my soul’s purpose while I’m here on earth. I was created to help #BOSSMOMS of faith heal from the trauma they’ve endured, cultivate resilience and flourish in life and business. We do so much for so many others, yet many of us never put ourselves first. We settle and become stagnant because of the routine then foster anger, bitterness, and resentment towards ourselves and others. This impacts our home as we shape our legacy in our children. That’s why when I work with my #BOSSMOMS I’m not just impacting one life, I’m impacting a household, marriage and future legacy. This is my passion – my calling and I’m honored to do so as it brings me so much joy!
I’m really excited about two projects I’m currently working on: my Youtube channel @bossupwithahyoka and breath break. My new channel is just in the beginning phases and this is where I talk about faith, healing, business, marriage, being a mom and how to flourish holistically. Breath Break is a free audio download on my website that is a guided meditation because as Moms we all need a moment to just breathe and reduce our stress from all the external and internal weights and pressure we carry from time to time.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Looking back, the three most impactful qualities on my journey were grace, forgiveness, and resiliency. I was always so hard on myself and to be honest, sometimes still am. I would give others more grace then I would give myself. Now I know it’s because I didn’t think I was worthy of it. I had to uproot the faulty negative beliefs, heal and learn how to extend myself grace. This has revolutionized my life and household as I learned how to extend more grace to my children as well. I could never truly move forward in my life until I learned to forgive those that hurt me as well as myself. Forgiveness is truly a freeing experience as you learn that people can only treat you to the level they have been taught or experienced. If they were never loved, how can you expect them to give so much love, unless they made up their mind they would be different. I had to come to this understanding and forgive so I could be free and flourish. Last but not least is resiliency. I had a choice, I could stay stuck in my ways and remain a victim of my circumstances and trauma, OR choose to understand that everything happened to me for a reason. It made me who I am – more compassionate, understanding, welcoming, loving. It made me persevere and keep going no matter what! Do I quit sometimes? Absolutely! Do I want to give up? Sometimes yes. Do I fail? Who doesn’t? However, I keep getting back up and pushing forward. This builds resilience because the vision and the mission is bigger than you.
So, if you are early on your journey I would encourage you to extend grace to yourself. Remove the stress of the imaginary life calendar and timeline that is keeping you bound and know that everything happens exactly when it is supposed to happen. You will make mistakes and fail. And that’s okay. Learn from them and grow. It’s all part of the journey. Also, forgive anyone who has ever hurt or disappointed you, including yourself. It frees your mind as well as the blessings that are waiting for you. Cultivate resilience in your life by staying grateful and determined. Remember you were created for a purpose that ONLY YOU can do. So do it and impact the lives you were called to serve.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
My ideal client is a purpose driven #BOSSMOM of faith. She is between the ages of 35-55, married or single, with 2 or more children 12 and under. She is either a BOSS at the office, an entrepreneur (2-3 years or greater in business), speaker, author, coach, thought leader or expert and wants to go after what she wants without sacrificing what she loves the most – her family, time, freedom or herself.
She loves what she does and who she is becoming, however, deep within she knows she is called to greater. Because of the known and unknown impacts of unhealed trauma, she is secretly suffering in silence, even though she looks like she has it all together. As a creative and a visionary, she has 1,001 ideas and the notebooks to prove it, but doesn’t know where to start or becomes overwhelmed and stuck due to lack of clarity.
She has made up in her mind that enough is enough and is ready to:
1. Heal from the past hurt, shame and guilt
2. Triumph over trauma so it will no longer impact her marriage, motherhood, business or life.
3. Cultivate resiliency to unleash her greatness.
4. Invest in herself and her dreams.
5. Gain the clarity around her idea and a game plan to get there so she can execute what she is called to do.
6. Do the work!
I absolutely love what I do and am passionate about my clients journey and their success. They’re not just another number to me but someone I genuinely care about as well as their well being. I walk with them on their journey as a Sherpa, coach, mentor, teacher, and prayer warrior so relationships and having the right connection matters to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.iamahyoka.com
- Instagram: @jannabspeaks @bossmomuniv
- Facebook: @jannabspeaks
- Youtube: @bossupwithahyoka
- Other: [email protected] for speaking engagements
Image Credits
Just AB
