We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Julian Crosson-Hill. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Julian below.
Julian, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
I was a super shy and introverted child. I had terrible social anxiety, which affected how confident I felt. However, my mother was a stay-at-home mom who did a lot to help me feel more confident in my abilities. She used to tell me that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. She also said that you can’t achieve big if you don’t dream big.
We also moved a lot for my father’s job, so I had to learn how to adjust to meeting new classmates and getting acquainted with a new school. Over time, that process got more manageable, and I felt more comfortable dealing with social situations.
In my late 20s, I started to step into leadership roles in my spiritual community. This wasn’t entirely by choice, but the result was the same. Being thrust into leading groups, I had to learn to speak confidently. Over the many years I spent in these roles, I developed a stronger and more robust sense of self-confidence.
As I began training to be a life coach, I discovered human design. While there’s a lot to human design, the core message of human design is that we are each wonderfully unique and that what makes us unique is our greatest gift. This changed how I felt about aspects of myself that I had previously considered weaknesses.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I started my business, Priest of Inanna, LLC, when I was certified as a yoga teacher. I wanted to do my teaching as a separate business, and I was teaching a lot of spiritual workshops in addition to teaching yoga. After becoming a life coach, my business morphed to include coaching, human design, spiritual retreats, and workshops.
I’m an ICF-certified spiritual life & business coach. I help people rediscover the magic of simply being who they are and use their magic to change the world. Most of us felt magical as children. We didn’t question who we were or try to be someone else, but we lost our magic somewhere along our road to adulthood. I help my clients rediscover that magic because it is powerful and needed.
As a gay man, I’ve noticed that gay and bisexual men rediscover some of that magic when coming out and then lose it again as others tell them to be less femme, get thin, or be someone else. There are also a lot of expectations and judgments we tend to bring to our interactions within the gay community, creating division and hurt. As a result, I launched a website (https://www.queerspirituality.net) for gay and bi men where I provide coaching, a group community-building program that addresses the expectations and judgments we carry, and spiritual retreats. I’m hosting a retreat in October at Oakwood Retreat Center in Selma, IN, focusing on honoring our queer spirit ancestors, who have gone before us and made being out LGBTQ+ people possible today.
I also host and produce two podcasts – Answer Your Unique Calling and The Queer Spirituality Podcast.
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?
I think the three qualities that have propelled me forward on my own journey are empathy, an unquenchable desire for knowledge, and intuition. I’ve always had a great deal of empathy, which has helped me connect with other people on a deep level. As a coach, I understand how things impact others and where they might be struggling, which has helped me be more helpful to them. I’m also a perpetual student. I’m always reading books or taking classes because I feel driven to learn more and more. Finally, I trust my gut. In my previous career as a software engineering leader, it allowed me to make great hires, and in my business, it helped me discover better ways to do things.
My advice for someone early in their journey is to try always to put yourself in the other person’s place. If we want to create a kinder, better world, we must start by leading from a place of empathy. Secondly, trust your gut. We all have intuition, and allowing it will guide us in the right direction. It’s not always easy to trust your intuition; it takes practice. The more you learn to trust it, the more it shows up for you. Practice, practice, practice! Finally, never stop learning. There will always be something else interesting to learn. Follow what lights you up.
Are you looking for folks to partner or collaborate with? If so, describe the sorts of folks you are looking to collaborate with and how they can connect with you if they are reading this and want to collaborate.
I am always interested in partnering or collaborating with other spiritually-minded entrepreneurs. Our current economy, based on perpetual growth and competition, is destroying our planet and creating an unhealthy culture of hustle and grind. I believe in a more collaborative economy in which we all win.
Having said that, I like to collaborate with other coaches, teachers, speakers, and authors through podcast interviews, summits, offering a program together, or running retreats. I’m interested in working with people that have humility, aren’t afraid to color outside the lines, and believe in the inherent worth and magic of others. I’m especially interested in partnering with LGBTQ+ practitioners that recognize the need for a community of more connection and empathy. However, I work with various people and am interested in partnerships that match my brand and vibe. If it’s empowering and helps someone feel confident being who they are, I’m probably interested.
The best way to reach me about a potential collaboration or partnership is to visit my websites https://www.priestofinanna.com or https://www.queerspirituality.net and use the contact form. I’d love it if you could include a few details of what you have in mind.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.priestofinanna.com https://www.queerspirituality.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/priestofinanna
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/priestofinanna
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcrossonhill/
