Meet Mary Kate Santulli

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mary Kate Santulli. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mary Kate below.

Mary Kate, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

Imposter syndrome is one of the hardest challenges to over come! When I received my Reiki Master Teacher attunement, I thought…”this is it! Now I will be divined with all the knowledge and healing wisdom of the Universe!” Trust me, that is not what happened! After the attunement, I did feel energy moving through my body in a more profound way but in terms of knowledge and wisdom…not so much. So began the journey of learning everything I could about the nature of energy, consciousness and the subtle energy system. I went from teacher to teacher learning and taking classes. This went on for a few years…all the while I would down play that I was a Reiki Master Teacher because I did not feel worthy of the title. I was experiencing a severe case of imposter syndrome…or “little e”…the part of the ego that tells you…you are not good enough…everyone knows more than you…how could you think you have enough knowledge to start teaching people. This is contrast to “BIG E”…the part of the ego that tells you…You are the smartest person here, you can run circles around everyone, you are freaking amazing!” The sweet spot in life is finding your balance between BIG E and little e.

One day soon after I opened my first store, a colleague came to me and said, “Mary Kate, its time to stop collecting certificates and credentials and its time to start sharing your knowledge.” I felt like someone had just slapped me awake. Of course she was right, I had all kinds of certificates in the esoteric realm. Along the way, I became certified in aromatherapy, natural body care, vibrational pendulum healing, crystal healing, spiritual counseling…just to name a few! Yet with all these certifications, I still did not feel worthy of title of Master Teacher (lets face it, anything with the word Master in it, sounds really important). Sure, I had a robust Reiki practice with many loyal clients but could I train others to do Reiki? Little e still plagued me.

Not long after that conversation, I had another Reiki Master Teacher came to me and asked me why I wasn’t attuning people to Reiki. I made up a lame excuse to which she replied, let’s do it together. I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or or scared. I really looked up to this energy healer….maybe even did a little Fan Girling, putting her on a pedestal. Little e circled back around with doubts: “If we worked together she might find out that I am sham…that I don’t have the Reiki chops…and who knows what else??? In spite of my spine tingling fear, I pushed little e aside and said yes to her offer. When the day came, we had 19 students to attune to Reiki. She went over how she attunes people and I realized that not only did I know as much as her about the process, I actually knew more! Now, I don’t say that with a BIG E, I say it almost with awe…could it be that I actually do know what I am doing? Could it be that I have earned my chops? Could it be that I am worthy of title Master Teacher? In that one day, I knew that I was not an imposter, I actually did know what I was doing. The little e that plagued me for years miraculously dissolved that day and was replaced with confidence and a balanced ego.

It took years for me to step into my power as a teacher and healer. I was finally able to overcome imposter syndrome when I realized that “BIG E” is really just a cover for “little e”…we all feel insecure and less than when we start something new. The key is continue practicing and learning to build your confidence.. Confidence is like a muscle that needs exercise and care. You build your confidence by working on your craft, learning and then finally sharing your knowledge and wisdom with others. Today, I am confident when I tell people I am a Reiki Master Teacher, Aromatherapist, Natural Body Care Formulator and Energy Healer.

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?

Hello, My name is Mary Kate Santulli, I am serial entrepreneur who owns three spiritually based businesses. My original business is Little Flower Essential Oil Blends, a natural body care company dedicated to making all natural products with the highest quality ingredients and imbued with Reiki energy. Here is how I began my journey as a spiritual entrepreneur…

Little Flower grew out of a personal journey I unwittingly began in 2013. At that time, I was (and still am) married to my best friend and partner in everything, Keith. We had (and still do) three amazing children who are now young adults. We lived (and still do) in a quaint small town in New Jersey where your neighbors are your friends….they shovel your driveway when you are ill, set up meal trains when your family is in crisis and come over for barbeques and a dip in the pool in the summer. Sounds idyllic, right? It is! Yet back in 2013 I could not see all of the amazing aspects of my life…I just felt numb and I did not know why. I soon discovered that it was not outside forces that were making me unhappy, they were inner ones. So, I began a journey which went inward to discover why I felt anxious and numb through most of my life.
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That journey led me to practicing Reiki to help alleviate “the symptoms”. I soon discovered a whole new world of “tools” that could help me. Reiki led me to essential oils which led me to natural body care and meditation. It has been a beautifully slippery slope of “tools” to help me discover who I was always meant to be. On the journey I became a Reiki Master Teacher, a Clinical Aromatherapist, and certified in natural skin care formulation. When I put all of these beautiful modalities together, Little Flower Essential Oil Blends was born. The name Little Flower comes from St. Therese of Lisieux or “The Little Flower”. She believed in simplicity in her devotions and service to God. Her “little way” made a huge impact on the world. In a similar way, I hoped my little contribution to the world would help to raise the vibration of this planet we inhabit. My products resonated with the local community and soon what began in my kitchen needed a home of its very own.

In 2021 I was blessed to open The Curious Heart Apothecary & Spiritual Center in Westfield, NJ. In this sweet little space I began offering products and services to help people on their spiritual journey. I also began running workshops to help people begin to manage and care for their own subtle energy. I also began collaborating with other spiritual solopreneurs, hosting them and their offerings. Requests for collaborations continued to grow and I knew it was a matter of time before I needed a larger space. In August 2024, the opportunity came my way and I moved the retail part of my business to the center of the community I grew up in, Cranford, New Jersey. This new space included all of my natural body care, crystals, candles, spiritual books and card decks. I invited in other artists as consignors selling their art and hand made jewelry. A real community began to form around The Curious Heart.

While the retail business in Cranford gained momentum, the service and events end also continued to grow, with more and more people looking for space to practice their healing modalities. I made the decision over this past summer not to renew my lease in Westfield to look for a larger space where I could host more solopreneurs and run even more community events. My vision is a sort of “spiritual we-work” where practitioners have their own business under my roof. My vision came to reality quickly! In August I signed a lease for a 4,000 square foot former doctor’s office. The space has 10 individual rooms plus a larger room for events. Although I was very nervous to take on such a monumental undertaking, I pushed through my anxiety and said yes to the Universe’s offer. With the support of my husband and now business partner, we opened The Curious Heart Spiritual Healing Center in September of this year. We have 12 individual practitioners. who have signed year-long leases, sharing their holistic modalities plus we run larger events, such as, sound healing, meditation, intuitive development workshops and more.

I am so blessed and excited to help individual holistic practitioners share their gifts with our community. I truly believe that it doesn’t take big acts to create change, circling back to my Littler Flower notion, performing small acts of kindness sends the ripple effect out into the community, helping to raise the vibration of our local community, which in turn, ripples out to the world. Helping people find their passion and soul purpose is a big part of that mission and I am so humble and grateful to be a resource for people on their spiritual journey.

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?

The three biggest qualities or skills that helped me on my path were
(1) Curiosity~I did name my second business The Curious Heart! Curiosity has been the driving force to push me to learn more about my field. If it weren’t for being curious, I think my life would look completely different today.
(2) Intuition~While my left brain, the fact checker is very important, it has been my intuition, my gut that has led on my journey. Every time my intuition has directed me to do something, I have leaned in despite my fear and I have been the better for it. Don’t underestimate the power of intuitive abilities, they are God given and meant for us to use!
(3) Determination~My dad used to have a saying, “I’m not in this to be a loser.” This phrase works for pretty much everything…from opening a bottle of ketchup to overcoming cancer (which my dad did). Every time I feel like I’m at a dead end, I think of that phrase and it emboldens me to dust myself off and start again.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

My number one challenge that I am currently facing is trying to do it all and be in two places at once. I am a very hands on business owner, I do it all from making the natural body care products, to creating reels for IG to cleaning the bathroom. There isn’t anything that is “beneath me”. Since opening the Spiritual Healing Center, I have had to begin to scale back my day to day involvement at my Cranford space. I recently promoted a trusted sales clerk to the position of store manager. I am giving her a lot of my day to day duties, such as, inventory, purchasing, merchandising, managing staff, doing time sheets. and making some of my natural body care products This is a big step for me since I was solopreneur for so long…I am so used to doing everything…and doing it my way. I have to let people do things their way and leave room for collaboration. The only thing they can’t do is mess with my natural body care formulations! Those must be done my way! Lol!

I am also training someone to manage the day to day operations at the Spiritual Center. Again, this isn’t easy since this is really just a new baby for me…I want to be there all the time but I have to step back and delegate. As my husband says, “delegate or die”…you can’t do it all!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Craig Smith Photography, Mary Kate Santulli

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