Meet Vanessa LeMaistre

We were lucky to catch up with Vanessa LeMaistre recently and have shared our conversation below.

Vanessa, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
I developed my self-confidence and self-esteem by believing in something greater than me. It was by believing in the force within- my soul. Going beyond ego. I struggled most of my life with low self-esteem due to early childhood abuse and trauma. I learned early on how to mask my low self-esteem. However, deep inside, I was not feeling confident. I went through a phase of just trying to look confident as I thought people would believe that I was actually confident. But this never changed how I truly felt within. And that was lame. I wanted to be confident for real. So for me, it started about 12 years ago when I began my self-love journey. I began getting into yoga, so much so that I took trainings to get certified as a yoga teacher and even went to India to further my studies. Whenever I would get on my mat, I would set the intention of “I am confident”, and because this is a mind, body, and soul practice, I was breathing this mantra throughout my movements. There’s a saying in yoga that says, how you show up to one thing is how you show up to everything. I would show up on my mat at least 5 days a week and move with the intention of confidence. I began to improve my self-image. I began meditating and really focusing on my self-care. For everyone this looks different but a few things that helped me with my self-care on my self-love journey is learning to have self-compassion, telling myself positive affirmations in front of the mirror, practicing meditation as a daily practice in my life, taking myself out on dates, spending time in nature such as going on hikes frequently, and connecting with my inner child and asking her what she needed from me. I would show up- for me. This is how I developed my confidence and self-esteem.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m from Tropical Miami, FL and I am Haitian American with mixed heritage. I moved to L.A. 10 years ago and now it definitely feels like a 2nd home for me. I am Caribbean at heart as this is how I was raised. Throughout my spiritual journey, I have cultivated an appreciation of reconnecting to my roots. I truly believe the more we connect to our roots and ancestry, we are better connecting with Self and in turn others. I am passionate about life, traveling, fine dining, learning from others, and having new experiences. I am an advocate, a healer, and a public speaker.

I am a giving soul who enjoys guiding folks through my sessions. My Business SoulXO was birthed during Covid and at the time it started off with positive intention soy candles and tarot readings. Now we are expanding and I feel there will be much more to come in the future.

Currently SoulXO offers tarot readings and mediumship where I help connect to your loved ones who have passed on to the other side. I offer shamanic drumming healing circles, healing circles to cultivate Divine Feminine Energy, I host a podcast called Believe in Your Soul and I offer intuitive coaching sessions where I help you develop your personal intuition.

SoulXO is currently getting into e-Commerce and selling products such as a new hair line called SoulXO Hair for all the spiritual baddies, we are offering raw virgin Indian hair bundles. We are selling a new aura line with sprays that bring specific manifestations into your life such as a protection spray, an attraction spray and an abundance spray. These are not perfumes but for emanating your energy and aura to attract these things more into your life. We also have gold plated evil eye jewelry, specifically bracelets and evil eye necklaces. I have a few e-books for sale including one on yoga and another on the powerful Amazonian plant medicine- Ayahuasca.

I also just launched my book that I have been working on for 10 years called Believe in Your Soul. My book can be found on my website: www.soulxo.online or on Amazon.

What I feel is most special about what I do is the energy SoulXO brings. I have seen my work help bring life changing guidance for people dealing with all types of serious situations. I love being a messenger and guide for others while growing through life. I’m excited for all that SoulXO will evolve into as it feels like a breathing living energy of its own. It is creative, unique, powerful and expansive. One branch in the umbrella of SoulXO is Goddesses Reclaiming Power where there are big visions for where this will go with the future of helping folks connect more with their Divine Feminine Energy as our world is growing through a rebirthing process. My hope is for SoulXO to be an authentic contributor to this new world that is birthing and to always be sustainable so SoulXO can contribute to the needs of others.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back, three qualities or areas of knowledge that I find to have been most impactful in my journey are: First and foremost always connecting with a Higher Power. From an early age when I found out that I didn’t have a father in my life, I decided God/ Source Energy was going to be my Father. I found this to be helpful throughout my journey because it helped me to go deeper. It was always a reference that my mission in life is bigger than me. Secondly, I would say my resilience. You need grit to make it in life. Life will always throw hurdles our way, it’s how do we deal with them? Oftentimes, when we are on the verge of success, there will be more obstacles to overcome. In order to get through these things, it requires you to have the inner strength and faith that you can keep going. throughout my life, the times I needed resilience the most, I was always able to access it due to prior situations that have called for me to be resilient. Over the years, it has only gotten stronger. Having this skill is always helpful for me because there are times when I will get tired, where I will want to give up and I gotta keep going. You can’t buy resilience. It builds within you. Resilience breeds confidence. Last but not least, I would say a quality of knowledge that has been most impactful on my journey is the growth of my self-love. That inner journey of reminding myself that I got my back, that I love myself, that I will ride for me at the beginning, middle and at the end of the day. Being on my self-love journey is so impactful for me because everybody is not going to like me, that’s just reality. I’ve got to make sure I like me and that I am not compromising myself to look for validation outside of myself. The more I am able to love myself along my journey is the more I am able to be in alignment with what I am here to do on the green and blue planet. This also helps me to remember to always go after my dreams so that I never have to live with regret. Life is too short, I’m going to be all that I came here to be.

What I would say to folks who are early in their journey is to always remember your why. What is the reason for why you want to do what you want to do. And to then decide to do it with unwavering faith. I would say to understand you are on a journey when it comes to self-love. It is a relearning process of remembering who you are and a new process of bigging yourself up and cheering yourself on. This is about your personal growth journey. This is your rebirthing process. I’d also suggest to never be afraid to die to your old self so you can always be in a constant rebirthing process of transformation. Life is not linear and we cannot control everything in our lives, so believe in yourself and believe in something greater than you. Be gentle with yourselves as you are healing. Healing is healthy. And it is a journey- a beautiful one that will look differently for everyone. The more you heal, the more you can show up and be in alignment with what you came here to do. You’ll become more in alignment with who you’re meant to be. Trust yourself and trust your path. It is unique for a reason.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
One obstacle I am currently facing within my business is obtaining resources for expansion. People sometimes think that because your line of work is in the spiritual field, it cannot be a monetary business and that is quite the opposite. We are living in a material world and the more resources I have, the more I am better able to focus fully on my work. I am currently looking for investors to invest seed capital into my business SoulXO. Considering the wellness industry is a trillion dollar growing business, it is not something we will be short of in the future. This is an ever expanding industry and as a BIPOC female entrepreneur, and being a part of the 0.3% of minority entrepreneurs that are able to raise capital, this in itself is an obstacle. I want to be a part of the difference. It’s not often that we see BIPOC female entrepreneurs and yet alone within the wellness industry. I want to represent for other female BIPOC identifying people that they too can be a powerful spiritual guide And have a successful business while doing so. What I am doing to face this obstacle is I am putting myself out there to investors and perfecting my pitch deck. By putting myself out there, I am hoping to raise the seed capital I am needing to expand my business to the level I know it can and will grow to. I have big visions for SoulXO and the umbrella/Queendom of an empire it will one day become. I don’t just want to help a small amount of people. I want to positively impact and guide the lives of many. I know how difficult life can be at times and sometimes we are simply needing that extra confirmation we already know; but need to know that we know. Sometimes it’s the evil eye jewelry or the intention candles that we need to make our journeys feel more peaceful and harmonious. In order for SoulXO to expand into all that it can grow into, we will need investments and we are facing this head on and going after what we want. I’m also staying optimistic throughout this process. I’ve always felt like, if others can do it, so can I. So why not go after all of my dreams and help bring a better world to others. Even if it’s not in the biggest way, for me what’s important is access. Can people access what I have to offer? Can this business be sustainable in the world of wellness. Especially considering the wellness industry has a lot of frauds. Knowing I am a real one, it is important for me to honor my calling fully and to do what it will take for me to get where I am going in serving community in the world. I refuse to let limits stand in my way. One day I will look back and be proud of myself for believing in me.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
The Nosy Hubgarian Ig: @thenosyhungarian

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