Meet Lindsay Love

We were lucky to catch up with Lindsay Love recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lindsay, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?
Coalition building is huge. When you’re the only one in the room, you aren’t just speaking on behalf of yourself. It’s an opportunity to uplift other voices. Those who might not have a seat. When I served on the school board, I met with local leaders, organizations, parents and students who aren’t ordinarily heard. That does come with its drawbacks because my fellow board members and district staff would challenge me often because it was outside of what they usually heard. However, it was also a unique opportunity to organize people to show up and amplify their voices from where I sat on the dais.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I opened my private practice, TherapyLuv, PLLC, in August of 2020 with the goal of prioritizing healing for historically marginalized people who often are excluded from wellness narratives. Since then, I’ve added 3 associate therapists, all Black Indigenous Women of Color, who prioritize trauma work with diverse populations. I’m excited to work with these 3 very dynamic ladies and help them grow and expand so that they can plant the seeds of healing within their own communities. Iliamari is passionate about working with first responders and their families–coming from a first responder family herself. Her and Amber, both moms, are passionate about working to support families in overcoming perinatal and postnatal mental health struggles. Carla loves working with children and adolescents and has a passion for art and play therapy. All of the ladies are focused on being inclusive in their practice and I am excited to work and learn from them as much as they are excited to work and learn from me. I see TherapyLuv as a launching pad for therapist from historially marginalized groups who are invested in bringing back necessary skills and tools to heal their communities and impact the future generations by breaking the cycle of generational trauma. Our legacies are very important to all of us. I expanded supervision services outside of my practice to make sure other clinicians have opportunities to grow clinically that they may not have in a community behavioral health setting. It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it at the end of the day.

I am also apart of the 2nd cohort of Highland Leaders, where I’ll be provided with $100,000 of direct, unrestricted capital, the community and the support to scale my legacy vision. I am planning big things for the future and I cannot wait to launch these ideas so that I can continue to make my mark.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Networking is very important–you never know what connections you might make that help open doors for you.

Learning to listen to my body and what it needs–this whole operation crumbles if my body isn’t getting what it needs. Psst…it’s not diets and wellness shakes. Success is being curious about what my body is trying to communicate to me when my neck and shoulders hurt? It’s not suppressing when I am hungry and recognizing when I am full. It’s getting enough good sleep at night. It’s movement, storytelling and expression. These are the healing ways of our ancestors and I am firmly rooted in that

The last thing would be aligning yourself with people who increase your energy and sharpen your intuition. When people drain me and create a lot of static in my life, I am less connected and in tune with my environment. I need that connection to my environment and to my ancestors to move forward. If I stop moving, then I need to re-evaluate what’s blocking me.

I am a therapist who firmly believes in the power of therapy and I see a therapist who has helped me be successful in every one of these things. When I am feeling like nobody is going to want to meet with me because I am painfully mediocre, she challenges that part of me that tends to cripple me with impostor syndrome. When my body is aching, she invites me to be curious about what trauma I might be carrying around? Or if the trauma I am carrying around is mine or my ancestors. When I am talking about a conflict with a friend, she challenges me to think how this person might be subtracting from my life? You need a therapist or a coach to challenge you and currently, I have 1 therapist and 2 coaches. I look forward to my time with each of them because time is where I get compassionately challenged. I grow a lot from them.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
My parents paid for my undergrad because they had to work to pay their way through school and wanted to remove that barrier for me and my siblings. I got loans for graduate school, but they gave me a place to live during that time and my parents even put in on a couple of books here or there. Education is very important to them and was very important to my grandparents and great grandparents. My parents helped me with a legacy project recently where they told me about the barriers my great grandparents and grandparents faced in trying to obtain their education. Each generation helped to get the next generation a little further in some way–from my great grandfather Jones who helped build the first colored school in his area so my grandmother and her siblings could go to school, to my parents paying for my education and me serving on the school board in the district where my nieces and nephews attended. Education is important to my legacy.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
@noemipossible

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Highlighter Series
Katarina Castro on Merging Art, Hip-Hop, and Activism to Fight for Orca Freedom

Inspired by Blackfish and a deeply personal spiritual connection to the ocean, Katarina Castro has transformed

Highlighter Series
Linda Storm on Blending Myth, Music, and Memory to Create an Immersive Cultural Haven

Linda Storm’s work is a deeply personal fusion of Mythical Realism, storytelling, and music —

Highlighter Series
Nicole Conn on Blending Music, Obsession, and Love in a High-Stakes World of Piano Competition

Inspired by years of watching elite piano competitions with her mother, Nicole Conn crafted Descending Thirds