We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Taina Brown a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Taina, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
After living most of my life being gaslit by society into thinking there was something irreparably wrong with me (hello, imposter syndrome!), I found a profound sense of empowerment and freedom while studying feminist politics and philosophy during my time at Agnes Scott College. It wasn’t easy or an overnight process by any means, but the more I studied the works of feminist icons like Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and Gloria Anzalduá, the more I felt like I was learning a language that adequately expressed the nuances of my lived experiences. TI eventually got the place where I realized that imposter syndrome is triggered when I don’t feel like I can be myself because of any internal or external expectations that don’t fully align with my values or core beliefs as a person; expectations that that didn’t align with my identity. Once I could tap into that knowledge, I found myself becoming more and more grounded in who I was and who I wanted to be. I also realized that the journey to self-awareness is just that–a journey, not a destination, so no pressure to get it perfectly right all the time.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I became a life coach because it seemed like the best way for me to merge my passion for helping people find a sense of purpose that is aligned with their values and their identities. Feminist principles are the cornerstone of my method and I wanted to be sure people knew that about me from the very start so I began calling myself The Feminist Life Coach. My practice is highly experimental! I love trying new things out based on my intuition and feedback from previous clients and connections online. My latest is the 2024 Mini Mastermind that is almost totally asynchronous for busy and burned out millennials. My consistent offerings are one-time strategic sessions to help folks dial in to their core values and working with clients one-on-one in 3-month or 6-month increments.
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?
My advice if you’re trying to figure out how to get through imposter syndrome is to stop what you’re doing and focus on these three things instead:
1. Find your core values–the ones that are so intrinsic to your identity that they rarely change over time
2. Audit your activities (life, work, relationships, etc) based on these values to see where you can dive deeper and what to let go of
3. Reset often to stay in alignment
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
One piece of writing that I go back to often is “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power” by Audre Lorde. In it, she describes this creative energy that we all have inside of us to create lives and communities that are fulfilling. I go back to it often and use it in my coaching practice with my clients as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tainambrown.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/taina.m.brown
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/tainambrown
- Other: Podcasts I’ve been featured in: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/46cPETvQb8ZTf5pIhsnCCF?si=f7f91a127a0e4bda
Image Credits
Photos by: Alex Toy
