S1E32 - Ashley Brooke James - Mindfulness in Action

This week I sit down with Ashley Brooke James, co-founder of Triluna, a Nashville based experiential wellness agency that helps corporations and organizations across the country build deep meaningful connections in an effort to increase well-being and engagement at their events, meetings and retreats.

Ashley is a bright light whose smile immediately fills your heart with joy, love and and an overwhelming sense of peace.  During our time together, Ashley shares about her upbringing in the south, with a strong set of family values and support that played a huge role in her success.  Her journey is like so many others yet her strong sense of self and unyielding commitment to helping others propelled her through some tough times and palpable burnout into a current space of peace, mindfulness & gratitude.  This fierce, but beautiful soul has a greater purpose to fulfill and she is out to pay it forward tenfold.   

Through her work and her personal life Ashley transforms environments that are typically stagnant and lacking direction into safe spaces of love, inclusion and celebration.  She is a change-maker out to build deep, meaningful relationships that will not only change the lives of those she comes in contact with, but the lives of others out in the world.   From down dogs to donuts, there isn't anything this remarkable human being won't do to help you reset your brain ... and world. 

You can learn more about Ashely's agency here: https://www.trilunawellness.com

You can find her Wellness Community Magic podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wellness-community-magic/id1540170129

Thank you for joining us and we can't wait to welcome you back again next week! New episodes drop every Thursday and can be found wherever you find your favorite podcasts!

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Want to learn more about our host, Eric Nicoll? Visit: https://ericnicoll.com

Transcript

0:02

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Just2u podcast. My name is Eric Nicole, and I'm your host. If you are a first time listener, welcome to the conversation. And if you're a regular, I'm honored that you've decided to join me for another episode. The Just2u podcast is centered around a network of conversations which are meant to connect us, to inspire us, to find our own confidence, our own voice, and to live our own truth. And who knows, we might even learn a little something new that ultimately allows us. to live in the sweet spot that I like to call the just you, you space of being. Each week I have the privilege of sitting down for unscripted conversations with friends, family, colleagues, community leaders, and influencers that all share their own personal journeys. I hope that you enjoy our time together as much as I have. We are certainly going to laugh, and yes we might even cry a little, but in the end we're going to know that we're not alone during our life's journey. So are you ready? Great. Let's do this. Welcome to the conversation. All right, everyone. We are just going to jump right into today's conversation because I am so excited to introduce you to my guest. My guest is one of those people that you meet along your journey. And after your experience with them, you may wake up the next morning and say, what the hell just happened? So this is my experience with my guest, Ashley Brook James. Hi, Ashley. Hi, how are you? I'm so good. Was that, was that an appropriate description of her? Absolutely. The best description ever. You're welcome. You're welcome. So, Ashley and I recently met. And we're going to talk a little bit about where we met, but before we do that and get into our conversation I'm going to give you a little bit of background on Ashley. I, as I do, when I invite guests on to come talk, I do my research. I spend a lot of time on Instagram. I spend time on websites and I really dig into, especially on the Instagram side, looking at the lifestyle and not, I don't mean lifestyle in that particular respect, but the life that the person's living. Through their social media. And I get a lot out of that. And one of the things that I noticed about Ashley, is that not only do you have the most beautiful smile, which connects people instantly, I don't know if this will make sense, but when you aren't smiling and some of your photos are gorgeous and you're not smiling, but it makes you happy. So we're going to talk about that because I think that comes from the kind of mindfulness conversation we're going to have. But before we do this, I want to just read this because you are the founder of Triluna wellness you're going to talk about your co founder and how this came about, but you actually plan and you staff and you manage really custom tailored, unique wellness and community enhancements for people. Transformative, impactful events. You and I are both in the events and meetings industry. You are both a planner and also a supplier. We'll talk about that a little bit, but what I loved when I read about the core values of Triluna is this, I'm going to read this, but I think it's important to set the tone for the conversation. So your core values guide your policies and they inform your everyday actions. And they create the foundation of each and every one of your events. And an event can be, as we talk about our conversation today, can either be a corporate event. It could also be, I think, a gathering with friends at home. It can be a gathering at friends at the yoga studio or on your walk, but. When you talk about the core values, they're not just pie in the sky, which I love that you say that they're not corporate jargon to you. They're everything. And here's what I want to make a strong point to mention. You believe that diversity and community matter. Wellness is more than self care. True wellbeing happens at the intersection of self care, access, environment, and community. And I love this. We are only as well. Our community as well. Your wellness is grounded in mental well being. Health should support your life, not consume it. You believe everyone is deserving of the kind of wellness that fits their lifestyle in realistic and sustainable ways that prioritize mental health. What works for one person may not work for another. I love this next statement, context, background, and preference matter. And then you understand that the way we gather matters and that people want to feel safe, included, and celebrated. And what you do as a company, and I think this is going to be the context of a lot of our conversation today, is you go beyond the expectation to curate activations and encourage people to build meaningful relationships, engage with their community, and uncover the wellness that works for them. So I know that was a lot, but when I read that, it really not only made me understand you and the energy that I felt from you, the moment that we met, it also made me realize that you and in the construct of your personality, day to day work, which I think is obviously very rewarding, is changing the way that people connect. And that's what this podcast was all about. It was about reconnecting people. So first of all, congratulations on an accomplishment that many would run from. Right. That's a big statement that I just read. So let's talk a little bit about you. I want to hear from you. I want to stop talking. Take us back a little bit to the beginning, let people know who you are, where you came from, and let's start there. Does that work? Yeah, absolutely. From the time I was young, young Ashley, I literally was always, my mom calls me her social butterfly to this day. I grew up with my cousins. I always had a lot of best friends. My dad would always say, everybody can't be your best friend. And then I'm like, watch me. I was very, I always had a vision. I always was a leader. I was never afraid. I was, my mom always said, you're also, you also think that you're invincible. And what she meant by that was like, I would challenge my parents when I was young on just different things to find out things. But I think a lot of who I am today is who I was as a child. When I talk about the leader aspect. Well, my cousins would stay the night. I would arrange the activities that would take like before they would even get to my house We would play parties We would do this. We're gonna eat popcorn and watch this movie Like it was in me from the beginning. We're gonna sit in the middle. I'm, sorry. Where do you think that came from? My parents always making me feel that I could do anything that I put my mind to. My parents never told me that I couldn't never do anything. Were you an only child? No, I'm the youngest. Oh, oh, well there, there it is. There's the planner. And my brothers even say that I act older than them. Whenever we're all three together, they're like, They just assume that I'm going to be the one that, like, takes care of everything. Parents, birthdays, dinners, family, all of that. And so, It just started very young. I was always very active. I played every sport until my parents were like, you got to figure out what sports you actually want to play. So I settled on basketball and softball. But what I remember about those times the most, it was less about the sport. It was more about my friendships, right? Like, in most of these cases, it was. I went to, I lived on the outskirts. I grew up in Tennessee and East Tennessee in Knoxville near the Smoky Mountains. And the South is very, I mean, this is just what it is. It's very white and particularly where I grew up. And so I grew up with a lot of white girls and I was usually the only. What I remember through that is that they created safe spaces for me. I played basketball, soccer softball with the same group of girls, and we were a community. And Their parents never made me feel any type of way. And now that I'm older, my mom has discussions with me about why she let me stay at certain people's house because of the, like the communication and relationships that she had with their parents. And so I, I mean, I didn't know it then I was in a safe space. That I wanted to always create for people that might not have always felt included. And so I have always been outgoing A lot of my best friends are opposite of that. And so I always, whenever, you know, getting into high school football games, getting into college, if they were nervous about something, I was the hype girl. I'm going to hype you up. I'm the friend. That is going to remind you of your values and who you are and try to make you not ever feel judged because who am I to judge you? Everybody needs a safe space just to be who they are. One of my first friends in college was a gay black man and he, he wasn't out yet. It came out to me because I tried to just allow him to be who, who he was. And so I think just at the core of. Who I am from what I was given at such a young age, I was always trying to create that for other people. My question real quick. I'm sorry. Let me ask you a question real quick. Sorry. This doesn't mean to interrupt, but this is just so brilliant. So do you think that your youth would have been different? Had you not had that community of sports with those girls? If you, does that make sense? Yes. I do, but I don't because I still have that community with my cousins, because I was in a white community. My mom was very intentional about making sure that I was connected to what was going on that supported young black youth. And so I was in the Jack and Jill's I was me and my cousins were meeting up. And so I think I would have had that but I think what it taught me. Is diversity off the bat? Because you either have the confidence and the posture or you don't At that age, right? And I think or we do have it and then something happens Someone says something and we lose that confidence or we lose that posture And so I asked that question not necessarily from kind of a yes or no, you know black or white kind of and I mean Distinctively, not racially, but distinctively black or white conversation that would you have had that same experience? Because, I think confidence and that posture that resonates with people, you would have that regardless of the community. But what it does is that it actually builds a stronger community. And that if you're that cheerleader that you say that you are in the person, that's always, excuse me, leading the charge, which I saw that, over our weekend together is really impactful for people, especially if you're growing up in a community where you're trying to, I don't mean community, but in a school where you're trying to prove yourself. School is difficult on so many levels. We're finding ourselves, we're finding our voice, we're finding our, our passions, we're, we're developing our, Thought process and our mindfulness, right? I'm going to keep using that word. And I just wondered, you know, for me, I had community, I had band and I had music and I had that, I was a band geek, but you know, I remember being afraid of that confidence and not being able to. To really exercise it, even though that posture was there. And people always said that I had it. We don't see it in ourselves. So I can see that in you as at a very young age was incredibly powerful. But kudos to your mom and your dad for really guiding you in that direction and making sure that you had access to everything, right. And those safe spaces, which, you know, are few and far between these days, and I think it's really important. So go on. Thanks. Thank you for letting me jump in there. Oh, I love that. Thank you because. I'm taking in what you're saying, right? Because like you said, a lot of times we talk and tell our stories, but you reflecting that back to me is like, wow, like, yeah, that is right. So I appreciate you for saying that. And so when I think about, you said something about my parents and the access that they were able to provide. And I think that's something that is very important because Not everybody had that access. Right. And when you get older and we'll get into this a little bit later, when we talk about me and my business partners relationship, we both had access, but access out on different levels. Right. But as I got, you know, and that confidence continued to spew in high school and I challenged myself to place myself in uncomfortable positions. I was great at all the sports because. Naturally, I'm an athletic person. But I wanted to be in concert choir. I wanted to I really, I could keep a, you know, I can keep it Keep a tone. But like I wasn't like some of the girls in my school. I wanted to perform in the like plays and do all of that. And I challenged myself to do that. And I succeeded in that. So I was always even at a young age looking for ways to place myself in different environments to be able to grow. And I can't tell you where that came from. Maybe just kind of watching my mom too, because. I give my mom a lot of credit. She was such a diverse woman. Her friendships were diverse. And I just kind of watched that, how she placed herself in all these different environments. And so into my college life is. When I feel like I, I mean, I went right into the college life, the party and, and all of that. And so it didn't, in the beginning, it was a little woo. So we had to bring it back. Like literally I had to go home and it's time, it's time for Ashley to take a break, time for you to take a break, come home and reground yourself and remember you're it's time for a reset. And so I had to reset, but what that reset did to me is allow me to see the growth that I had already in those two years of being at school. And that, you know, when they tell you when you're the smartest person in the room, or when you have outgrown a situation or area or whatever you have to. And so I came home, I spent time there and what I realized, and like no offense to anyone, but their stories were still the same. And I knew that I wanted my story to be completely different than this. And so, I did. I had to prove to my parents I could get the money I could, you know, like I'm having phone calls with my grandfather like, Hey, I need you to help me out because I have one more year left. We got to do this. I had a job like I remember coming to my parents with a plan I found a place to live. I had a job I. Was going to be able to finish school in a year and a half and I, and that really coming home for me was my transformational grounding moment to realize that there's something bigger in the world. And so I went back to school and I executed because I wanted, again, a different story for myself and my big brother was a, is a huge inspiration to me to this day, both, all of them are, but my oldest brother was the first one to go to college and graduate that I had closeness, right? And so I was able to see his life and what he was able to do. And I wanted to do that, you know, and I saw in my middle brother, yes, he stayed home, But he made a way for himself. His story wasn't the same as all the other locals. He was working, he was building, he was, and so they really inspired me to go back and be different. And so back and I showed up for myself and I was also inspired because. All of my best friends were graduating and moving on with their lives. And so I was like, I don't want to be left behind. So I got myself together. And when I was in college, I actually have a degree, a double degree in education and communication. I worked with children for a very long time. I, my passion is children's welfare. How do we make. How do we make it better for the next generation in all aspects? And so I thought I was going to be a teacher. Then I realized that I wanted to be rich. And that wasn't. Same, same. My mom's a teacher. Same thing. I'm like, yeah, no. I but I knew that that served me because it taught me how to, as a teacher, one of the things your mom probably is really great at is that engagement. How do you bring all of these children from different backgrounds and races and all of that and create safe spaces? So when I was. I mean, I was an after school director. I had my first business when I was in college. I had a literally had a babysitting company. I would contract out my friends to different families. And so what I was doing was again, trying to create safe spaces, not only for the children, But for the parents, right? I wanted them to know that you're leaving your children with the children, with the women that you leave them with for after school program. So basically I took my after school program staff, started a business. And I mean, kind of like trial and error, right? You and I are twins. Oh, good. Okay. Keep going. That was middle school. I mean, that was college. And I, because I wanted to be rich and I graduated at a a weird time in the world. It was 2007 and yeah, that's all I have to say. Right. So what was best was let me try to find like, like maybe a genuine sales job that I can get commissioned and maybe stack up some something for however long, I don't know. And I got my first like real job at Dell computers, they are based here in Nashville, and I worked there for two and a half years. And what that taught me was how to. Present how to talk on the phone, how to sell, how to build relationships, because it's just like what we're doing now, nobody's going to want to buy thousands of dollars of computers from you if you don't have, if they don't feel safe with you over the phone. And so, although I wasn't, Dell was a blessing and a curse. it was a call center, so it was not who I was. I needed to be with the people I needed to, I was chained to a desk. I had time breaks. It literally like drove me crazy, but I was great at building these relationships. So I was a really good salesperson but I didn't want to be there at all. I needed something different. And I don't think I've ever said this on a podcast, but we're getting real. And my parents are here. But it's a safe space. Yeah. It's a safe space. I quit Dell before I even had another job. I'll put that over it. I'm in my twenties. Have my first apartment by myself. I don't know what is going to happen. Like I'm applying for jobs. It's not really working. Cause now we're in 2008, 2009. And I was like, well, what can I do? Well, one of my friends was a store manager at Kato's fashion. And I told her, I need, I need something. I need to keep the light. She hired me and I worked there until I found a job. And during that time, one of my friends invited me to dinner with her family. And her dad was like this it director and, you know, they have a wonderful home and now go to their house and we're having dinner. And I told her dad that I was, you know, looking for a new employment and everything, and he was like, well, I have a recruiter. She mainly works in the it space. What would you like to meet her? I was like, sure. Like, thank you. So I met her literally like two days later. And while I was in this conversation, it was just two people talking. Even when I came in and she said, I just want to talk to you about you kind of like this podcast. Tell me about your experience. Tell me about you. And so when we got done, she looked at me and she said, have you ever thought about being a recruiter? And Like doing what I do. And I was like, no, I didn't even know this was a job. Like I yes. I worked deal. I was making, so I made it like I'm not an IT person. I used to say that. Then I was like, I was just selling people on You know, you and yeah. Mm-Hmm And so she was like, I think you would be amazing. At this job. And she was telling me about her company. They were based out of Charlotte. Nashville was their third office there. It was literally like her. I would be the fourth hire in the Nashville office. I had no idea, like, my brother and cousin was in IT, so I knew a little bit. You know, Dell wasn't, I mean, it was IT, but I was, again, on the sales side. And I went and I talked to my brother. He basically told me what the job was, and he was like, You should take this job. It's probably going to change your life. And I took the job and it changed my life. The company was called E Tang Group. They was a small private owned company based out of Charlotte growing at a rapid pace because during that time is when the hospitals were changing over to electronical medical records, trying to find all these analysts. So I was recruiting all these analysts. At one time to make a long story short, I had probably like 50 contractors working for me all over the USA. I was making a lot of money. I had climbed the corporate ladder. I was the number one recruiter for many years. I was the number one salesperson for many years. And that is when it turned dark. Everything was great. I was buying, going on trips. My first home was great, but I was suffering from chronic migraines, stress, because yes, I had 50 something people working for me, but if something went wrong, who are those 50 something people calling? I remember I was in DC with my friends and we were having brunch and they, I was on my phone and they looked at me and they were like, do you ever stop working? And I was like, I don't want to, I don't want to be like remembered. As a person that was always, there has to be a better way. And these, these migraines got so bad that I couldn't sleep at night. My hair, all this hair falling out. My beautician was like, I can't make, I can't go around this. This is got to figure out how to stop whatever's going on. I have a question. So how are you feeling in that moment? So these are the physical manifestations of that stress and of that, of that, of that space. But how are you feeling? Were you, were you so driven that you just, it was to push through or were you literally having conversations with yourself saying, it's got to stop and I don't know how to stop or I don't know what to do next. Where, where were you in that headspace? Because. I think it's interesting as I've been talking with people and looking at this kind of corporate burnout concept that we're focusing on for a project, is you get to a point where you either have to push through it and just ignore all the symptoms, or you have to stop and say, something's got to change. Where were you in that moment that the esthetician saying, I can't work around this, your hair has fallen out, you're not sleeping, blah, blah, blah. I was in at the intersection of both the world, right? Like you have keep pushing, like work hard, play all the little work, like Mount, what, all those little, whatever, you know, but what we were being taught was to show up, you work hard, you push through, push through, right? No excuses. Just keep pushing. But my body was like, no. And so that's when I found yoga. And so I remember going to my first yoga class. My friend Lauren had been trying to get me to go forever. And I was like, no, like I'm going to, I'm going to be straight with you. I was like, yo, you're straight up for white girls. Like I'm not going to. And I went and we're walking out of the, the like room, it was a hot yoga class. I remember walking out after, you know, I have so many thoughts while in there, like, I'm going to kill Lauren first of all, like, why are we doing this? And then midway through, I can't even tell you. And then at the end, I remember her opening those doors and I feel like I like lifted and something said, you're home. And I walked out and I hugged Lauren and we cried. And I was like, something's gotta change. And I was so scared. Because, how was I gonna take care of, like, all these things that were going on in my life? Like, I was so scared, and I did not know what to do, but I knew I had to do something. Like, I was dark. I was My poor husband, who was my fiancé at the time, he didn't even know what to do. Because, like, most of the time, I'm coming home and just, like, laying in my closet because it's the darkest, coldest place. And we went to the doctor because I had to get off of these medicines. They were making me feel crazy. All of these migraine medicines. I literally felt, I remember we went on a beat, like to a beach trip for me to kind of like get away and relax. I was taking those medicines and I just felt like crazy the whole time. And so when we came back, we went to the doctor and this time my husband went with me And so the nurse practitioner, I'll never forget. She was like, so tell me everything that's going on in your life. You're ready. And so I tell her, but you know how we do like just this and this and this, this. Like just short list. Right. And then she looked at my husband and she was like, so you tell me everything that's going on in her life. Hearing him talk about not only work, but like during that time, my best friend was getting married, one of my best friends. Friends at the time we weren't friends. And so that division, you know, naming off all these other different things. And I was like, Oh, and so she tells me, and she said, you said something about yoga. And she was like, cause I had stopped going like from the class and me and Lauren, it was regular. And then when the migraines started, I was like, no, and so the nurse practitioner was like, you said something about yoga. Are you not? Doing it. And I was like, no. Like I don't want to, I don't, I physically, my body does not want to go to a class and don't, she was like, I need you to figure out how to get back to that. And so that's when I found a good friend, yoga with Adrian. And she had a YouTube for Yoga for Migraines. And I did that over and over and over again and I said. I want to do what she does because she's on YouTube creating safe spaces for people all over the world. Well, who knew her at the time, which was a lot. And at the time you could see the diversity in the followers that she had. And this is in 2011, 2012. And I said, I want to do this. And so I started going to more, I started going to more public yoga classes, things like that. And. I was like, I want to get certified. I want to be of representation. I don't want other black and brown women to have the reaction that I did. I want them to see themselves. Yeah. So actually hold that thought for one second, because I don't want to breeze over this because I think this is really, really important. So As you were sharing that experience and you shared about the migraines and you shared about the not sleeping and you shared about those manifestations that were coming from or to you as a result of the stress that you were feeling. At work in your life is a place where I see so many people not pause and take a breath and really look at what is important to them, what's important to their health, to their wellbeing, not only for themselves, but for their spouses, partners, boyfriends, girlfriends, family, all of that. And I don't want to breeze over that because I think as you and I were brought together, Through a conversation of wellness and mindfulness and, and all that we cannot continue to just simply breeze to the end result, or to the next stage of the journey we have to focus on as we did in the summit we were at, is that you have to take time to really look at and pay attention to those physical manifestations. Like you, I suffered from migraines because my response is when I'm stressed, when I'm feeling down, when I'm feeling a little bit of a mental break, I turn to food that I know I'm not supposed to eat, that I know makes me sick. That I know causes physical manifestations, because then when I have that physical manifestation, it's the justification that I am looking for that what's not working, isn't working. That's a dangerous cycle to be in, right? So when we look at that next step, which we're going to talk about as we move into this next genesis of your life is even though it sounds as though that yoga experience with your friend that you wanted to. hurt during that first yoga class. I have that same friend. I'm like, really? It was actually Pilates for me, but I'm like, really? Are you trying to kill me here? But we really need to just make sure we spend time in that moment. Be mindful of how you feel. Be mindful of the experience that you're having at work. I know we all have to work. We need to pay our bills. We need to be able to support our families. But if you are coming home at the end of every day in a closet, in the cold and in the dark as a method of coping, then you need to address those issues. You need to be able to find the help that you need. And I think what you're doing in your career now, and with this amazing journey that you're on is that you're helping people, we're going to talk about it, but we're helping people realize that if you continue in that pattern and you continue in that process of pushing it aside, pushing the side, pushing aside, because you feel like it's just the only thing that you can do. Or you, you have no other choices is the moment in which you need to reach out. And there are people in our lives that are committed listeners. There are people in our lives that hold us up and who are there for us. And those are the people that we need to reach out to. And I was talking with somebody over the weekend who we were talking about. wellness and we were talking about what the break was and, and, and how did you find the resources to push through? And there was a stigma in a multitude of conversations that was, I was afraid to tell people, this is a quote, I'm afraid to tell people that I'm struggling. I'm afraid to tell people that I am not loving my job or my work, or that I come home and feel sad or feel like I'm about to break. And we have to get to a spot. I'm going to change the way I say that. I would love us to get to a spot where the vulnerability that you and I shared in that first moment that we met is commonplace, that it's cherished and celebrated. And we don't need to dwell on that, but we need to at least address it. And start from there, because what started for you and I in a very vulnerable moment when we shared things that we probably wouldn't have shared with someone as we're checking in at registration to attend a summit thankfully the summit was on wellness. And so I think the space was there, but that vulnerable moment changed the course of the trajectory. Cause we talked about it before we hit record for both of us. And I believe that people that you and I came into contact with on that on that journey. So I'm, hitting this hard because I want people to know it's okay to feel broken, to feel that they don't know where to turn. Like you said, what am I going to do? But you, you had the courage and you also had You shared a few things that was that little girl who was, we're going to have popcorn at this time, and we're going to do, and we're going to watch this movie. You've always had that innately within you, which I believe that we all have, but you use that then in that moment when you came home and said, I don't know what I'm going to do, but you went and you found the The next thing may have not been the be all end all full genesis of, of Ashley Brooke James, but you found the thing that was going to take you to the opportunity, which then took you to a yoga class that you said, I'm going to kill this girl, took you to the next conversation. So that courage and that push through and that ability to move past the stop, which if I can say. So, was familiar to you, right? All of that breakdown was familiar to you. And sometimes we get comfortable with that breakdown. You found something to push you through. And so I hope that the people are listening will, will gain some, some kind of relatedness to that and that the push through is going to possibly be the hardest part. To me, it's that it's that last five minutes of that damn orange theory class, which you got to put through. You feel like you're going to throw up. You can't believe that you're actually doing what you're doing, but you push through that last day when you get off that treadmill and you walk to your car feeling like you're about to pass out an hour later, when you've recovered. And you've recouped, you're like, you're so proud of yourself for achieving that push through. And so I feel like as you're sharing your story, Ashley, that that's what you did. You had to push through that last five minutes of feeling like you couldn't do it anymore, that you couldn't get to the next level. And you did so. Thank you for letting me stop you there because I know what's coming next is the beauty and the power and the empowerment in what you're about to take, not only yourself and your business partner, but take yourselves through in this next Genesis of your, of your life. So I'm going to set it there and then we're going to go, if you don't mind into that next, that next step. Yes. Yeah. I, I just, thank you for just hearing it from another perspective. Just gives you that courage and confidence that you need to just keep pushing or finding ways to help. Like that supports your, the push, right? Right. Supported the push because of yoga. It led me to Liz. Who literally was going through the same thing that I was, and I was her safe space. We met in our yoga teacher training, my second one, we met in our yoga teacher training. I had already been through a yoga teacher training. I had made community and all in the second one, it was a lot of their first. And so I was trying to create. The environment that the people up in upstate New York provided for me. And Liz and I just clicked because everything that I was going through, this was her turn going home in the dark closet. And I wanted to be a resource and an outlet for her. And then we both clicked because we have these conversations about how our corporate community and life. Didn't support our mental wellbeing. We have all these beautiful gems to make us look physically fit, but when it came to supporting what we needed on a mental wellbeing level, we didn't have that. And so very quickly in our yoga teacher training, I mean, we had no idea we were going to be business partners. We're having discussions on how we can implement this in corporate environments. So fast forward through our teacher training at the end of our teacher training. I had already left. Oh, well, I guess I should talk about my transition from corporate. Oh, sorry. I just was trying to get into trial alone, but I left my corporate job in 27 March of 2017, I was actually supposed to. leave in December and everybody is like, how did you know? Well, I'm very spiritually connected. I'm, I'm to God. And he pushed me at that point because I kept, I actually left E Tain to go to another staffing IT company, knowing that I probably should have, Push the vision. But like, it was one of those things where God was like, you want to be hard hit. Okay. I'm gonna let you go, but this time I'm going to push you. And I literally felt the push. It was like, My situation didn't get better. Yoga was helping me get through. And I remember my husband telling me you need to outwork the work. And so I got busy. I was teaching yoga everywhere in town, studios, community centers, libraries, doing pop ups by the lake. I was making a business to the point that I was leaving my corporate job to go teach yoga on my lunch breaks. And I ended up. So again, not to stop you powerful. What were you feeling in that moment when you're teaching those classes, right? You're, you're leaving your corporate job to go to your lunch break, to teach a yoga class by the lake, which I'm loving right now. How were you feeling? What was that emotional presence for you? This is what I'm supposed to be doing. This feels good. This feels natural. This feels in alignment, not only that I'm teaching, but I'm helping other people get into their selves, finding, meeting themselves at a whole nother level, people describe my sessions as not an experience they're like, this is not a yoga, we do yoga poses. But this is like, people will be like, I was in a yoga class. I went to church. I had like a circle. I had like all of these things. And I try to do that because it needs to be more than just that. So in that moment, I felt like this is what I'm really supposed to be doing. It might not necessarily be. Me teaching yoga or it is, but it's me helping people find themselves and find ways to help them up here because the world is telling us, you should do this and you should do this and you should do this. And if I would have listened to the world, I would have probably completely, I probably would have died. I mean, that's straight up. That's like. Yeah, and if you're helping people find that for them, I assert that that's who we are as human beings, because you are being of service to the community, to your community. And whether that's a corporate event or your friends or the people by the lake, you're being of service and you're giving. It isn't about Ashley. Ashley's taking her gift and giving it away, which is very different than the corporate world. And the corporate world is very important. We need the corporate world. Not everyone's meant to be in the corporate world. There are people who can manage it. There are people who can find their way through it. Now, they still need us. They still need us for some spirituality and some connectedness and some, some yoga. But I really love that you found that space in that moment, because we know it completely changes and grows from there, but you found that space because you were actually giving a gift that you needed to get yourself in order to give it back to them. And what I say is then they leave your class and they take that out and they spread it into their own world. So I love that. One thing is that you wanted to, you have your degree in education. We're going to be a teacher, but you want it to be rich. And so you didn't teach. Here's the thing, girl, you're teaching same thing with me. I was the same way I was going to be a leader of a very well known, very well known personal development. Seminar around the world, but I didn't like the salary and here, you know, 20, 30 years later, we're teaching, we're just teaching in a different way. We're not sitting in a classroom. Teaching in a different way. Yes, but I also had to redefine what rich meant to me. Well, that, that was my next comment. I had to read the bind. I want to be financially free. Right. I want to be able to make decisions, not based on like, Oh, I'm scared. I don't have enough money. I want to be able to do that. I want to be a wealth for my nieces and my nephews to be able to go if they want to be entrepreneurs. I want to be able to support that. That's why I want to be financially free again for them to provide opportunities for them. There was something I was gonna circle back to. Okay, gifts. Okay, so you, one of the comments, and I think we might have not started recording, you were like, who is this girl? And it's hard to think, talk about through all of the things, but you said gifts. And so fast forward to, you know, building trial Luna, Survive in a pandemic because the second year of our business was in the pandemic or an events company and was probably two years after that 2022 that again, had a conversation. I hear God saying, well, when are you going to use all the gifts that I give you? And I'm like, what you talking about? What, when are you going to use the gifts? Like, I need you to not only be ministering about the, the mind and the body and the spiritual wellbeing of people, but I need you to share with people. The journey of what it is to be an entrepreneur to what it is to be a black and brown entrepreneur, what it means to provide equity in the community and make sure that diversity is happening in the community and that people feel safe. So how do you go do that? That's what I'm left with. And TikTok, Instagram, all the things is like, you need to be selling this. So I really went through a struggle in 2022. I wasn't actually in the closet in the dark, but I was here as to what the next move was, was Triluna. A real thing. We're like two and a half years in and we're barely making it. And you know, we've kind of made some bad financial decisions like what's gonna happen and money's not coming in. And I'm so stressed, so stressed, the world, people are dying. People look like me, are losing their lives. What is happening? I am stuck. How do I do what I did in the past and find. My next step. So I had to be still and I had to figure out, well, first of all, what's going to bring you joy right now? And I miss the kids. I miss being in the school. So I found a job, found a job teaching yoga in the schools while doing Traluna. I needed that year so bad because they helped me realize who I was. They helped me tap into my inner child. They helped me understand that like, this is community, watching them interact with each other. And it gave me. Such a fire that like, I've got to make trial and error happen. We have to make this work. We're having, we've had these retreats that has been transformative in women's life. We see women taking, who didn't even know each other, taking trips together, best friends. We see this, we see the community that we've built. We, everybody is telling us you make an impact. Everybody wanted to be on our podcast. You know, we want to have these conversations with y'all. Y'all are real. Y'all are sustainable. Y'all are realistic. Y'all give people the resources. So I had to tap into what brought me joy. What are my skills? What are my gifts? Skill sets, gifts, two different things. What's my passion? Now you have all of this. What is the why at the end of the day? How do all of these, all these things in these different areas come back to your why? And the number one thing is, Providing opportunities, creating safe spaces. And so I had to continue on. I had to set out monthly, weekly goals. I had to get disciplined in my spiritual practices. I had to go to yoga. I'm a yoga teacher. You need to go practice. You need to have meditation. These resources are available to you and a lot are free to you. So take advantage. Of what is being, you've been gifted with and I did just that and I'll be, I came into this year like I'm not gonna let money be the main focus. The main focus is getting creative with my gifts, getting creative with my income, like play around with it. You know what you talk about how you manifested the illness? I manifested dryness of jobs, a drought, a drought of money flow. And I realized I was putting that out there. Then when I realized that I'm going to get creative, it might fluctuate. It might be trial on a big one quarter. It might be speaking engagements big. It might be working a part time, whatever I have to do. I was going to get out of the mindset of feeling sorry for myself. I was, I was tired of it. Needed to take care of myself. I'm a, I'm big and Oracle and Tarot in my cards all kept saying, be still nourish yourself care for yourself, take care of you, but I'm so concerned, but I got to work, I got to make income. I got, I gotta, I gotta do this. And then the moment that I did that, and I was focused on how do I grow Triluna? I want to get Triluna literally all last year, all my talk was about getting Triluna in other areas. And I kid you not, I've been on a plane nonstop this year, meeting wonderful people, building meaningful relationships like the one that we have. I manifested that. And my parents even told me, get ready. Work travel and you know what first thing I think I don't have the money for that how am I gonna do this and then take care of home and you know do this because I don't That's what I thought and then again God was like Be quiet focus on focus on what you asked me for and I did hosted by our events I literally this morning, we just got back yesterday from this luxury retreat. I got an email this morning to come to a wellness summit. First weekend in November, and we want to host you to come from a lady that I met at connect. And I'm like, wait, whoa, whoa. Like, you know what I mean? It's like, I needed to put that energy towards what I, what I was really trying to manifest. Not what I was manifesting in my head. And that's a practice. Caught myself this morning. Something didn't happen. And I was like, oh, and then I was like, nope. That email came through from the lady. I knew I was getting on this with you. I said, I'm gonna be set up for my conversation with Eric. I'm gonna have my candles lit, my incense burning. I wanna just have this comfortable, cozy environment. And that immediately took my mindset off of what it was. It's important for people to also realize, I think you know, Ashley, as we talk about that, it's important for people to realize that the minute you speak something into existence, the minute you, the words come out of your mouth and it lives out into, into the world, into the community, the universe, this is, this is my belief. It doesn't necessarily mean it's everyone's belief, but my belief is the minute you speak the word, the minute you speak your truth, the universe aligns with you. And Points you in that direction. And what we need to do is follow the path, but the universe is also going to test us and it's going to send us every opportunity to jack us up and to throw us off course, because it wants to see if we, again, God, higher power, you know, whatever the case may be for you, spirit, whatever, but there, testing us to see our fortitude and our strength to fulfill the duty that we've been given on this earth. And so like you this morning, same thing with me, stuff's coming at me. Phones are ringing off the hook. I've been gone for three days. Where's this? Where's that? How come the deadline's not met? This, that, and the other. I'm like, nope. I sat down. I read through your bios. I looked at yours to get prepared for the talk. And what I realized in the moment is, is that the, the diversion. Instantaneously brought anger, upset, and frustration immediately. The process of preparing for the podcast brought joy, love, and laughter and excitement and anticipation. So again, it's not to say that every day is going to be easy, but what I hear you saying in this conversation throughout the entire time we've been talking is mindfulness, being mindful of what you want, where you are, what you're What your actions are and what you're putting out into the world is mindfulness and being mindful of you may not have the answer, you may not, you may not know how you're going to get there. Push yourself through. Am I, am I right? Is that kind of what I'm hearing you say? You're, you're absolutely right. And you're absolutely right. And it's, it's not even in like, like it's the push through because you found a resource to help you get through, right? Like yoga helped me working with the kids, helped me get back in alignment with finding who I was and who I wanted to be. Being still enough to like write out, I'm a big write things out. What did I want my life to look like? What did I want to do? I didn't, I didn't want to never just do trilogy because the goal at the end of the day is to build her up to where we can sell her. Like, that's what we talked about, right? And so, but within that, where can all these other gifts, talents, passion play, right? I didn't teach yoga as much anymore because I'm the co founder. I'm the salesperson. I don't get to do that. So then I said, once a quarter, I'm going to have classes for the community. It doesn't have to be under a tri lunar umbrella. It's just Ashley Bird James, A. B. the Yogi going out into the community and doing that. And because of that, I've had big collaborations with big brands because people work at those brands and got to experience that. Linked up with the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. I wanted to coach and mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs and share my story of what it was like to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to do a TED talk. I was very vocal about it. To everyone. I actually tried to, I contacted Soho House. I'm on the board. I said, Hey, I want to be able to do a TED Talk at Soho House. It doesn't have to be a TED Talk. It's going to be an AB Talk. I want to do this. I want to do this. And they told me no, straight up. We can't do that. We're not, we can't. I, Was sharing my goals. I'm big about sharing my goals. It may be sound. However, but again, it's me putting these things out into the atmosphere sometime on everybody. This is one of my goals. I'm looking at connecting cities who are having tech top. What are volunteer opportunities. So they had a, so Nashville, you got Nashville and then you have surrounding like, like California, right? You have all the surrounding places. So TEDx Old Hickory, which is a neighboring community of Nashville, was having theirs before the Nashville TED Talk. I called the girl up. I said, I want to volunteer. I'll do whatever. I'll serve. I'll do whatever. I just want to be in the environment. I want to manifest this environment. I was serving people food. I was like helping the sound guys. It was the most exciting day. And I kid you not a week later, one of my good friends sends me a message and she said, Hey, they're having the women's TED talk in Nashville. I think you should MC it. I think you should. They're talking about wellness. They're talking about, this is what the committee is talking about, and I brought your name, and other people in the room knew you, and they said, you and Liz would be great for this. So with your hands in the air and that smile that I love, it is a perfect transition point because you and I could talk for days. I know we could, we could, we didn't even get to the podcast. We didn't get to a lot of the concepts that you bring to the table. So I'm going to invite you to come back for another conversation at another time to talk about mindfulness and the importance of movement and some of the practices that you have, not necessarily from the perspective of, you know, The pitch, if you will, but the differences that you've experienced as you and your agency have brought these kinds of practices into corporations, into organizations, into people and the results, because the process is the process. But I think what could be really powerful is the results. What have you seen happen? What's the transformation that you see happen? And we're going to save that for another conversation because I I want to ask you this question as we wrap up today's conversation I want to leave people at that spot where we just left everyone, which I think is a great space for them to marinate in before we bring you back again, is the manifestation, but also again, the mindfulness of what you created. You stood in a space of not knowing how it was going to result, how it was going to get to that result. But what you did is. In your words, you talked about it. You talked about it. You talked about it. You told everyone about it. You put it out there. And again, that's my belief in putting it out to the universe. Universe heard you, right? It already created that end result for you speaking at a TED talk, right? It didn't know how it was going to happen, how it was going to end up. But you just kept pushing through and pushing through and having conversations and having conversations in a way that I will say in my experience of you are so engaging and enrolling that things are just going to happen naturally. You don't come at it with aggression. You don't come at it with entitlement. You come at it from a space of this is what I'm here to give. And this is the gift that I'm willing to share. And. It's here. How is it going to happen? So I'm going to leave it there because I think that's really powerful. Is that okay with you? Yeah. Okay. That's great. So there's, there's two things. I want to, I am going to put a link to your journaling a web page on our social media. I'm also going to put a link to the podcast because the episodes are great. I'll give people just a quick little. He's good. This makes me so happy. The description of the podcast is you have a pro donut, anti racist Glenda, the good witch agenda, and you're here to take on diet culture, racism, and elitism by making self care realistic, inclusive, and a little bit magical. And if people can walk away with the sense that self care is not what they think it's about. And we're going to talk more about that in the next conversation, but really take away that joyful love and compassion that you bring. But I feel like there are a multitude of collaborations. I look forward to more conversations with you and more journeys with you. That smile we shared in that silent disco moment where it was just about being face to face with their words was probably one of the most powerful experiences that I've had at one of those events. And so I'm super grateful to have met you. My life feels better with you in it. And I'm so appreciative that you took the time to come on today. My last question for you that I ask all my guests, and then I'll give you a chance to wrap this up is if you could go back to that young Ashley. Young Ashley elementary school. What would you tell her about her life today? Well first I would say thank you for being like so courageous and so brave and like thank you so much and I'll tell her that like we're doing what we were what we're supposed to do and I'm sorry I doubted her I should have kept that energy. Child of her in me, and I feel like when I go back to her and think about how bold she was, she is the reason why I pushed through. She is the reason. So at the end of the day, I just want to tell her like, I'm making us proud. I'm trying, I'm doing what I have to do to accomplish our dreams and goals because we got a lot of dreams and a lot of goals. So at the end of the day, it's just a big thank you because she has, she was fearless. Very young, and she has helped me as an adult woman continue on that, that, that confidence. What a great way to end this conversation, Ashley. Thank you so much again for being here. This has become a little cliche and I, I mean it with every sense of my being, but the world is a better place with this amazing, amazing soul of Ashley Brooke James. I'm, I'm so grateful to you and I look forward to having you back again. Thank you, my friend. I really appreciate you. The questions, the attention. I'm so proud of you, and I'm so honored to be a part of this. Pleasure is mine. We'll talk soon, okay? All right, everyone. Thank you again for joining us on today's episode. I hope our conversation resonated with you like it did me, and I cannot wait to sit down with you all again next week. Remember to subscribe to the Just You Podcast on your favorite platform so you can make sure not to miss a new episode, which drop every Thursday. If you like what you hear, you can easily share the podcast and episode directly with your friends. And if you would rate us and leave us a review, we'd love to hear from you. You can also follow us on Instagram at just Do You pod as you go out into the world today. Remember to just do you. Alright, talk next week.