Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alexandra Peek. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alexandra, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

On an evening in September of 2021, I received my second employment rejection letter for the week. Both jobs were in law firms located in NYC. I had been applying from my home-state in Texas, and I was looking to move to NY. I wanted to be smart about it and go with a security blanket, so I applied to many positions in the field that I knew (law) in hopes of snagging a job before moving out there. However, the fact that I still hadn’t relocated was turning off employers and recruiters. After receiving yet another rejection, I was venting to my cousin about it. As she responded, I took out my phone and looked up flights from El Paso, Texas to NYC. I saw a one way for $179, and before I knew it, I had purchased it. About 2 weeks later, I had stuffed as much as I could into 3 suitcases and a backpack and moved to NYC without a job. About 2 years later I was making a six-figure salary, the most my parents or I have ever made.

But that wasn’t the risk I really took, at least not the one I want to share here. While on the surface it may seem that moving on a whim to NYC with no plan and 3-5 month survival funds was a risk, the biggest risk I’ve ever taken was let go of that six-figure corporate tech job, move back to El Paso, Texas, to establish my homebase and start my two businesses. Several reasons went into my decision, but I knew the greatest challenge of all was to be myself in a place that taught me it was unacceptable. I decided to embark on the journey of re-introducing myself and building with my community, intentionally. I’m still in the early stages of it, and there have definitely been feelings of self-doubt and uncertainty, but I am slowly finding my way and have never felt more confident in who I am.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

“As above so below, as within so without” – this is the guiding value for my 2 businesses

Azul Metzli – a spiritual travel and healing practice
Azul Metzli (Blue moon) is a service-oriented business that combines spirituality with the love to travel. Travel makes up a big part of my life and I enjoy helping people plan their first big solo trips, to helping them discover ways to “travel” in their everyday life. I believe travel is a frequency that can be tapped into, even when you’re not physically moving from point A to B. Examples are meditation, dream work, rituals, etc., one can travel to another dimension before noon if wanted. I break up my services into 3 buckets – spiritual travel (reiki, meditation, self-healing), physical travel (going from point A to B), and Death Doula services. “To die would be an awfully big adventure” – Peter Pan; Death is the ultimate travel destination, I also am trained as a Death Doula and volunteer at a local hospice center. I make myself available to families who need emotional, spiritual and practical support when someone is actively dying. Death has played a big part of my life and I feel like it is both my duty and calling to sit with people as they transiting between worlds.

Peek Counsel – sustainable governance consulting firm
Peek Counsel started off an energy and decarbonization consulting firm. Prior to launching it I worked for a big decarbonization consulting firm that advised big companies (i.e. Microsoft) to decarbonize their operations. My role was on Climate Justice, where I embedded environmental & climate justice (E&CJ) metrics into their net-zero plans. I branched off on my own when I realized E&CJ was not being taken seriously and I wanted to do with another angle. In the short time since I’ve launched Peek Counsel, I have re-branded it to help communities own, operate and lead their own energy and water systems. I recently started on my first project in my own neighborhood to see what’s possible.

I am very proud of my both businesses, I see them as different sides of the same coin. After working in energy/sustainability/environment field, I’ve learned that the climate crisis is largely due to the spiritual unwellness of human beings. Azul Metzli is meant to work from within. As the quote at top says, the outer world is a reflection of what’s happening within. Peek Counsel works from without, guiding and building system models that make up our energy grid, agriculture, water infrastructure etc. They are a reflection of each other, and the hope is by working at the root and addressing the symptoms (rather than only focusing on the symptoms), we can collectively get closer to an equilibrium.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn my relationship with money.

During my time in academia as a researcher and as a consultant in the private sector, my relationship to money became distorted. In the former role, the center I worked for professed to be an independent, research-based institution but behind closed doors misogyny and racism ran rampant. Because I worked at reputable ivy league school, from the outside my position appeared legitimate, but having my research censored for it’s “provocative nature” made me feel like my position was a fraud. Therefore, when I earned money it created a distortion, where I was being compensated for being inauthentic. The position as a consultant had similar undertones and so when I launched my own consulting firm and had to price my services, I had to unlearn my relationship with money. Once the practical was accounted for (i.e. overhead) I had to sit and really feel comfortable deciding what my services were worth. I realize that was is actually valuable (i.e. clean water, clean air, healthy earth) is not priced so, and what has no substance (hyper-consumerism) is highly priced. It has been difficult to price my services higher, despite knowing the value they bring to a client and that is because it also comes with culture-shifting. On a collective level, money and the value we attach to “things” needs to be re-evaluated and will be affecting business as we progress into the years where Pluto is in Aquarius (some astrology for you).

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My dedication to human rights is a connecting thread throughout the seemingly different careers I’ve had. My first job out of college was at personal injury law firm, mostly for women suing for medical malpractice. At the same time I was a legislative activist, working alongside several BIPOC led organizations on racial and economic justice in Austin, Texas. When I pivoted to the world of climate change/energy, I was introduced via environmental justice (EJ) policy. From there I branched to Climate Justice, which is EJ on a Global geopolitical scale. My dedication to protecting people and the earth has always been there, and thankfully my reputation has followed me and opened doors even though I switched sectors.

Contact Info:

• Website: azulmetzli.com; peekcounsel.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/azulmetzli/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-peek-is-unique/