We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jaclyn Proper a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jaclyn, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I couldn’t have it any other way.

For years, I molded myself into the illusion of success—chasing the six-figure salary, the corporate title, the external validation that I was good at what I did. But I was also overriding who I really was, stretching myself thin to fit into a structure that was never built for me. I would overextend myself to prove my worth, burn out, take time off, start a creative or entrepreneurial endeavor, and then—without fail—convince myself to take the “safe” route and go back to corporate.

This cycle played out a few times before I finally left for good at the end of 2022. That was the real turning point—realizing that it wasn’t just what I was doing that needed to change, but how I was working altogether. My biggest hurdle wasn’t just leaving corporate; it was unlearning the rigid, productivity-obsessed way I had been conditioned to operate.

Now, I work in a way that actually honors me. I tune into my energy cycles instead of forcing myself into a strict hourly schedule. My workflow is much more fluid, much more feminine, and it works—because it allows me to create, serve, and grow in a way that feels natural instead of forced.

So yes, I am beyond happy as a business owner—because for the first time in my life, I’m working with myself, not against myself.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Jaclyn Proper—Jungian coach, content creator, mystic, and artist. I help unconventional spiritual seekers—especially the neurodivergent, queer, and kinky—navigate shadow work, reclaim their authenticity, and integrate the parts of themselves they were taught to suppress. My approach blends Jungian psychology, somatics, psychospirituality, and sexuality, making deep transformation not just accessible but something you can actually apply—and maybe even enjoy.

But I didn’t seek out this work. It found me—through destruction.

In 2021, I hit a breaking point. Years of molding myself into something “acceptable” caught up with me, and I spiraled into a brutal depression. Then everything shattered. What followed was a full-blown spiritual emergency that landed me in the hospital. I was seeing auras, having intense visions, and feeling profoundly connected to something beyond myself… but I was also paranoid, grandiose, and completely ungrounded.

When I finally came back to reality, I had one question: What the hell just happened to me?

That’s when I found Carl Jung’s work, and suddenly, everything made sense. He gave me a framework for what I had experienced—the unconscious, the mystical, the shadow self I had spent my life avoiding. I understood at a deep level that I was going through an initiation. That realization led me to dive deep into study and training: energy work, shamanism, somatic experiencing, and ultimately becoming a certified Jungian depth coach.

And that wasn’t the only place I learned about the shadow. Before becoming a coach, I worked as an online dominatrix, which gave me a front-row seat to the hidden corners of human psychology. I saw firsthand how people unconsciously express their wounds, power struggles, and suppressed desires through kink. That experience, combined with my Jungian studies, showed me something crucial: our sexual shadow isn’t something to fix—it’s a doorway to deeper self-awareness. I know what it’s like to suppress your desires, to twist yourself into something you’re not, to live in conflict with your own nature. As a survivor of sexual trauma, I know what it’s like to feel disconnected from your body, to carry shame that isn’t yours, to question what’s truly you versus what was imposed on you. And I also know what happens when you finally face your shadow: you reclaim a power you didn’t even realize you lost. Reclaiming my sexual sovereignty through shadow work changed everything. That’s what I help my clients do.

Before this work, I was in tech sales, where my job was to simplify complex concepts and make them easy to understand—a skill that carried over seamlessly. I love teaching, and now, instead of tech, I break down Jungian psychology, mysticism, and shadow work in a way that’s practical, accessible, and actually useful. Whether it’s through my podcast, Practically Awake, or my free educational content, I make the deep stuff digestible so you can apply it to your life.

Beyond coaching, I also run Basement Daddy, an apparel brand that fuses Jungian symbolism with vision board art. Each piece is packed with archetypal imagery, surrealist collage, and esoteric symbols—designed to make the unconscious visible, wearable, and deeply personal. The name itself reflects the shadow work process: Basement represents the unconscious, the hidden and repressed; Daddy symbolizes self-leadership, ownership, and radical self-acceptance (with a playful nod to kink culture, because of course). Shadow work doesn’t have to be heavy and brooding—it can be weird, creative, and even fun.

At the core of everything I do—coaching, content, art—is one mission: helping people reclaim the parts of themselves they’ve been taught to hide. Because the things we’re most ashamed of? They often hold the key to our deepest power.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

Yes, my business operates as an interconnected ecosystem rather than a single offering. At the core is my coaching practice, where I guide clients through deep shadow work, sexual shadow integration, and self-reclamation. This includes one-on-one coaching, workshops, and structured programs on intimacy, kink psychology, and transmuting sexual shame.

Beyond coaching, I’ve expanded into education and content creation. I run Practically Awake, my podcast, alongside free and paid resources like my sexual shadow workbook. These build audience engagement, attract new clients, and establish thought leadership in my niche.

Then there’s Basement Daddy, my apparel brand – a visual exploration of identity, symbolism and archetypes, a way to engage with shadow work through art and self-expression.

Together, these revenue streams reinforce one another: my content and free resources generate visibility, leading to more coaching clients; my coaching deepens my expertise, fueling better workshops and educational offerings; and my brand serves as both a creative extension and an entry point into deeper work. Every piece contributes to the same goal—helping people reclaim their power, and live authentically.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

For most of my life, I thought resilience meant pushing harder—gritting my teeth through burnout, proving myself, forcing things to work even when they clearly weren’t. I believed that if I just endured long enough, success would follow. But real resilience isn’t forcing, it’s adapting. It’s about recognizing when something isn’t working, surrendering the version of life that’s breaking you, and trusting that your soul already knows where it’s meant to go.

After my last corporate burnout, my life unraveled completely. Within a year, I packed up my apartment, filed for bankruptcy, and had to rebuild from nothing. At the time, I was trying to position myself as a Jungian corporate burnout coach—it made sense on paper. I was in training for Jungian coaching, I had a strong corporate network, and burnout was something I had experienced firsthand. But deep down, it felt completely off.

I was trying to sell a solution that hadn’t even worked for me. Sure, I could talk about burnout, but leaving corporate hadn’t magically fixed my problems—it had only exposed the deeper work I actually needed to do. What was I supposed to tell people? Here’s how to leave your job… and then spiral into financial ruin like I did? I knew exactly what not to do, but I wasn’t sure I had the right tools yet to guide someone to the other side.

Even though that business wasn’t clicking, I couldn’t stop thinking about something else—something I wasn’t sure I was allowed to talk about. For years, I had been privately studying the intersection of Jungian psychology, BDSM, and shadow work. I had so many opinions based on my lived experience as a dominatrix and my deep dive into sexuality and the unconscious mind. The topic lit me up in a way nothing else did. But I held back because I wasn’t ready to be seen at that level. I wasn’t sure how to step onto a bigger stage and own that part of my story. And because I hesitated, I paid the price—financially, emotionally, and energetically.

So, I started small. I dipped my toes into the conversation on social media, sharing bits about the overlap between shadow work and BDSM. I talked about the ways we eroticize our fears, shame & trauma and how to consciously work with those impulses instead of repressing them. I explored sexuality as a gateway to self-awareness, transformation, and power.

And then, everything clicked.

Posts went viral. Clients started coming to me immediately. The thing I had spent so much energy trying to hide was the very thing that people were drawn to. The truth I was afraid to tell was the truth people needed to hear.

A few months later, my grandmother passed away, and her death deepened my purpose even further. Losing her connected me to my spirituality in a way I had never felt before. It was another moment of alchemy—another reminder that life is too short to hide who you are. Her passing cemented what I already knew: I wasn’t here to play small.

Sometimes, resilience doesn’t look like pushing harder—it looks like giving up the version of life that’s keeping you small so you can finally step into the one that’s meant for you. The moment I stopped hiding, stopped forcing, and started speaking my full truth, everything started working.

Now, I get to work with some of the most incredible, magical people—people who are on their way to becoming real change-makers in the world. And all it took was finally owning my story.

That’s what I help my clients do now. I teach them how to stop outsourcing their power, how to integrate the parts of themselves they’ve been avoiding, and how to reclaim their identity in a way that’s deeply, unapologetically theirs. Because once you do that, everything changes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jaclynproper.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaclynproper/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JaclynProper
• Other: Practically Awake Podcast wherever you get your podcasts!