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

Hi Brie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Tell us the story of how you came up with the idea for your business?
Stella Nova was born in one of the hardest seasons of my life. My daughter was about four or five months old. We were living with my parents after an eviction and before that, my car had been repossessed. I was postpartum, I was broke, and I was completely lost. Like, soul-level lost.
I called my best friend and business partner, Allyese, just to talk and she asked me a question that cracked something open. She said, “What’s your first thought right now?” And I told her the truth: I want to run away from all of this. She said, okay, you can’t do that so what’s the next thought? And without even really thinking, I said: I just need to finally open my tarot business. And I need to do it messy.
That was it. That was the beginning. I launched Stella Nova 424 in the middle of January 2025, and in just over a year, it has grown into something I honestly could not have imagined when I started.

Walk us through how you knew this was a worthwhile endeavor — the logic of why you felt this would work?
Honestly? In that moment, it wasn’t about logic. It was about survival, emotionally, spiritually, financially. I had already been doing tarot readings for friends and for myself. It was something I deeply loved and had a real gift for. And sometimes when you’re at your lowest, the thing that’s been sitting quietly inside of you finally gets loud enough that you can’t ignore it anymore.
I also have to be real about the fact that I come from a very, very Christian background. So anything in this space has always felt a little taboo, especially when it comes to my family. They don’t fully understand it or see this side of me. And doing it anyway, building this business anyway, has been its own kind of evolution for me personally. I’ve had to choose myself and what I truly love over what felt safe or expected.
What made it feel real, like actually worthwhile, was what happened about four months in. I started to see that readings were just the beginning. What people actually needed wasn’t just a reading. They needed a place to feel safe and seen. That’s when the Stella Nova Collective came through, a private community where every week we break down the energetic season, the moon cycles, the stresses of real life. Where people can breathe, be honest, and support one another.
I genuinely wasn’t thinking that big when I started. But the community showed me what this could actually become.

Were you solving a problem no one else was solving? What got you most excited?
What I noticed is that there are a lot of spaces in the spiritual world that feel performative, like you have to already have it together to belong there. That was never going to be my space. I built Stella Nova for the people who are still in the middle of it. The ones carrying everyone else’s weight while quietly falling apart. The ones who are spiritually curious but not at an expert level. The ones who need someone to sit with them in the mess, not just hand them a pretty affirmation and send them on their way. And that’s everyone, men, women, all of it.
This has never just been about the money for me. It is about what I truly love. And what I truly love is helping people. Whether that’s a tarot reading that brings someone more clarity, helping them understand their path and purpose, or weaving in astrology work, which is something I am actively deepening right now to better serve my clients in the future. It all comes from the same place.
What gets me most excited is how much I’ve grown through all of it. We’ve expanded from tarot readings to a group membership community to now 1:1 coaching, and I have evolved right alongside it. Stella Nova has shown me just how much I can help people with the unique and special gifts that I have. The person who started this business while living on their parents’ couch with a 4-month-old? She had no idea what she was building. And I think that’s the most beautiful part of the whole story.

Brie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Brie, and I’m the founder of Stella Nova, a spiritual transformation coaching brand built on one simple, radical idea: it’s finally your turn.
I came into this work the way most of us come into our deepest callings, not because I planned it, but because I lived it. I spent most of my life being the strong one. The one who held it together, showed up for everyone else, kept the peace, carried the weight. On the outside, I looked like I had it together. On the inside, I was performing a version of myself I had built for everyone else’s comfort and slowly losing track of who I actually was underneath all of it.
The unraveling wasn’t pretty. But it was necessary. Through shadow work, spiritual practice, and the kind of deep inner excavation that most people are too scared to go near, I started shedding the layers. The people-pleasing, the scarcity mindset, the belief that I didn’t deserve to take up space. What I found underneath all of that? Myself. Fully. And I’ve never looked back.
I built Stella Nova because I know I’m not the only one who’s been living that way. I’m a first-time mom, a wife, and a business owner, and I bring all of that lived experience into this work. This isn’t coaching from a textbook. This is coaching from someone who has been in the dark and knows how to help you find your way through it.

What I offer:
Right now, the heart of Stella Nova lives inside the Stella Nova Collective, my Discord membership community for souls who are done playing small and ready to do the actual work. This is where I show up consistently, where we go deep together, and where the real magic happens. It’s not a passive content dump. It’s a living, breathing space built for connection, growth, and the kind of honest conversations most people aren’t having anywhere else. If you want to be in a community that challenges you, sees you, and actually gives a damn about your transformation, this is your home.
I also offer intuitive readings, personalized, spirit-led sessions ranging from $45 to $111 depending on what you need. These aren’t generic pulls. I bring my full intuitive gifts into every reading and I meet you exactly where you are.
And if you’re someone who does their best work on paper, I have two digital products made specifically for this journey: the Ego Death Workbook, for when you’re ready to burn down who you’ve been pretending to be, and the Grateful for the Mess Journal, because healing isn’t linear and your gratitude practice shouldn’t pretend it is.
For those ready for the deepest layer of this work, my signature 1:1 coaching program The Unshedding is coming, and it is unlike anything else I offer. This is 12 weeks of the most intimate, intentional, fully supported transformation work I know how to hold. We go all the way in. Weekly video calls with tarot and oracle readings woven throughout, daily check-ins, custom shadow work prompts and lesson plans built specifically for where you are, access to all of my digital products, and a private space inside the Stella Nova Collective just for you. I only take two clients at a time because this is not a program I run on autopilot. When you’re in The Unshedding, you have my full presence and my full commitment to your becoming. Spots will be extremely limited when doors open. If you feel it in your gut that this is for you, get into my world now so you’re first to know.

The problems I solve are real ones:
My clients come to me feeling stuck, not because they’re broken, but because they’ve spent so long being everything for everyone else that they’ve lost the thread back to themselves. They’re spiritually curious but don’t always have the language or the container to go deeper. They feel the weight of financial insecurity tied up with their sense of self-worth. They want to grow, to heal, to finally become, but they need someone in their corner who isn’t going to feed them generic affirmations or pretend the work is easy.
I’m not that coach. I will hold you with warmth and I will challenge you. Both things are true.

What sets me apart:
I don’t do performative spirituality. I don’t use the buzzwords. I don’t pretend that healing is all soft light and good vibes. What I bring to this work is rawness, realness, and a deep commitment to you, not a polished version of you, but the actual you that’s been waiting to be seen.
My approach blends intuitive coaching with tarot and oracle work, shadow work practices, and a genuine relationship, not a transaction. When you work with me, you’re not just buying a program. You’re stepping into a space where you are safe to fall apart and supported to put yourself back together in a way that actually fits who you are.

What I’m most proud of:
Honestly? That I built this from my own becoming. Stella Nova isn’t a brand I dreamed up from a strategy doc. It’s the living proof that the work I teach works. I am proud of the courage it took to stop performing and start leading from truth. I’m proud of the community we’ve built, the Nova babes who show up every day and dare to go deeper. And I’m proud that this brand looks, sounds, and feels like me, cheetah print and all.

What I want you to know:
If you’ve been strong for everyone else your entire life, if you’re exhausted from carrying it all and you’re quietly wondering when it gets to be your turn, you’re exactly who I built this for.
You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to be willing to shed the bullshit and finally become you.
Welcome to your becoming.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest lessons I have had to unlearn is underestimating myself and learning how to actually believe in my own voice.

For most of my life I had people around me who made me feel like I was either too much or not enough. People I loved would tell me I did things wrong, that I did not look right, or that I should be more like everyone else. When you hear those messages long enough, you start to internalize them. You start shrinking parts of yourself without even realizing it.

A big part of that experience came from how I grew up. I am biracial. My dad is Black and my mom is white. But I grew up in a predominantly white suburban environment and spent most of my time around my white side of the family. I am the only mixed person in my family, so in many ways I always felt like the other person in the room. Not fully understood. Not fully seen. Just different.

For a long time that made me feel like I needed to adjust who I was in order to belong. I thought if I could just present myself the right way or say things the right way then I would finally feel accepted.

What I eventually realized is that our individuality is not something we are supposed to hide. It is actually the thing that makes us powerful. The things that made me feel different growing up are the same things that shaped my perspective, my intuition, and the way I connect with people today.

Unlearning that self doubt has been a huge part of my journey. I had to stop trying to look and sound like everyone else and start trusting that who I am is already enough. That shift has changed everything about how I move through my life and the work I do with others.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

One story that really shows my resilience honestly comes from this past year of my life.

It has been one of the hardest seasons I have ever gone through. Within a really short period of time I lost my house, my car, my dog, and my aunt who was one of the most important people in my life. She helped raise me. So losing her was not just a loss. It felt like losing a piece of my foundation.

At the same time I had just become a first time mom. I was navigating postpartum, trying to figure out who I was in this completely new chapter of life, and everything around me felt like it was shifting all at once.

There were days where I honestly felt like my entire world had been flipped upside down. I questioned myself a lot during that time. I questioned my path. I questioned whether I was strong enough to rebuild when so many pieces of my life had fallen apart at the same time.

But what that season taught me is that resilience is not always loud or dramatic. Sometimes resilience is just getting up the next day and deciding you are not going to give up on yourself, even when things feel really heavy.

I kept showing up. I showed up for my daughter. I showed up for my husband. And I kept showing up for the work I feel called to do. Even in the middle of grief and uncertainty, I was still building Stella Nova and still trying to create something meaningful from everything I had been through.

Looking back now, that season forced me to trust myself in a deeper way than I ever had before. It showed me that even when life strips things down to the bones, I am still capable of rebuilding.

And honestly, that is a huge reason I do the work I do today. Because I know what it feels like to be in the middle of the storm and still be searching for the light on the other side

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stellanova424.co/linkinbio
• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/stellanova424
• Youtube: https://YouTube.com/Stellanova424
• Other: TikTok.com/ Stellanova424

Image Credits

Cooper soul photos – Whitney Schmidlin