We recently connected with Britt Dorazio and have shared our conversation below.
Britt, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the best boss, mentor, or leader you’ve ever worked with.
The best boss I’ve ever had is at one of the spaces that I currently work in. Her name is Stephanie Romero with Awaken Pittsburgh. Awaken Pittsburgh is a meditation, mindfulness, mental health, and community resource non-profit. I develop curricula and deliver programs all across the Pittsburgh area. Working in the non-profit sector can be a really challenging experience. I’ve been working within non-profits since 2013. The typical way they move is, a ton of work, and not a lot of hands to get the work done, so most people are burnt out and feel unsupported. My experience at Awaken Pittsburgh has been so nourishing and supportive. That has so much to do with the culture and care that Stephanie has cultivated. She creates space for us all to communicate honestly what we are feeling. I truly feel like I can share exactly what I’m feeling at any point, be it personal matters, or issues that come up within the organization. Stephanie is flexible in her approach to leadership while maintaining a solid container for me to feel supported. She has also provided paid opportunities for me to receive more training in my field. She also gives me the space to build and play at the intersection of all of my skills. She values my creativity and out of the box thinking.
An example of this. I recently just completed a training with the assistance of Awaken through the organization called, Visible Hands. This training was for a conversational methodology called Integrative Community Therapy. We just had a meeting to brainstorm all of the ways that this methodology can best serve the communities we work with. This conversation and brain storming session lit me up from the inside out. We were able to build some unified creative vision around using ICT. It was an expansive conversation that gave me hope for Pittsburgh and hopefully beyond.
Finding integrity-rooted leadership is unfortunately rare these days. Stephanie is leading by example every step of the way. She is rooted to her core values, willing to adapt, and so skilled when supporting her team.
Britt, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I have been working in my field in some capacity since 2013. I began teaching within the arts and education in 2013. I have been teaching children voice, movement, and acting all around Pittsburgh and New York City. The position of becoming the VP of Fundraising for an education non-profit that assisted a school in Tanzania fell into my lap. I held over 40 fundraisers in Pittsburgh and New York City. This is relevant because this is where I first began unionizing wellness and the arts. I would create fundraisers that were centered around music, theater, and mindfulness. In a lot of other spaces I was keeping my mindfulness and artistic journey separate. I have known my whole life that I wanted to create projects, programs, and experiences that are at the intersection of the arts and mindfulness to help people understand themselves and find their own unique creative expression.
Over the past 10 years, I have been taking the steps to do this. I’m now a certified practitioner and facilitator in meditation, integrative trauma-somatic therapeutic practices, social-emotional arts, and integrative community conversation. I’ve invested hundreds of hours in anti-violence in education, ethics, nervous system resilience, somatic practice, non-violent communication, and spiritual development.
My primary areas of interest and expertise are at the intersection of the arts, trauma-informed mindfulness, meditation, social-emotional learning, and somatics. I believe working with the languages of the arts, the breath, and the body, in community, has the power to bring us back to home to ourselves, each other, and the land.
In 2021 I founded Sovereign Creative Wellness LLC. I offer both virtual and in-person private sessions and group experiences. I am currently facilitating social-emotional arts, nervous system, and mindfulness workshops in partnership with Pittsburgh-based organizations. My focus is on assisting individuals from diverse backgrounds and abilities in strengthening their inner guidance system through the use of these modalities.
Additionally, I build curricula and deliver programs with Awaken Pittsburgh around trauma-informed education and mindfulness. I am also a program coordinator for an arts education program through City Theatre Company.
Performance in theater and music was my everything for 20 years. Though performance is still a big part of my life, it is no longer the center of my life.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
From childhood, I have had to carry familial burdens. This put me in a place of constantly feeling like I need to save people in my life. So, especially in my work, I’ve had to deeply unlearn this. Saviorism is a very harmful tendency for the people “being saved” and the person saving. In the field that I’m in, I hold a ton of space for the hardships that people face. I love doing that. I’m aware that part of who I am is to nurture and hold that space. And there is a fine line between holding that space and carrying the burden of others because I feel like I have to. In my work, I have had to learn the art of letting go. Understanding that I will never be able to create a fully safe space for every single person that I facilitate for. Everyone has different needs and it is up to us as participants to also find that safety inside of ourselves. Since working through this and finding discernment and boundaries with the people I work with, I’m able to serve in a more aligned and integrity-rooted way.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I am relentless around connection. Not from a place of what can you do for me and what can I do for you.. but everywhere I go, I prioritize connecting with people. So much of my business has grown through word of mouth, recommendations, and deep bonds of trust with people in my community. I am a community builder and connected at my core. Finding the opportunities to do this in honest ways is how I have been able to build a reputation in my market.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brittanydorazio.com
- Instagram: @sovereigncreativewellness
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/britt-dorazio029/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=brittany+dorazio
Image Credits
Giuliana Fox. Zane Cook.