We were lucky to catch up with Dr. Jessie & Omar Ferreira recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dr. Jessie & Omar, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
ASQ was born from a single question that kept echoing through both our personal and professional lives: “Who am I?”
At first, it wasn’t a business idea; it was a quest. Omar and I were both navigating seasons of transition and disconnection, feeling the tension between who we were expected to be and who we were becoming. That question — Who am I? led us to create the ASQ Podcast, a space where we could explore stories of authenticity, purpose, and transformation. It became a mirror not only for our own journey, but for countless others who were longing to belong to themselves again in a world that keeps asking us to fit in.
Through those conversations, we realized that the personal stories people shared, moments of courage, loss, healing, and rediscovery, were all pointing to something deeper: the need for coherence between our inner and outer lives. That realization planted the seed for what would become ASQ Empowerment Services.
When I earned my Ph.D., my research focused on emotional intelligence and how raising our awareness transforms not only individuals but also the cultures we create in our workplaces. I saw how easily organizations can become toxic when people lose touch with meaning, empathy, and self-awareness, and I knew I couldn’t keep that insight confined to academia.
So, I made a leap of faith. I walked away from the corporate world to pursue what had quietly been growing inside us: a vision to guide individuals and leaders who were asking the same questions we once asked: Who am I? What am I here to do? How can I lead without losing myself?
From that vision, The Coherence Quest Methodology was born, our proprietary curriculum that bridges ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience to help people find alignment between desire, emotion, intellect, and purpose. To make it practical, we developed the P.E.P. Framework™ (Perspective → Experience → Philosophy), a simple but profound process for personal and professional growth that turns insight into lived wisdom.
Those early days were filled with uncertainty and endless experimentation, hosting small circles, refining our models, designing our website, building partnerships, and learning how to translate spiritual depth into actionable leadership tools. But step by step, ASQ evolved from a question into a movement.
Today, ASQ Empowerment Services offers personal and professional development programs, organizational trainings, and executive and group guiding, all rooted in one belief: when individuals heal fragmentation within themselves, they lead with coherence, and coherent leaders create coherent cultures.
That’s how ASQ began, not as a business plan, but as a soul’s quest that turned into a framework for transformation.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
ASQ began with a question that refused to leave us alone: “Who am I?”
That question became the heartbeat of our lives and the spark that started everything. At the time, both, Omar and I were navigating seasons of transition. We were successful on paper, yet something felt fragmented. We were doing meaningful work, but somewhere along the way, we had lost the connection to meaning itself.
So, we did what seekers do: we turned the question outward. We created the ASQ Podcast as a space to explore stories of identity, purpose, and transformation. Week after week, we invited people to share the moments that shaped them, and we realized that the question Who am I? is really an invitation to coherence: to become one within ourselves so we can belong to the world differently.
As the podcast grew, so did our calling. When I earned my Ph.D. researching emotional intelligence and awareness in organizational life, it became clear that what we were uncovering wasn’t just personal, it was structural. The same fragmentation we felt inside was showing up in workplaces, families, and communities.
That insight led to the birth of ASQ Empowerment Services, a company dedicated to helping individuals and organizations move from fragmentation to coherence. Omar’s decades of experience in youth leadership, coaching, and community development grounded our approach in real-world application, while my background in psychology and emotional intelligence gave it academic and spiritual depth.
Together, we developed The Coherence Quest Methodology, a framework that merges ancient wisdom with modern neuroscience, and our practical P.E.P. Framework TM (Perspective → Experience → Philosophy) to help people turn awareness into action.
We started with small circles and community gatherings, refined our models through live workshops like Brewing Leadership, a monthly leadership training, and slowly built the digital ecosystem that now supports our clients around the world.
ASQ didn’t start as a business; it started as a quest for wholeness. The business was simply the form that wholeness took when we began living our answer.
For those who have not heard of us:
We’re Dr. Jessie and Omar Ferreira, co-founders of ASQ Empowerment Services, short for A Soul’s Quest. We’re partners in life and in purpose, united by a shared belief: real change begins within.
Our paths converged through a shared passion for helping people grow: Jessie through psychology, leadership development, and emotional intelligence research; Omar through youth empowerment, organizational culture building, and decades of work in community leadership.
ASQ brings those worlds together. We specialize in personal and professional development, organizational training, and executive and group guiding, all anchored in our proprietary frameworks, the Coherence Quest Methodology and the P.E.P. Framework TM. These tools help individuals and organizations cultivate coherence: the alignment between desire, emotion, intellect, and purpose.
In simple terms, we help people and teams heal fragmentation, the invisible disconnection between what they value and how they live and lead. Whether it’s a leader overwhelmed by burnout, a team struggling with culture, or an individual searching for meaning, our work brings science, spirituality, and strategy into one conversation.
What makes us different is that we don’t treat personal growth and leadership as separate journeys. We teach that coherence, harmony between inner state and outward action, is the foundation of sustainable success. Omar’s facilitation style brings grounded energy, storytelling, and practical tools; Jessie’s guidance brings emotional depth, academic rigor, and transformational insight. Together, we offer both structure and soul.
We’re most proud of watching people remember who they are, that moment when clarity returns, purpose ignites, and leadership becomes an expression of wholeness.
What we want people to know about ASQ is this: you don’t have to choose between being successful and being authentic. The two belong together. When you begin within, everything else aligns.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Our greatest pivot wasn’t planned; it was personal.
When we first launched the ASQ Podcast, it was meant to be a space for authentic conversations, a place where people could share their stories of purpose, loss, and transformation. But as Omar and I evolved, so did the podcast. After each interview, we found ourselves reflecting deeply, not just on our guests’ journeys, but on our own. Somewhere along the way, we realized that the world didn’t just need more stories of transformation; it needed a framework to live them.
That realization stirred something in me. I had just earned my Ph.D., believing that doors would open for what I thought was my calling, the next chapter of my career unfolding naturally. But despite all the achievements, I felt an inner dissonance, that quiet voice whispering that I was meant to do something different, something deeper. I ignored it for a long time, until I couldn’t anymore. What started as a breakdown became a breakthrough. I left the corporate world with no map, no certainty, only faith in the work that was calling us forward.
The idea of becoming entrepreneurs was completely foreign to us. We weren’t building a business; we were following our calling, our intuition. We took everything we’d learned from leadership, psychology, spirituality, and lived experience and began creating what would become ASQ Empowerment Services.
Omar’s grounding in community leadership and my focus on emotional intelligence became the perfect balance of structure and soul. Together, we developed the Coherence Quest Methodology and the P.E.P. Framework TM, transforming our personal awakening into a process that helps others bridge their inner and outer worlds.
That pivot taught us that sometimes clarity doesn’t come before the leap; it comes because of it. The breakdown was really a breakthrough, and the uncertainty became the invitation to live what we now teach: coherence is not found in control, but in courage.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
One of the hardest lessons we had to unlearn was that success means security, that if you just follow the right plan, get the right degrees, and work hard enough, everything will fall into place.
For most of our lives, that belief guided every decision. I pursued higher education, built a strong corporate career, and earned my Ph.D. Omar worked in leadership and community development, mentoring others to grow and achieve their goals. On paper, everything looked “right.” But inside, something was missing.
When we launched the ASQ Podcast, it began as a creative outlet, a way to explore questions that traditional success models didn’t answer. Over time, it became clear that the real work wasn’t about achieving more; it was about becoming more authentic. That realization forced us to unlearn one of the deepest societal programs: that stability equals fulfillment.
For me, that lesson came with a breaking point. After years of achievement and doing “what was expected,” I realized I was living by everyone else’s definition of success. The breakdown that followed became a spiritual and psychological breakthrough the moment I understood that safety without authenticity is just another form of fear.
Walking away from the corporate world into entrepreneurship was terrifying. There was no roadmap, no guarantee, just a calling we couldn’t ignore. But it’s in that surrender that we found true coherence, the alignment between what we do, how we live, and who we are.
What we’ve learned, and what we now teach through ASQ Empowerment Services, is that growth often begins where control ends. You can’t think your way into transformation; you have to live your way into it.
Unlearning the old definition of success freed us to redefine it: not as certainty or comfort, but as courage, authenticity, and contribution. That’s the lesson we continue to embody every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://asqempowerment.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asoulsquestaaa/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asoulsquest
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asq-empowerment-services
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ASQPodcast32
