We recently connected with LaShawna Epps and have shared our conversation below.
LaShawna, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
When God first gave me the name, I spelled it A Beautiful Life, which of course is the traditional way of spelling ‘beautiful’. But He literally broke it down for me and had me update it to A BeYOUtiful Life, meaning you must BE YOU to be full(whole or complete). Then He gave me a further breakdown of it…many people lack ‘true fulfillment’ in their lives, and that starts with simply being YOU, not a carbon copy or copycat of something or someone else.
Now this is just the BEGINNING of fulfillment, but it requires you to be real, raw, honest, and willing to take a deep dive inward to do the work required to tap into ‘why’ you’re unfulfilled. And for many, it stems from not operating in your gifts and purpose daily which creates frustration, and a void. Whenever a void is present, your mind and body are going to try to fill it with whatever it can because it doesn’t like the void. Unfortunately, the void often leads to being imprisoned and held hostage internally with a constant nagging, feeling of dissatisfaction or emptiness that can’t be shaken.
A beYOUtiful life must be defined and designed by YOU, although it’s directly connected to God’s original blueprint for your life. It requires an AWAKENING as you will quickly discover that fulfillment has NOTHING to do with anything EXTERNAL or outside of you. I partner with my clients as I help walk them through a process of self-discovery, self-awareness, self-discipline, self-accountability, and self-love to tap into who they really are.
True fulfillment requires that you be open to changing your mindset, and when you do, your life has to follow.
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?
After making a quality decision to no longer stay stuck, live as a victim of my past, and clearly hearing from God how to move forward, I exited the corporate world after 24 years, to pursue my purpose & assignment by empowering accomplished, ambitious women, particularly those aged 40 and above. These women often find themselves trapped in lives saturated with stress and overwhelm, yearning for relief from the relentless pressures of their lives while also seeking authentic transformation, genuine fulfillment, and freedom. I help these clients identify stressors and triggers, connect the dots to conquer challenges, break through barriers, and facilitate transformations to experience remarkable and sustainable outcomes!
A BeYOUtiful Life Speaking, Coaching & Consulting Services℠ empowers women over 40 to overcome stress, overwhelm, and lack of confidence to experience transformation and true fulfillment. Through coaching programs, workshops, retreats, digital ebooks, guides, and workbooks, we offer proven tools and strategies backed by science, and clients gain resilience and achieve personal growth and sustainable success.
Not everybody is their ideal client. But I AM. After receiving a clear message from God that this is why He created me, I embarked on establishing my speaking, coaching, and consulting business, honing in on mindset, wellness, and mental health, specifically addressing the dangers of constant stress and overwhelm, confidence, and purpose. This focus stems from my own journey of pain to purpose, deeply rooted in my personal experiences and testimony.
I intimately understand the journey of transformation, encompassing the highs, lows, obstacles, victories, challenges, and even the struggles with ego. I’ve lived through it all—I’ve been the stressed, overwhelmed, addicted, stagnant, fearful, undisciplined, procrastinating perfectionist, caught in cycles of competition and comparison, and ensnared in an identity crisis and imposter syndrome—until I allowed God to guide me through a profound process of self-discovery, self-awareness, self-accountability, and self-love, which utterly transformed my existence.
And yes, I could continue listing the many facets of my journey, because I know them deeply. I don’t need to craft elaborate marketing strategies to attract my ideal clients; I simply trust in my own transformation. I’ve meticulously documented my processes, reflections, pivotal moments, and challenges, integrating them into my content, and everything I do, to authentically convey the power of my coaching transformation. This authenticity, transparency, and vulnerability serve as the foundation of my approach, instilling confidence in my clients to invest in my programs.
Our company vision statement is: To improve the quality of life of countless women by empowering them to navigate stress and overwhelm, turn pressure into purpose, and remove possibility blindness to unlock and unleash their inner resilience.
With that, I am wholly committed to the women I serve by helping them break free from the bondage of their old mindsets of constant stress, overwhelm, and a lack of confidence, so they can finally fire their ‘stress boss’ and become the CEO of their lives. In turn, they can show up as WHOLE women and start pitching their lives at the level of their worth!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I found myself needing to make a significant pivot right after completing my rigorous training for my life coaching business. Despite the intensity of the training, I suddenly felt stuck and began questioning my abilities as I asked myself could I really do this?
In a moment of transparency, I must admit that I didn’t feel equipped at all to guide others through their journeys. For over a year, I essentially put my business on hold until a pivotal moment on my birthday, October 8th, 2022, when God intervened and urged me to break free from stagnation. He gave me revelation about a shift I needed to make in my mindset by telling me “Yes you obeyed me and surrendered, but your focus is too narrow, and you’re looking at it one way…surrender doesn’t simply mean obeying, denying yourself or giving up something, but it also means you must STAY OPEN to all possibilities because I have infinite ways to show up in your life and business…ways that you never thought about or considered”. He also made it clear that I needed to DETACH myself from what ‘I thought’ the outcome should look like. His words snapped me out of my funk, giving me new clarity and determination. Suddenly, tasks that had been lingering for over a year began to flow effortlessly, including the creation of my website—a personal triumph I never thought possible.
This supernatural insight prompted a pivotal shift, not only in my business but also in my personal life.
One example of this shift occurred when I received a postcard invitation to my local city’s first business networking event post-Covid. Initially hesitant, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and attend. Despite knowing no one, I seized the opportunity to connect with other business owners and ended up learning about a grant opportunity through a local workshop. This led me to a pitch competition where I unexpectedly reunited with an old friend of 20+ years who introduced me to a game-changing opportunity, transforming the trajectory of my business. It has connected and given me access to people I could not pay to be in rooms with, given me opportunities for speaking and workshop facilitations, and has catapulted me in ways that I know would have not happened so swiftly had I not STAYED OPEN and started going OUTSIDE of own intellect and my normal way of doing things. *hands raised*
This experience reinforced the importance of changing one’s perspective, and it is also why this Wayne Dyer quote is my favorite, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” This quote has become my mantra, guiding me to embrace openness and adaptability, ultimately propelling my journey forward in unforeseen ways.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I’ve got a story that always comes to mind, and I can probably tell it quicker than the others.
It happened two years ago, the day after Christmas. My husband and I had just finished the leftovers from our Christmas dinner when, suddenly, I was hit with severe stomach pains. Without going into too much detail, let’s just say it wasn’t pleasant. As the discomfort intensified, I found myself feeling feverish and nauseous, to the point where I ended up removing all my clothing in an attempt to cool down. Then, something even more alarming happened—I lost vision in my right eye. To confirm, I put my left hand over my left eye, and there was total darkness in my right eye.
Now, as much as panic wanted to take over, I remembered a lesson I’d learned from a teaching by Kenneth Copeland years ago: your first response is where your faith lies and sets the course for what happens next. So, instead of succumbing to fear, I paused and then prayed, declaring healing over myself. Despite the pain and discomfort, I focused on what I wanted to see, rather than what was happening in the moment.
I began reciting healing scriptures and kept my left hand over my left eye, determined to witness the exact moment my sight returned because I’d already decided that it would. For about 15 minutes, I continued to declare my healing, and slowly, the darkness started to fade and turn into blurriness. Within five more minutes or so, my vision completely returned. It was a moment of overwhelming gratitude and praise for the restoration of my sight.
That experience taught me two valuable lessons. First, to invest my thoughts, words, and actions in what I want to see and experience, rather than dwelling on the negative. As we’re going through the negative experience, we must first acknowledge and accept that it’s happening, and then we must adapt and adjust ourselves to respond in a way that is loving towards us, and a way that will not oppose the outcome we desire. Second, adversity introduces you to the REAL YOU, and can be an opportunity for growth and self-discovery. By acknowledging and accepting the situation, and responding with faith and love, we can truly pave the way for favorable outcomes without offering resistance.
Shortly after, I received a message from God: “RESILIENCE grows wings that cause you to soar to higher heights!” This mantra is a reminder to remain resilient in the face of challenges and to share my testimony of hope and encouragement with others.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lashawnaepps.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/le_styl3/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lashawna.mackeyepps/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lashawna-epps-104262140
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LEstyle
Image Credits
These are all of my images not taken by a professional photographer.