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

Lumalia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

Giving me a permission slip to do the thing I always wanted to do.

I have always loved writing; it set me apart as a photographer when I was a full-time wedding photographer. I could write a compelling blog post, which was my secret aset to getting potential clients in a meeting with me. But I had horrific grammar, I struggle with aspects of dyslexia, my flow was always backwards for clarity purposes. I knew I had unique ideas, but making them “English/human” was always an edge for me.

Growing up, language arts was my absolute least favorite subject. There were no correct answers. And I loved it when things made sense. Literature felt too unknown, too open-ended, and up for constant criticism or having to follow what your teacher told you it had to be. And I wasn’t into that. I wanted to have the correct answer and be able to prove it. I found comfort in unchangeable facts, which make sense in better understanding my childhood. Math was where things were stable and made sense, something I didn’t have in my life growing up: understanding why things were the way they were.

However, every time I wrote a paper, teachers told me I had really good ideas, but they were scattered and confusing. We didn’t have any grammar correction tools online, no Grammarly to check things for you. You either knew the rules of the English language and how to formulate your thoughts clearly, or you didn’t. I didn’t. It never clicked.

So, I felt entirely out of my realm when I wanted to write a book. I was creative, a photographer, and a business owner who thrived during the pandemic. I knew how to do hard things. But writing felt so uncomfortable. Even though when I sat down to write, it spilled out of me, and my fingers literally could not keep up with the words that wanted to come out.

Until I started working with my mentor, Jesh de Rox, after one writing assignment in our business coaching, I read back what I’d written, and his affirmations of how good it was and encouragement to write a book changed everything in me.

He wasn’t the first person to encourage me, but he was someone I greatly respected as a creative person. He was there right at the moment to say, “You know you can just go do it.”

So I did. I wrote my first memoir.

Lumalia, 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?

I call myself a beauty hunter or connection architect (depending on the day and audience) because at the root of all I’ve ever done as a creative, as a business owner, and as a female entrepreneur is finding ways to draw out the beauty in us individuals by first experiencing it then telling you about it.

It took me a lot of time to realize that I wasn’t always giving instruction books (although sometimes it is teaching). Often, it’s more about sharing my experiences in some form of artistic expression, writing, photography, speaking, or curation of an event.

A decade ago, I was a wedding photographer, moving my business from my home state, New Mexico, to Colorado, where photography was more sustainable and exciting with the Rocky Mountains, to my now-home state, Oregon. But I got really sick with autoimmune diseases when my daughter was two years old, and I had to shut down my business to figure out what was wrong.

It turns out I’m just another woman holding the suppressed generational trauma in my body. My beautiful, wise body said no more. It’s time we deal with this. So I did. I did not want to be a permanent patient in a system I inherently knew would not be able to help me.

So, I went into yoga, became a yoga teacher, and then figured out how to reopen my business with my long-time second shooter. I pivoted my photo business into couples, elopements, and branding work for small businesses, which felt more accessible as I struggled with disabilities from chronic illnesses.

As I dove deeper, I discovered my love of movement and the deep wisdom of the body. This led me to study under Jesh De Rox in Kindred, a modern form of somatic intuitive movement meditation that uses movement and the power of human connection to transfer feeling states, access creative genius, and heal.

Now, I merge all I learned and trained in the wellness industry from my healing journey recovering from autoimmune diseases into my love of writing and photography experiences.

This really first came about as a yoga teacher, but now you can experience it simply by reading my book Blooming Upside Down.

Ultimately, though, I help humans step back into their own power and desires by first building a bridge back into their bodies. We all build that bridge differently, so I’ve created many experiences from my book, women’s retreats, online courses, self-care membership library, roadmaps to self-awareness and healing, in-person pop-up events, and women empowerment photography experiences.

I believe our true source of power is in the presence of our own bodies. We should learn how to listen to all the sensations and experiences we are having. Then let that be a clue to knowing what you want in life instead of feeling like you are just on a conveyor belt of someone else’s life or instruction manual. We love manuals, and we have one built into our very DNA, into our biology; most of us have no clue how to listen to it and often find ourselves searching outside of us for instructions for living.

Right now, I genuinely believe I’m the only one bringing all the transformation I’ve experienced from such an early age into all my work. I know people who have had similar life journeys, experienced similar things or faced similar challenges, and I know they will resonate the most with what I offer. I honestly think that’s all of our magic as humans. No one’s better than anyone else; we’re not everyone’s flavor, and I’m so thankful for that! I want a world full of wild flavor.

The change we want to see in the world always has to begin when we look in the mirror. I’m here for the brave ones, ready to take that radical responsibility. It’s not easy, but we don’t have to do it alone, and that’s what I’m here for, building those spaces.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Stop supporting corporations with your money.

Comission artist more for things you need. Bring back the days of owning a handmade dress that will last you years instead of you where once.

Be an artist yourself. If you need new kitchenware but have always wanted to learn pottery, go take classes at your local pottery studio. Yes, it might take a year, but how proud would you be if you had created that? Or buy from a local artist instead of the box set.

Now, when guests come to your house, you get to share the story of how you purchased things instead of filling the pockets of companies that do not care about humans or the planet.

Buy small, support local artists in your community, and shop at local marketplaces and the art supply store down the street instead of the big box stores; yes, that is more convenient, but they usually don’t have spaces like a small business that cares about its employees. There isn’t such a big gap between the owner and the workers in smaller stores. A lot gets lost between the big companies and their workers.

We need more humans who remember we’re humans in these precious bodies experiencing this human experience. When you remember that, we’re tender, delicate, resilient, wild, and absolutely stunning.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Empowerment. I really want to give power back to the people, back to women, back to the wisdom in our bodies.

As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and familial human trafficking, empowering more women especially, is what I’m here to do. I came into this world into a family that seemed so safe on the outside but still denied my experiences, and I want to be here to believe more people in what they know they experienced.

I’m not just talking about the trauma or abuse either, although there is too much of that in our world getting repeated from generation to generation; I’m also talking about believing the draw they have to something beautiful and feeling confident to go chase after that.

So often, we do things to be accepted, to fit in, to stay alive, really, and we continue to do that until we build a safe life. Suddenly, we wake up in our thirties or forties, or sometimes in the middle of college or raising children, and we think, “Oh my god, what am I doing with my life? How did I get here?”

Sometimes, it takes getting sick, and sometimes, it takes death or some other form of loss. Still, I believe the universe, our very biology, our connection to this planet, and our harmony with nature always call us back into connection. We’ve just gotten so distracted, busy, and consumed with being with each other that we forget how to be ourselves when we are with each other. How can we even be ourselves? Or, sometimes, we swing so far to being alone that we don’t know how to be with other people because we are finally ourselves after a lifetime of being someone else to be with others.

I’m here to empower us back to that voice of connection, to those sparks of beauty, and say, “Yes, this is me, this is mine, this is why I’m here.” I cheerlead you on to that as I do the same for myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://celebrateagain.org/womens-retreat-in-oregon-wellness-experiences/
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/celebrateagain
• Youtube: http://youtube.com/@lumalia