Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nina Camille. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Nina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
Ever played a role in order to get love or safety, only to discover you felt inauthentic, isolated and trapped inside your own seemingly beautiful life? Me too.
Sometimes we master the external game only to realize our internal world is still one of questioning, suffering and aloneness. We wake up one day and realize we’ve accomplished everything we were told would matter, and yet we still feel like something is missing.
Or sometimes we’ve done the inner work, and can’t seem to get the external results we desire. I created my business, Experience Freedom, based on tools I wish I had when I needed them, along with all the wisdom I’ve gained through years of healing work, practice, integration, group facilitation and teaching.
I live my version of ultimate freedom. I do what I want, when I want, where I want, with whom I want to do it. I have lived in my favorites places like San Diego, Bali, the Virgin Islands, Tulum and Kaua’i. I run my business from anywhere, lead retreats globally, play often and spend time with dear friends and co-creators. My body, mind, emotional state and spiritual practice are my absolute top priorities. My health, business, money and relationships thrive as a result. I live in alignment with my teachings, I take incredibly good care of myself every day and prioritize my own well-being so I can be of massive service to the world. I genuinely love myself, hold myself gently, show up to my own work and allow others to do the same for themselves. I allow myself to be completely messy and ask for help when I need it.
I live what I teach, every single day.
But it wasn’t always this way. As an only child with spiritual gifts I didn’t understand, I grew up feeling alone, highly sensitive, and different. I felt like God skipped me. My father was deeply spiritual – an Indigenous medicine man, healer and psychic who carried a lot of power, and a lot of trauma. As an attuned child without a safe connection to the tribe, I started drinking at 13 years old in order to “fit in” and tune out the extra-sensory information I was receiving on a daily basis. I learned how to be who I thought I was “supposed” to be – a free-spirited, popular party girl with her shit together – someone who everyone wanted to be around. I built my entire life around being well-liked, and I got really good at it.
Throughout my 20s I felt split between two worlds. I would literally go from the yoga studio to the club. I’d home cook an organic vegan meal and then take shots until 6am at an afterparty. I felt like myself nowhere. One day in 2014, I woke up feeling trapped and bored as hell in my beautiful life in San Diego, so I decided to scrap it all and move to the Caribbean. I taught yoga full-time, spent days in the ocean, and made new friends.
For a while, I felt more me than ever before.
But then, 2017 happened. I came home from work to the most heart-shattering experience imaginable at the time – the love of my life ended our relationship out of nowhere (or so it seemed at the time), and I was absolutely devastated for the first time in my adult life. I had never allowed myself to actually feel pain that deep, and wondered how I would ever survive it. I spent about four months crying on a couch wondering if the hurt would ever end, and a couple more months slowly putting my life back together. It was like as soon as I opened the box of sadness, every ounce of pain I ever numbed came flooding out.
It was right about then that I received a call with the next most horrifying news I could imagine – my best friend in San Diego died unexpectedly from an accidental overdose. Again, my heart was completely broken. A couple months after that, back-to-back hurricanes devastated my Caribbean home of St. Thomas, wildfires scorched my hometown of Sonoma County, and my mom went into an induced coma, nearly dying of multiple lung infections. It was an entire year of living every single worst nightmare I had ever had. I was afraid to wake up every morning, certain that something else even worse would happen. I could hardly believe how resilient we humans really are and wondered how so many like me had made it through such brutal moments.
It wasn’t until I discovered the power of radical commitment that everything in my life shifted, and the work that resulted became my medicine for the world. I learned what becomes possible when you start taking impeccably good care of yourself, I learned that vulnerability is the path to true connection, and I learned that our pain is what transmutes us. I learned that mentorship and group work is the path to freedom in this life, if we want to enjoy it with deep connections and friends. Healing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens together. I took everything life gave me and turned it into art.
Today, I run my own business doing what I truly love, changing people’s lives in powerful ways and contributing to a more harmonious existence for all. I learned how to move through all of it with grace, ease, and even some fun.
This is why I’m so passionate about showing people the life they dream of is absolutely possible, no matter what they’ve experienced. Peace, freedom, connection and love can be yours, and the realization of that into your actual reality is what moves the entire world in that direction. You can be free no matter what you’ve endured. In fact, your big dreams are possible because of what you’ve experienced. Opening truly is the path to genuine freedom and love. Your shame is a lie. You are safe to open and be the real you. You are safe to trust people and really let them in. You deserve community. You deserve to discover the truth of who you are and live in complete alignment with that, and I’m here to help you realize and embody that truth. This encompasses the mission of Experience Freedom and the work we do.
Nina, 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?
Experience Freedom is an suite of online transformational group programs, 1:1 coaching, and in-person luxury retreats for epic beings of all ages, backgrounds and belief systems to come together in a safe space of growth, healing and connection.
We learn how to relate to our brothers, sisters and fellow humans on Earth in a healthy and deep way.
We heal trauma and integrate the lessons so our journeys can lay the foundation for our contribution to the world.
We practice sharing our truth in a space where people are prepared to receive it, so we can have an embodied experience of feeling safe to tell the absolute truths of our hearts.
We have offerings for everyone on a path of growth, healing, self-discovery and authentic relating, with the common goal of leaving this world more loving, peaceful and free than we found it – for all beings everywhere.
Experience Freedom Foundations is a 6-week online-only journey.
Experience Freedom Signature is a 14-week online journey with a 7-night luxury retreat.
Experience Freedom Leadership is a 9-month certification with a 7-night luxury retreat for those who are interested in doing this type of work and deepening their embodied leadership skills.
We’ve been running groups and retreats for over 7 years now and an incredible community has birthed as a result. We’re like a real family – which means we not only love each other, but we also push each others buttons and rub each other the wrong way once in a while. Unlike a modern family, though, we have developed the skills to repair our relationships and turn moments of conflict into opportunities for deeper connection. We make room for each others’ humanness and allow the journey to be ever-unfolding, messy and beautiful.
It’s wild to see how easily people open when given the space. It’s mind-blowing to watch how people start to contribute their gifts to the world once they understand how to care for themselves properly.
Over and over, I watch what happens when people feel safe and resourced, and it’s incredibly inspiring.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Consistency, authenticity and authority. I’ve been consistent online for more than a decade. People know they can count on me to write something and share from the heart. I’ve been real about my journey, shared the gold I’ve learned, and assumed a role of teacher through that. Consistent education and growth on my end has allowed for a level of mastery to be developed, and with that comes respect and authority. If you are masterful at something, it’s a contribution that you share it. Assuming that risk of being judged pays off hugely. I’ve found that the more honest I am, the easier it is for people to connect to me and trust them – because I offer them my trust in return.
Any advice for managing a team?
It starts with hiring. A lot of founders hire excited interns who want to be like them one day. Truly, if you want to build a business successfully, you need to hire people who don’t want your job. They want to do all the things you don’t consider within your zone of genius. Hiring people you want to hang out with every day is also very important. My team and I meet weekly and we catch up on each others’ personal lives before we dive into business. We genuinely care about each other, and our cohesion and creative brilliance rests on that foundation of true, genuine care. Nothing in the business is more important than the health and well-being of every team member. When your team feels truly considered and cared for, they are all-in on your ideas and execution. Magic happens.
Contact Info:
- Website: experiencefreedom.com
- Instagram: @itsninacamille
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/experiencefreedombynina
- Twitter: @itsninacamille
- Youtube: /itsninacamille
Image Credits
Andrew Reed, Rachel Crane