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

Reanna, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission is to free adults from self-rejection and abandonment in order to raise a more heart centered next generation.

I found myself running the rat race, telling myself when I had more money I would have more time. More time to enjoy rest, time with my kids, interest in sex and my relationship, to travel etc. On and on the story replayed that it was money, or lack of, that held me prisoner. But I finally found that I was a prisoner of my beliefs about myself, my intense inner critic, unrelenting perfectionist expectations and an overall lack of acceptance. When I became an entrepreneur I realized that if I didn’t address my energy, beliefs and self-talk my business would fail.

Once I began my healing journey, it was impossible to ignore the struggle and strife I was witnessing all around me in other entrepreneurs, my partner, my family and friends. I could see their limiting beliefs and self-rejection reflected back to them in their words, life circumstances and relationships. I could see the projection of their unresolved wounds onto others. Since I now have the tools to heal these tendencies, I am passionate about sharing them with others who are ready to transform their lives from striving to thriving. I can see the change in the way I relate to my kids and the way they respond. It gives me hope for our future generations and our ability to prevent trauma from going undiagnosed and creating more unnecessary pain in our world.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

In December2023, I fulfilled a lifelong dream!

I took my two kids to Europe for 3 weeks.

And then in February, I spent 3 weeks in Costa Rica with friends at a luxury retreat and my first music festival, Envision, without kids.

I have successful businesses. I’m in charge of my time, income and job security.

I’m enjoying my relationships, and I’m relaxed most of the time.

I do what I want when I want to. And I teach my clients how to have the same!

But it wasn’t always this way.

Honestly, I used to be irritated by people who said things like this. Why?

Because I was jealous.

I believed they were successful because they had a better start in life, more knowledge, were more special or better than me in some way. Like I was uniquely flawed.

Those were all lies!

I’m worthy. You’re worthy.

We don’t have to be special, or the best, or work constantly to have what we want.

We do have to embrace how amazing we are just because we exist.

God doesn’t make mistakes.

This is easier said than done, though.

We can repeat affirmations all day every day and still feel stuck.

That’s because real change requires more than just words—it demands deep, transformative action.

I’ve always been a risk taker, but it was very scary and painful for most of my life.

I grew up in a cult, where scarcity and fear were the dominant vibration.

Money felt dirty and hard to get. Sexual assault was swept under the rug. Victims were blamed.

Shunning, guilt, and shame kept us compliant. We learned not to trust our bodies or ourselves.

Abuse patterns of all kinds were seen as normal in my family.

I always knew I wanted something different.

When I had kids, I knew I had to change things to make sure I didn’t pass these low vibrational beliefs on to them.

I don’t want them depressed and feeling like they can’t do anything right, the way I felt.

This desire lead me to be the first in my family to graduate from college, earning a Bachelor’s and an MBA, among other certificates and awards.

I decided that academia, a corporate job and chasing prestige and financial wealth would make me happy and provide the best life for me and my kids. I thought if I could just make enough money, then I could finally relax and enjoy myself.

But it didn’t matter what I achieved or how much money I made. The raises and promotions kept coming. The projects and my impact were growing.

But happiness was elusive and I kept spending as much or more than I earned.

I didn’t know at the time that it was my childhood that haunted me and determined my financial behavior and constant feeling of stress.

I know what you’re thinking. Childhood? You’ve got to be kidding. Get over it.

Me too. I had spent my whole life up until then believing I was moving on and I could just forget.

Turns out it just doesn’t work that way.

I could not avoid it anymore. My life was passing me by with frustration. I had forgotten how to have fun. I didn’t even know what I wanted anymore.

And I was not willing to waste the rest of my life like this, just to keep my pride intact.

I tried to go it alone and I got somewhere.

But the major shifts began happening when I finally decided I was worthy of support. I needed results, fast!

The books and YouTube just weren’t cutting it anymore.

I invested in coaching. It accelerated my healing and growth beyond what I could have imagined.

And now I am a coach, helping my clients heal the patterns, and learn the steps to bring them to freedom.

I had always been sought out for my knowledge and advice by friends, family and my employees.

I love helping clients shed shame and embrace self-acceptance.

I love doing the work with people who are committed to living their best lives.

I love sharing freedom.

Freedom to choose how to spend their time.

Freedom to work in a nourishing flow state instead of a depleting force state.

Freedom to set boundaries.

Freedom to feel joy.

Freedom to feel intimacy.

Freedom to feel love.

Freedom to love and nourish their bodies, hearts, minds, and businesses.

Freedom to get paid really well and with ease.

Freedom to be who they are meant to be.

Freedom to stop putting other people’s opinions ahead of their truest desires.

I love guiding clients to their liberation. So many of us waste our precious lives believing we’re doing the right thing by denying who we are and what we want.

We stay in careers, living situations and relationships that deplete and stress us.

We are here to discover ourselves, not to impress and appease other people.

My clients are present with themselves and their chosen community.

We are lit up creators, who actually want what we have. We remember who we are and why we came here.
We embrace freedom, love, curiosity, compassion and authenticity. We listen deeply to ourselves and others. Exploring the richness of our own inner world makes it possible to truly love others.

I offer 1:1 coaching, online group courses and retreat facilitation. I also host the Wandering podcast, centered on personal development and healing trauma.

Any advice for managing a team?

Consistent communication that maintains a thread of compassion and curiosity. Empower team members to solve their own challenges by asking deepening questions instead of just giving directives. Recognize that you hire your team members so they can explore and share their genius and unique gifts. Ensure you give them opportunities to explore their interests and shine as well as growth opportunities. Have fun! Make sure team members have a chance to relax, have fun and get to know their coworkers with company sponsored team building activities and parties.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn body and sexual shame that came largely from religion, but also from generational trauma. I grew up Jehovah’s Witness and women were treated like incapable, inferior, second class citizens. Sexuality was taught as a means to please the husband and that he should be able to have it whenever he wanted regardless of how he treated his wife. Husbands were supposed to aim to be Christlike. However, this is a very high expectation and when their wives are discouraged from voicing any displeasure about their treatment, abuse in all forms tends to by prevalent. My family had patterns of all forms of abuse.

The women in particular were raised to believe we should just be as pleasing as possible even when it was impossible, because everything we did upset the men in some way. An imbalance of power is very likely to create this dynamic. The men end up behaving like wounded boys in adult bodies who use their strength to unleash the pain of past hurts on the women in their families.

I learned to act demure and deny I had any sexual desire, in order to avoid slut shaming or making my partner feel insecure. This created a lack of sexual interest and an imbalanced masculine approach to my life. I suppressed my femininity to balance the adult boy dynamic and make everything work to avoid my partners’ displeasure, and to keep up the facade of purity culture.

Once I understood my attachment style and the deep sexual shame and suppression I carried I could see how this suppression led to self denial in most areas of my life. It led to less creativity, low energy, an unhealthy body, lack of trust and safety in relationships and poor business and financial outcomes.

I began embracing my sexuality and exploring it on my own. From there I was able to learn how to ground, accept all parts of myself, end a toxic partnership and practice emotional regulation. From there, I could act from inspiration and begin enjoying the present moment even in the mundane moments.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alignandprosper.org/home
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alignandprospercoach/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reanna.ritter
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reanna-ritter-mba/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@WanderingPodcast

Image Credits

Kimberly Mufferi
Monica Fernandes