We recently connected with Sharisse Francisco and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sharisse, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

As I’ve grown older I’ve become fascinated by my realization that parents are simply people moving through there own challenges, traumas, internalized societal conditioning, limiting beliefs, etc that are doing the best they can with what they have and know to take care of another human being.

However, I’m grateful to say that my parents did a lot of things right. I can confidently say that my brothers and I are good, kind-hearted, wonderful beings.

That being said, I believe the most profound thing my parents did and continue to do are be embodiments of Love, both as individuals and as a unit.
They taught me to live rooted in and continuously move from a place of love.
I have always felt supported, accepted and loved unconditionally by them.
This feels so powerful each time I say it, especially as a Queer/Bisexual being. I’m aware that there are a lot of people in my LGBTQIA+ community that do not receive the love and acceptance they deserve from their biological family and I’m truly grateful for what I have.

My parents have shown their love for me time and time again both through their words and actions.
I remember never “formally” coming out to them, because I’ve always spoken so openly with them.
One day in college, I was on a phone call with my parents and I nonchalantly started venting about drama with a girlfriend. I felt as though they were pushing the topic away and it upset me.

I remember baby-sitting one night during college break and watching “Father of The Bride.” It brought up challenging emotions for me around my parents potential acceptance of my future life partnership. When I got home I asked my Dad, “If I marry a woman, will you still walk me down the isle?”
“Of course!” He exclaimed.
It seemed both my parents just needed some time to integrate the new information about my sexual orientation. My Mother also always firmly expressed, “You’re children are your children, parents should love them no matter what.”

Moreover, my parents have also always given me permission to express myself and encouraged me to pursue my passions and dreams.
I remember home videos of me around 3 years old wearing a little pink tube top, pink tutu, and pink princess heels as my Dad swung me around like a rag doll dancing with me all over the living room. There are endless videos of me at a young age hopping around our apartment in the Bronx, rapping dancing, and singing.
There are even home videos of me begging to sing into the microphone of our camcorder (90’s babies y’all know what I’m talking about!) while my parents tried to capture special moments of my brother, Lee. They would laugh and of course try to maneuver around me or divert my attention to give my little bother some camera time. However, they never shut me down or silenced me.

I was always embraced and encouraged to play and express myself.

I believe this all gave me the courage to pursue my dreams as an artist, vocalist and performer. I was given the support I needed to nurture my creative spirit, expression, and talents. Furthermore, my parents have infused me with the essence of love that inspires me to want help others be and embody their highest selves.
I have the ability to deeply see people and connect from a place of great compassion and empathy. This enables me to help them embrace themselves with more love and compassion, and also to support them on their journey, of healing, empowerment, authenticity, and liberated self expression.

Tell us a bit about your journey and the work you do so our readers can get to know you better

I remember crying at the kitchen table with horrible anxiety and feelings of unworthiness in my continued failed attempts to understand my math homework at the age of 5; feeling a bit hopeless. These intense feelings of anxiety would come in waves through out my school days and were amplified by depression once puberty hit.

A major shift occurred for me when I began working with my friend and teacher Joe Somodi.
Post college, I was scattered and struggling to find my way, figure out how to start my life as a “young adult,” and pursue a career as a performer.
Joe took me under his wings; as a life coach he guided me, helped me integrate mindfulness into my life, and supported me in building the foundation for a meditation practice.

I remember calling my parents while I was at Party City one day picking up some things for a kids Zumba party I was facilitating. “I was able to choose things so much faster and with more ease!” I exclaimed.
This may seem like such a simple thing, but this memory always sticks out in my mind as a moment when I knew that the mindfulness and meditation practices I had been integrating were transforming me.
I was beginning to connect to my breath, navigate the world and make decisions from a more grounded place and with greater clarity.
From that moment on, I became obsessed with Mindfulness, began to deepen my Meditation practice, and became extremely passionate about learning and integrating more tools and modalities to support my healing and growth.

My passion for performing and healing have interwoven together into something beautiful and expansive.

My mission is to help alleviate suffering in the world by supporting beings in cultivating greater inner peace, awakening their joy, igniting their unique self expression, and liberating themselves.

I have a BFA in Musical Theater from Syracuse University and have performed professionally as an artist, vocalist, and entertainer for the past 10 years.
I integrate the knowledge I have gained from my background in the performing arts with all I have learned about holistic healing and interweave it with my potent intuitive wisdom.
Furthermore, I utilize and share different tools, practices, rituals and modalities, such as Mindfulness, Meditation, Affirmations, Breath, Reiki, Sound Healing, Cacao, Embodiment & Voice Activation to aid people in coming back to and expanding into the fullness and wholeness of themselves.

I create customized sessions to support individuals with their specific needs, goals, intentions, and desires according to where they currently are on their unique journey.

Through working with with me my clients learn to:

Attain greater quiet and ease in their inner world

Get in tune with themselves and what their body, mind, heart, spirit and soul need to feel supported & nourished

Enhance their capacity for compassion, self acceptance, and deeper more expansive self love

Gain greater access to their authentic inner voice & enhance their ability to hear and listen to it

Become more aware, conscious, mindful, and intentional about the way they speak to themselves and communicate with others

Gain greater courage & confidence to powerfully communicate and share their personal truth

Live embodied, empowered, and liberated in the fullest expression of themselves

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I feel like my journey of adulthood, healing, and growth is constantly filled with unlearning of societal norms and conditioning that have kept me stifled, anxious, caught in feelings of lack and unworthiness, or caused me tremendous burn out.

I was born in the Bronx, however I moved to a predominantly white suburb of New York at the age of 5 where I grew up.
One of the most damaging beliefs I realized I have integrated that I am continuing to unlearn and release is that as Queer Womynx of Color and as an Artist my life will be forever rooted in struggle and scarcity. Moreover, that as a healer, my job is to always be in service and give to others even if it causes me great suffering and depletion.

Fortunately, I know that none of this is true. I deserve to thrive in success and abundance. I deserve to receive for sharing my gifts. I deserve to be filled and to fill myself up so that I can give from a place overflow. My life does not have to consist of constant hustle, struggle, and suffering, but instead can be joyous, expansive, prosperous and fulfilling; even magical.

This feels like the most profound thing about stepping into entrepreneurship; sharing my heart and tremendous passion and allowing myself to receive for sharing my gifts and my generous and transformative support. Moreover, remembering that I am so worthy and deserving of this.

When I thrive I uplift and inspire. I ignite hope and awaken possibility. I activate the vibrations of peace and love that ripple out into the word.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

As I continued to feel a greater pull to step into my purpose as a healer/facilitator of healing I serendipitously stumbled upon Radiant Wildheart and their MUSE Business Academy. Shereen Sun, the creator and founder of Radiant Wildheart, focuses on supporting Womynx of Color, Femmes, and Queer People thrive in heart-centered businesses. I felt so aligned with their mission, approach, and the community they attracted and cultivated that I moved past my fears and made the biggest investment I have ever made in myself. I have always been an expressive person. However, I felt that parts of me could only be expressed in certain spaces and not in others; there was a bit more compartmentalization of my “selves.”
One of the most transformative mindset shifts I received and integrated from MUSE Business Academy is that I have the power to give myself permission to express all aspects of myself unapologetically because they all deserve to exists and be seen; the Peaceful Earth Mama, The Wild Woman, The Sensual Sexy Goddess, the Rockstar that exudes infectious energy and powerfully commands the stage, The Playful Flower Child, and even my vulnerable messy human self.
This has deeply inspired the work I do. Simply embodying my true authentic self and confidently and courageously expressing it magnetizes and inspires others to do the same.
I’ve realized that by embodying my most authentic self, letting my passions drive me, and with the right support, tools, strategies, and mindset it is fully possible to thrive in a heart-centered business and make a profound impact on humanity and the world.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamsharissefrancisco
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIJwzK1zMn9087HV35V3RPg
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5HsiVnxRcvDb4dROH8sDdL?si=wS86jYmzTkuHLFW2OUnZWQ

Image Credits
Leandro Francisco