We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vanessa LaRose a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Vanessa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
Recently I packed up and moved myself out of Los Angeles to embark on an adventure living in Joshua Tree, CA. Growing up in the city, this has been a massive change for me. I am glad I took a leap of faith and am really enjoying my new creative community.
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.
Hey! I am Vanessa. I am a YouTube creator, beauty expert, vintage clothing lover and dog mother. My YouTube channel is about cult recovery and by sharing my own story I hope to empower others to walk away from high control organizations and groups like the one that I was raised in. I am proud of the community I have built online and the educational videos I have produced. After working as a hairstylist for 15 years I have retired from that field and have moved into the behavioral health space. I work at a crisis center and it brings me so much joy to help those struggling, many who are going through the hardest time in their life. I am currently a graduate student at Boise State University (go Broncos!) and will be graduating with a Master’s degree in Social Work. Please follow my YouTube channel and come along with me on my journey of empowerment.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The community support I receive through my YT channel has been so incredibly rewarding. I have cultivated rich friendships with people from all over the world. I was surprised at how many folks are going through similar things as I. It brings me so much joy when my subscribers relate to what I am saying and say “I learned something today.”
Have you ever had to pivot?
I have had a couple careers at this point in my life. They say that in today’s day and age an individual has an average of three careers (versus in the past when one was enough). Pivoting from the beauty world into the mental health world has definitely meant a huge change in who I deal with daily. I really enjoyed bonding with my hair and makeup clients, but there is nothing like helping an individual through a crisis and seeing the growth and resiliency of a human being.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @VanessaELaRose
- Linkedin: https://LinkedIn.com/VanessaLaRose
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@VanessaLaRose/
