We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Whitney Walker a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Whitney, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
My business, Women Waken, was born out of enthusiasm, excitement and passion about the possibilities for our experience of ourselves and the world, and what it could become with a shift in its dynamics. If you listen to any teachings of spiritual guides, mystics, or even historians and sociologists you begin to hear a theme about the future of our world and what the key ingredients are for its success. It is the idea of a reintroduction of the feminine qualities that have been so largely lacking in our society. Women Waken is not about a distinction between men and women, it is an invitation for all individuals to allow themselves to Waken to the feminine qualities within which have been repressed and minimized for most of our known history. These are the qualities of balance, harmony, equality, nurturing, love, joy, enchantment, forgiveness, acceptance, sufficiency, security, kindness and compassion.
In the current state of our world, we do not collectively place a high value on these traits. They are not seen as what garners power, money, influence, profit, innovation, growth, development all of which we have decided are of the utmost importance. This decision is harming us as a society, individually, as well as the planet. We have lost touch with one another and the land we live on. Pretty soon all of this will be no longer without a drastic shift in the way we do things. Women Waken is working to illuminate the power and abilities of the feminine, opening the space for it to more fully come forth and restore balance and harmony on the planet. It is encouraging the connection of women in order to collaborate, innovate, and awaken to the gifts of their true nature.
The purpose of Women Waken is to shine a light for you to walk your own path, to begin to trust your own guidance and move into the life you desire through healing, restoring, reclaiming, growing, evolving, and moving into a knowing of your own remarkable nature and gifts.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Whitney Walker. Professionally, I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with several years of clinical and private practice experience and the host of the Women Waken podcast. I’m also work with clients on Spiritual Guidance and navigating their healing journey. Personally I am a nomadic explorer, roaming the country with my beloved soulmate pup, Audrey, for 3.5 years, a Spiritualist, tarot reader, dancer, drummer, lover of concerts and music, and believer in the immense potential of all beings. I became a therapist because I struggled greatly in the first few decades of my life with substance abuse, rock bottom self esteem, trauma, and an eating disorder. I was in dire need of help and support and therapy provided a great deal of that for me. I wanted to be able to offer that same gift to others since I was fortunate enough to make it to the other side of my demons.
In my career. I have worked with individuals from 5-65 years old in the pursuit of healing, growth, and flourishing. I help individuals, couples, and families navigate the challenges of trauma, crisis, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, spirituality, self-regard, and self-destructive behaviors. I consider myself to be a holistic healer, utilizing many forms of treating the individual taking into account the body, mind and spirit. My gift is to look within and see an individual’s strength, power and potential. Of course, you will be the one to bring that forth. My role is merely to provide the space for you to do so. I may tell you what I see and how you may fully sit in your wholeness and divine power. In my work with others, my goal has been to assist them in starting out on their own path using self-trust and personal truth, which I consider paramount for all beings.
The path in life that I have walked is one of continuous growth, awareness, and evolution, a search for truth and the experience of personal freedom. At points in my life it has been difficult to find my footing or a way to love and accept myself. Yet here I am, today, walking and dancing my way through life. The amazing thing about recovery, restoration, and peace is that once we achieve it, we are able to give it away like a beautiful, energizing beam. I have a vision where truth, freedom, love, and harmony prevail. Recreating our world begins one person at a time, each discovering their truth and aligning with it.
How did you build your audience on social media?
In order to allow my podcast, Women Waken, to find it’s audience I had to what works, even though it didn’t appeal to me. Allow me to explain. I worked with a podcasting coach and he shared that the key to enabling people to find my podcast who were aligned with it’s focus and message was to niche down in the key topics I covered. I resisted this idea as I wanted to remain broad and open to many various guests and themes in my show. yet my coach pointed out that i didn’t have to limit the variety of my guest’s, I just needed to find the common thread that ran through each of their work or business. So I decided on a few keywords and gave it a shot. And it worked. I began to use the same specific words in my episode titles and shownotes and sure enough, my podcast started taking off. The show became searchable because I was consistent. I also began doing solo episodes in addition to my weekly guest episodes and released 3 episodes a work. This leveraged the show as well and to my delight I went from a few hundred downloads a month to a couple 1000!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When I turned 29 I made the decision to get sober from drugs and alcohol. I had come to the realization that I could not become the Woman I envisioned myself to be if I continued using. I saw that when I drank I became someone I didn’t respect or trust, neither of which I was comfortable with. I also saw myself in the future, in my profession as a therapist. I wanted to be someone who helped others heal and grow from my own place of healing and growth. So I gave it up. Then and there right before my 29th birthday. The year that followed was hard. Giving up booze and pills was miserable in its own right yet fulling feeling the emotional pain and crippling insecurity I had been masking with substances felt unbearable at times. I found myself desperate and sought out a drug and alcohol counselor and attended AA meetings. I was getting to the root of my issues and it was painful as hell yet also incredibly liberating. I began to feel more free, lighter, and happier. My brother told me one day, “You just seem so at peace now,” and it was true. Yet peace doesn’t come easy for those haunted by the demons of their past. Which is why my experience floored me even more to develop myself as a therapist who could help others pull themselves out of the dark and into a place of light, self acceptance, and joy. Which is where we all deserve to be!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://womenwaken.com
- Instagram: @womenwaken
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WomenWaken
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitney-walker-16b77794/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqyxriSmwfLueB3fn-FthWw
Image Credits
Mia Dragan