In her bestselling book Crystal Bliss, Devi Brown wrote, “The most important relationship that you can nurture is the relationship that you have with yourself.” And the chief impact officer at Chopra Global, sought-after speaker, founder @karmabliss, and energy healer isn’t wrong. If you really want to set the foundation for a successful business and career, you have to go on a personal discovery and connect with who you really are.
“How you experience and feel about yourself is the foundation of what your life will or will not be,” says Brown. “There is no relationship, no job, no opportunity, no possession that is more important than the time and love you invest into your own soul and self. Everything you touch, everything you do is a reflection of your inner world.” In short, when you are in alignment you are able to connect to purpose—growing your career path after that is effortless.
Brown is on a mission to help others refine their personal definition of success and seek gratitude for everything that crosses your path, both perceived wins and losses. Then, she adds, “the ‘work’ begins to flow effortlessly from you and abundance pours freely.” Read on to learn more about Brown’s wellness journey from a successful radio and TV career (she interviewed everyone from Kendrick Lamar to Nicki Minaj) to energy healing and working with Chopra Global.
Take us back to the beginning!
My lightbulb moment really came from the radio listeners I had at the time. I was still rooted in my FM radio career and doing my daily show while I was pursuing my own healing and the expansion of my knowledge in the mindfulness and metaphysical space privately. Listeners would call my show all the time to talk to me or to request songs and I started noticing that more and more people would call to ask me how I had so much peace or ask questions about meditation.
(Cont’d…)
This was before the big mainstream wellness bang happened a few years ago. My audience demographic was primarily millennial BIWOC. Between always being the only millennial WOC at every wellness retreat or certification program I did and then starting to receive this cautious interest from my radio audience it became very clear to me that my purpose was to use my tools of communication and reach to share knowledge about healing, growth and joy with my community. Nothing had ever felt more clear to me. It was a big, big jump at first. All I did was live, study and teach wellness in my personal life but at that time that is not how many people knew me socially.
What I shared online was my radio/tv career, red carpet events and interviews about pop culture with various celebs. I had to do a big shedding of self to get comfortable in my calling and do a lot of ego work around beginning again in a new space where I didn’t have the comfort of 15 years worth of work, relationships and opportunity like I did with my previous career. Even though the first two years of business were at times agonizing (so many expensive learning curves), the more I trusted myself and allowed myself to be a curious entrepreneur the easier it was to enjoy the climb and build work I was proud of. Within the first year of launching I was able to get my crystal products on shelves in Nordstrom stores and secure a book deal to share the knowledge of crystal healing and meditation globally.
Before you began your work in wellness, you built a very successful career in radio and television—Over the years, you interviewed everyone from Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean, and Kanye West to Nicki Minaj. As someone who has mastered the art of the career pivot, what advice do you have for people who are thinking about switching lanes but don’t know where to start?
I can’t stress enough how important it is to cultivate a vast and vivid inner life through meditation and spiritual practice or daily routine. It makes the “where to start” part of the pivot connect to a path of ease and not fear or doubt. It’s so important to trust yourself. If you felt called to pivot and answered that call… stop second guessing and trying to control how it will all play out. Trust the voice you listened to. Stay focused and give yourself grace. Even if you made the choice to do it, starting over and beginning something new that you’ve never done before undoubtedly takes time to unfold and fruit. It’s so important not to judge the level you were at in your previous career and compare it to the beginning stages of your new adventure. Get comfortable with being curious.
What has been the biggest learning curve throughout your career?
To fall in flow. A quote I love says, “An intelligent man seeks enlightenment, a wise man seeks love and allows everything to come to him”. I used to subscribe to grind culture and the idea that I had to be racing towards everything and forcing opportunities. Now I understand that as long as I am in purpose, moving with inspired action, being flexible, not taking loses personally, staying in integrity and trusting my brilliance (which I think for many women we are gaslit to mistrust our own genius) that everything that is in alignment with my career vision will happen if not something better.
How are you making a difference and pushing your industry forward?
I’ve been entrenched in the work. The work of myself and the work of sharing tangible healing tools with my community. I’m incredibly passionate about democratizing wellness and reformatting healing resources to be inclusive of deeper understanding of trauma—the way it presents itself in the bipoc community and how to dissolve and barriers to healing that are present. As the Chief impact officer at Chopra Global I feel incredibly blessed to be building out our scholarship programs for wellbeing teacher trainings, creating and supporting unique partnership opportunities, and as the voice of our daily meditations on the chopra app which we were recently able to gift free memberships for to thousands of bipoc teachers nationally. I also have my Karma Gang community through my business Karma Bliss where I lead mastery challenges and virtual group events for women all over the world.
2020 presented everybody around the globe with new, unprecedented challenges. How did you #FindNewRoads + switch gears towards your new version of success?
At the top of the pandemic a question appeared really vividly in my mind. “Who am I being called to become right now?” I planted the seed in my spirit for the answer to that to unfold in divine timing. It hasn’t been “easy” but framing this extremely challenging moment in human history through the lens of “what gifts are there to be found in this” really shifted things in a beautiful way for me.
This moment has been an opportunity for me to cultivate more authentic peace in the eye of a storm. To get a free masterclass in how to show up for myself. I had to relinquish any false belief that I am in control of anything or that life has ever been anything other than uncertain. I also had to completely shed the idea of perfectionism and surrender into a flow of pivoting and adaptability. It’s been really beautiful to see how we are all able to shift and adapt our business vision without really having the ability to predict outcome. There is a lot of sacred creativity moving around in us.
Going after what you deserve in life takes confidence and guts. Does confidence come naturally to you or did you have to learn it? What advice can you share for women on cultivating confidence and going after their dreams?
Confidence is a muscle. You have to use it and train it for it to grow and become a powerful part of who you are. The fastest path to being confident in the way you take up space with your work is to feed yourself spiritually and build a daily practice of nourishment like meditation and mindful rituals.
The more secure you feel with yourself and the more whole you feel, the easier it is to walk in purpose and make choices out of an abundant creative mindframe as opposed to one that fears judgement or sees themselves as somehow lacking. The more I got to know myself on the deepest level possible the more successful my work became.
When you separate yourself from your job title and the bells and whistles of your business or career, who are you and what do you like to do? How have you remained true and authentic to who you are?
I am a spiritual being having a human experience. I love to lead with joy and grace. I’m as fierce and powerful as I am soft and fragile. I am a deeply curious about the world and myself. I’m a grateful mama who is having so much fun seeing life through the eyes of my child. I love connection with others. Having expansive conversations about things I enjoy with those who are ready fill my soul. I enthusiastically enjoy the moments I’m alone and get to explore my mind and heart. I am guided by my internal gps, my intuition, and that connection to my deepest level of authenticity never leads me astray.
It’s easy to celebrate the wins, but how do you handle failure or when something hasn’t worked out for you?
Perceived failure is one of life’s greatest and most powerful teachers. It’s okay to feel disappointed or uncomfortable when it happens but I strive to not let it change how I feel about myself or the work i’m doing. Not “winning” doesn’t make me any less worthy or valuable. Losses can be for a multitude of reasons and it’s so important to look to the learnings and the gifts that they present. If it’s not a “win,” it’s a refinement. I am a huge believer that as long as I stay in my integrity and alignment, what’s for me will never miss me.
With success comes opportunity, but that also means you have your hands full. What keeps you inspired and motivated to keep going even on your most challenging days?
Now that I’ve tapped into my ability to be fearless with my “no’s” it’s so much easier to feel deeply motivated towards and connected to the things that I do add to my plate. I find the balance and energy to push through my most packed or challenging days by anchoring in joy and non-judgement of self. I get done what I can, I extend grace to myself for what I can’t. My style for opportunity is, if it’s not an exuberant “yes!” then it’s a “No.” and there doesn’t have to be guilt or fomo attached to it. I’m very clear on my mission and my purpose and that adds such a fuel to my life and the work that I do.
If you could go back to the beginning of your career journey—with the knowledge you have now—what advice would you give yourself?
What other people think of you is none of your business. You do not need other people to validate your ideas, your calling or your gifts. Most people barely understand themselves and are unable to have vision for their own lives so it’s incredibly important not to base your worth or creativity on another person’s measuring stick or get trapped in their limited definition of who you are.
Fill in the blanks:
When I feel fear, I…
Allow myself to feel the full feeling, get curious about it and dig deeper so I can dissolve it.
The best career advice I always give is…
Approach your spiritual development and personal advancement with the same level of detailed diligence that you use when making my plans for your career and family.”
To be successful, you need to be…
In full acceptance and love of yourself.
I turn bad days around by…
Remembering that challenges are gifts too.
If there were more hours in the day, I would…
Rest and meditate longer.
