About
Audacity Coach & Self-Mastery Gem Dropper
Get to know why I have the nerve to live audaciously (and why I think you should, too)!
Hey girl hey! I'm Naya!
My goal is to help you know what your actual best life is, afford your best life, and live your best life.
I offer supported paths to life satisfaction via vocational compatibility, interpersonal autonomy, purpose-based life alignment, and audacious goal achievement.
You may know me from my days as a Brand Therapist and may have seen me in publications like TIME and Jopwell, live-streaming for brands like Blavity, founding Side Hustle Business School, teaching at venues like Freelancers Union, and / or speaking at events and conferences worldwide.
Best place to start: Craft your audacious life vision with me. Or get my support showing up as your most confident, audacious self.
You may know me from...
Why would I follow someone else's rules for living my life?
…and why would you?
I’ve always had a lot of nerve.
As a kid, I had the nerve to talk back ask “why?” I had the nerve to think I was so damn smart know I was smart. I had the nerve to be hardheaded trust myself when I knew I was right.
But for a little Black girl in America? That was unacceptable. Sometimes even rude. And no one likes a rude kid.
Rude was usually just code for “unexpected social behavior that made someone feel awkward.” But, anyway…
Following the rules got me far. Until it didn’t.
A couple of degrees and some scholarships and great jobs that could set me up for life…
What kind of life exactly? Not one that fit me.
A few years into that life and I ran for the freaking hills.
Because years of being told what to do by people who weren’t smarter than me, had smaller ambition than me, and had the critical thinking skills of a teenager didn’t seem like much of a life.
Not only would those people decide how much money I could make (controlling how I could live)…
I’d have to ask them for permission to stay home when I felt like I needed to sleep. They’d get to decide if I was sick enough to not work, or decide if I could leave the city / state / country in a family emergency.
Hard no.
What was the point of being grown if I couldn’t make grown decisions?
Yes, I’m saying that I could not fathom the idea of asking for permission to have time off when most of the world accepts this as a norm. I told you, I have a lot of nerve.
But I think you should, too.
Maybe you don’t have a problem with your time off system at work. But maybe you have a problem with your mom feeding your kids high-fructose corn syrup and telling you “you turned out fine” — as if you wanting better for your kids is a bad thing. The nerve of you!
…or maybe your family pressured you into a career you couldn’t care less about and you’re finally ready to make a move that matters to you. But the idea of becoming the family failure keeps you from taking the leap.
…or maybe you’re the trailblazer in your friend group and you want to do something crazy — like move abroad — but everyone keeps talking about how dangerous the rest of the world is (as if you’re living in some oasis of safety — tuh!). You know in your spirit it’s the right move, but you can’t bring yourself to make it happen and it not “work out.”
…or maybe you’re happy where you are and you’re in your dream career, but there’s something not right about your family dynamics. Maybe even downright wrong. Too many secrets you’re keeping to protect someone who’s hurt people. Too much “we don’t talk about that” and not enough “this is a (legit) safe space.” Too much “that’s family though” and not enough “family needs to be held accountable, too.”
Too much biting your tongue because speaking the truth makes you the bad guy, even if you’re calling out the actual bad guy.
If you nodded your head even once, you just might have the nerve to live with the audacity your spirit craves.
Living the way you want to live is realistic, because everything is made up. And yes, we all have to make sacrifices. But you don’t always have to sacrifice yourself.
I learned in my 20s that following the degree > good desk job > buy a house > retire in 40 years model was going to squeeze my spirit into a box the size of a tic-tac. And most people around me — people I respected — were cheering me on.
I realized they didn’t know any better. They wanted the best for me and that was the best they knew.
But who knows what’s best for you better than you?
That’s when the journey back to listening to myself started.
What I heard was I was going to have to show them that better was out there.
And the only way to show them was to go out there and get it myself.
Good thing I have a lot of nerve.
And I think you should, too.
now let’s Go out there and get it!
What do you wish you had the nerve to do?
It’s time we talk if you:
- want to make a big life change and are tired of waiting for some mythical “right time”
- have something huge you want to bring into this world
- want more time freedom
- want to move abroad and need help taking the leap
- want to make a name for yourself
- want to finally feel good speaking up for yourself around the people closest to them
- are tired of playing by the rules
- know you’re bad-ass!
Fun Naya Fact
I’m a total foodie. Like, move to a country because I like the food level foodie.
This is how I ended up living in Thailand the entire 2020. Yes, lockdown and all of that.
Thai food is some of my favorite food in the world, so I figured I’d try the digital nomad thing for a few months.
Then the pandemic hit.
And, frankly, I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else. Feel free to ask me all about it.