Wow!!!!!!!

Leadership
Written By Brenda Ramos

Let me say that again... WOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!! 

It's been two years since my last blog, almost exactly to the date. So what have I been up to? And why am I starting today? I moved out of the home I was in for almost 10 years, almost married a man I rushed into a toxic relationship with (you'll get to read about that soon) and quit my job to pursue my dream of helping people full time. YAY CHANGE!!!

I'm a lifelong learner. So what I've been doing for the past month since leaving my job is taking a bunch of online courses. One is specifically to get me certified as a coach through the International Coaching Federation and the rest are a la carte courses that I feel will help me in several ways. One of those courses is Seth Godin's Leadership Workshop. 

The first assignment in this class is to write about and reflect on the following topics: 

What is leadership? 

  • Instead of pointing to a leader, outline a moment in which someone you respect engaged in leadership.

I come from a background in the arts specifically Salsa and Caribbean forms of dance. I have been fortunate enough to witness multiple directors start new dance teams, choreograph new routines, and run professional rehearsals in order to become experts in this industry to the point where they travel around the world doing what was originally just a hobby. In my mind the best example of leadership was when one director attempted to take his "crazy" idea to Broadway. He rallied support from multiple teams in the New York & New Jersey areas, gathered a small group of devout dancers to assist in every way possible, and created a 2 hour show that although failed to arrive at his desired location did manage to make a significant impression on the local scene. I believe his ability to pitch his idea with passion and then ask for help in the areas where he needed it led him to go as far as he did. 

  • Describe a moment when you chose to lead. How is it different from the rest of the time, when you are merely just managing?

It takes so much courage to lead. To stand up alone (at first) with an idea and introduce it; to grab folks by the hand and say, "Come with me. You won't regret it". To speak with such conviction for your idea that people are taken in by the passion and enthusiasm you emanate. The truth is I tried it only once and failed. Was I not passionate enough? Did I speak to the wrong crowd? I don't know. But I'm ready to try again. WHOLEHEARTEDLY. That's why I'm taking Seth's workshop and that's why I'm back to blogging... on my website... for the world (hopefully) to see. 

  • Do you agree that leadership is a choice?

Yes I agree that leadership is a choice. I also believe that people feel called on a deep level to lead. The choice comes when you either pay attention to the nagging feeling of "We can do something bigger" or you ignore it. You continue to ignore it and find ways to numb yourself to it and maintain a life of status quo. 

  • Leadership is about making a change. A change that might not work. If you do the work alone, you're an artist. If you get other people to do it with you, you're a leader. Going forward, then, what is the change you are trying to make?

 I want to rally people into loving themselves more, becoming more self-aware, and demonstrating more compassion for themselves . Then I want to help people turn that around and spread it into their communities. Simple, crazy and possible. I know it is. 

So there you have it mi gente, my 1st attempt back into blogging. I think what I'll do is put video into my newsletters for you and if you're inclined you can come here and read my words. Hopefully they come to you at useful moments when you need support and/or strength to lead in your own way. 

Love you! Peace in... Peace out... Peace. 

Brenda 

Brenda Ramos

For quiet disruptors ready to stop performing, start feeling, and build lives rooted in inner care, collective care, and fierce love.

Brenda is a foul-mouthed, spirit-led, stardust-and-light-filled being — a complex system of atoms, neurons, and soul navigating a whole human experience in a world shaped by white supremacy, patriarchy, and extraction. Her bloodlines trace back to the Jíbaro mountain people of Borikén (colonially known as Puerto Rico). She carries the sacred, sensual, and spiritual legacy of her ancestors, rooting her life and work in ancestral knowing and embodied resistance.

She works as a caregiver, seed-planter, and possibility-holder; also known as a mindfulness-based mentor, meditation teacher, and movement guide. She supports people in recognizing where they've drifted out of alignment with their values, helping them reconnect to their body's wisdom and move toward lives rooted in reciprocity, joy, and collective care.

Brenda's study lineage includes trauma-sensitive mindfulness training with David Treleaven, dharma and liberation work with Lama Rod Owens including "The Dharma of Spiritual Abolition" and "Love & Rage," nonviolent communication with Roxy Manning & Oren Jay Sofer, transformative healing work with Toi Marie Smith, mindfulness teacher training through MNDFL (300 hours) as well as MMTCP (2 years) and Mindful Mentor Training with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. She's also trained in Reiki mastery, decolonial business practices with Gieselle Allen, and reclaiming intuition work with Dra. Rosales Mesa, among many other revolutionary teachers who've shaped her practice.

She understands that how we care for ourselves shapes how we show up in relationship, community, and the systems we participate in. Inner care is not separate from collective care, it is what makes it possible. By supporting people in coming back into relationship with themselves, Brenda helps shift how they relate to others, how they build community, and how they move through and challenge the systems shaping our lives.

Her work is liberation-centered, heart-focused, and decolonial. She leads meditation sessions at Move. Breathe. Be. JC in Jersey City Heights, NJ, creating spaces for community healing and embodied presence.

Her clients are often quiet disruptors, observant creatives and deep-feeling thinkers who once followed the rules of dominant culture but now see through its emptiness. They come with curiosity and leave with clarity, ready to reimagine themselves, their relationships, and their communities through a decolonial lens.

For nearly two decades, Brenda taught hundreds of people across the globe to access their sensual power through salsa dance. Today, she supports clients in discovering their unique rhythm and purpose through embodiment, reflection, meditation, rest, and movement; releasing internalized oppression and building lives that feel aligned, alive, and self-defined.

Brenda lives on Turtle Island as part of the Boricua diaspora on unceded Munsee Lenape land (currently known as Hoboken, NJ). She shares a home with one of her many brothers, and together they care for their 96-year-old mother—an everyday practice of devotion, dignity, and love. She brings that same care into her work and community.

She holds intersectional identities as a queer, working-class, white-presenting Boricua rooted in her lineage. She is also a sister, titi, best friend, sensual lover, committed student, dark chocolate snob, chocolate chip cookie devourer, random drooler, proud goofball, and unapologetic night owl.

When she's not caregiving, she's chillin with her son and cats, streaming her favorite shows, or dreaming, and scheming, toward liberation.

If you're done living out of alignment and ready to come home to yourself, your body, and your truth, Brenda is here to walk with you.

Connect with Brenda:

Website: Authenticwholeself.com

Instagram: @authenticwholeselfliving

https://authenticwholeself.com
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