This week, the Mompreneurs podcast shines a spotlight on author and wellness expert Yasmine Cheyenne, the mother of two on a mission to help people heal and grow one day at a time. Cheyenne sat down with Mompreneurs host and New York Times bestselling author Nancy Redd to share her story and reflect on how her time in the Air Force set her on an unexpected path that ultimately led to her success as a self-healing educator today.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yasmine Cheyenne (@yasminecheyenne)

Cheyenne’s work in the Air Force sparked her passion for helping others.

Following a period of deployment, Cheyenne became a victim advocate in the Air Force. In doing this work, she discovered her gift for empathy and empowering others.

“I realized I can hold space for people who have been through really hard times, and not only can I do that in a way that is caring and loving, but it does something to me in a positive way. I don’t feel drained, I don’t feel exhausted, I don’t feel wiped out. Yes, I need to care for myself. But I feel invigorated. I want to do this again. I want to help as many people as I can.”

Fast forward to today, and Cheyenne is a powerful voice in the wellness space. Bolstered by her experience in the field as a victim advocate, where she helped people rebuild their lives, Cheyenne built her business around empowering others through impactful speaking engagements, transformative workshops, and published works.

“What I do through healing is giving people an opportunity to be connected to resources as they go through a life changing event,” she said.

She described the process behind her first book ‘The Sugar Jar.’

Cheyenne released her first book, The Sugar Jar, in 2022. She described it as the culmination of a years-long journey, from the inception of “the sugar jar concept” to its publication.

“I had just given birth to my second daughter. I was just coming back to work, so y’all know I was exhausted,” she said. “My life had a lot of the things that I thought my life should have for me to be happy and fulfilled. But I was not feeling that way.”

She confided in a friend about how she was truly feeling at the time. “I feel bad for complaining about not feeling like myself. I’m just drained. I feel like a jar of sugar, where I have this very sweet energy that people are attracted to. But they come inside of my kitchen and they take my sugar … and there’s sugar everywhere. And I’m just dispersed and I’m all over the place. And I feel like I can’t even collect myself.”

She discovered a powerful metaphor that is now a pillar of her self-healing work. “The sugar jar became a way that I could teach people about boundaries.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yasmine Cheyenne (@yasminecheyenne)

‘We’re breaking the generational cycle that our parents didn’t have an opportunity to do.’

As a mother of two daughters, now 14 and 6, Cheyenne sees motherhood as an opportunity to model healthy coping skills for the next generation.

“The reason why we didn’t know how to do it is because no one modeled it for us. And unfortunately we had to be the first people to go through it and be the pioneers of healing and mental health. So now our children won’t have to do that. I think that’s the blessing of it, that we’re breaking the generational cycle that our parents didn’t have an opportunity to do.”

Part of breaking the generational cycle is normalizing healthy boundaries, Cheyenne said. “This reprogramming is how we begin to prioritize ourselves. Stop being so angry and resentful at everybody else ‘taking’ from us and realize that we’re part of the problem too. And that is the power position, because if I’m a part of it then I can change it.”

‘The business can still grow if you are cared for.’

Setting healthy boundaries has been key to finding balance both in her work and personal life. “I still have hustle moments, but the way that I take care of myself before and after are completely different,” she said. “The business can still grow if you are cared for. I really wish I knew that when I was starting my business.”

‘I had no idea my mindset was toxic.’

The native New Yorker has come a long way from the life she once knew. Cheyenne reflected on breaking free from the “toxic” mindset that was once her norm.

“Twenty years ago, I had no idea my mindset was toxic. I didn’t know that there was another way that you could be, that you could think positively about yourself, that you could have positive relationships. I didn’t realize how the people you have around you can negatively impact the goal, the dream, or the belief you have in yourself.”

Empowered to envision a life beyond her comfort zone, Cheyenne unlocked a world of possibilities previously believed to be out of reach.

“I stumbled into this. I never would have imagined that this would be my life. This just happened out of sharing my writing online … in terms of the way that it developed from wanting to help people one-on-one and wanting to create that change that I wish I had. So get down to the root of why and what you want to do.”

Catch new episodes of ‘Mompreneurs’ every week.

Every week, we celebrate beautiful Black entrepreneurs who are simultaneously amazing business moguls and awesome moms. Join host and New York Times bestselling author Nancy Redd as these mompreneurs share their life stories and inspiring advice. Catch new episodes of Mompreneurs every Monday on MadameNoire’s YouTube channel. Or listen to the podcast online on the Urban One Podcast Network.

The post Mompreneurs: Healing And Growing With Author Yasmine Cheyenne appeared first on MadameNoire.