Jessica HallStill dealing with the heaviness of 2020, multicultural empowerment platform Modern Muze wanted to create a safe space for women from all walks of life to discuss and learn to heal from the traumas of the last year. And that is exactly what its co-founders, actress Zulay Henao and entrepreneur Julie Skon, did on Sunday, March 28 with Soul Revival. The virtual event brought together an extraordinary group of diverse women and featured keynote speaker Dr. Erin Haskell, who has made it her life mission to help people get grounded in their purpose.
To kick off the two-hour event, Zulay and Julie welcomed viewers and revealed what they could expect from this first Modern Muze event of 2021, which focused a lot on resiliency. “This program was created to give insight into healing and hear from our special guests,” Julie said. “We learn the most from other people sharing their hearts.” Zulay encouraged the women to be vulnerable while getting candid about being in her own “dark hole” during the pandemic after she experienced a miscarriage in early 2020. The Fighting actress also then shared the good news that she and partner Kevin Connolly are expecting their first baby in a few short months.
It’s this openness that really shaped the dynamic of Soul Revival. After a short meditation led by Suze Yalof Shwartz (@unplugmeditation) that taught viewers to stop a wandering mind by counting, it was Dr. Erin who really instilled new ways to approach and deal with trauma. In a conversation with Zulay, Julie and activist Yasmine Campbell, the Soulciete CEO introduced the Purpose Formula. “I recognize whatever trauma we’ve gone through, if you believe you are not enough or something is wrong or I’m divided, the universe is going to say ‘and so it is,’” Dr. Erin explained. “As we heal those traumas, as we reveal the truths of who we are, release what it wants… the universe just says, ‘Yes, you are divine.’”
An important takeaway from this chat was when she said to assess the negatives in life to then neutralize it so then we can make it a positive to shape our purpose. “If you are a human being, you have trauma meaning that it’s a high state of emotion backed by a limited belief or backed by a lie,” she said. “That’s what trauma is and it stays on the track, stays in the subconscious… by a charge because it is being held there by the decision that you made that is creating it into existence as resistance in the body. As we neutralize that resistance then we begin to release it.”
Photo by Cristina Giraldo (@crisandhercloset)
About midway through Soul Revival, Leli Hernandez joined Zulay to reveal how she had to adjust and survive the last year while also learning to look within. During this time, the Latina actress-singer moved back to Miami from Los Angeles where she lived for the majority of her adult life starting at 18. “I feel like we were all living a life where we are all in a rush to go to the next thing or the next event, and [COVID] really taught me to slow down and take everything in for what it is and not force things,” Leli, who is releasing a “No Scrubs” remake in Spanish on March 30, said. “As we grow, the things I might have liked ten, five years ago aren’t what I like now, so I started connecting with myself more. I realized I like nature; I like going on adventures… painting, writing. I find so much joy in the writing. I knew that already with music, but just writing in general, I am able to process my thoughts and realized how to calm those overthinking anxieties.”
Sanda G could relate and was spending the last year creating beautiful music. Her inspiring performance of “Tumba La Casa” was a welcomed break from the insightful conversations. “This song beautifully enough was born out of a place where we were all confined to our houses and confined to our thoughts, and we decided to make something beautiful and something that reminded us of our culture, of Latinos, of the fact that everywhere we are we choose to have a sort of party, a sort of gathering, everything for us is something bigger than it is,” she explained.
Once the performance wrapped, it was time for the Boss Ladies story-telling segment. Julie spoke in depth with radio/tv personality Jessica Hall and Beverly Hills Dental Arts Dr. Anjali Rajpal. The women addressed how they’ve been able to persevere during the last year as well as advice they’d give their younger selves. Singer/songwriter Grizel ‘Chachi’ del Valle didn’t hold back and revealed how as an entertainer it was difficult to be forced to stop constantly being on the go, but it was also a blessing as she spent more time with her family. She also showed off her gorgeous engagement ring after a proposal that took place a couple weeks ago!
The event culminated with activism-based apparel company DreamLearnDoMore co-founder Samantha Lim. From her Chicago home, she explained how she shifted and made several big life changes in the past year. “The definition changes for me a lot, but right now, [resiliency] really means you are the only one who has the power, and you have the responsibility to pick yourself up and to move yourself forward in life, no matter what is going on around you,” she emphasized. “I think that as hard and as challenging 2020 was and reflective and similar 2021 is starting to be, I think that we can all just embrace our resiliency, look at the s*&# show around us and choose to move forward positively and figure out how to harness our special abilities and our uniqueness.”
To re-watch Modern Muze Soul Revival be sure to visit Modern Muze’s Youtube page and follow their Instagram on @ModernMuze.
Photographer: Cristina Giraldo (@crisandhercloset)
Find Jessica Hall on IG@jessicahall
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