Welcome to the Venceremos Podcast.

I'm your host slash personal
hype woman, Yesenia Villalta.

On this show, I'll be discussing
and providing you professional and

practical tips, as well as a bit of
my personal experiences to help guide

you on your journey to reclaiming
your mind, body, soul, and boundaries.

If you're ready, let's go.

Welcome.

This is my introduction podcast.

I am excited.

Not gonna lie.

Once upon a time, hella fucking
nervous to put this out there.

But what I know to be true is that
one day, one day, you are going to be

able to look at your experiences from
a place of reference, not residence.

Meaning, you can look back, you've
extracted the wisdom from the wounds,

you can talk about your experiences
and your stories, because you've worked

through them, and you don't live there.

Which I guess is really what
I just had to go through.

If you have been following me, my
name is Yesenia Villalta, and this

is my third attempt at a podcast.

I'm just gonna go ahead
and put it out there.

My first time, it was called Fuck Norms.

It is trademark and I will be doing
something with that the second time it was

vincent ables Which is this one, which is
trademark, but your girl was motherfucking

Life ing I have been life ing

like nobody's business the
past seven to eight years.

And so, uh, one, when you create
a podcast, you have to create an

intro episode, but I thought this
would be a great opportunity for

you to let you in on who I am.

outside of the titles, the roles,
what I do, what I will be talking

about from my seat as, I guess,
a service provider, a healer.

I am a licensed holistic trauma
therapist based out of Virginia,

licensed in the state of Virginia
and Maryland and a wellness coach.

I work with my exhausted warriors.

I want them to become
empowered and excited.

Most of them are service based leaders
and therapists, ranging from folks in

the nonprofit sector, education, um,
lawyers, and they're the folks that are

always holding it down for everybody else.

And they don't want to be the
afterthought, but they have to

first learn how to put them first.

And that is who I was eight
years ago, nine years ago.

And so I, by trade, have studied
social work, bachelor's, master's,

license, and have other certifications
as well, and various disciplines.

But in 2016, I was working in
prevention for a local jurisdiction

in the community, as well as having a
part time job because, huh, like one

job isn't enough, you gotta have two.

I was working towards my
hours for licensure and doing

intensive in home services.

If you know, you know.

In the doing the community work,
I would be going to mobile homes.

I would be at town halls.

I would be at gatherings.

I would be at fairs.

I would be providing education.

I would try to get, um, people to
come to the government building and

get services or connecting and really
talking about a lot of important

topics because prior to that, I worked
at the intervention level in crisis,

really child protective services.

And when I was in child protective
services, it was very apparent to me

that we need to focus on prevention
and early intervention, which requires

education, education to the community.

So that's what I was
doing at my full time job.

And at my part time job, I was working
in intensive in home services, which you

are going into the homes, you are taking,
uh, youth families to appointments.

It is what it is, intensive in home.

You are seeing people and
families in their raw states

going through the thick of it.

Intensive in home services is
pretty much the last stop, the last

resort before minors get placed.

They pretty much get removed from the
home as I don't even know if those are

the words that are still used, but those
were the words that were used back then.

Back in my day when I was doing this work,
and so they would be referred by the court

services, probation, um, perhaps they were
in residential, had gotten discharged, or

they're right about to get to residential,
or, you know, close to, you know, going

to juvenile, I mean, juvenile detention,
or or close to getting kicked out.

It is pretty much the last resort.

So on average, you're seeing families and
clients about like six to 10 hours a week.

And so you learn a lot, you do a lot.

And at that time I was living in the city.

I was, um, you know, in a relationship,
in a partnership with, um, my

college sweetheart at that time.

And you know, living my
best life at that time.

I was involved in a leadership position
for my sorority and doing the whole,

I don't know, this is what you're
supposed to do in your twenties, right?

Like you go into the city for happy
hours and events and functions.

And in 2016 things just, uh,
began to shift tremendously.

Uh, in 2016 I had, uh, very very, very
close relative, um, whom I could have

lost, uh, I could have lost to suicide.

And

I pretty much became the caretaker.

And at that time, thankfully, this is
why you got to hang around some elders.

My supervisor at that time, I
don't know what I said, to be

honest, but she was like, huh.

You really are the hero in your family
And I was like what you mean that like

chart that table that like we were taught
in grad school of like dysfunctional

families The hero role type and she
was like, yeah, and I was like, okay

And so I started going down a rabbit
hole of family systems patterns Roles

that people play and it just it began
to awaken something in me But I wasn't

really You It was just the beginning.

And then I had a case, which I think,
you know, there's a, there's a saying in

my, in my field that healers are wounded.

You know, wounded healers,
therapists are wounded healers.

I believe that to be true.

Uh, I think that more often than not,
when we get into the field, we are trying

to save a former version of ourselves.

Uh, I know that's, that was the case
for me, uh, growing up with my childhood

and having had experiences where CPS was
in the picture, knowing to lie to CPS,

dealing with mental health in my family.

I remember as a, as a kid, I distinctly
said I wanted to help families so

they weren't as fucked up as mine.

And so lo and behold, here I am helping
families, working in CPS, working in

prevention, trying So I think it's
safe to say if you haven't gathered

that I struggle with boundaries, but
it was because my identity and so much

of my own healing journey was wrapped
up in it, which is what I find that

happens with a lot of my clients.

And so I then started to
just, I don't know, get it.

I don't even know how I started to get
into like self compassion and Brene

Brown and all this other kinds of stuff.

But I, I bring this back to the case.

I had two cases in particular
that essentially shook me and

I couldn't put my finger on it.

And so I reached out to a coworker at
that time and I'm like crying at night.

And I'm like, I don't
know what's happening.

Something is happening.

I'm feeling stuff.

It's a lot.

Uh, I think I need supervision.

Like we need to stop this case.

And she was way more evolved
than I was at that time.

Um, Being who she was and skilled
and trauma, she says to me, I never

thought I'd see that day where you'd
crack because what happened was I could

no longer keep the walls around me.

I could no longer compartmentalize.

I could no longer be that person that was
a calm in the storm and everybody's storm.

And as she's talking with me and she's
essentially therapizing the fuck out

of me and really fucking good at it.

Not that I think you should use your
therapist friends as therapists.

Okay, but that's what
it was in the moment.

It was what I needed.

And it just played out this way.

And we're talking and we got to a moment
where she's like, and what did she need?

And I'm like, she needed this.

She needed that.

And her mother was like this.

And she was like, what did you need?

And I was like, Oh my
god, this is about me.

Oh god.

I I just like began sobbing uncontrollably
and uh It I became a tenderoni.

I mean point blank.

I I was You know, I was like a titsy
pop, but nope I became oh as tenderoni

and very sensitive It's like all
these childhood experiences just

like I was feeling the feels You that
I hadn't really been allowed to do.

Or given myself space to feel and

I just started to want more for my life.

I thought about blogging, I began to
get very creative, I began to like

read more self development stuff
on self compassion and boundaries.

I wanted to grow more at my job, but
unfortunately I had hit a ceiling.

Uh, I just wasn't being supported.

And I had a mentor.

Well, she became a mentor and she just
put me on game and she was like, mama.

Why you think they don't got no
sponsors and no mentors for you?

Hmm.

And she's like, New Year
weekend from the Bronx.

Uh, used to be a Young Lord
member affiliated with Black

Panthers back in the day.

And I was just so clueless.

And she really started to open
my eyes to structural racism.

So, I became agitated.

And I wanted more and as I was working
towards my licensure at that time, my

part time job offered me a full time job.

So I did that,

but then what happens is you cannot
expect that one area of your life changes.

And not the others there is going
to be a domino effect Which is

why I have the wellness cycle.

I work through my clients on trying
to identify what's going on in your

personal and your relational and the
relationships in your life as well as

in your professional world and Teasing
that out because as I was going through

it I didn't understand why it felt
like everything was my whole world

was being flipped upside down and so
I ended it My relationship that I was

in, nothing but love, no bad blood.

I mean, I think the man just, the man
just got married like a couple of weeks

ago and I'm so truly happy for this guy.

I just realized we were going in different
directions and it became so apparent.

I, again, I did not have that specific
language, but I just, I knew that

we were not going to be,

I mean, married.

Uh, It wasn't going to be for that.

Its season was ending.

And so as I was continuing to move
forward professionally, I traveled.

I chopped off my hair.

I really started to go more within.

Like, what makes me happy?

What have I wanted to do that I
haven't given myself space to?

I began blogging and the word
that came to me was like rebirth.

This is a rebirth Um, some people were
asking me who are you and i'm just like

i'm me i'm who i've always wanted to
be and so Pretty on brand, you know

chopped off the hair got some tats
traveled Got my license And I started

to share a bit more about my journey
on social media because I just didn't

know at that time that what I was going
through, like it's okay, it's normal.

You know, the only way or reason
why I knew you could go to therapy

was if you were like in crisis.

I just didn't know that I
could be a functioning adult.

And get help to help you like figure out
your life that to me that was like such

a foreign concept I didn't understand
that I sold a bunch of my shit Like I

sold so many things I Got rid of my tv
I dove into books I got more into nature

I started exploring my like connection
to spirit So I was working on like my

personal self at that time without knowing
it as my relationships were shifting I

Ended my leadership Role in my sorority.

I didn't really sign myself up to take
on more Leadership things I started to

create standards or kind of rules of like,
how was I assessing the relationships I

wanted to be in, which I now have referred
to the rules of engagement, which I'll

make an episode in the future about this.

My professional world was changing.

You know, I got my license and I also
started to see, cause what happens

is you start to become more aware to
dysfunction and I'll never forget it.

I was in a training

And the best way that I can describe
this experience is if you've seen

that movie Twilight when Bella is
about to become a vampire and it's

like all these like little pieces
of her life just like pop up.

That's what happened to me.

I was in a training on Steve Porges.

Any of my therapists or folks
here understand nervous system,

polyvagal theory, vagus nerve.

That is what had happened.

I had Earlier that summer, gone to, I
mean it's not closed, but Bessel van

der Kolk, the author of Body Keeps
the Score, he had founded the trauma

center at Brookline in Massachusetts.

So, a lot of my background
was in attachment and trauma

within the family dynamics.

So I had gotten trained there, and so, I
knew to look at parent child relationships

a certain way and connections and what you
could do, but what was happening at that

time in my field, and maybe I'm just not
exposed to it, but there, there was such

a focus on family, kids, intervention,
not really seeing the trajectory of

what happens to that adult, uh, AKA me.

And so I'm in this training and
as I'm learning about the vagus

nerve and polyvagal theory.

I literally just went like,
Polly Viggo, what the fuck?

And as I'm learning through, learning
about this and, and watching the

slides, it was like a flash, flashback.

Moments of my life, I could see like,
what exes would complain about, or issues

that I struggled with, and it hit me
that I'm like, wait, I've been operating?

off of my trauma this whole time?

Oh my goodness.

So that had me spiraling.

And so, as you may or may not
imagine, Your girl was dysregulated.

I became a little unhinged.

Okay.

It was so hard.

All of a sudden, I was feeling
everything and anything.

It was hard for me to kind of ground
myself into the here and now, because

it was just so much coming at me.

And I had the opportunity
to join a group practice.

Which I didn't know it then it
was more like entrepreneurship

and you know, it's part of my
journey now and I jumped into it.

I was not prepared.

There was a lot of things that I did
not know I didn't know to discern

and ask better questions and I just
dealt with like significant financial

hardship, which Ties into money story
for another day another episode,

but your girl was driving lift.

I was selling stuff.

I was like nannying Just trying
to build and the reality is

It was just so much stress.

So I went back to a nine to five and I
really focused on learning more about

me, learning more about business.

And also what I didn't know was
that I was learning to love myself.

I have come up with how I break this
down into the seven pillars of self

love, but I was really walking it out.

And In that time, I got into a world with
romance, which I had no business getting

into, and I ignored my intuition, but
part of self lovery is also self trust.

And because I was just very vulnerable
at that time, still healing my

traumas, I didn't really understand
the magnitude or how deep it went.

I didn't understand how it had impacted
my connection to my intuition, to my

body, to my ability to trust myself,
which is something that I had struggled

with for so much like of my life.

I've always been very intuitive.

I get visions, I get dreams, I
would see things, I feel things,

but that self doubt was something
that I struggled with tremendously.

And so I did that.

And, but

As you may or may not imagine, the
relationship that I got in was misaligned

and ultimately became very toxic for
my health to where I was getting sick.

Um, but also during that
time I had developed PTSD.

And so when you are a person that always
holds it down for everybody else, when

somebody gives you a little bit of
support, I mean, you out here making

breadcrumbs look like, um, damn, like,
pound cake, un tres leches, and it's not.

It's not.

However,

there were a lot of beautiful
things that I experienced.

There were a lot of lessons, and I grew
spiritually as I really dove deeper.

I left.

I left that relationship, more
like fled, but for another

day, and that's a whole story.

I began reclaiming my physical health
because I began to get physically sick,

and I ended up having to get a surgery,
but it invited me to go deeper into my

holistic healing because I was always
somebody that was interested in holistic

healing and just understanding how things
were connected, but it all hit like

nobody's fucking business when I was
on the other side of things when I was

that statistic when I was the You know
case scenarios, but I was also seeing

things that I was trainings and so That
brings me to how I show up in my work

and why holistic is the way I always say
to my clients once you go holistic that

ass will go ballistic like there's just
Once you start changing and working on

you You've got to understand that the
relationships in your world around you

will shift There's there's just no There's
no denying it and so What I'd love to do.

For my clients and for you is help you

save time, money, or tears as you're
working on healing your identity,

reinventing yourself and going
into the next season of your life.

Some of my clients, when they come to me,
the main focus is their relationships.

Others, it's like their
connection to their, to their

bodies, to their intuition.

They want to be more confident in
themselves and trusting themselves.

Other ones, Come to me, primarily
therapists where they want to,

okay, build their private practice,
but there's a connection between

self love in everything that you do
and how you show up in the world.

There's, there's just no denying it.

I will stand 10 toes down.

And I realized this as well as, as
I got to meet other entrepreneurs,

as I got into other spaces, but also
something that I struggled with.

My.

Challenge with embracing all of me
Impacted my ability to own me as a

personal brand and I see this happen
so much I see this happen so much So

much of how you're showing up what
you're scared to say Scared to look

how you scared to like take up space
and show up or body image or your voice

and all these things and so my You
Intention for you is to inspire hope.

The name of my business is Vinceremos.

It translates to we shall overcome
my intention for you and by way of

this podcast is to inform and impart
knowledge, you know, through sharing

tips on my experiences and really,
truly to ignite some damn change.

My clients, by the time they come to
me, they're typically pretty, what

I call, they've gotten to the sick
and tired of sick and tired moment.

And if what I put out and how I show
up resonates with you, I want to invite

you to work with me, whether it's
by way of one of one for coaching.

I am licensed, um, in Virginia and
Maryland as a therapist, intensives, or

just other offerings and do deeper dives.

But I want you to heal.

I want you to not just Serve well, serve
others well, but I want you to be well.

So this podcast episode is longer than
what I had expected, but how can I

summarize eight years of my journey
and how I got here and how I've evolved

from a social worker to a therapist
to entrepreneur to a daughter to a

friend to a sister, uh, to a partner,
uh, and coach and all the things.

So, Thank you for being part of my
comunidad, my community, and I thank

you for inviting me to be part of yours.

Until next time, venceremos,
we shall overcome.