Erica Lasan knows what it’s like to be doing “a lot of things” but still feel like you’re doing a lot of nothing. As a multi-passionate creative, she was simultaneously running an online jewelry business, a blog, a podcast, producing, creating, and writing content, all while pursuing her dreams of being an on-air host.
But even with all this, she felt unfulfilled and unsatisfied. She was chasing many passions, but she wasn’t grounded and aligned in an understanding of her purpose. Discovering her purpose transformed her life, and now she’s on a mission to help others going through the same transitional phases find their why and radical joy. One open conversation at a time, Erica is your personal cheerleader on your JOYrney to purpose.
Erica’s website: https://www.ericalasan.com/
What’s your JOYGem Superpower? Take Erica’s quiz to find out!
Jessmyn:
Welcome to Interact’s Creator Stories podcast. Interact is the easiest way to convert curious people into loyal and happy customers by using a lead generating quiz. On Creator Stories, we get to hear the entrepreneur’s journey. This is a podcast about how those creators took their knowledge and experiences to carve out a place in the world, owned what they know is special about themselves, and turned it into a successful company. Today we get to meet Erica Lasan, a passionate entrepreneur who has built multiple brands that center around radical joy, creative expression and service. Since becoming a mother in 2016, Erica has leaned on these same gifts to support busy women, entrepreneurs and overwhelmed moms through her company, JOYrney to Purpose. She helps them to truly connect with the things that bring them joy, one feel good thing at a time. All right, let’s get started.
Hi guys, and welcome back to Interact’s Creator Stories podcast. I’m your host, Jessmyn Solana, and as always, so excited to be here with you. With me today, I have the amazing Erica Lasan. Erica, thank you so much for hopping on with us today.
Erica Lasan:
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for having me. I am so excited for this conversation.
Jessmyn:
And this is a long time coming too. We booked this call for this recording, what was that? Six months ago? So something like that.
Erica Lasan:
Yeah. It definitely feels like.
Jessmyn:
I think it was last year.
Erica Lasan:
Was it? Maybe. Or maybe it was early… It’s definitely been at least a full quarter, calender quarter. Yeah
Jessmyn:
Yeah, it was a while ago. So super excited to have you here. People already got a little bit of a tidbit of what you do, but could you go deeper into what your business is, who your customers are? And then take us back to the beginning, how did you get started in all of this?
Erica Lasan:
Yeah. Oh my goodness, I’d love to. So, hello everyone. I’m Erica Lasan and I am a JOY strategist, but I am also a creative consultant. And I work with busy women, many of whom also happen to be entrepreneurial and creative moms. And I help them learn how they can create more time, energy, and space to rediscover joy and find aligned fulfillment their purpose. And the mission behind this work and the JOYrney to Purpose in general is really to transform the world and future generations through radical joy, one feel good thing at a time. It’s always important to put that one piece in there, because really going back to the beginning and what influences this work is that at one point in my entrepreneurial journey and really just my life journey as a mother and a multi-passionate creative, I felt that I wasn’t able to do all of the things that I wanted to do.
I felt that I didn’t have enough time to do the things that I wanted to do. I didn’t feel like I had enough mental space or the mental capacity or the energy to execute on the things that I wanted to do. And because I’m a creative and because I feel like there’s so many ways to express who you are, what you do, what you live for, who you want to serve, I just felt like I couldn’t do anything. And at one point I thought that it was a luxury for me to do these things, but after becoming a mom for a good 16 months, I played the good mom, good wife role, and I was struggling. And I felt the need to struggle in silence because I felt if I spoke up about, well, I don’t get to do this, and I love being a mom, but then I felt guilty about feeling the blessing that I’d been given was also the death of my personal self and my identity and my ability to really just live a life that I wanted.
And after really sitting with that feeling and understanding why, I realized that the ability to create wasn’t a luxury for me, but it was actually a necessity. And it was something that gave my life purpose and meaning. But on the other side of this, because I’m a multi passionate creative, I realized that I only had limited time. So while I could be focusing on all the things, what are the things that would actually make me feel joy and not from a space of being burnt out and feeling overwhelmed or feeling stressed? And it was through that process that I really came to understand, yes, joy is necessary and yes, you should be pursuing things that you’re passionate about, but more importantly you need to understand your purpose and who you are and what you were created to do so you could chase the purpose and not the passion.
For so long in my life and my entrepreneurial journey, I’d been pursuing passion. So in blogging, in vlogging, in video production, and on air hosting and doing social media stuff and trying to influence her thing on for a while, all of those things at some point started to feel like work and left me feeling uninspired and hating it because it was like, Ugh, I don’t feel like I have to do this. And I had to drag myself into doing it. And that’s because I was chasing the passion versus the purpose. And once I got clear, and it’s honestly, as much as motherhood was a struggle in the beginning in terms of just dying to myself, I began to understand how the process of motherhood actually helped me birth my purpose. Which was to understand how those things that I was so passionate about actually serve my purpose and my ability to help other people. Because it was the creating process that I enjoyed more than actually creating this stuff.
So now as a JOY strategist and a creative consultant, I get to help other busy women who have these visions and have these dreams and have these goals understand that yes, these things are important. Yes, you should do these things. Yes, you get to do all of them, but you also get to do them in a way that serves you and energizes you and doesn’t leave you feeling ragged and run dry because it’s through that, that you’re actually able to live in your mission and serve it from a place of joy and serve others from a place of joy rather than feeling like the work is working you. That was a lot.
Jessmyn:
No, but that was so inspiring. I was like, wow, that is so true. And I love the distinction that you made between chasing your purpose versus chasing your passion. Because you always, I don’t know, I feel like I grew up hearing that, what’s your passion? What are you passionate about? That’s what you should do, because then you never have to work a day in your life, all of that stuff. But even for me it was like I feel like I’m a passionate about a lot of things, but I don’t know that, that necessarily has anything to do with working.
Erica Lasan:
And also it’s like you get to understand that once you’re clear on what you’re passionate about and yes it is aligned to your joy, and well actually, let me start with this. Your joy is necessary because it fuels you, it inspires you, it allows you to give, it radiates, it overflows all of those things. But when you’re clear on the things that bring you joy, you can understand how your joy is tied to your purpose. And the two things are definitely connected. But also understand that everything that brings you joy doesn’t necessarily have to be a part of your work experience. And I think that one thing that happens with our society now, because you can make a hustle and a grind out of anything, is that sometimes we get so sucked up in the idea of turning the things that we’re passionate about into income that it can eventually suck the joy out of the experience. Not everything that brings you joy is meant to be a job.
And also understanding that it’s okay to sometimes still just have hobbies. The ability to turn your brain off and really just be in the moment of experiencing the joy of whatever it is, really helps support your purpose when you know what it is. So I love that you share that and just you’re passionate about a lot, I am also passionate. I’m passionate about tons and I want to turn everything into some type of a creatable moment. But sometimes it’s also really just cool to just keep that joy and that moment and that experience for yourself and not have to monetize it. And understanding that you get to do that too, especially if you’re a creative.
Jessmyn:
What comes to mind is me and my sister both became obsessed with cricuts. If you guys are watching the video, you’ll see it in the background of mine. It’s right there. But we became obsessed with just making cups and t-shirts and all this stuff. And her thought was, hey, isn’t this what you do? Or you work with people who do stuff like this? How do we monetize something like that? And I was like, totally, I’ll do the business side of it. You do all of the, because I hadn’t had this at the time, she was only one with a cricut. So I was like, you do all the creative stuff. And she was so excited, couldn’t wait to get it running. And once I started saying, Hey, we have this order, you need to get this done by this day. Hey, where is this? Hey, where’s that? All this stuff.
And at that point she just didn’t want to do it anymore. She was like, I’m not enjoying it. This feels like too much work. And she was rushing it because she felt like there was too much at one time. So it was short lived and it was cool to try out, but that’s just what comes to mind. You could have this really great thing that you love so much and at the end of the day it could just stay that, and mine sits right there. And it’s fun when parties come around because then we start to create stuff, or when birthdays or events come around, you need a gift, we’ll create something. But we realize, okay, we don’t need to turn this into a business and fight over it.
Erica Lasan:
It’s so funny that you mentioned that because a part of me, and this is me because I love the work that I do, I’m obsessed with talking to women about their businesses and their dreams, because now part of me wants to ask, well, and I promise I won’t turn this into a coaching or a counseling session, but a part of me wonders, well, why didn’t it bring her joy? What were the reasons? Was it that she felt overwhelmed in how she had to do it? Was it that in association with her also being a mom? Was it something where she felt that it was so much coming in at once? And I think that a lot of times as creatives, we’ll start with a vision or an idea of what we want things to be. And then we start going hard towards that. And when it starts to happen, I feel like there are two sides to the conversation. It may never reach what we want it to and then it does reach what we want it to. And then we’re overwhelmed.
But we also get to understand that we get to decide, especially if it’s your business, if it’s something that’s not bringing you joy because there’s so much happening at once, well you also get to switch up your business model and decide, well I only want to do small scale events if you are making things for events, or I only want to do limited batches and I get to serve this particular customer, or I only take orders during this season. So I find that, that’s so cool that once she listened to her joy was like, this ain’t it, because that’s really important, because sometimes that’s just not it. But I also think that it brings up this conversation about how our world operates right now where everyone’s trying to create a hustle and it’s like good because multiple streams of income are great because the job market isn’t what it used to be. But I also think that there’s a need to just sometimes just enjoy the things that bring you joy. Yeah, that’s basically, I feel like I could ramble about this, but that’s it.
Jessmyn:
Yeah. At the time it sounded like, well, she had a full-time job and she is also a mom. And so I think it was just so overwhelming getting, we weren’t getting hundreds of orders at a time, we had just started. We were getting a good amount, which was nice to see because people were supporting and they liked it and it was exciting. But I think she just felt like she had no free time to just sit and relax. And before this had turned into a “business,” that was a relaxing thing for her. And then all of a sudden was no longer relaxing, because there was, Oh, we have to get this out. It has to be of X amount of quality, she didn’t like, she’s a sweetheart, she didn’t want to charge people that we would make a profit. And I was like, well, we have to pay for all of this, plus what’s the point of having a business if we don’t make a profit? Stuff like that.
But it was also eye opening because at some point I realized, okay, well I also don’t really enjoy us arguing over this because we really don’t need to be. Don’t go into business with family is what I learned. Just kidding. But yeah, no. I think it just had everything to do with what you’re talking about. It’s like if you don’t find joy in what you’re doing, when I’m here interviewing, podcasting, I think it’s honestly the coolest thing in the world. I love it. It comes naturally and it’s so easy. But if I were to continue with that business with my sister I would’ve probably just been so tired, we would’ve fought all the time and it would’ve just not been as fun as when we’re like, Hey, this party’s coming up. What can we make? What decorations can we put together ourselves? What t-shirt can we make as a gift? Stuff like that.
Erica Lasan:
Yeah. And I feel like this brings up another conversation just around, and this is also something that I learned over the course of my entrepreneurial journey and my creative journey. Just the need to not just start businesses or take on jobs just because they give you money. I think that it can be so easy to be like, Oh, I need money, so I’m going to figure out a way to get the money. And I have this gift, I have this talent, I can use it. And you can. But I think when it comes to entrepreneurship and creative entrepreneurship specifically, you can’t chase the money. You can’t because then it will eventually feel like work. You can’t start a business based on money. And I think a lot of times people like the idea of what it sounds like to have a business or be a boss babe until they actually start the process and it’s not what they expected. And oftentimes that’s because joy is being left out of the mix if you are doing it just because you want to make money.
And a really key part of the JOYrney to Purpose is understanding how your joy leads you to purpose and how your purpose understanding it really creates sustainable success, because that’s the name of the game. So even to the considerations for example, you and your sister had, why you started the business, but for her it may have also been a need for workflows and processes and systems that led with joy versus simply doing the thing because it needs to be done today. And that’s the work that I do with the people that I work with, because over time that was a process that I came to understand was needed as a creative. It can’t just be that you just have the vision. And I am a visionary, so the vision is very important.
But over time, because I’ve also been a creative that’s done so much by myself for so long, I’ve also come to understand the need for having order and how you create whatever it is that you’re creating. It can’t just be like, I’m going to do what feels great, because then that eventually, while it may feel good in the moment, leads you to feeling overwhelmed and stressed later on if you can’t figure out how you even got to where you got so you can replicate the process.
Jessmyn:
I love that. I love that. So I want to bring it back to something you said early on before I got super excited about what you do.
Erica Lasan:
Okay.
Jessmyn:
You had mentioned that this, becoming a mother and motherhood was what birthed this idea of, okay, you need to have joy in order to figure out what you want to do and what your purpose is. Can you tell us a little bit more about what that process was like as it was happening? And yeah, how did it come to be?
Erica Lasan:
I love this question because it’s really what created the JOYrney to Purpose. So it’s a three step process. And at the time I didn’t realize that I was creating somewhat of a formula, but it’s actually one that I’d started almost seven or eight years earlier when I graduated from college, because I graduated during the recession and spoiler alert, we’re arriving back in the same space. So I don’t know if there are any graduates or student to be graduates that are listening to this, but I think that this is a conversation that can serve anyone even if you’re not a mom. But at one point, when I graduated in 2009, I was applying for jobs like no man’s business and no one was hiring me. I was depressed. I felt like I was not valued, I was unfulfilled. The place where I was working was the same place that was my college internship. And I asked for more responsibility. I asked to do more things and they just weren’t utilizing me.
So I was crying every day throughout the day for very long periods of time. Going to the bathroom, taking bathroom breaks crying, cleaning up my face, going back to my desk, then thinking about the fact that I had just cried and why I was crying. And then I’d start crying again. It was a horrible cycle. But around that time, I would call my then boyfriend, he’s now my husband during my lunch break. And most of the conversation led back to me crying about how much I hated being there. And at one point he was just like, Well, what do you want to do? And I was like, I want to do everything. I want to be in a creative space. I want to be around people that inspire me. I want to live life in color. I just want to do not this. And he was like, Well, start somewhere, do something.
And it was like, I don’t know if it was like how he said it or what he said, but it was like a light bulb went off. I was like, Oh yeah, I can. Okay, well if I were to do that, what would it look like? And so I went back to the drawing board and I got very clear on which areas of my job or life I liked and what I wanted it to look like. And now I do vision boards. It’s a part of what I do for myself, but it’s also something I do with my clients. I created a six month or six week vision boarding course called Living in Purpose, on Purpose Vision Casting.
And when I got clear on the things that brought me joy, I was like, All right, well how can I start now? And it looked like me quitting the job that I was working, it looked like me then looking for jobs that aligned with the things that I wanted to do. And it brought me back into the retail space, which that made my parents super happy. You went to get a four year degree just to go back into retail. But this time I was going in with a plan because the things that I would be doing in that space would really bring me joy, but it almost became an unintentional rediscovery season for me. So in that period of time, I started doing photography again. I started singing and writing. I started doing open mics again, which was something I’d done in high school that I really loved. I started making jewelry again because I started a jewelry line when I was 13. And it was again an accidental thing, but in making the jewelry for myself, the place where I was working in that boutique, they also started selling my jewelry.
So, that became one of my first experiences in entrepreneurship post-college. And where I was able to figure out, oh, the things that I enjoy somebody can actually benefit from. And then from there, it became a mind blowing, eye opening, awakening experience where it’s like, I really get to create what I want. Well, if I wanted to create anything, what would I want to do next? And it was like, I want to have a talk show with no… I want to be baby Oprah. And so I grabbed the camera and a microphone and I hit the streets of New York and I just started doing street interviews.
And then that segued into a whole other career in on air hosting and video production and television production and stuff like that. And so basically that was going really well for seven years. And then I had a bunch of really amazing opportunities to do New York Fashion Week and work with magazines. And then I had a really big opportunity with NBC to do a diversity on air hosting workshop. And I thought that this was the big break. And a week later I found out I was pregnant. So at that point I cried for three days thinking that, oh my goodness, my creative dreams are over, now I got to go back to corporate. Oh my gosh, I hate it there. And for 16 months, that was it. My goal is to be a good mom and a good wife. And I did that. And it was, again, the silent struggle of just crying.
And then at one point when it was like, All right, you’re not happy. Why aren’t you happy? What do you have to do to make yourself happy? And the same thing that I did at 23, I did again at 28, 29, and now it’s what is step one of the work that I do with my clients in the rediscovery phase of going on a joy quest. And I took that process that I did at 23 and I created a program to help people understand within an hour what it is that brings you joy, what doesn’t bring you joy? Where is joy not a part of your experience? How can you visualize where it is that you want to go and what are the actual implementation steps that you can take to make the vision a reality starting today? So you can take the program and leave with a roadmap of understanding not only is your joy imperative or is it possible, but it’s imperative for you to actually live your best life. And it’s not a dream, it can be a reality.
And that’s what started it, really visualizing. And then the second part of the process is really starting with rediscovering, but then reconnecting piece. So I started to talk about the vision board, but that could be a whole long drawn out experience because people were then asking, how do you create your vision boards? And so I just created that workshop and it’s now called the D.R.E.A.M. ACADEMY, and D.R.E.A.M. is an acronym. But how do you not only create the vision but then make it more than a nice idea? Because the vision board is nice, the vision is very important, but the strategy behind the vision is what actually makes it feasible and tangible. So, that’s part of what the experience was in creating that workshop. And right at the start of the pandemic, before we knew it was a pandemic, that’s when I created that offering and I got really great feedback and people were like, what’s next? And I was like, I don’t have anything for you. Give me a moment, let me figure it out.
And that is what created the third part of the JOYrney to Purpose experience, which is activating accountability. And that’s really the recommitting to joy piece. And through that I began offering coaching services, consultations and counseling services as well as events and things like that. So it happened organically through a 21 day wellness and accountability challenge because I really just wanted to get up earlier and I just wanted to bring people in on the experience. And then it grew to 12 months of doing that every month, a different activity. And now it’s just what I do. I just work with people one on one and in groups situations and helping them understand how to bring more joy to their purpose in their lives.
Jessmyn:
Yeah, that’s incredible. I love that.
Erica Lasan:
Thank you. It’s been a good time.
Jessmyn:
Yeah, that’s so awesome. And it sounds like, in the pandemic before you knew it was a pandemic, but there was still this need, and this is me assuming, correct me if I’m wrong, but during that time when people are stuck in lockdown, this must have been something that was really healing in a sense for people who you worked with because we were all stuck at home. The world was scary, life was scary, there was a lot of uncertainty. But if you stick back to these fundamentals of what do you actually like? What do you enjoy? What makes you happy? Even it sounds like, I just feel, that even outside of work, your own business, what you’re doing, these are things that you could think about in terms of, okay, how can I just make my day more fulfilling?
Erica Lasan:
Yes. Oh my goodness, Jessmyn. It’s so funny that you say that because honestly, I’m not going to lie y’all. Okay. I was ready to jump ship. Okay, right at the start of the pandemic I was like, who is going to pay me to teach them how to be joyful? What am I even doing? And thankfully, this is why it’s so important to invest in your joy, one, and invest in your purpose, and invest in guidance and all of the things. But I was thankfully in a program at that time, a mentorship program. And the person who leads the group was like, don’t get on the rollercoaster wave that everyone else is on. Stay the course, stick to the plan, stick to the vision. And I’m like, But how? I don’t get it. But it’s so funny that, but this is also part of the reason why so much of the work that I do is really anchored in faith. Because when I started the business, it was really a faith thing. When I chose in that time to continue to do the work, it was really a faith thing.
And when I put the vision on the vision board, so many of the things that I put down are things that I have no idea how they’re actually going to come to pass. But I ask, I’m like, God, what is it that you want me to do? How is it that you would like me to operate? Where do you want me to go? And things will begin to come up that I’ll have no idea where they’re coming from. And it’s like, it’s a massive vision. I wish I had my vision board to share with you guys. If you go on my YouTube channel or follow me online, you’ll probably at some point see a video about it, because there are many there. And it’s a huge vision. But how do you make it a real? You have to move by faith. And as I began to do those things, things started happening. And I remember the first time I created an offering and someone paid me to teach them how to make a vision board. I was like-.
Jessmyn:
Who? It’s me.
Erica Lasan:
I know right. Who? Me? This is real? You really want to pay me X amount? And it was so underpriced, I wish more people would’ve gotten in when it was low, whatever, because at this point now we’re a lot further in the journey. But it just blew my mind that I got to do what I love. And it got to feel so easy in this stage of my journey because I was so clear on how it was correlated to my purpose versus me just being passionate about the thing. And so I stayed the course. And as difficult as it may have been during certain moments, just having clarity in the vision allowed me to keep going. And now here we are officially two years later, and now it’s like people get it, I know who I’m speaking to. I know why I’m speaking to them. And so many parts of that original vision from 2019 are now a part of my everyday reality. The dream is now my reality. Speaking to you right now was once a dream. Now my reality.
Talking to people about finding joy and purpose and being able to be a mom who works, but also gets to spend time with her kids without feeling stressed and overwhelmed and overworked and burnt out. Now my reality. So it’s a beautiful ride.
Jessmyn:
Yeah, I love it. That’s so awesome. And you also get to share that with people, which feels good.
Erica Lasan:
Yeah. And understanding how it’s like, I always say, and this is something I share with my clients all the time, your ability to have joy isn’t a luxury, first of all, it’s a birthright. We are all born with a need for joy and access to joy. But more than anything, joy is the thing that allows you to live in your purpose selfishly. But it’s also a selfless act, because as you are clear on how your joy contributes to your purpose, it allows you to serve but in a way that doesn’t feel heavy. It’s no longer a point of you feeling super drained about what you do to the point where you just want to shut yourself off and lock yourself in a room and talk to nobody. No, when you live in joy, you get to do it in a way that’s effortless. And again, it comes to overflowing and I get to talk about joy all day. This is my job. What? This is my life. What?
I get to rant and rave about it. And it feels good to me, but it also brings me joy that then people who hear the message get to then consider how to use joy for themselves. It’s like some mine hack. It’s a life hack, but it’s one that everyone gets to use. So I don’t know, It’s like a high, a natural high, substance really high.
Jessmyn:
Yeah. And I think what’s nice about it is, it has everything to do with being happy. And we keep saying joy, but there’s no negative outcome of it. It’s not the same as if you test out, I don’t know, this new three step offering or something, and it doesn’t work out. And you’re like, Oh, I’m bummed about that. That really sucks. But in this case, it’s figuring out, okay, how do I just bring myself back to the fundamentals of what I enjoy, what makes me happy? And then stuff like that when it comes along, won’t feel as bad.
Erica Lasan:
Yeah. And here’s the other piece, and I love that you talk about the fundamentals like what brings me happy? There’s a need to pause. And I think that this goes back to the question that you asked me of what was the process and how did you start? And I think I mentioned it that I took a moment to pause and reflect what is it that I’m doing that I do like, and what is it that I’m doing that I don’t like? That same thing that I did after graduating, I did again as a mom. Okay, motherhood isn’t as fun as it can be. Why? So I think that there’s also a conversation around feeling okay with taking a break, especially as a creative. Right now, everybody’s a creator. Right now everyone’s sharing their stuff. Right now everyone’s putting stuff online and feeling a need. This was just a part of the conversation with the presentation I just did.
Feeling the need to post all the time on social media or always feeling the need to be creating a new program and a new offering. If you are constantly creating and you’re not giving your mind time to play, and in order to do that, you need to take a break. If you’re not doing that, you’re doing yourself and the people that you’re trying to serve through your business, through your art, whatever, a disservice, because the mind needs to breathe. You need space to breathe. You need mental space to do nothing, sit outside, lay under a cloud, watch and listen to the leaves wrestle. All of these things are needed in order to really just bring yourself back to a default of joy. And sometimes I think what’s needed in that moment of pausing to considering what fundamentally brings me joy, is also an understanding that it’s okay to change your mind. It’s okay to change your mind.
Jessmyn:
It doesn’t always have to be this.
Erica Lasan:
Yeah, it doesn’t, or understanding, and this is something I talk about a lot, even in the work I do with my clients. There are seasons. Joy, your joy can shift in different seasons. So even with the quiz that I created, the joy gem quiz, I hope you won’t take it, we’ll talk more about it later, hopefully, right now fingers crossed. And what I love about creating this quiz is that it really speaks to where people are in their journey. So somebody could take the joy gem quiz today and we could work together and then six months from now, so they have the joy, we would’ve been working together and they feel joyful. But understanding that six months later their need for joy may have shifted in a different way so they can take the quiz again and understand, all right, this is the joy gem season that I’m in. And this is what’s needed in order to help me maximize my joy and leverage it to create more time, energy and space, because your joy changes during different periods of your life.
The same things that brought me joy in my twenties do not bring me joy in my thirties. I want no parts of the things that brought me joy in my twenties, where I would’ve liked to bop around New York City and be at the hottest party, or at an event. Now, I would much rather take a camping excursion in a tiny house cabin by myself with no one. It’s just different. But acknowledging that and embracing that and allowing yourself, giving yourself permission to pursue that joy is really, really a major part of the journey experience and something that I hope more creatives allow themselves to do. Take the break.
Jessmyn:
Yeah, I love that. That’s so true. Even with the podcast, I do it in seasons because when you record you’re on, like right now we are on, it’s not the same as when we’re just having a casual conversation on Zoom. And that’s tiring. And sometimes what brings you joy is a little tiring. And it’s okay to take a second and take a break and then find that again. And I think it’s more sustainable that way, because you’re not constantly just trying in a sense. I don’t know how else to describe it.
Erica Lasan:
Yes.
Jessmyn:
But yeah, you’re not always, gosh, I don’t even know. I can’t put it to words, but hopefully everyone knows what I mean, that just you’re not always on, you’re not always performing in a sense. And this goes for anything in business, not just being on video or being on audio. It’s like you’re not always performing. You have to take a second to, like you said, do nothing.
Erica Lasan:
Yes. And I feel like it almost comes to a refueling. And I think that when it comes to creatives and art, it’s like, well, this is how I express myself. This is my being. So you’re placing all of your identity and your ability to create the art rather than the art being something that you do. You know what I mean? And I feel like that’s a little problematic for creatives, because then what if something happens where you can’t necessarily do that in that way. So then all of your identity capital and your self worth and value is tied in your ability to do this thing this way and deliver a particular outcome when life, life likes sometimes. But also understanding the value in taking a breath and the ability to rest, refresh, and refuel, and understanding that sometimes that’s the thing that actually allows you to level up, because then you’re able to think, you’ve given yourself the mental capacity and the space to play in a way that creates innovation.
So it’s no longer you just doing things and operating from the space of where you’ve been, but you’re giving yourself time to process and digest what that last season was. And then you get the opportunity to reinvigorate the way you do things having grown from those experiences so that you can incorporate it into what you do and how you do it and almost reframe it. It’s like that ta-da moment, y’all thought I was done. I’m back and better than ever. And that’s what happens when you take a break. It’s awesome. I think that motherhood is one thing that even though at the time I didn’t see it, that’s what motherhood has allowed me to do, where I thought, Dang man, I’m not going to be able to be a creative because I’m a mom, going to be boring. I remember having this conversation with my sister when I found out I was pregnant the second time.
I was like, and this is when I was doing on air hosting stuff. So I thought that my life, I wanted to be on TV, I wanted to be on E. And I remember crying to her and thinking, who’s going to want a fat on air host? I’m not going to be able to fit on my clothes. I’m going to have bags under my eyes because I’m going to be tired all the time. Who wants that? Nobody wants that on their television. And here we are seven years later. And that wasn’t the dream. I was passionate about it. And I think of if my life would’ve gone in that direction, it would be completely different and it probably would’ve been good, but I don’t think I would feel fulfilled in the way that I do now because now I get to use those same skills and incorporate them, but into a life that allows me to do more for others. Where it’s not just about showing them the example of what it’s like to follow their dreams, but now I get to teach them how they can do it for themselves.
And as far as the things and the ways in which I thought it had to look with on air hosting, I still get to do those things. But it’s remixed. I have a podcast, I get to create the content. I get to create programs. So it’s like the ability to rest just helps you level up what it is that you’re already doing.
Jessmyn:
Oh God. Amazing.
Erica Lasan:
Yeah.
Jessmyn:
Amazing. I could probably listen to you talk all day. I might need you to sign up.
Erica Lasan:
Do it, girl.
Jessmyn:
Oh, well, Erica, thank you so much for talking with us and sharing your story. I do have a couple of last questions before we close out.
Erica Lasan:
Okay, let’s do it.
Jessmyn:
Second to last one, what are three things that most people would not know about you?
Erica Lasan:
Three things that most people would not know about me. Okay. So, one, I feel weird even saying that I can speak three languages because I can, but one of them is a struggle. I studied Spanish for 15 years of my life and studied abroad twice, once in Barcelona, Spain and once in Granada, Spain. I also did a mission trip to Mexico. And I love the Spanish language. And I started speaking French for four years in high school. And I can speak both very fluently. Now the French is a struggle. I can hear it if you speak very slowly and I can still read it, but I can’t write it anymore, sadly. But yeah, so I love languages and culture. Most people may not know that. That’s one, but it was a two or a three.
The second thing most people may not know is that for a period of time, I was a licensed pedicaber in New York City. Oh my goodness. If you visit my YouTube channel, you’ll see the entire journey. But at one point when I was like, I had no money and I was really trying to promote my jewelry business and I was trying to put it out there that I also do interviews, I had this beautiful idea to advertise my business in a way where I could afford a New York billboard effect without having to pay for a New York billboard. So I was like, Oh, I’ll put it on the back of a pedicab. But then I didn’t know any pedicabers that I could have do it for me. And so I ended up getting a license. And so I was pedicabbing because I wanted to make extra income.
Jessmyn:
That’s amazing.
Erica Lasan:
I put my banner on the back of a pedicab and I also got to interview people. I created a show called Fashion Pedicab, and I did that on the streets of New York. So, that’s the second thing.
Jessmyn:
I love that.
Erica Lasan:
And what’s another third thing? I don’t know. What’s another random third thing? I don’t know. I feel like that was a lot. My favorite number is three. It’s everywhere. I love the number three. And I’m born on the third, and my favorite colors are yellow and green. I don’t know, maybe that’s obvious to my branding. My branding is inspired by nature, but it’s like yellow is the sun and joy. And the green stands for prosperity and purpose in prosperity. So yellow, green, joy.
Jessmyn:
I love that a lot. I don’t think I’ve heard anybody, I think it’s common in branding, but I haven’t had someone explain to me their colors and their branding and how it relates to their business. So I love that. I love that a lot.
Erica Lasan:
Oh, thank you so much, girl. I could go in. I love branding and marketing and all that stuff. Yeah.
Jessmyn:
Love it. Last question for you, if you could give yourself a single piece of advice at the start of it all, what would it be?
Erica Lasan:
I want to say trust the journey, but also just start with joy. Don’t chase the money. Start with joy. Yeah, because I think at one point in my creative journey, not even the business, I had a thing with trusting that what I wanted to do was valuable enough to really pursue. And it took a really long time for me to actually convince myself. And that was really just a faith thing and having to find the confidence. But finding the confidence only came from failing and getting back up and failing and getting back up. And if left to really trusting the words and thoughts of other people around, well, is this even a viable thing? Is this a viable product? Is this a viable service? What are you doing? I don’t get it. And just trusting myself enough to know. And I think I did that, but it just took a lot longer because I wasn’t really committed to the joy element.
I feel like that’s really where the magic began to happen when I really got over the need to chase the joy because I needed it to make money and really just doing it because I enjoyed it. And then from there, understanding what the value was. I think that, that’s probably what I would say. Yeah, trust yourself. Start with joy, pursue it. And if you can get yourself some guidance and understanding how you can merge the two, because it’ll cut a lot of pieces out of the process. But more than anything, when you feel good and when you’re aligned with your joy, other people will begin to receive it and they’ll eventually come to understand it. They’ll get it once you get it, but the only way to get it is to do it.
Jessmyn:
I love it. Well, thank you so much. And before I forget, where can people find you online?
Erica Lasan:
Oh my goodness. Yes. Please follow me on social media. You can find me at Erica Lasan. You can visit the site ericalasan.com. And I would really love to invite whoever’s listening. If you’re listening and watching to take the joy gem quiz. I rant and rave around you guys all the time and just the quiz process. But take the joy gem quiz. It’s about 90 seconds. And it helps you learn how you can maximize your joy in this season and learn how you can use it to create more time, energy, and space for yourself starting immediately. And I don’t say that just to say that, but immediately. Join now and that can be found at ericlasan.com/quiz.
Jessmyn:
Love it. Love it. And we will link those for you guys as always. So don’t worry about that. But thank you so much, Erika, and everyone else. We’ll see you next time.
Erica Lasan:
All right. Thank you.