Re-Imagining Entrepreneurship with Jasmine Lopez

​hi everyone, and welcome back to Another incredible episode of the BeabossCoaching podcast. I am so pumped to bring you today's conversation because we have an absolutely amazing guest joining us today. If you're a creative entrepreneur, if you're ever struggle with money mindset or if you're passionate about building businesses that honor your authentic self and your community, this episode is going to light you up.

Today we're sitting down with Jasmine Lopez, a powerhouse Latina creator, photographer, and financial wellness educator who is doing transformative work at the intersection of creativity, healing, and economic empowerment. Jasmine is the founder of not one, but two incredible organizations mentally mutual her for-profit business, where she helps creative entrepreneurs heal their relationship with Money and the Firehouse Dream.

A non-profit dedicated to supporting the next generation of creatives of color. In today's episode, we're diving deep into some powerful topics. We talk about exploring Jasmine's journey as a creative entrepreneur and how she built her businesses from the ground up. You're gonna hear about her path from photographer to financial wellness educator, the challenges she faced, and the intentional choices she made to create something truly meaningful and sustainable.

We are gonna talk about the importance of healing, authenticity, and cultural identity in her work. Jasmine shares how reconnecting with her full self, including her Latina identity and her experiences growing up in a low income single parent home transform not just her business, but her entire approach to entrepreneurship.

She's gonna share how she empowers others to embrace their own stories and build businesses rooted in who they truly are. And of course we're discussing her mission to support and educate creatives and communities, especially through her nonprofit work and financial wellness education. You'll hear about the incredible programs at The Firehouse Dream, the mental health resources they've created, and how Jasmine is re-imagining what it means to do business in a way that centers rest, community and cultural practices.

This conversation is full of wisdom, inspiration, and practical insights that will challenge how you think about business success and what's possible when we lead with authenticity and intention. So get comfortable, grab your favorite beverage, and let's dive into this beautiful conversation with Jasmine Lopez.

We are officially live. Hi Jasmine. Thank you so much for agreeing to be on the podcast here at BBOs Coaching. I am really excited for those of us listening, for anyone listening to hear. Jasmine story, Jasmine Lopez story, and to learn and hear from her as well, because I had the privilege of meeting Jasmine in a group coaching.

It was a group coaching container with Karina, right, Jasmine?

yes.

And from that point on. I was just so amazed at everything that you do, the knowledge that you have. And so I'm really excited for you to come on to the podcast, share your story, and uh, but before we , move forward, can you tell us your name?

I know I already say your name, but your name, your business, and where you're currently located.

Yeah, so I am Jasmine Lopez, my family and I just moved to Las Vegas almost a year ago, so I don't know if I can technically say we just moved to Las Vegas, but it still feels new and fresh to me and. Uh, what is my business? Well, I actually have multiple businesses. Um, I have a for-profit and a nonprofit, and both kind of do the same things.

Um, I focus on healing with money and working specifically with creative entrepreneurs on how to have a healthy money relationship and how does our story through mental wellness, interconnect with all of the parts of who we are so that we can build whole and healed lives ultimately is what I'm looking to do through the work that I do.

Thank you. Well, this is exactly what I wanted to. Have you on the podcast because this season's theme is expansion, which is what I feel like, it sort of feels like a collective expansion for me. I've been feeling it this, this year, more pronounced, but I'm also seeing it in other people and. Since meeting you and seeing your journey and seeing all the work that you've been doing,

you.

you are so transparent and you share a lot of your journey as you go through it.

And. I wanted to bring you on to talk to you about how expansion has shown up for you and your journey. Also talking about healing and how that has played a big role in your journey as you continue to. Talk about healing and entrepreneurship and money and all of the ways that those concepts come together.

And, uh, but before we move into our conversation, what I like to do with my guests is I like to check in with them. So I wanna know. Where you're at, let's do a check-in, like where are you at? What season of life are you currently in? And uh, and yeah, like, what's going on with you right now

Yeah.

moment?

Life is crazy. As I mentioned, I have multiple businesses. One's a for-profit, one's a nonprofit, um, and not my nonprofit's called The Dream and my for-profits called Mentally Mutual. And I am in, I would say a overly filled season right now, specifically for the nonprofit because we're wrapping up our fiscal year, which is June 30th.

Right. And so, um, wrapping up programming or wrapping up. Fundraising, making sure we've hit the numbers we're looking to hit this year. If not, how are we gonna close the gap? All the things. Mm-hmm. And so, um, in the highs and lows and in the waves of business, depending which one requires more energy of me, I have to then identify what do I pivot and how do I reduce my workload in other spaces so that I can give

Hmm.

what the nonprofit in particular in this season is asking of me.

And so. I've had to be okay with that. I'm not moving as forward as I would like to with mentally mutual, but that's okay. Right now we're just in this wildly full season. And then, um, just. Trying to honor my body with rest and making sure that, you know, the nonprofit's only a part-time situation, so we operate 20 hours a week. So making sure that my four days off is restful, it's intentional and fully disconnecting from it

Mm-hmm.

be able to come back into it rejuvenated and ready with a clear mind that walks into the new week. To accomplish everything we need to before the next, the end of the week happens. So that's kind of where I'm at right now. And you know, I always talk about sitting in the tension of the highs and lows of every area of my life. And so while work is very busy, chaotic, and I love it, and it's purposeful, personally, life is also hard, right? Like I, I am raising a medically complex kiddo. Who has severe medical needs. And so this past month has just been so full of unknowns with health and just navigating through the healthcare system in a new state. And so I'm just, I'm trying to give myself grace and space to manage all the facets of who I am while also honoring my body rest the other parts

Mm

need to just be okay with the fact that everything's moving at different pieces. And that's okay.

mm.

through it, right? So

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Breathe through it for I I totally feel that right now. Um, like before we started recording, uh, for our listeners, I was like in a flux and I was like. Okay, let me breathe. Let me breathe. And so for you to, when you mentioned like to breathe, breathe through it. I was okay. Like grounds me.

Uh, and it is, thank you for sharing everything that's going on like that when you share What you're doing with your nonprofit, with your business, with your family, and everything that is in there. Just life in general. Like I always just feel like in awe because it, it's amazing to me that there are women like you who, who really like can.

Take all of it and sit with it and also And I know that we've talked, you and I have talked about healing, and I know that that is part of the reason why you can do this, why you are able to move through life the way that life comes. Uh, so that's why I wanted you to come and share your story and, and just all the work that you're doing with, with your financial.

Knowledge and education and healing and self care. So can you tell us more, what you do with mentally mutual and, everything that you do with your financial education, can you take us back, Jasmine, to the beginning of your entrepreneur journey? How did that start?

Because I know that you used to be a photographer, so can you take us back to early Jasmine's photography life and how your entrepreneurship journey began?

Yeah, absolutely. And I still am, right? Like I still take, take pictures for a living and that is such a big, deep part of my story. I found photography as like a tween, and there was something about it that was so powerful to me. It didn't quite have the language. For it. Now I do. Right? Like I, photography means written light and it's a way that we tell stories visually.

So I'm a visual storyteller and a and a storyteller in other ways. And so photography was this outlet for me to share stories in a way that I didn't know how to share my own story when I was young and as a teenager. And so photography like. Captured my heart. It was everything I wanted but to do with my life.

But I kept hearing the messages that it's a hobby only, you can't really build a business off of it. And I'm grateful that I actually like pushed against, um, you know, some of those voices and decided to pursue it. And I built a photography business from the ground up, photographing families and weddings and creating content and working with businesses and nonprofits and all the things.

And it was really beautiful. But my photography was built. Through disconnection of my authentic self. And so before I knew it, I built a brand that focused on all the things you're taught in marketing, which is, uh, a very specific look and it's affluence and it's not anything that I am and or represented.

And so there was this huge disconnection between what I had built and who I was authentically, and I felt. Confronted and convicted by it and, and by what? And challenged with what was I going to do to fix this or to change it and to do something different. And that's actually when I started my healing journey. I got into therapy, started gaining language around my own story, what I had been experiencing, um, even as a photographer, right? Like as a Latina photographer with the last name Lopez, just experiencing microaggressions around my pricing, uh, affluent individuals specifically white clients treating me a certain way or expecting my prices to be cheap because of the stereotypes that are associated, um, to our services.

And so I internalized all of those, all of those microaggressions and assumptions that were being made about me that I didn't know how to fully process through them. And this is why I got into therapy. And when I did, I realized and gained language around what I had experienced in my childhood and realizing that there is a beauty in reconnecting with just not just a part of me, but all of me, which included my cultural identity, which included the fact that I grew up low income and a single parent Latina home.

And that's okay. And it's not something I need to hide from. And while I'm not. From affluence, I can build something that's authentic and beautiful and good, and so how do I do that? And so I've been on a journey ever since to figure out how to do that. Right. And then I was like. what do I wish I had when I was just starting?

Well, I wish I had mentors who understood my lived experience. I wish I had, um, uh, the tools and the resources so that I could have built my professional grade, um, equipment much faster. 'cause I had a commitment to not get into debt. 'cause we had just experienced bankruptcy as well. And so, um, yeah, and that's really when I, when I was like, what do I wish I had? That's when the Firehouse Dream became a concept. I was like, man, I wish I had mentors. I wish I had a safe space that I can go to where I could learn about creative skills and how to monetize my skills and make a profit at a much younger age. I could have saved so much time and energy, um, that I've invested in this and could have hit, um, you know, I, I'm sure I could have hit more, better projections in my business, but also it being rooted. Out of my authentic self in the fullness of who I am and not needing to shift or change who I am to be accepted or wanted in this particular space. Right. And so that's kind of what prompted me to start the Firehouse Dream, was to work with the next generation of creatives of color so that I could tap into my network and to bring them in and say, Hey, like you don't have to do, you can learn from our mistakes. 'cause as I began to share my story, more creatives came forward sharing like they resonated were experiencing what I was experiencing. And many of them have gone through their own healing journeys. And so now it's about how do we take what we've learned as like millennials and bring it back to this next generation to say, Hey, like you can thrive in the creative industry.

It's a over $1.1 trillion industry, and yet our stories are highly underrepresented. So how do we help this next generation thrive in a way that, um, and give them access in a way that we didn't initially get when we were first starting in this sector?

Wow. Thank you so much for sharing that. I know that when we were thinking about this podcast episode and when you were telling me about your story and how healing came into your story as you started to build your photography business and then really go into All the experiences that came with, with starting a business, but then the, like you said, the microaggressions.

I think that that's a question that for me, I consistently grapple with is how do I continue to be myself in a space or in a world that. Talks a lot about, how you should be loud , and aggressive.

And if you wanna be a successful business owner, you have to , push yourself and you have to do all of these things. And for me, I feel like it has. constantly been a battle of like wanting to succeed with my business, but also wanting to stay true to myself. And as you were telling your story about how Firehouse Dream came to be in terms of bringing in your authentic self, but also helping the next generation of, of creative leaders. I think that that's like a very specific way to do that, to like stay authentic and build a business and build something that. grows and impacts people, makes money that like, but you still find a way to bring yourself into it.

And I think that that is one of the biggest challenges as entrepreneurs is how do we stay true , to who we are and ourselves and our experiences, while also trying to build, a dream or something financially secure that's gonna help us. Live our life and pay our bills, that's ours. Right? But that, that balance is, it's always tough.

And I, for me, I remember just like being stuck in this question of like, well, if I wanna make money, I, these people over here say I have to look this way and sound this way, and I have to do. Constant posting every single day and be like aggressive and fiery and whatnot. And to me, I never felt that.

I was always like, but that's, I don't know, like I'm an introvert and I'm very like soft spoken and like how can I, and so it was just this constant battle of me trying to figure out how do I. Do I need to change who I am? it was just so difficult. Um, and so for to hear your story of building something authentic from your own experience that is helping you live your life and pay your bills, but also making an impact and then also bringing in your own experience.

It's proof that it's possible. It's just a constant dialogue that needs to happen internally. I think

Yeah. Uh, I think so much I can say to this. I think, we live in a capitalistic society that puts profit over

that part, that part.

when we historically look back at how our communities have done businesses and how our communities have specifically communities of color have operated businesses, it's so different from what capitalistic society. And says, right. And so

Mm-hmm.

and part of my healing journey has been seeing the beauty of collaboration and partnership.

Mm-hmm.

seen the beauty of cultural practices like bartering, the exchanging of services for services,

Mm-hmm.

the exchange of knowledge for knowledge, right? These are skills that inherently are have with us through our ancestors from generation to generation.

Mm-hmm.

think about business and how we do business, I've learned to not. at it through the lens of capitalism, but rather through does. Well, my faith is a big part of it as well. But what does, how does my cultural lived experiences and how does my experience growing up, low income, and then also in my adulthood, expen experiencing income insecurity or financial insecurity for most of my adult life as well? do I take what I've learned in both of those parts of who I am and take that into business? Right? So what do I mean by that? Um, have become an amazing budgeter because oftentimes low income individuals are the best budgeters out there. There's this

Mm-hmm.

that we are overs spenders, but the reality is, is we know how to take a little. And turn it into a lot. That is a skill that I take from you through my lived experience and my story into my business. So I know how to design spaces and create spaces that feel inviting and beautiful on a very little budget, right? Secondly, I think about, um. Let's see what else. I think about this idea that, right, we need each other in order to thrive. So how

Mm-hmm.

Hmm

a cultural practice, right?

Yeah.

and so when I think about the pressure of what does success look like, because I have the unique, we could call it, advantage of what it looks like to lose everything. My home, my

Hmm.

and my possessions. believe that that deep loss was an opportunity for me to redefine what success meant to me. And so while that happened 15 years ago, it has stuck with me throughout the years as I have pursued what it looks like to rebuild. And ultimately I have learned that. The stuff doesn't matter. These things

Hmm.

But is a desire and a need for my needs to be met. So how do I build my business in a way where my needs are met, but yet I can center rest as a restorative practice? What does that look like?

Yes,

So when

absolutely.

the nonprofit, this initially didn't happen.

I like was so close to like burning myself out and, uh, with a strategic planner that we were working with, he's like, I think you need a sabbatical. like, wait, what? I've never heard of this before. And um, so the board approved I think like a six. Six to eight week sabbatical for me. 'cause we were facing one of the hardest financial seasons as a nonprofit and we were new.

I felt like we were failing all these things, right? And so I go on this six to eight weeks sabbatical and I was like, oh my gosh, this is, I want the both and I wanna build something impactful and I wanna be able to be fully present with my family and my daughters in a way that. I can figure out how to make the both and work.

Ever since that sabbatical, my entire team now gets the month of July off and we get to be fully present with our families and our loved ones, and it's built into our budget because it's based on something we value and we desire,

Mm-hmm.

send to rest as a restorative practice. We get two weeks

Yeah.

in the winter and spring break, we get off as well. it's paid time off because as a woman of color led team, we need space to rest. We need space to dream

Mm-hmm.

need space to, to be able to manage and take care of all the other things we need to take care of so that when we come back into our space of work, we can be able to fully show up in that way. So those are a few ways throughout each business structure that I have. What this looks like for me, but ultimately I have like tapped into like the restorative economy, um, spaces really connecting with how business is done in Latin America, which is so

Hmm.

done here. And

Yeah.

yeah, I'm really grateful to learn about like cooperative models, mutual aid, and a lot of strategies that are inherently, naturally connected to our cultures.

Mm-hmm.

disconnected from them because we've been taught that capitalism is the way to do it, and I just don't believe it is.

Oh my gosh. Um, are you hiring, because I would like to for you, Jess, uh, in your I'd love to. I mean, I think the, the vision that you laid out for us, um, with your company and just like how you run. An organization and the way that you lead that is how I see how we should be driving business, um, especially in this current state that we are living in with this galactic empire of an administration that I we're like living through.

It's just to me, that is what we need in terms of business, it's like empathic leaders. It's leaders who rest, leaders who understand the importance of pausing, of healing, of, of understanding the internal work that it takes to, to navigate relationships and the environment. if you're hiring, I am, I'm putting myself in your queue first.

We are are hiring, but it's local back in Chicago, so

oh man.

So anything, yeah, it is, it is in person, but you know, I. I resonate with that because right, we can sit here and we can say how broken the system is and yes, so broken. There's so much that is inherently created to exploit and take advantage and to hurt people and families.

Right? Harm has been done, so when I look at how the nonprofit sector. Right has been harmful to and brown communities or bipoc communities.

Mm-hmm.

then when I look at even for-profit business structure and how it has also hurt bipoc communities,

Mm-hmm.

I didn't get into business, I didn't get into nonprofit to do this work like how everybody else has historically been doing it for decades.

Yeah.

here I got into nonprofit to build something. From the ground up that is beautiful and good and different and powerful and impactful while sitting in the tension of saying, I recognize the impact of how women of color are paid significantly less in this sector.

Yeah.

As the leader and as the person building this up, what does equity look like?

Pay equity look like for my team, regardless of their educational background, because I know the data and the impacts of what that looks like and the uniqueness of my community, right? And so then the same thing in my business for profit. What does it look like to build something that is equitable, right?

That provides financial wellness services to individuals who may otherwise not have the opportunity to, and how can I get strategic and creative to make sure that I'm personally. pay equity while also being able to give back to my community and to take this knowledge that I have had the privilege of learning and bringing it directly back to my community.

What does

Mm-hmm.

How do I do that? How do I do that tangibly?

Mm-hmm.

can't say I figured it out a hundred percent 'cause I'm still navigating that myself, but.

yeah,

I'm grateful to have this space to figure it out and to navigate it through the grace of my team with a nonprofit because I have an amazing team and now I'm figuring out what this looks like through my for-profit as well.

yeah. I think when, when we ask that question, what does it look like? It's a way for us to imagine our own answers and come to our own answers. Right? But I think what you're doing is an example of what it could look like.

And when we have a an example, when we see what this could look like, it's so much easier to then. Build something like that and to have like a domino effect of that, of what that could look like. Because when, when we think about business in general, we, or just the way that economies work, we always look to other economies right around the world.

How are these economies working? How are they building their policies and, and building their country up and. We take a lot of that or relieve some of it and we create our own here. But it's the same way that we do that with our own businesses too. And I think when, especially as like you mentioned, businesses of color have been doing things differently for a very long time.

We but here in America, like sometimes that the assimilation makes it so hard to, to understand or come back to our roots and we sometimes we get lost, right? And we sometimes, it's hard to envision what it looks like to do business. Uh, beyond a capitalistic framework, but when we have businesses like yours and we ha there's examples of this, like this is possible, for me it's hope.

Like no, there's different ways that we can do this, um, that's impactful beyond money. And it, it, we just have to look for it and we have to and be. Creative enough to think of better solutions. Um, and like I'm so glad that you say you have the space to think of these creative solutions too, with like your team and, and everybody around you.

So we do have the space and that that comes back to also like the pausing, like we have to pause to think of these solutions, to be creative, to think about other people and how we're gonna both serve , our communities and pay our, our, our team and pay ourselves and live a fulfilling life. Like we, it's possible.

We just need to pause and be creative about it.

Yeah, absolutely. And the beautiful thing is like. I think there's, there are so many of us out there who are doing this deep, intentional work to re like, to build or even rebuild something different, right? It's just how do we find each other? How do we connect, how do we, you know, there's a lot that are, um, doing like a liberatory approach to their business work.

I'm currently in a program right now where it's called The Next Economy. And there's like, gosh, I think there's like over 80 of us in this cohort who are all dreaming up, like know, businesses with different concepts that have regenerative practices and restorative practices at the center of it.

Right? And there's so many like. Uh, people of color, um, from different communities. Like I think of co-ops Ed Center, which is another nonprofit in Chicago. They focus on cooperatives, and it's through Sochi who, you know, who's the ED of this nonprofit who met with me and a few of us in, in the ma in Maywood community, which is where the Firehouse Dream is located.

And she just taught us like what does. What does cooperatives look like? What does this unique approach to business look like specifically for our communities that comes from Latin America or this is like they're doing it and it's thriving and it has been and for generations. And so what does it look like for us to like glean off of generations and our ancestors who have done this work and have been doing this work, and what does it look like to. To model it. Right?

Hmm. Mm-hmm.

it yet, but we're learning and we're trying. So I think that, I think we're in an exciting space. I think, so many of us, especially you know, including me, are discouraged with what's currently happening with the administration. But I sit in a space of creative imagination of asking the questions, well, what can I do? How

Mm-hmm.

different? How can I bring peace and joy and love the spaces I'm in so that for a moment, even if it's just for an hour, with whoever is in this space with me, could also experience peace, joy, and love together won't take away everything that's happening in our cultural context right now

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

we just have a moment to dream and imagine together?

Could we have a

Mm-hmm.

to get curious about what it could look like, to look at what we're experiencing through different

Hm.

or through new eyes, you know, and

Mm-hmm.

solutions and dreams could come out of it.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, so you told me about the different businesses you have, your non-profit, your for-profit. Can you discuss how expansion has shown up for you in the different points of in your journey, how has this shown up and how does it feel to experience this expansion as you continue to, to move forward in your journey as an entrepreneur?

Yeah. You know, I struggled with this word expansion because I was like, Ooh, is that colonizing? And I think we talked about

Oh

our one-on-one and being

there's this in business, right? There is this pressure to like scale, expand like

Mm.

right? And I

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

needs to be challenged based off of our unique goals and values. And so for me, when I think about expansion, I think about how am I one, am I doing the work? In what internal work am I doing? Like how

Mm-hmm.

I feeling

Yes.

for the season I'm in right now in this current life? Um, I journal a lot, and so one of the questions I ask each day is like, what I'm learning today, what I'm learning about myself, what I'm learning about others, right?

I wanna be in a constant state of assessing and learning and sitting in, oh, okay, this is an era I can grow in. Oh, okay. This is how I'm showing up or not showing up based on the feedback that I'm getting from those I love in my community. And so I think, I think, yeah, first we have to do that internal work before we, we have to expand internally before we can expand externally, right?

There

Mm. Yeah.

of both and, and so when my family moved to Las Vegas. You know, the first question I would get is, why are you expanding? Are you bringing the firehouse dream to Las Vegas? Are you, and I was like, Nope. I'm not going there with any intention of expanding anything. I'm going

Hmm.

I'm going to get connected and get rooted, right? Like to,

Mm-hmm.

transition for me and my family. I'm going through my own grief and my own feelings of loss. Like I need to feel that first before I even can think of what. Newness or expansions look like here. And

Hmm.

it's been almost a year now, and now I can finally say, yeah, we are expanding our work here. Um, we've established our businesses and nonprofits here. Um, but even in my expansion, it looks slow. It looks intentional,

Mm-hmm.

ofit from the ground up since: 2017

Yeah.

and so that is expanding, but I am.

I'm gonna honor my rest in July.

Mm-hmm.

even though I signed the lease, I'm gonna, you know, I, at first I was feeling some scarcity of time and feeling like, oh, I need to like, push through. I'm already paying for rent. And I'm like, no, I need to honor those rhythm that I've

Mm-hmm.

and I'm gonna rest.

I'm gonna rest in July and my space will be there for me after I come back from my break.

Hmm

Ready for what newness is available for me for the rest of the summer and the fall. And so when I think of Expan expansion, I think it needs to be the both. And it needs to be how are we expanding internally?

mm-hmm.

we can think about what expanding looks like externally.

When you say it like that, it reminds me of the the journey , I guess the journey of a star. 'cause like, you know, when a star is ready to like, I don't know if the right word is expand or explode, but like contracts and then it like sh you know, explodes and like all, there's all this light. Um, and.

That that's the image that I get or received as you were talking about, the way that you internally expand. But doing that first before you can do that externally and. And it brings me back again to this intentional pause and intentional time to heal whatever healing means for you. Whether it means like it's a lot lifelong journey or like healing from the year, right?

And just taking a rest for the summer, but really to come in and to contract and then allowing the external expansion to expand beyond that. And I think everything that we've talked about, what I am taking away from everything that you say is just validation that in order to.

Experience expansion.it's about allowing our journeys to be and to take time with it and that intentional like pause to sit with our thoughts, to be in our creativity, to be in our rest, to heal.

All of that allows us to then come back and then to be, become bigger and whatever that means, have bigger ideas, have bigger goals, bigger. Growth, whatever it means. And that's what I'm taking away from what you've shared with us today. So thank you so much, Jasmine. I do want to, I guess, have a final question.

Like what, what you say to somebody who is.

Uh, probably like in the state of wanting to start to progress or move forward, and it doesn't have to be in business, but want maybe feel stuck. What would you say to somebody who has, is in the. State of being stuck and wants to move forward, and what would be something small that they can do to like move forward in what they wanna do?

Yeah, I would say start like imagining and dreaming again,

Mm-hmm.

and I believe imagining is different than dreaming, imagining, you know, we have this imagination that we've been taught to disconnect from as children, it's a muscle that needs to be stressed, but, uh, stretched, but. We have so many ideas, these quiet ideas in the back of our brain that we've never allowed to move past the back of our brain

Mm-hmm.

front of our brain onto paper, right?

Mm-hmm.

when they're on paper is when I believe it changes to dreams. But anyways, all that is to say like, give yourself permission to imagine a dream about what could be in every area of your right life, right? Like not just in business, but in your personal life. I do this, you know, I try to do this.

I used to do it every day, but whenever I journal, I always take time to just imagine what could be for me, for others, and for my community.

Mm-hmm.

think when we can practice this and stretch the muscle of imagining and dreaming is when is when we can begin to see a way forward around what some of our next steps could be, which then could help us get past that feeling of being stuck.

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much Jasmine. Can you just say some, like mentally for mentally mutual and Firehouse Dream, can you, 'cause I think you talked a little bit about it, but can you expand a little bit more onto like what, how mentally mo. Mentally mutual. Let's start with mentally mutual and then we can go into Firehouse Dream, but how mentally Mutual helps people and the clients that you, that you serve.

Yeah. So for mentally mutual, I work with creative entrepreneurs who want to like, need to heal with money, right? There's a starving artist narrative in our industry where oftentimes, um, we feel the challenge of charging what we need to charge in our creative services. And so my goal is to work specifically with creatives of color to help them heal with money, right?

Get your money mindset right, so that you can build purpose-driven businesses.

Mm-hmm.

you find, how do you find the medium between the both and healing internally within, while also experiencing creativity. As a source of income while also healing externally, right? Because creativity is so healing in, its in general and we need creatives. We would seize to exist as a society if we didn't have creatives doing what creatives are doing.

Mm-hmm.

feel, uh, a unique connection to other creatives because I am a creative, and I've been in the industry for over 20 years now, where I'm just like, I wanna be that mentor. I wanna be that guide. I wanna be that. That coach or counselor that helps them work with their money mindset. It's not like that's my, my, uh, niche, like what I focus on, but I work with a lot of clients who are not in the, you know, in the creative space, but ultimately want to, um, create a joy based or values-based budget, but don't know how to do that.

How do I do this? How do I, like, I hear what you're saying, but how do I heal my money mindset? How

Mm-hmm.

create a budget that's sustainable but doesn't feel restrictive?

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

doesn't feel shame filled, or how do I look at my spending habits through a lens where I feel empowered and equipped

Mm-hmm.

decisions as opposed to feeling disconnected or stressed or overwhelmed with it?

And ultimately that's what I do. I work one-on-one with individuals who want to figure out the answers to those questions.

Awesome. Okay, now talk about Firehouse Dream. What is, tell me, like, what is that mission there?

Yeah, so the mission at The Firehouse Dream is to be a safe space for creatives between the ages of 13 and 22 to thrive, right? is super hyper local to a specific community or school district in the Chicago land area called Maywood, Illinois. we work with Bipoc creatives in that. community.

Mm-hmm.

we do, um, programming intermix on different topics. We do programming, like workshops, cohorts, youth development programs that help youth, uh, build their creative businesses or learn creative skills like photography, graphic design, um, you name it, any kind of creative skill that you can monetize. And then we are teaching them this skill so that they can monetize it. How do we find purpose behind it? How do we amplify the concerns of our community and use these skills to tell those stories?

Mm.

for example, one of our other pillars is mental wellbeing, and we experienced a cluster of losses to suicide a handful of years ago. And so we used creativity and. The collective youth together to come and co-create and design a mental health kit. And so using design and illustration and creating stickers, we created different tools and strategies for youth to, um, to feel connected to that self-guided, and that could help equip them with some language around their feelings, their emotions.

Oh no.

kit includes like journal prompts, stickers that

Oh,

like fidgets and, um, journal prompts so that they can start learning what it means to journal and different things like that. And so it's a resource that our youth, uh, they wanted. We co-created and designed it.

We've given out over 2,800 for free to the youth in the community. So for us. Now we're looking at what does it look like to expand this mental health resource kit to Las Vegas and hopefully even nationally, where more youth can get this tool and this resource. Um, and then the last part is the financial wellness.

So how do we build a healthy relationship with money so that we can build thriving businesses?

Hmm.

if we don't have a healed relationship with self, others, and money, it's gonna be really hard to build a profitable business.

Mm. Thank you so much, Jasmine, for sharing and for anyone listening come over to the show notes. All the links to Jasmine's nonprofit and, and business and the ways that you can connect with her will be in the show notes. So come on over. Any, uh, any last words, Jasmine, before we leave?

Uh, I hope for anyone who's listening that you are just inspired and you're thinking about what's next or what could be for you. I want you to be encouraged and to take an opportunity to imagine and what can dream what, and dream what could be for you based on what your unique goals and values are.

Awesome. Well thank you so much Jasmine. I appreciate you for coming onto the podcast and please come over to the show notes, connect with Jasmine, and uh, that's it for us. Thank you so much and I hope that you can come back

Yes, we could talk forever.

For sure.

What an incredible conversation. I'm so grateful to each and every one of you for joining us today at the Beabosscoaching Podcast. Thank you for taking the time to listen, to reflect, and to be part of this community that values authenticity, healing, and intentional growth. As we wrap up, I want to leave you with a question.

How will you embrace new opportunities for growth even when they feel uncomfortable? What does expansion look like for you both internally and externally? I love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to share your reflections with me via email or connect with me on social media. Your stories and insights always inspire me.

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Take care of yourselves, honor your journey, and remember that expansion begins from within. Wishing you all peace and joy and continued growth, and I'll see you next week. Bye.