Reverse Pathways to Empowerment: Alexandra Baldwin’s Journey from Rock Bottom to Triumph

In this episode of Empowered Within, we welcome Alexandra Baldwin, an inspiring master hairstylist and salon owner who has rewritten her life story. Once at rock bottom—struggling with the aftermath of a narcissistic upbringing, losing her business, and battling depression—Alexandra transformed herself using a method she calls "Reverse Pathways." She shares how she overcame 150 pounds of weight gain, became a trophy-winning fitness competitor, and rebuilt her destiny.

Alexandra’s candid discussion of her journey, from breaking free of people-pleasing habits to embracing her future self, will leave you inspired. Join us as she unveils the secrets behind her transformation, her new salon in Boston, and her commitment to giving back to the community.

This episode is a testament to the power of resilience, self-belief, and living as your future self today. Don’t miss it!

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Transcript

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Welcome to empowered within a soul quenching transformational podcast that will set your soul on fire through candid and inspiring conversations, leading experts, celebrities, healers, and I share our journeys of how we've overcome challenges to living an empowered life from within. I'm your host, Jennifer Pilates. Welcome to another episode of empowered within. Hi there and welcome to the show. I am so excited to have with us today's guest Alexandra Baldwin. Alexandra is an only child of a narcissistic mother, a former people pleaser. She lost everything, her mental health, her salon, and gained 150 pounds hitting rock bottom. Through a detailed method she calls reverse pathways, Alexandra completely recreated her destiny. She is a master hairstylist and salon owner, a trophy recipient of the 2024 fitness Atlantic transformation challenge. And she stated at one point, someone or something told us we were flawed and we believed it. Well, Alexandra found a way to change that. And she's here to share that with us today. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here this morning. I am so excited to have you here. Off air we were talking and we, oh my goodness, our paths have crossed so much. It is not every day that you meet someone who went to elementary school where you did. I know, I couldn't believe it. Me neither. This is so cool. So we're both here today in a little bit of a chilly, windy New England atmosphere. My goodness. So your story is Your journey, we, I came across in a mutual group that we're on in Facebook, and you really touched me with your vulnerability and how honest you were coming out and talking about your story, your journey, and everything that you've been through and I would love for you to share What was your rock bottom moment when you knew that your life needed to change? So, I was in a downward trajectory for a while. Like you had mentioned in the introduction, I had that upbringing, that toxic upbringing from my mother, who was really my first bully. Right. And then as our brains are developing and we're figuring out the world and we're figuring about our ideas about ourselves and our ideas about other people, you know, that becomes quite flawed when the person that's supposed to love us unconditionally. Is doing the opposite to us. Right. So I think for me, those codependent traits that I had been developing over the years. They didn't really explode, if you will, until shortly after I lost my first business. And for me, it was the physical manifestation of the weight gain. I was in a cyclic depression of not having any endorphins going through my body, not having any positivity, not having any of that serotonin keeping us happy. Eating, right? Eating to kind of fill that void. Feeling guilty because I ate too much. Well, what's going to make me feel better is more food. And I would love to say that it was like this pseudo spiritual, thing, but it was really honestly, Jennifer, it was just looking at myself with this weight that I had gained. And as you had mentioned, 150 pounds, it was the physical manifestation of that body that I was living in. Getting up, you know, just, getting up the couch and the movement was impaired and it just got to a point where it was hard for me to get off the couch. My skin was breaking down due to the friction of the weight gain. And I just kind of sat on the couch and I just said, like, I remember a time in my life where it wasn't this way. And the pain of what I'm going through is worse than the pain of change. And once I hit that thought in my mind, and I said, The pain of today is worse than the pain of going to the gym, and dieting, and getting all these things in order. And I knew that was going to be hard, especially at my size. That Was the moment that pivotal moment, but it was simply just kind of sitting on the couch and saying enough is enough. And it was that thought process that really sparked the beginning of my journey, if you will. That is really incredible. Thank you. And I know I saw that you wrote, that there was a lot that transpired in 2020 for you. Yeah. That really took you to new depths of places, and I'm wondering if you will share that with us, because I. Again, your journey is so impactful and it's so layered. And I think that that's so important for people to understand generally, sometimes it's not just one thing. Sure. So in 2020, when I had lost my business, the friends circle that I had was very interconnected with my professional life. And, a lot of the people that I was connected to, I was serving the role, not just as their employer, but I was also seeking their approval through that codependency and through those behaviors. So I'm like, Oh, you want me to jump? How high? So when I lost the business, I was unaware at the time. Subconsciously, I had lost my identity of being a people pleaser because I didn't have this business where I could provide employment or I couldn't provide that role of what I thought I was doing was nurturing these folks, whether it was my clients, whether it was my employees, I now can't do that. So what is my role look like to these people? Well, of course, I was just the table was flipped right outside of me because now. I can't people, please. So now I don't know who I am. So that initial event, if you will, led me into, you know, the depths of my depression and it made me suicidal and I wanted to end my life and the feelings were so immense and the feelings were so strong, but I didn't know. Then what I know now, my identity had been a people pleaser and now the salon had become my arena, if you will, in order to live out those behaviors and such. So I. Was hospitalized, I was psychiatrically hospitalized, as a professional woman, which is kind of taboo, you don't hear a lot of professional women, speaking about those matters, and then I kind of slowly started to, work my way up and the pivotal moment, Like I said, was that physical element with the weight loss and the transformation, but it really started the day that I chose to get out of that hospital and just really rebuild my life from absolute rock bottom for sure. That is incredible. And may I ask, because having a narcissistic mother is a challenge in and of itself. And some people may not understand the word. Some people may not understand, well, How did you come to realize that? When did you come to realize that? I, you know, growing up, I always knew that there was a, my family was different. Of course, there was no social media, there were no Tik TOK reels. Like there are now breaking down, you know, different personality types. But I think the hardest part was that it was covert. So it would be like that little, Like I, I remember there was a girl up the street and she had beautiful, shiny, silky hair, nothing like my own hair. And she says, you know, Amber's hair always looks so pretty and so nice. Why couldn't you look more like her? And it was kind of like, does she want me to look better or is it kind of like that sneaky little underhanded insult? And I think when, when I was able to heal and kind of learn about these things, that was when social media and Facebook and just kind of like the phone at our fingertips with our phone was out and I started following a page on Facebook psychology today. And they'd have blogs and things like that. And I said, Oh my God, they're talking about my childhood and they're talking about my mother. And that's how I was able to identify those personality traits and those behaviors and really put a name to it. And I think once I was able to put a name to it and say, okay, this is a person who has a disordered personality. Who fits X, Y, and Z criterion. I know it kind of separated it from being a personal thing. And I was able to look at it more objectively from a step back. And I think that was really helpful for me. That sounds incredible that you were able to go to that depth and to be able to take a step back from the emotional aspect of it and to see it for what it is. What steps helped you the most to heal from that? Once you realize. This had been your whole upbringing because that is a lot to undo. Sure. This is gonna sound brutally harsh, but it is the truth. My mother's death was the pivotal moment that I was able to break through those bonds of that. Narcissistic child and then the child peeper people pleaser bonds that we shared and when my mother died, it was very traumatic within itself and I found her deceased in the home and it was something that was just lasered into my head is such a traumatic such a sad event, of course, however, looking at it from the lens and the scope that I look at it now. A lot of women, really struggle with the no contact and this essentially, and I don't mean this disrespectfully, but this allowed no contact. She had passed away. And I think that was the freeing moment for me and where I'm at today. I'm able to respect that and honor it respectfully and say, okay. You know, my mother passed away that created the no contact that I needed and I can honor that objectively without feeling guilt or shame that yes, it did allow me to have a better groundwork for a better future and I don't mean that disrespectfully to someone who's deceased. Wow. Well, first I'm, I'm sorry that your mom passed away. I completely understand what you're saying. And, and as difficult as that was, I can imagine at the same time, that freeing feeling, finally that light, that lightness that you had in those moments. I truly believe Jennifer that in, I said, I, I, I prefaced by, by this, hopefully reaching somebody else who may be feeling the same way, because it's natural to feel guilt or shame or say, Oh my gosh, am I really saying this on a podcast? But, I don't have a crystal ball, but what would my recent accomplishments in the rewriting of my life and what I've accomplished, what would that look like? If any. Had she been here, or had I had to go no contact, perhaps, and then had that no contact be pulling on my heartstrings? You know, what would that have looked at, looked like, if the, Realities were different and I really questioned myself sometimes and say, if that wasn't what had happened, how would the timeline go on in my life? And with my legacy? And I think that I think it's perfectly okay to respect that for what it is and honor that for what it is. I think you've done an incredible job with that. Thank you. When we look at what you call reverse pathways, let's start with what is that and how that changed the destiny of your life because truly what an impact it's had for you. Sure, so, it's certainly not something that is copyrighted or, you know, it's not something that I coach or teach or anything. I'm just a regular girl. But what I did was, and I can't tell you why. How I got the idea, how I did it, and I joke and say it could have been partially delusion. But when I started this transformation and wanting to step on stage for the transformation show, I didn't realize that I'd already been doing part of this transformation before. Because just to get to the point of wanting to do that, you've already done some mental and spiritual work. spiritual work, but I didn't know it at the time. I didn't know I was doing it. This was all in my subconscious. But what I did was at my weight at my highest weight at over 250 pounds. I, I said, I'm going to lose weight and I'm going to get fit. And I envisioned myself. I think I didn't manifest the future of me being lean on stage receiving a trophy. I became that person. I walked into the gym. I was that person. Like when I looked into the mirror at the gym, I wasn't, you know, lean. I, I wasn't sculpted, but I truly lived my life for my future self, but in the present, if that makes sense. Absolutely. Absolutely. So it's reverse engineering, right? You've got this place. Like you say, that crystal ball of where you see what it feels, what resonates with you. And now you reverse engineer that to pull that into you. Right. And there's different theories. time and space and spirituality and manifestation and I kind of lived, I put myself on a different frequency and I lived my life as if I had already won the show. So if I've already won the show and I've already Stepped on stage at 125 pounds and I've already built confidence and I've already rewrote, completely rewired my life I'm Operating as if that's already happened and I truly believed like I had in my mind I would look in the mirror and I would See the suit that I was wearing, the colors, the decor, what I was going to wear the night before, what I was eating, what I was training, what I was doing. And I literally just became that person. But like you said, reverse engineering. I wasn't becoming the person. I was the person. I already did it and it sounded so bizarre to people, but it was like, yeah, this isn't who I'm becoming. This is who I am. I'm living in that future manifested self that I created. And it was like an actor on a stage. I became that person and you hear about like actors in Hollywood, they get so into their role. Like I, I heard Jim Carrey do an interview about that one time and that's literally what I became. So when it came to eating or eating on a restricted meal plan to prep for the show. Well, the Alex who won already did that. So of course that's going to be no problem to me. And that was literally like I walked in and I looked in the mirror and that future person was the present person. And in my mind, I was able to mash these two timelines together. Right. And, and that was how I lived my life. And then I've just been doing the same thing ever since. And it worked. We're not looking at our future selves. We are our future selves. They exist in tandem. That's what I believe. I agree with you a hundred percent. It's just the integration that one has to work with and be able to lean into and have that because there is a lot of faith in the unknown. Even though theoretically it's not unknown because you're seeing it, you feel it, you know it, but there is still that little bit of space from where you are. To whom you are. Right, and I, and I think that little bit of space, I, I love that you say that, because that little bit of space, That little bit of fear is what keeps you in character of that future self because if you're too confident, then you might say, well, you know, I don't have to do this today. I can take a day off today or I can kind of slack for a couple weeks. And I think it's that little bit of space when you're going through that process, that little bit of fear, that little bit of doubt. That keeps you on that path and keeps you in line with that frequency. Yeah, that's really great that you brought that up. So what practice, what do you do to keep you in alignment with the energy of where you're headed versus falling back? Or do you allow yourself moments of grace and sort of have a moment and then back on track? Well, I think that the best way to answer that would be looking at it kind of in two phases. Okay. There's like the fitness phase, which yes, I'm not, being in an off season right now, I am not dieting and exercising as extreme as I was, of course, because that wouldn't be, feasible or healthy. So I allow myself more lib, liberty in the fitness, but where I don't allow any liberty or I don't allow any slack, if you will, is in my self perception and my self-acceptance and my self-respect. That's where I don't. allow for any, any missed opportunities or, or just not looking at myself in the best light. I think going into a situation, this version of me wouldn't be, surprised that I might be a guest on a podcast, but in 2020, I would never even if I was asked, I would never do that because I wasn't worthy of that. Who in the world would want to hear what I have to say now in 2024? I don't. It, it doesn't matter what, if other people want to hear what I have to say or not. It's something that I wanna participate in with, with you, and I don't really have any fear or associated shame if somebody listens to it and may think negatively or may not resonate with what we're talking about. It's not that I don't care, it's just that it's not relevant to where I am and how I feel today. That is amazing. I'm so proud of you for coming through all that you have to getting to such a solid mindset Within yourself. Are there daily practices that you put into place to keep yourself there to work on your mindset? To work on your self worth in your self love. I think that one of the things that I do is Despite all of the positive work that I've done, I, I don't like to react on my first emotion. I like to sit back and think about things before I do them. If somebody hurts me, I, my first reaction might be to be upset, to be angry, to be defensive. But then I'll kind of go into a thought process and say, you know, where is this person's pain coming from? What is their experience? How is that experience affecting my experience? And I kind of look at it like we were talking about, before objectively. And I take a step back and I look at it and I kind of analyze it. And you know what I would say nine times out of 10, when all is said and done, I'll say, this isn't about me. This has nothing to do with me. That person and what they did and what they said has nothing to do with me. I am just the catalyst there, that happened to absorb whatever they have going on within. And when you go through life like that, it's so freeing because it doesn't matter. None of this really matters. And sometimes I'll just kind of go through life and I'll say, well, none of this matters anyways, who cares? another thing is failure, going into a transformation challenge or a lot of folks right now are gonna doing new year, new me getting back into the gym, trying to lose weight. It's a new year. Well, I'll say okay, I'm starting a new salon. What if I fail? Well, I already did. Who cares? I already failed and I'll fail again and I'll do it again. And I think that having that mindset is the most empowering mindset to have because when you've already lost everything, like who cares? So what? it wasn't mine to own, you know? And that's how I look at it. That's a really great place to be. What advice would you give to others out there who are struggling right now, be it professionally or personally, and they're not sure what to do, they admire what they hear coming from you. Sure. What advice do you give them to help pull them onto that right track? That's a great question. I think that you will always look to the future. For somebody who's done it, especially like with fitness or business or, Oh, I'm so close to being like that, but there's X, Y, and Z, there's this holding me back, or I can't do this because I have this limitation. You really just have to believe it, you have to do it for yourself, but I think that you have to, like I said, you have to not only be afraid to fail. But you have to fail like in order to do something. When my first day at the gym, I did a barbell squat and it was just the bar. And I went down and I was squatting the bar and I kid you not, I actually fell to the ground and couldn't get up in front of a gym full of people. It was January 3rd. I was a new year's gym baby, you know, and I fell and I couldn't get up. And imagine if that one experience of, Oh my God, I fell in the gym. I couldn't even get up. Some guy had to pick me up. Imagine if that was like, okay, well I quit. I suck at this. You know, I would also caution people, when you are trying to be your best self, whether it be spiritually, emotionally, financially, physically, be careful with the company that you keep. A friend of mine had advised me, very early on, be careful who you share things with. Be careful who you share your accomplishments with or your fears with because a lot of people, like we talked about before, they're suffering with their own internal stuff. And. you're trying to go up, they might want to be keeping you down. And the basis of that friendship or that acquaintanceship might be, well, I'm the thinner one. I'm the more successful one and you're below me. And when you creep up into another level, that can kind of shake the earth a little bit. So really just do it for you. Don't be afraid to fail. but you really have to have that fire within and don't be afraid to be delusionally obsessed with success. Say I don't care whatever challenge I have going on is not more challenging than the life that I'm living and I wish On all that's holy that I didn't have to go through the depths and the pain that I did to realize that And I would say one more thing and I don't mean to be a chatterbox, but I will admit that I am one, the people will make fun of you when you're new and you're trying something and say, who does she think she is? She thinks she's going to step on stage. You think she's going to do this? She's going to own a business, whatever people will make fun of you when you're new. But they'll equally make fun of you and speak poorly of you when you're successful too. So choose which one you want. Do you want people talking about you because you're stuck at square one? Or do you want people talking about you because you're succeeding and all of your life's dreams are coming true? So if people are going to talk about you either way, Jennifer, which one are you going to take? I know the one I'm going to take, you know, absolutely. I always say, Hey, as long as people are talking about me, keep it going because it's when people aren't talking about you. That's when you need to worry. Well, like Paris Hilton said, all press is good press. And I didn't really know what she meant when she said that, that was in the early two thousands. And, You know, it is true, but people are a self, people's behavior is a self reflection of either the good, the bad that they have within themselves. So people are going to talk about you, but I will say from speaking with other women and speaking with other folks that want to kind of take this journey for themselves. That is one of the things that I hear is kind of fear from others and judgment from others, but it only gets worse. you do better. So you migh hey, you know what? That and goi Absolutely. That is incre advice. I absolutely love You know, I have always been taught, move in silence, do in silence, because not everyone is your cheerleader, right? And not everybody is on the same energetic level as, as you're saying, and not everyone wants to see you succeed. And that, that may be harsh, but it's really true. Not everybody does want to see you succeed. It matters most that you want to see you succeed. Right. And I think sometimes if we take an honest look at others, we may even see behaviors from them that emulate kind of behaviors we had in a past experience or a past life or, Oh, gosh, I can't, you know, maybe I'm thinking to myself, Oh, this person's so negative. So was I 4 years ago, maybe I'm seeing something from my current or former self that's not jiving with me. And that's why I'm feeling a certain way about it. So I I really think everything is a mirror either outward or inward toward, towards our own behaviors and thoughts about life and ourselves. Absolutely. And that's very, beautifully profound statement to make and it's so true. Absolutely. So true. Thank you. So I want to hear all about your new salon when you tell me all about it. I've been seeing pictures online. You are a pink girl after my own heart. So tell me all the goodies we want to hear about where it is. What's happening with it? Do we have an open date? What's going on? Sure. So I actually, first to know, I actually got, I received a phone call yesterday from the Massachusetts state board. So my inspection, my walkthrough was actually going to be tomorrow, January 9th. So that's exciting. And then once I'm licensed, I'm able to go, and I am doing things a little differently. And my first. salon. I was a full service salon and spa, and it was a lot of overhead, a lot of space, very hard to manage, all the ins and outs. And well, first of all, after what I went through, I had sworn to myself, I'm never going to own anything ever again. I'm never even going to do hair again because, you know, obviously we cut off our nose to spite our face. Right. So this was like a really big thing for me, cause for me to make that transition to saying, I'm no longer a failure. That was huge. So Doing things differently. Sola studios sola salon studios. I don't know. Are you familiar with those jennifer sola? No, no, no more. Tell me. Okay, so so sola and is basically they are a franchise company and they rent out salon suites to cosmetology spa professionals and you are an independent entity. You run your own business. within these spaces. So, basically, there'll be maybe 20, 25 salon professionals, leasing spaces within these suites, but the businesses aren't interconnected, they're all independent. Oh, yes, we have a ton of these out in Scottsdale. Yes, yes, there's the Phoenix one. They're amazing. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And, and one of the things that I had realized in my journey of having a fully staffed salon is I felt as though it took away from my ability to just really focus on that one on one client connection because I'm worrying about the phone ringing and I'm worrying about, the other stylist who's having problems with her client, et cetera. And it really kind of took my vision away from that one on one, that personal relationship with my clients, which is honestly why I love my job. So I decided that this was the way to go for me. It's my own little space. It's my own little Haven. And I can just do my thing and, really just focus on client relationships and one on one and the. The Sola, so the business is located, three center Plaza, which is right in government center. So like right across from Boston city hall. So it's right downtown. And one of the reasons, one of the things that kind of inspired me was, is I get up ridiculously early in the morning. And that was a habit that I picked up when I first started going to the gym, I would go to the gym and train. I would get up at 4 30 in the morning, do my thing, get ready, go to work. And a lot of people were like, Hey, Alex, wouldn't it be great? If there was a salon open before work, because we get up so early, right. And nobody's up, nobody's even open till 10. So I said, yeah, that's a great idea. I'm going to open one. So I am open. on select weekdays at seven o'clock in the morning right in downtown Boston. So if you have, let's say you're an attorney and you have a court hearing or you have a professional meeting and say, I don't know what to do with all this hair. You can come in with me seven o'clock. We can get you ready and then you can start the day. So I wanted to create a business that, that filled the little void that I saw. I said, well, I'll just go ahead and start that. So I thought Boston would be the best place to do that. I love this for you. Now you mentioned prior you're in Rhode Island, so what's that commute for you? What does that look like? So what I, what I'm doing is I just hop in my car and I take either the TF green or I take the Pawtucket commuter rail. I hop on the train. I zone out. I, do a little marketing, check my emails, check my social media. And then it's just a 20 minute walk from South station to the salon. And part of my, fitness routine is a good amount of steps per day anyways. So I'm just knocking off the steps. Getting that done and walking in and I really enjoy it. I really enjoy. Like you said, with the weather, I have had to learn to invest in a really good coat. But I enjoy it. I am. I actually enjoy sitting on the train because I think. One of the things that I had to learn how to do is I had to learn to be comfortable doing nothing. Isn't that hard just to sit here and say, shouldn't I be doing something? I'm a formal people pleaser. I should be pleasing something, right? It's a trauma response. It's such a trauma response. What am am I supposed to be doing? My, in my mind, my mom's gonna come in and scream at me if I don't look busy, you know? And it's just like, well, what am I doing? I'm doing nothing. And, I was getting off the train and there was a train delay and, you know, my children were accounted for. I didn't have anywhere I had to be. It was the ride home. There was nothing going on. And the conductor said, everyone was all up in arms because the train had broke down and everything. And I got off. I said, I'll have a great evening, sir. He said, thank you so much for your patience, with everything that's going on. And I said, Oh yeah, I don't mind. And he just looked at me like I was crazy. Like, why do you not mind sitting on the train for all this extra time? But it's where do I need to be? I don't, I'm where I need to be. Right. We become these philosophers and thoughts. Sometimes I said, I'm exactly where I need to be. I'm enjoying the silence. He must, I think he thought I was crazy, Jennifer, honestly. Maybe I am, I don't know, but I was just like, no, it was great. Why look at it any other way, right? Absolutely. A train, a plane, I mean, those are great places to be able to just be. Right. I'm just existing in my, in this situation. Now had I had a client and I was inbound, I might have felt a little differently. I might have felt a little, a little strange. But no, it was just nice just sitting there and decompressing and having that me time. And that's, that's been working out great. So, but like, as you know, I'm from the Capes. So, sitting around and taking an hour to get, you know, from Bourne to Orleans or something, I'm no stranger to, you know, summer traffic and bridge traffic, so I might have a little bit more patience than some other people do. We might have learned that many, many years ago. Right. Thanks to the tourism. We were thrown into that at a very young age, exactly. We sure were, oh my goodness. So I read that giving back is something that you have mentioned is super essential to your heart. Yes. And I'd wonder if you would tell us a little bit about how you incorporate giving back with your business. Sure. So what we're doing is we actually have a couple events coming up. So one of the things that, well, the first thing that I'm implementing is I'm a gratuity free salon. And if somebody wants to make a donation, I'm going to be working with, an entity or a nonprofit, a few throughout the year. And I'm going to be providing what would be the gratuity To that organization, person or business, and I think it's a great way to give back to the less fortunate and give back to the community. But I also think that, breaking away from the tipping structure in charging my services as a professional, a lot of folks are doing that in my industry. And I like that. I think that I want to charge my worth as a professional. And if somebody wants to give, then we can kind of give that back. There's been times in my life, like when I lost my business, that I couldn't even make a payment. I've had times in my life where I was not able to, buy a bag of chips on my debit card, I had no money. there were times that I was couch surfing in my life. So I've, I've really run the gamut myself of being comfortable. Living in poverty and everywhere in between. And that's something that I feel is a good thing for, for other people to do. Another thing that we have on the books is, our friend Julie, who I met from the same group, she runs an organization called We Do Care. And I don't want to butcher her intro of her organization, but essentially what she does is it is a support system, for women and children who have lost their partners and to get them ready into the workforce and to foster their growth and their independence. And I am going to be providing hair services on site for their gala. And I am also going to be opening up my salon to get some of the women and the young girls in to give them a complimentary new look, while they're grieving this loss. And I think even though I was in my early 20s when my mother died, I still can kind of relate myself being like an adult orphan. And I know how hard that can kind of be, you know, without having that caretaker. And then finally, and this is the last one that I have set up thus far, is I am teaming up with Amber Bruschi. And we are going to be doing, blow dries and headshots. So for women that are looking to kind of get a fresh face, a fresh start back into the working world who may not be able to afford professional hair services. Professional photography. We are going to be opening up in my shop, and she's going to be doing a complimentary headshot, and I'm going to be doing a complimentary hair, and I believe she's going to bring someone on for makeup as well, so that way women not, may not have the money to invest in those services. If they're going for an interview, or they're going for a fresh start, they can then feel like they have the best opportunity available to them. That is so incredible that your heart is just so full of so much love. Giving back to other women in the area and children is so amazing. So if people want to stay in touch with you, and they want to follow your salon, and the opening, and all the goods on Alexandra, Alexandra. Where should they go? Definitely my Instagram. I do most of my announcements through Instagram, all through my story, or my personal Facebook. I also have a website too. But I would say mostly Instagram. I think that's kind of like the best. The best way to connect with me. I prefer Instagram because it's very visual. I'll post stories or like anything really notable. Fabulous. So we'll be sure that all of Alexandra's information is over in the show notes, which you'll be able to catch over on jenniferpalates. com. So we'll have her website and all her handles so that you can stay in touch and follow and of course, book your hair sessions with her. Oh, So, we are getting to this time in the show, my dear, where I ask this one question. Are you ready? Am I ready? Are you ready? I'm ready. What is one thing that no one knows about Alexandra? Oh my gosh. I am such an open book that I would have to think of it. My goodness. How about something silly? I'm ambidextrous. I don't know if anybody knows that. I am ambidextrous. I can work with my left hand and my right hand. Right there. What a, what an incredible skill as a hairstylist. And I can't sing. Although some people probably know that if they've ever gone to karaoke with me. I've always wanted to be able to sing and I can't. So maybe in another life, I will be blessed with, by the vocal gods, but I can't. Like I said, I'm, you know, a lot of the things that we shared in our story, especially as of late, I'm such an open book. So I said, Oh my gosh, I feel like everybody knows everything about me. But yeah, always wanted to sing and can't, ambidextrous. And for those who don't know about my past and things like that, you know, they know now. So yeah. Everybody knows now. Everybody knows. Everybody knows now. It's out there. If you ever told me that I would be like, in 2020, I was so afraid of judgment that I actually, shut down all of my socials, all of my social media. I was like the little gray circle. Like I didn't even want anyone to see me. If you ever told me that I'd be telling people on a podcast, I would think you were totally lying to me. But that's the beauty of the evolution of change. You know, that's what's so cool about it. Looking back, you know. It really is. Well, this has been so much fun, Alexandra. My pleasure. As we close out the show today, will you share one last piece of inspiration with us before we go? Sure, when my father was ill, After I'm kind of admits to the journey One of the things we didn't touch on my father got dementia and I became his live in caretaker. This was recently this was actually right around the time of my show, believe it or not, and I didn't want to do hair at the time because I didn't have the emotional capacity to have those types of relationships with clients like those house dad doing, how are you doing? I just wanted a job that was just different, a different experience, and I got a job working. a part time job as a direct care professional and as a direct care professional in a residential home for mostly elderly folks that were intellectually or physically disabled and I had this one patient. And I loved her dearly, and sadly, she recently passed away. And she couldn't walk, she couldn't talk on her own, and she was fully reliant on the folks that were paid to take care of her. And, I would, of course, I'm, you know, trading for a bodybuilding show, so I could just pick her up, you know, with one arm and stuff. And, When you're training and you're doing these things, you know, one of the really hard things I think is cardio, you know you're on the stair master you're on that and Every time I would step on those stairs and I sometimes still do this I'll cry and I'll think about Marianne and I'll say What she wouldn't give to have the opportunity to do the Stairmaster right now, this woman cannot, you know, she can't toilet herself, she can't shower, she can't eat, she's bed bound, and she was terminally ill, she was dying, and I said, I can't sit here and complain about it. The difficulty of this of what I'm doing because I am so graciously able to do it. What these people wouldn't do to sit here sucking wind and sweating for half an hour, an hour, and that really changed it for me. So look at somebody else. There's somebody else out there that wants what you can do but aren't doing. There's so many folks out there that would love to have the opportunity of Opening a hair salon, renting a chair, going to the gym, going for a walk, and there's people out there that don't have the ability to do it. But if you have the ability to do it, then honor, honor that and do that because there's other folks that simply can't do it. And we're looking at it like it's a detriment or a pain in the butt. But there's people that would kill for one day to be able to do some of the things that we just aren't doing. That is such great advice, great inspiration, and a great reminder for everyone. Thank you for that. You're very welcome. Alexandra, this has been a blast. I feel like we could talk for hours. I would love to! Right? Right? Totally. I want to thank you so much for sharing your journey, sharing your energy with us today, your inspiration. It's been truly so much fun to have you here. Thank you. Well, my pleasure, Jennifer. All right, everyone. Well, as we say until next time, may you live an empowered life from within. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Empowered Within with Jennifer Pilates. Your feedback is important. It helps me to connect with you and gives me insight into who you are and what you're enjoying about the show. For today's show notes and discount codes from today's sponsors, head over to jenniferpilates. com. Until next time, may you live an empowered life from within.