Welcome, I'm Angela Bryant and you're listening to The Angel Rated Show, where we have inspiring conversations with people behind the products and services most often used by online business owners. On the show, you'll hear how their personal beliefs and values have influenced their businesses. If you're an online entrepreneur who wants to know about the integrity and impact of the businesses you're buying from them, this is the show for you. Hello, and welcome to this episode of The Angel Rated Show. I'm Angela Bryant and with me today I have Sedruola Maruska who is an author, speaker and personal development coach. Sedruola is on a mission to help women rediscover their deepest desires and confidently set relevant and intentional goals to change the trajectory of their lives. Welcome, Sedruola. Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your online business?

Absolutely. Thank you so much Angela. My name of course is Sedruola but most people call me Sedie, because it's easier to pronounce and it's much easier to remember of, but of course, we have to go with Sedruola because that's what I've decided to use for my business name. My mission in life is to get women to look within find that desire that they had when they were growing up, pull it forth and bring it into the world. In 2017, December of 2017, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and something that happens when you're diagnosed with breast cancer or with any disease or anything that that that has the possibility of cutting your life short. You go What have I done to this point to Make the difference that I thought I wanted to make in my life. And that was where I found myself I found myself questioning where I was, what I was doing, how I was doing it and why I wasn't doing some of the things that I thought I really wanted to do. And going through treatment gave me time to pause. And I realized that pausing, taking time for oneself, introspection, meditating, whatever it is that you call it, but learning about yourself is so important when you're thinking about where you're going. So I took the time to do that. And what I realized was that I wanted to make a difference for a lot of other people and I wasn't actually putting myself out there I was allowing fear or comfort to get in the way of me actually pushing forward and doing what I wanted to do. So I said no more. Because now I feel like I'm on borrowed time. And someone said to me the other day, it's like you have this anxious, there's a there's an anxiety there that you don't have enough time. But you're also very aware of taking time out and relaxing. And so I want to help women, narrow the scape and the scope of what it is that they're doing. So that they're focusing directly on those things that mean the most to them and going for those things and what happens when you do that, so many things fall away, and you find that you're not as overwhelmed. You're very clear on what you want and you can, you're empowered and more confident to say yes, I will do that because it falls in line with something I already want to do or No thank you, I'm not going to do that because it falls outside of the scope. And if I accept to do this, it's going to simply create overwhelm for me. So that was the place that my business was born. Fast forward to now, beyond just creating goals, and helping you to reach your goals. As a personal development coach. I believe that racial sensitivity is a personal development area for everyone. And so I've incorporated that into what I do. So I don't only help women create goals for themselves and reach those goals. I also work with women who are looking to become true antiracist who are looking to become true partners and allies and co conspirators, if you were, in the work of being an anti racist. So I'm working with people now to help them understand where they are in the range of this racist system, and how they can change their thinking and the way that they go through life and how they can take that and make changes in their worlds, which always creates a ripple effect. So whatever you do in your life, your space and the people that you know, always creates a ripple effect to those around you. So you do your part to the people who are closest to you. And then the next layer, they do their part, to the people that are closest to them and so on and so forth. It's just like dropping that drop of water in the bucket and watching the ripple effect. And that is something that I'm truly passionate about because I'm raising children in this society. I have a son who is going to be 14 in about a month and a half, and I have a daughter who's nine years old, I want to leave them in a place that's better than I found it. I want to leave them in a place where people are more aware, where people are actively working to create systems that are inclusive, and inviting, rather than exclusive. So all these things together, work to keep me motivated and it keeps me pushing forward and keep me pushing through fear. It does come in I know that it will always come there will always be walls of fear that come up for different reasons. And that's what keeps me pushing through those walls and saying, Why am I afraid of this examining myself and then just go with Through and pushing forward and saying, you know what, there's no reason to be afraid of this. It's bigger in my mind than it is in reality. And if it's bigger in reality than it actually is, in my mind, I think I just gonna have to deal with it and so we're just, but I think so, so many times so often. We especially as women, we allow things to get in the way, we' re nurturers, so we want everyone else to be okay before we consider Are we okay? And I was just having this conversation with someone. Just last night on my show, I have a wine down Wednesday wine as an wi n e, make sure you bring your wine wine down Wednesday, where I just have conversations with different women on what they do, why they do it, and that sort of thing. And this woman was a mental health specialist and we were talking about boundaries and how It's so important to have boundaries in everything that you do. We all have boundaries, whether or not we enforce those boundaries is actually what makes the difference. We need to enforce those boundaries. We need to say, not right now. Not today, or maybe not ever, is that going to happen? And I need this space for myself right now, please don't come into the space don't bother me. And women, because of the way that we're socialized and that we're brought up. We don't often take that time. And it is so important for mental health, physical health, relational health, societal health, everything. I think that I'm a better mom when I can step away and do my own thing and have my quiet space. Because then I'm ready to be in there when my daughter is talking, talking, talking talk talk talk talk talk. And I'm just going, Okay, okay, great, great, you know, but I'm more apt to be present and there with her, versus if I'm tired and I really want to be doing something else. But I feel like she's taking me away from something else and I'm there begrudgingly, then I'm not paying attention. And I'm not. I'm not being the best mom in that moment that I could be. So that's, that's Sedruola Maruska. That's my coaching, that's personal development, be the best that you know you can be. And I'm here to help you do that.

That's fantastic. You've covered such a wide range of drivers there behind your business. I mean, everything around having a cancer diagnosis through really helping people to get clarity on their own mission and what they want to their desires, what they want from their lives and then bringing in everything that's happening, obviously globally with Black Lives Matter and all the diversity equity and inclusion stuff and wanting to leave something for your children. I mean, what fantastic drivers for your business and for your life. So where does this vision take you, what legacy Do you want to create with your business?

Well, when I look into the future, I look five years into the future. It takes me to larger workshops. It takes me to larger conferences. It takes me two stages. It takes me to being able to impact more people on an international level, which is which I would absolutely love. But it takes me to a place where not only am I able to do this work, and help my family financially as we stabilize our finances, but it also allows me to be a beacon so to speak for others to see that they can And also, all they need to do is figure out what they want. And they can also achieve those things. So, in sharing my story and sharing my experiences as a black woman, as a daughter to immigrants, as a mom, as a cancer survivor, as a business woman, as you know, all the different hats that I wear, sharing my story in all those areas, sharing my experiences in all those areas allows for others to maybe be able to see themselves in me and go, or she can do it. I certainly can do it because it's true. And I want people to see that if I could take seven months out of my life, to fight cancer, and to realize that one of my lessons was slow down. It's not going anywhere where you are is where you're supposed to be be there, but also have a vision, then so can you you can do it. Know, if you've got a diagnosis if if if you lose someone, experience that feel that but know that you got to move forward, you can move through it. So that's what I see I you know, my vision My vision is my husband asked me that same question at one point and I said, I vision is big. I am I am big. I you know, it was it was harder for me to articulate exactly what I meant, but I could see it in my mind's eye. I think I've gotten a lot better at articulating exactly what I mean, and that I see myself being that beacon being someone who, who people can relate to because I'm just like you, being someone that people can relate to and say I can Learn from her, I can be inspired by her, I can actually be what she is I can be her. Because she makes me feel that empowered. So I'm empowering you to feel to tap into your superpower. I like to say that I think everyone has superpowers. We just are so busy all the time denying our brilliance, denying our superpowers, that we forget that we even have them. But we do we all have them. I think I was talking to my sister the other day and I said, you know, it's funny, the things that we do naturally, and we take for granted, we think everyone does naturally. Which is not true. Right? It's not true. So finding what that is that we do naturally that everybody else doesn't do naturally. That's your superpower. Step into that power. Shine forth that brilliance and just go for it, man, I just, like go for it.

I love what you're saying because that you you're standing up there as that beacon and everything you're doing in your coaching is having that sort of ripple effect into more people and then into more people and yeah, people changing people's lives. So, yeah,

yeah, great thing. And that's the whole whole point. That's the whole point is it's not just to change my life is I don't like I don't like the idea of people negating that they benefit from it. We all benefit from all the good any good that we do, even if, you know whatever we give away, whatever we share, whatever we we impart to others, we benefit from that in some way, shape or form. So I would not negate the benefit that I received. But the point is not only that, the point is to make sure that other people benefit and are able to benefit others as they do what they do, just as I do what I do. So we have to, you know, if we've got to be honest with ourselves, I look at some coaches and some of them say, Well, I made this much money, right? And it's not to brag. No, it's not too brag. It's okay to be okay with what you're doing. It's okay to to say this is what's happening. And this is why I want to help you do it. No, we don't. We don't have to negate what we say. I think it comes under the need to be incredibly modest and sometimes way too modest to the point of falling back. And I'm not for falling back. I'm for shining out.

Good, definitely. So can you tell us a bit more about yourself in terms of some of your sort of personal values and how you your beliefs and how what you live your life by?

oh my goodness, I think I am all wrapped up in my business, which is why it is my name my moniker my, that I put into that. I am you know personally I am Haitian American, first generation Haitian American meaning that I am born of Haitian immigrant parents growing up, I bicultural, I lived in two worlds. One was all Haitian culture, Haitian food, Haitian, you know, language, music, cameraderie, all of that and the other was American, going to school and seeing how the outside world lived. I speak three languages because of that. And I think that I've read, you know, if you speak two languages, you've already altered your brain so people who speak multiple languages and I know people outside The United States speak multiple languages more people, but if you speak multiple languages it alters the way that you see things it alters your your perception of things alters your brain. And so being bicultural being trilingual and being a black woman in America, all these things I think have shaped me in a way that was meant to be one, and that I would never be able to completely relate to someone else. But I am a nurturer by nature. Naturally, I am a nurturer. So, I was the girl in college who, if everybody, we all went out, I was the one who was not drinking so that I could make sure that my girls were okay. I was I've always been the one to say, Hey, I don't think that that's a good idea. And because I'm your friend, I'm going to tell you this. Depending on how good of a friend you are, I'm going to tell you even if you haven't invited me to tell you You and if you are, you know, but if you ask me, I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm going to be as honest with you as possible, but always in a way that I feel is not judgmental, but more. So I love you, I feel for you and I want you to succeed and because I want you to succeed, I want to be honest with you. But I'm going to do it in love. I'm going to do it in sincerity is going to come from my heart and not just from my brain. So I'm a Libra. I take tend to take that balance very seriously. I tend to balance quite a bit. I'm more I'm very balanced and most things. But as any scale sometimes things get tipped, and you go a little bit this way and sometimes I do but I usually end up pretty balanced. I love being a mom I love being a wife to my husband. I love I think I love being a wife to that man. Because when I think about some of the other men that may have become my husband, I go, oh my God I'm so thankful

You made the right choice, then.

yes, I'm very thankful for that. And so I and I have an amazing, amazing extended family. That's the cultural side. My mom was one of seven sisters. And they made sure that all the kids that we grew up very close. So now I have this whole network of cousins who are doing amazing things who are amazing people, and whom I'm very close to and I know that when I am with them, I am 100% 105% myself. There's nothing That I'm going to say or do that's going to make them change how they relate to me. And that is a very strong thing to have. Because it gives you this foundation of, well, you know, maybe I'm going to go out there and I'm gonna really fall flat on my face. But I may get up and I'm going to go, look, see these people over here who love me anyway. And, you know, whatever the world says, I don't care, I'm going to worry about them. And then after they've sufficiently given me the love and the support, and the just the energy that I need, I can go back and I can still try to go fail again, because failing is growing. And so I can go back and I can handle that. So, you know, I'm, I'm incredibly blessed. In life, I believe. I mean, no matter what happens, I've had I've had things happen in life of course, you know, cancer I've also had late term miscarriage early in earlier in my life 20 years ago. But these things helped me to say, I'm not dead so I'm meant to be here. So, if I meant to be here, I need to make the most of the time that I'm here and actually make a difference for me and others. I believe. That's the whole point of being here. being joyful, being happy and bringing happiness and joy to other people and helping other people find their inner joy, their inner light, their inner brilliance and shining it through. So that's why I say I am really in the mix of my business because it is me.

Absolutely. You know, and everything you've said about that. Sort of nurturing side and the straight talking and telling it like it is the just having that, that feeling of having a family around you where they you are accepted for who exactly who you are. I imagine all of that comes into your coaching practice. And that's exactly how you are.

Yes. When I'm coaching, I want to make sure I just had a workshop yesterday, which went really well is my first workshop on racial sensitivity. And I had about 14 women. And the first thing that I say and that I mean sincerely and I think that they bought into towards the middle in the end, which allowed them to ask questions and make comments and speak their truth was, Wherever I am, is is whether I'm group coaching or I'm one on one coaching. It's a safe place. I have 100% zero tolerance. For anyone speaking in that space, attacking anyone else, because I believe that in order to have the right conversations, everyone needs to be able to speak their truth and we need to be able to listen. Take it in and go, okay. I may not agree with you. But you are fully entitled to that thought. Or that question is a good question. Let's Let's dig into what that means for you or for us or for the world at large or what have you. So I'm always about in my groups on Facebook, on coaching, one on one, workshops, whatever I do safe space is important to me. It's important that people feel heard and understood, and that they feel that they can say what they need to say or ask what they need to ask and get sincerity, sincere answers, so Yeah, it's definitely baked in to the goods.

So just to start wrapping up, is there anything else about your business or your vision for the future that of what you would like to create in the world that you'd like to share?

Well, I would like to share that my workshop I'm doing is I've decided that I'm going to do it, I believe two more times this year, at the rate that it is. And then next year in 2021, I'm going to expand it or maybe do a second part to it because the first part the workshop is more about learning the definitions, understanding how racism is affecting different sectors, different people in different ways. But there the conversation is can be expanded and be bigger. Now, now that you know this, how can you apply it in your life and go forth and create that ripple effect yourself in your community. So I'm working on that the next workshop is going to be on September 1, registration will begin in August. But I'm going to be taking names, taking names of people who want to get the information so that they get it first. And then my goal is to have three speaking engagements by the end of the year that are paid speaking engagements a little bit larger than what I've been doing. And then to do this more podcasts, meeting more amazing people like you and just keeping the conversation going, just speaking, connecting, collaborating, and that sort of thing. I see. I see a lot of collaboration in my future. I see a lot of speaking in my future. I probably should be better at drinking water. But yeah, I see I see a lot of that. Like I said in the next five years, I definitely see, I see a lot of growth and a lot of change. And I'm very encouraged by what I can see the future holds and, and my part in it. So I'm very encouraged and very empowered and very excited for all of that. Like sometimes, yes, exciting times. I'll just, you know, as many people as I can connect with is, is what I want to do.

Fanstastic. So, do you want to just tell our listeners where they can find out more about you?

Sure. I have my we bsite is sedruolamaruska.com which is S e d r u o l a Maruska m a r u s k a dot com, and I'm on everything. I'm on Instagram, as Sedruola. I'm on Twitter as Sedruola. I'm on Facebook as Sedruola Maruska, I have a Patreon page where I actually do most of my coaching and that is also Sedruola Maruska. So I guarantee if you just put my name in the Google, you will find me.

That sounds good. And we've also you've added a couple of your products, including the workshop that you mentioned to Angel Rated, so we can make sure people come here as well. So that's fantastic. And we will make sure that we add all the information that you've just mentioned to the show notes so that people can easily click and find you in these places. Thank you.

By the way, I love that Angel Rated so kudos to you. That's a beautiful thing, putting out there into the world. So thank you for that.

Thank you that is very kind. Yes, it's it definitely feels like my calling as well. So yeah, perfect. So well thank you ever so much for your time. Thank you for joining us. And if anyone wants to if you want to read the show notes from this episode, you can go to Angelrated.com/podcast. And if you enjoyed this episode, I would love you to subscribe to the show and to leave a review on your favorite podcast channels. And don't forget to share this episode with your online business friends and anyone else who might find it interesting. Thank you ever so much. The Angel Rated Show is brought to you by Angel Rated the independent directory and review site for all the products courses and services used by online business owners. It's the best place to find the perfect product for the next stage of your business or personal growth. Learn more and list your business free of charge at Angelrated.com