For September’s WCW I have a special treat for you. The Women Crush Wednesday hashtag and social media trend is nothing new. But I am trying to reclaim that title not just for half naked celebrities or women you actually know nothing about. The women I crush over are using their womenhood, their voice and their passions to make our world brighter. I have some incredible women in my life so I am honored to share them with you. I hope you find them as inspiring as I do.

Meet Davila. 

Davila and I met through social media. She reached out to me about my online health and fitness challenges I run and oddly enough she was also a New Yorker moving to Australia. I coached her online the month before she came to Sydney and we instantly clicked when we got to meet for the first time in person. Davila is such an intelligent, funny and motivated person. She takes her health very seriously but she doesn’t take life too seriously.

 

She has taught me a lot about veganism and I can always run to her with any plant-based questions that pop into my brain. Luckily, we got to spend quality time together while I was still living in Sydney and have stayed in touch since I’ve been away. I can always count on Dav to listen to my feelings and genuinely care about what is happening in my life and vice versa. I am honored to feature her here and to have her in my life. Thanks for your light and your friendship, Davila. I’ll let her take it from here.

1. What do you think makes a woman worth “crushing” over?

The first thing I notice in a woman is how well she takes care of herself. Not necessarily how she does her make-up or what outfit she has on (because I couldn’t care less about those things!). But I’m talking about how she fuels her body and her brain. Does she eat healthy? Does she listen to her body when she’s in pain? How does she cope with stress? I crush over gals that know what they need to thrive physically, mentally and emotionally.

2. What do you do for a living? What is the most challenging part about it?

I work in the tech world as a consultant doing software development. I build apps,  write code,  and make cool things happen in weird programming languages. The most challenging part is when I’m trying to create complicated mathematical logic to meet a client’s need, but I fail and fail and fail for several days. Until one day I surrender and take a proper break from it, and bam… The solution falls into my brain. I have learned that I really need to step away from tough situations in order to find my way through them.

I became aware of this from this excerpt from the Power of Now: “So when such challenges come, as they always do, make it a habit to go within at once and focus as much as you can on the inner energy field of your body. This need not take long, just a few seconds. But you need to do it the moment that the challenge presents itself…When you focus within and feel the inner body,  you immediately become still and present as you are withdrawing consciousness from the mind. If a response is required in that situation,  it will come up from this deeper level. Just as the sun is infinitely brighter than a candle flame, there is infinitely more intelligence in Being than in your mind”

3. Who are three women that you look up to and have inspired you the most in your career/life ?

Firstly, my mother is one of my biggest role models. She really came from nothing,  growing up in the Bronx and fighting her way through school and work to get herself out of there. She has been the manager of my 3 sisters, myself, my dad, and both his and her family since day 1 yet she still has managed to ease her way into the top IT managers at her work. She’s a fighter that has fought so much for us that I never had to witness any of the struggle she’s been through because she was determined to give us everything. I love her so much. Secondly, her sister,  my Titi Kenia, is my life coach. Literally, we’ve had coaching sessions where she takes care of me at a deep emotional and mental level. She has introduced me to so much of who I am today, such as my plantbased lifestyle, obsession with essential oils as alternative assistance in healing, career paths, organizing my life, you name it. This woman also fought her way from the bottom to the top of the tech industry. She inspires me everyday. When I hear her voice or read her words,  I instantly feel calm.

The third woman would be you,  Susie! You’ve opened up my mind to understanding how I can balance my desire to living my healthiest life with never regretting a moment on the way. From motivation to being healthy with travelling to inspiration on how to release my endorphins on my busiest days, you’ve shaped a new look of life for me. Being healthy is my top priority now and you’ve given me that gift. I’m so grateful I’ve met you!

4. What is one topic you wish more women knew about on a global scale? Why?

Our cycle. Now I don’t mean just logging the day you got your period and the day it ended. I’m talking about knowing all the phases of our cycle and what they mean: when we are fertile, when we are ovulating, when we need to go soft and when can we do high intensity exercise. This goes for those who aren’t trying to get pregnant and those that are. Each phase in our cycle presents a different hormone and our bodies are doing different things than they were the previous week. If we all understood what makes us feel good on cycle day 1 VS what foods we should avoid on cycle 10, our womanly power to thrive will go through the roof. Read blogs, read books, visit natural OBGYNs, speak to nutritionist dedicated to women’s health, and talk alot about your period and your hormones with your besties! Learn as much as you can because we have this body for the entirety of this life and we need to know how to use it. A great place to start is to read every blog post from my favorite company THINX: https://www.shethinx.com/blogs/womens-health

5. What advice do you give to women who feel that they are constantly surrounded by drama in their group of friends?

Let that shit go. Right now. You have the ability to act smart and intelligent, but only when you aren’t held down by negative energy. Drama is like a 50lb resistance band. It restricts your ability to move freely. If you want to experience growth, you’d have to work so much harder to move. Why put yourself through that when you are in full control of having that band around you? You need to take a deep breath, look at yourself, smile, and cut it off or stop being around people that put the band around you. You get to choose what you get involved in, not your friends. (but def do some squats with that band because fitness is life.)

6. Do you believe being a strong woman with a passion for her career takes away from a woman’s ability to be a loving partner/mother/friend/sister ?

Absolutely not. When I am killing it at work is when I show up best for my partner and my people. I get inspired to share more and to love harder when I am doing what I love and doing it well.

7. What is something you are really excited about currently in your own life?  

My love and I are getting married! I could probably point out some fun plans I have for myself, but the fact that we are going to create this sacred bond together makes me more excited than anything else right now.

8. Why is self love an important part of being a modern day woman?

I think modern technology has made it very difficult for people to feel comfortable in their own life and to be happy with what they have when they are getting crowded with images of other people living the “perfect” life. Since it’s too difficult to avoid this, we need to love who we are and be grateful for what we have so we can be strong. If we instil a deep sense of self love into our gorgeous lives, we will become stronger and too tough to be taken advantage of by society’s control of our happiness.

9. If you could have a lunch date with any woman on the planet, who would it be?

I really want to chill with Chrissy Teigen. She lives her life with so much love and integrity for what she believes in. Even though she is watched by millions of people,  she doesn’t let the media bring her down and she doesn’t care what they think of her. She is so badass! I want to learn a thing or two from her 🙂

10. How can anyone reading this keep up with you and what you’re doing in the future?                                                                                                                                  Follow my health food journey at @thesmilingalmond ! I love spreading the knowledge.

Bonus: What is one question you have for me?

What is one thing you want to accomplish by the end of the year? Do you see any obstacles in your way of getting there?

By the end of the year I want to have started working on my new passion project. I can’t share much yet because I haven’t released anything about it to the interwebs yet but I have a project I have been thinking about for almost a year now and I need to get the ball rolling. The hardest part is just to start and not allow any other commitments/shiny objects stand in my way. I am determined to work on it a little bit each week so I can finish it in 2018. Now, that I’ve put this out into the Universe it is more likely to come true. So thanks, for the extra needed push Davila. I can always count on you to keep me on my toes.