Meet: Elisa Lashell!

Please introduce yourself and profession to our readers:
My name is Elisa LaShell. I am known as The Empowerment Specialist for My Relationship Movement. My Relationship Movement is a movement aimed at fostering healthy relationships with yourself first, then others. We host a Real Talk for Relationships Facebook Live show every Thursday night at 9 pm EST where we tackle subjects that are real, raw and relevant. These topics impact our daily relationships and translate over into other areas of our lives. Past topics have included: "Loving the HELL out of Myself" "Unhealthy Soul Ties" "What Happens When It's My Fault" and "Why I No Longer Hate My Ex."

As an Empowerment Specialist, I use various tools like live segments, posts, vlogs and blogs to empower, motivate, inspire and affirm. I am a motivational speaker, weekly co-host for our live show, writer, singer, marketing consultant, wife and mom. My passion is to help people see themselves as an investment and to develop the power within themselves despite obstacles and life challenges. I am especially passionate about uncovering what I refer to as "self inflicted" areas where we have allowed damage into our self worth, self esteem and self confidence and providing ways to rebuild, renew and restore.

2. What inspired you to pursue this area of interest?
Easy. I was thinking about the word power and realized that I had been using power nonstop for the past 10 years of my life. It took power to pause my education at Mercer University after I had worked so hard to earn an academic scholarship so that I could take responsibility for an unplanned pregnancy. It took power to survive a marriage filled with mental and emotional anguish, deception and depletion. It took power to take care of three small kids as a single parent. It took power to rebuild after first moving to a new city with those three kids then losing my job as a result of a corporate downsizing. It was then when I realized something…I was an expert on power. What a shame that I was only able to realize this once all of my power was depleted.
 
But then…I discovered something incredible. Apparently it took POWER to go back to school and complete that degree in communications and pursue a further specialization in marketing while raising three kids and working full-time. Obviously, it had taken POWER to finally build the strength and courage to walk away from a mentally and emotionally abusive marriage with integrity and discipline. It had taken POWER to not just take care of, but to raise those three kids – one who is now in an accelerated nursing program, the other a skilled musician and the oldest a newly recruited US Airman. It had taken POWER to make a declaration after losing that established position at one of the largest nonprofits in the world that I would never clock in for anyone other than myself again and to have now done it successfully for the past nine years. And that’s when the light bulb finally came on in my head. I STILL had power and I was using it each and every day. Not only that, but I realized that I could transfer that power to someone else and as a result EMPOWER them. So…that's how I became Elisa LaShell, the Empowerment Specialist.

​​3. What advice would you share with those interested in a similar pursuit?
My advice is simple. Do it only if it rises with you in the morning and rests with you at night. Do it if it disturbs your sleep and affords you some of your most creative insights. Do it if it matters not whether you profit one single dime or gain one once of fame. Do it not because it is what you do...but who you are.

4. Discuss a professional challenge and how you overcame:
Professionally, my biggest challenge was to do become my own client. I have spent hours and months creating brands for others and cultivating that brand so that it has impact and influence, yet when it came to myself I allowed fear, doubt and yes insecurity to make me cautious, hesitant and even low key. I had to do two things. One was to compartmentalize myself and see myself as a person in need of services. Secondly, I had to put the mission before the man. In other words, my assignment, what I felt compelled to do, had to be more important than me and my issues. It worked.

5. What is next for you and your brand/business in 2017?
My Relationship Movement is working on presenting a conference in South Georgia soon. We are entering other social media platforms to present our Real Talk for Relationships segments. We are opening our itinerary to travel and host workshops in other locations.

6.  How can readers connect with you online? 
Instagram @elisalashell    
Twitter @_elisalashell   
Periscope  @elisalashell    
Facebook: My Relationship Movement   
YouTube: My Relationship Movement  
​Instagram:  My Relationship Movement 
www.myrelationshipmovement.com