Education and lifelong learning

Chapter 1: From Hamster Wheel to Transformation 0:00 I was kind of like in hamster wheel mode, got married young, now divorced, but you know, went through life, did what everybody said I was supposed to do. 0:07 But I was in that hamster wheel, right? So 2008, I was laying like on the couch. 0:14 Now I remember, it must've been an eagle, cause like the wings like made shadows. And I remember looking up and I was like, what is it? I wonder what it feels like to just be free like that and fly. 0:23 You know what I mean? I literally said that. 0:25 Fast forward, I think maybe six months later, I enrolled into the University of Phoenix and someone just told me, they read one of my features last week and they were like, Janice, how ironic is it that you saw a bird and then you became a Phoenix? 0:40 I was like, I didn't even think about it. Like, this is just the journey, it just does not lie. You know what I mean? 0:45 And from there, I've been able to do the things that I'm doing now. But that's how the journey started and there's more along the way. 0:54 I know we'll get into it, but. It was like literally saw a bird and became a phoenix. I was like, oh my God. Talk about connecting the dots. 1:16 Hello and welcome to the Degrees of Success podcast. I'm your host, Freda Richards, and today we have an incredible guest, Janice DaCosta. 1:25 Not only is she an incredible author with many books under her belt and more to come, but she's also a mindfulness wellness coach. 1:34 And we're gonna hear way more about her. Coming from her directly, Janice, thank you so much for joining us. Of course, I feel like I said the title wrong. 1:43 Tell me again. It's not a mindfulness coach, it is. Mind shift advocate, but it's all the same. It's all the same. It is. 1:51 We practice at least four times. still get... So regardless, you tell me. You're the best to introduce yourself. 1:57 So for those who do not know you yet, but have the honor to meet you now, tell us more about yourself, how you'd introduce yourself and your mission. 2:05 So my mission is everything I do is all about transformation. It's all about making a meaningful impact and watching people transform. 2:14 And it's all about the journey. So everything I do, it's all under that umbrella. 2:19 um And so I call myself the Mindship Advocate and I help people transform, not just with food, but with mindfulness. 2:28 And I just take them on a journey and it's a never ending journey, know, lifelong learners. 2:33 So that is the heart of everything I do around the books and the podcasts and the websites is to make meaningful impact, transformation and help people along the journey while I'm still on my own. 2:47 While you're still on the journey yourself. So where did the passion and the drive come from wanting to help others in this way? 2:55 is that it's personal because I was on the other side trying to get myself out of, know, kind of like a rut in life. 3:03 I was a teenage mom, so the life I live now wasn't even imaginable. 3:09 So I know what it's like to pull yourself out of something like that, but I kind of want to be a lifeline to other people, you know, be the help that I wish that I had, you know. 3:19 So that's, it's personal, yeah. Absolutely. Where are you influenced in that way to give and serve in the way in which you do? 3:29 So I think great parents live with my parents, but I believe the legacy started with my grandparents because I watched them come from not really good backgrounds. 3:40 And then I watched them together. They opened like a travel agency in Queens, New York. So three years old, I was around entrepreneurs. 3:48 You know, I watched them travel the world. I watched them, you know, help the community. I watched them be entrepreneurs. And then I'm doing the same thing because I also have a blog. 3:58 It's like, see what I see. dot blog and I travel all over the world, but I'm led to these places for transformation. 4:05 So it literally is, I think I would have to say now when I think about it, just the legacy is in me. It's like in my DNA and I've seen it all my life. 4:14 So, and I want other people to experience that because some people don't, they just don't know. And some people just aren't as strong to know, you know, get through it. 4:23 So that, that's what I think about as well. 4:25 whatever I'm saying now could help someone who's just like, at their break at their breaking point. So that's where it came from. 4:32 It sounds like you're from a family of... 4:39 generational chain builders as opposed to breaking generational chains. 4:45 You know, you all, because I'm not to imagine your age, but if I were to just guess, like your grandparents had their own business in the 50s or the 60s. 4:59 It was the seventies and the eighties. In the nineties. They had like literally the cleaners, the travel agency. 5:08 So from the age where I could like, I believe seven working and so I'm seeing, you know, diversity. I'm working with people. 5:15 So it literally is like generations of, you know, and then if people weren't owning businesses, they either worked on wall street. 5:24 So I come from a line of. some really strong. Come on. 5:32 Yeah, like my worked on, My parents, worked, they worked on Wall Street, but my grandparents and that generation, they owned businesses. 5:41 So it was like multi- now you see why I do so. It's literally, I my brain works. 5:50 Your babies, my goodness, they're gonna run the world. Well, I my daughters are 26 and 32 and I have a grandson at five. 6:00 I found the age of, I found the fountain of youth. Clearly. 6:06 Okay, let's jump into what you're putting in your body because I'm looking at your face thinking there's no way you could have been a grandmother. 6:13 So let's talk about how we need to eat in this mindfulness shift because you have, uh you've got a grandbaby and then you have, tell me again the ages of your daughters. 6:23 26 and 32. 26 and 32. And what are they doing? 6:33 living life. I'm sorry. I said, what are they doing? Running small countries? 6:41 on all sides of the continent. my goodness. Very ambitious like me. 6:49 Very ambitious. Of course they are. Of course they are. So that's an incredible lineage that you're from. 6:57 You've definitely had the opportunity to see what it's like to have your hard work turn into success. 7:04 And so it's clear at three years old, at three years old. And I imagine that your grandparents are African-American. Yeah, they're African-Americans. 7:13 in the 70s with their own company like what they had to go through. Serial entrepreneurs. Yeah, and these were brick and mortars. 7:21 So these were before internet, you know, and they've the companies they had, it was like, maybe 20 years and then they retired to North Carolina, which is where I'm at now. 7:32 So yeah, I just grew up around it. and then your parents in Wall Street. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 7:39 I would go to the office on Wall Street as a kid. My goodness. Okay. Well, uh it's clearly in you. 7:48 There was a seed planted very early for you to be this successful. My gosh. All right. So let's talk about your journey. 7:56 So you um had a child in your teens. Tell me about the journey from there. 8:05 Yeah. So the journey from there, I had a child as a teenage mom and I went through life. Chapter 2: The Journey of a Mind Shift Advocate 8:13 I was kind of like in hamster wheel mode, got married young, now divorced, but you know, went through life, did what everybody said I was supposed to do. 8:21 But I was in that hamster wheel, right? So I remember, I think it was 2008. 8:28 I was laying like on the couch and I remember it must have been an eagle because like the wings like made shadows. 8:35 And I remember looking up and I was like, what is it? I wonder what it feels like to just be free like that and fly. You know what mean? I literally said that. 8:44 Fast forward, I think maybe six months later, I enrolled into the University of Phoenix. And someone just told me, they read one of my features last week. 8:54 And they're like, Janice, how ironic is it you saw a bird and then you became a phoenix? I was like, I didn't even think of it. Like, this is the journey. just does not lie. 9:02 You know what mean? And from there, just putting people together than what's already in me, you know, I've been able to do the things that I've, you know, that I'm doing now. 9:13 But that's how the journey started. And there's more along the way. I know we'll get into it, but it was like literally saw a bird and became a Phoenix. 9:20 was like, Oh my God, talk about connecting the dots. Exactly. 9:26 With the tagline, we rise and you're seeing wings thinking, I wonder what it's like to fly. Said, here I am. 9:34 And you were flying quite literally. Oh my goodness. Okay, so let's dive into more of your success. 9:41 I wanna talk selfishly about your book. I wanna talk about you as um an expert in nutrition. 9:53 There's a story. Do you want to the back story? So I can't remember the year, but I was having a lot of stomach pains. 10:02 So I went to the doctor and they kept, know, nothing against doctors, of course, but this is my experience. Went to the doctor, they kept giving me medicine. 10:10 They were like, okay, you're still having these pains. No, okay, well, let's take your gallbladder out. 10:14 And I remember when I was in the waiting room and The nurse came rushing to me and she was like, they're fighting over you. 10:23 And I was like, who's fighting over me? And they were like the anesthesiologist because you're a healthy one. And I'm like, I don't know everything just click, click, click, click. 10:31 And I was, and to me, I wasn't in the best shape, but you know what mean? 10:37 And to say, and I'm like, my gosh, like you just don't think about, I hate to say this, but you don't think about, okay, if I wasn't as healthy, would I not have gotten a more senior? 10:49 you know, anesthesiologist, then you think about, know, when you're all these things are in my head, like, my gosh, like when they said that, like, I could not have maybe I wouldn't have woken up, you know, because of my health, not not a number the health, you know what I mean? 11:02 So from there, that was like my catalyst, like, my god, I healthy, I got to take everybody with me. 11:08 So, yeah, so I got my certification to be a wellness coach. 11:14 And then I went dug a little deeper and went into the veganism route only because from a personal experience, I just wasn't with the medicines and I just, you know, just felt like it was a little bit too much um experimental things. 11:28 So it was just a conscious decision that I made. um And everybody's entitled to their decision, but it has been the most gratifying journey I've ever taken. 11:38 It's almost like it's taken, because if you look at my picture now from when I was in my twenties, I look younger now. You know what mean? So. 11:44 It was a personal experience that led. So that's where the passion comes from. 11:49 Cause I like, know what it feels like to feel defeated, you know, and you don't have to be going through something as dramatic, but sometimes we just don't feel comfortable and not with a number, just with ourselves. 11:59 I mean, so with our energy. that's where that passion comes from. Told you everything is personal. It's just layers of personal. 12:10 And I think that's what makes it so powerful. Because it's personal, you're passionate about it. Because it's personal, you're driven. 12:19 Because it's personal, you want other people to have the knowledge that you have to keep them safe and to them healthy. 12:28 that's better than any corporate uh tagline. mean, there's nothing better than knowing that someone... 12:36 is working on something, doing something because they're passionate about humanity, having that information to stay healthy, to stay here and have a longer, uh happier life. 12:46 Right. And I want to give people choices. I want people to know they have choices. I'm one of those people, because I was around my family, know, men and women who challenge things in a healthy way. 12:58 So I'm the one that like, what about this? And I researched this, but some people don't know that they can do that. So it's just also just giving them choices. 13:06 Like, think about it like this. This is where the mind shift comes in. Well, what about this? Or what about this perspective? So I was always that kid like, but why do we have to do it this way? 13:15 Like, I know you guys did it. 13:16 m 30 years back, so I'm that person and I want people to know and I want to show them what I've learned so that they know, wait a minute, I can ask this or I didn't think about that. 13:26 So that's where the mind shift comes in. The why. Yeah. Wanting to know the why. That'll always get you to a good place. 13:36 Always get you to I irritate my parents at the beginning, but always get you to a good place. 13:41 And look at you now, my goodness. listen, this podcast is about you and how incredibly successful you are already and the path that you're taking. 13:52 I'm so excited to hear about what's next. But before I get there, you decided to be a naturalist, it seems, right? 13:59 So you don't take medicine. take medicine like Tylenol, but the route they were going, was more permanent. 14:08 You know what I mean? Like, let's just do this forever. So I'm a holistic. That means I do believe in a 50-50 balance, but only to get me to a point where I don't need it anymore. 14:19 But this certain situation, it was just more, let's just do this forever. And I'm like, well, let's just not. Well, let's just do something. Yeah. 14:27 But some people I have seen that they didn't like, didn't know I can. know, question or you know what mean? In a healthy way. 14:34 So that's where a lot of my mindset comes in to help. Tell us what you tell others and how to advocate for yourself. 14:46 So the first thing when people don't know how to advocate for themselves, I'm always um trying to do healthy balances, right? 14:52 You know, the basis of all my nutrition comes from all health starts in the gut. You know, all of it starts there. 14:59 So it is okay to, you know, take, you know, what you're given, but also your 50 is also okay. 15:07 When you go home, how can I clean up my diet? How can I clean up my system? You know what I mean? So. that your body can work a little bit quicker to where you don't need it. 15:15 You sometimes you do, you know, but it starts, that's that 50 50. And then as you start feeling better, you just talk to the doctors about alternatives. 15:24 You know what mean? And it's just asking, you don't even have to know the answer, just ask the question and this is people to give you different answers. 15:32 But when you go home, it's your responsibility to, to do your end so that, you know, it can work and you don't need it as much. 15:41 Well, let's talk about how you can encourage people to start because your book is about, is it 12 green smoothies? 15:48 Yeah, it's, it's 12 in there. Yes. Yeah. It's 10 days and then it's uh multiple smoothie options in there. Yeah. 15:56 So for me, I did it more when I was first starting to get healthy, but now I noticed that I don't need it as much because I eat so clean. 16:04 You know, I am a, I'm a hundred percent vegan. So I eat, yeah. I eat very, very clean where I don't need it. But sometimes I tell people, it twice a season. 16:13 Just see how your body reacts to it. But the whole. 16:16 basis of it is to slow down your digestive system to give your body the chance to like clear out those toxins and detox to actually, you know, yeah, that's what it does. 16:27 It's slowing down your immune system. And when your immune system slowing down, it starts detoxifying you with whole natural food. 16:35 Tell me tell me about that the mindfulness aspect of it. 16:39 Tell me about because you also have the the affirmation diet been doing this all my life, this really hit home for me. Chapter 3: The Power of Mindfulness and Nutrition 16:46 The mind shift piece. What year was it? I think maybe 2021 or 2022. 16:54 My girlfriend said, I'm going to go to this retreat in Guatemala. felt like I just need to go with you. And she looked at me like I was crazy. 17:02 And she was like, it's a yoga retreat. I didn't do yoga at the time. So was a form of yoga called Kundalini. I was there for seven days. 17:12 And by the second day I was looking for flights to go home. By the fifth day. 17:18 I'm like, wow, like my mind, I feel really good. Like there's something to this. 17:24 By the seventh day I was in, so that was 2022, 2025 every morning at four o'clock. 17:31 have never missed my own like Kundalini yoga. You know I'm saying? 17:37 So that's what the mind, that's where the mind shift came in because I saw the power. 17:42 of, and you don't, could do it your way, I tell people, but the power of doing something to clear your mind, to start the day, because nothing works. 17:50 The food doesn't work. Nothing works unless that's where the mind shift came in. I'm like, wait a minute, I got to rethink this. 17:57 That's where my pivot came in, where I kind of rebranded my company because I'm like, okay, this can't just be about food anymore because I've tapped into something else. 18:06 You know what mean? 18:06 And I've always known about the affirmations, but It was an intuitive pull that pulled me there so I can see like this mind thing. 18:14 So then when I started doing my coaching sessions with my clients, it was more geared to the mind and the food part. I kind of almost threw in just to play with it. 18:24 But once they balanced the mind, like limiting beliefs and just learning how to feel good within yourself, you know I'm saying? 18:30 The their goals, their nutrition goals was like this. And I'm like, wow, the brain is like more powerful than the gut. 18:39 The brain is my problem. And literally when I studied Kundalini, there is actually like a connection from the brain to the gut, but it starts here and it goes here. 18:48 Yes. It's all everything. So it doesn't start in the gut. There's the layers I had to build onto. 18:56 It starts here. So once here is clear. And then I noticed too, I, after I started doing my mind stuff, like my nutrition goals, my weight, like everything was. 19:09 easy. When I say easy, I put forth the effort, but it wasn't a strain. wasn't, I have to. 19:17 wasn't, get to. Oh, I get to this workout. It literally, that's how I see it in everything. I'm like, wow, like I'm meeting my goals. 19:25 Like, my God. Yeah. yeah. that integrity of saying, look, I made a commitment. 19:34 I'm going to put it in until at least until I can get a flight. If they call me and say, hey, there's a flight, may make it jump on that. 19:43 But as long as I'm here, I'm going to do the thing. And that has to be true. I'm going show up. 19:51 And that in itself is so powerful. with a good attitude, I'm gonna show up. 19:55 I'm gonna suck it up and I'm going to oh be a positive influence no matter where I'm at. 20:04 I may sit in the back row, but the energy I'm going to give is going to be that that's gonna encompass the goal, always, everything I do. 20:13 And that's part of the Choose You Rebellion because I allow myself to have my fit in my room. 20:21 And that's where it was, I gave myself time so that I could release that, know, because it was releasing things and then show up. 20:31 You know what mean? So that's important in everything I do. Well, let's jump in to Choose You because not only is it your new book, but it's also the current podcast. 20:39 Yeah, and yeah, I don't even know where that came from. I don't even remember what uh part of the journey here. 20:48 journey, part of the journey. So tell us more about Choose You and the mission behind it because you were speaking about it earlier and it was moving to me. 20:56 So tell me more about the mission and what it is that you want other people to receive and learn and get from that, that and the book and the podcast. Yeah. 21:04 So the book is, it's, it's a work in progress, but the podcast and the whole mission and, know, cause I'm going to be doing like free guides to like roll it out. 21:13 But the whole thing is the basis of it is I call it, I frame it like emotional overdraft and it's just trying to be a million things for million people instead of just being okay with who you are and whatever moment you're in it. 21:27 You know I mean? So it literally is, let's take the mask off. Let's take the armor off. Let's just. 21:33 You know, let's just take a deep breath and it's that unshakable relief. Because sometimes it's not all about joy. Sometimes it's not all about that. 21:41 You know, we're here to have a balance. You know what mean? The balance is sometimes I'm in a bad mood. Sometimes I'm in a good mood and whatever phase I'm in, I'm allowed to be there. 21:50 You know what I mean? So that's that's that it's giving people the permission slip. That's what I call it. It's a permission slip, you know, to live your authentic self. 21:59 And authenticity does not mean happy, you know, sometimes it's just whatever I'm feeling. So that's the heart and the anchor of it. 22:08 And so all the variables around it lead, you know, lead to an indifferent way of showing people how to do that. So it literally is like a five step. 22:17 It's like um the fracture point, because the story behind the fracture point for me is where it began. 22:23 It's just that when I just let everything fall apart, I just let everything fall apart so that I can show up. You know what mean? 22:31 So was just like everything, everybody, was like I was on a tight rope and I was just like juggling and it was just like I couldn't do anymore. So I just let, so that's the fracture point. 22:39 That's where choose you begins. When you allow yourself to just break open. You know what mean? And then from there, it's all about the transformation and that's where it gets fun. 22:48 That's where you get to like relearn yourself. You know I mean? So that's the basis, the anchor and the start of it. My goodness. 22:57 Now, I think one of my favorite things that you said was that this may be one of the realest things you've ever written. 23:05 From the person who's driven by your passion coming from your experiences and wanting to ensure that others are healthy, safe, and living their best life, that must mean that this Chapter 4: Choosing Yourself: The Path to Authenticity 23:19 particular book, Choosing Yourself, came from an experience of your own in which you had to take the mask off and embrace whatever feelings were happening. 23:33 Tell me about that journey to creating this book as you're still designing it and the podcast to which you were leading people and guiding them through and out of a situation similar to your own. 23:44 Right. So I think every milestone has led to this point. 23:48 So when I talked to you about the teenage mom, when I talked to you about seeing the bird become a phoenix from learning the mind shift. 24:01 So all those were building blocks for me that I kind of packaged into this Choo Choo. So it wasn't one thing. It was multiple things that and I think. 24:11 Alongside every milestone, I became stronger and chips were falling off. So it was chipping, right? 24:17 And then I just came to a point in life where I was doing so much and I was accomplishing so much, but I didn't feel it. 24:27 I didn't feel it. Everybody else felt it, but I'm just like, okay, I'm not even having fun with this. This is like, I'm, I'm taking this too seriously. 24:36 So it was just like the weight. It was a lot of weights that came with the milestones. So I just dropped the weights. 24:42 And with me dropping the weights, I never would have done Shoe-Ju two years ago. It was too raw, too real. It wasn't perfect enough. 24:50 You know what I mean? So when I got to the point where I just let it all fall, and I don't think it was one thing, it was multiple things, and it was just time. 25:00 You saw the wings and thought, how, man, I wish I knew how to fly. And then came to University of Phoenix and became a Phoenix. 25:08 I didn't put that together until someone, I think it's April, I think it is. She works at the University of Phoenix. She does. Do you know April? 25:16 I do. so her and I worked together, her, Paul and myself, worked together because I have the chapter. 25:23 And she said, Janice, how cool is it you saw Bird and became a family? I said, I never put that together. She's amazing. They make sense that she was the one to print it out. 25:32 oh God. So when you were here at University of Phoenix uh learning how to fly, tell me, what was your experience like and how did you balance all of that while going to school? 25:46 It was the most, what's the word? 25:50 was uh an opportunity of experience because at that time my younger daughters, they were like in soccer practice, they were in like dance recitals. 26:01 So I'd be on the soccer field on the sidelines, hosting homework and juggling, but you make time for what you want. 26:09 I always tell people you make time for what you want. So whether it be, had to wake up early in the morning before work. 26:15 or bring my laptop to where I just made it work. Because I knew there was something on the other side of that. I just had this feeling. 26:24 And I never took a break. So I just went full time forever until I finished. I didn't have any breaks. I was working through holiday. 26:31 When the class stopped, the next Monday, I was doing another class because I was OK, there's something on the other side of this. 26:40 I'm going to need this and use this for something. 26:44 So what happened was I landed a job for, it was the world's third largest chemical company and a job that would take me to places like the Philippines. 26:55 So it would take me to be a guest speaker in like Budapest. So literally using the degree and working for global companies. 27:05 And that's what I do now, you know, in the export and chemical field. So to add all of that, everything I do in addition to that. 27:15 my goodness. 27:15 So all of the nutrition, the certificates for marketing as well, all of the mind shift is secondary to the fact that you also work in the corporate world. 27:31 Yeah, full time. Yes. oh For the degree though, but how would a blessing for the degree that I studied for in Phoenix, you know, is bringing me one of the things bringing me all over the globe. 27:43 It was like amazing. You can't make this up. So there's no reason why I can't, I should not be paying this forward. You know what mean? 27:50 There's like no reason whatsoever. 27:53 If any of our listeners or viewers were thinking, why would, in this economy, in this environment, where there is AI and I could ask it a quick question, or I could have a 28:09 robot build my resume or something along those lines, why would you say that someone should go to school, should get a college degree, and why do you think that it could possibly be the best choice? 28:23 to come to University of Phoenix. The number one thing is experience trumps AI. 28:31 You can robotically speak from AI, but to be able to talk experience and use experience, that's what I currently do. 28:42 I create lanes, experience, and being able to pivot and navigate that lane does what AI can't do. 28:51 Right. And that's what I got. at Phoenix and that's what you sell. And I would also tell people don't just sell the skill-based stuff, sell your skill sets. 29:02 You know, this is what I bring. You know what mean? It's like reading comprehension versus skill base. Okay, yeah, you can say yes or no, but give me some levels, give me some flavor. 29:11 And that's what attracts companies. If you were to leave anything on the table for our listeners and our viewers, what would that be? 29:20 Choose you. Choose that burning desire and do it with that tunnel vision. 29:31 You know what saying? 29:32 And I don't know whatever success means to them, but just the only thing I could leave is choose yourself, focus on yourself, and drown out the noise. 29:46 Because that's literally, that's where it starts. 29:48 You have to start with choosing yourself and knowing what you want and then having tunnel vision. You know what mean? 29:55 Because it's different to so many people, but if you just, and that's part of the mind shift. It's just like, I tell people like any situation that's draining you, if you just ask this one question, what is this here to teach me? 30:06 You know what saying? And it always says, I want to be happy. Well, how do you want to be happy? What's happy to you? 30:12 So that's why, you know, ask yourself that question, you know, what is this here to teach me? How can I be happy? 30:18 That, and that, literally where it starts and from there it just keeps going and going and it never stops. 30:24 Somehow that brings us to the end of this episode of the Degrees of Success podcast. You heard it here directly from Janice. 30:32 You need to focus and choose you, TennoVision. Focus on your goals. I can't imagine better advice. Thank you so much for joining us. 30:40 I'm your host, Freda Richards, reminding you that your next chapter just might be your best one yet. See you soon.