Faith, Healing, And Building A Business with Neena Perez

What if the fastest way to grow your business is to tell the truth about who you are? We sit down with transformational life coach and chef Neena Perez for a grounded, hope-filled conversation about turning pain into purpose and building a service business that aligns with your deepest values. From faith-infused decision-making to the science-backed power of gratitude, this episode is a practical roadmap for anyone tired of hustle culture and ready for meaningful growth.

Neena shares the turning points that moved her from depression and trauma to clarity and service, including the moment she chose to feel what hurt and let healing begin. We walk through how to identify core values, audit natural strengths and spiritual gifts, and translate that insight into clear offers, honest marketing, and client experiences that actually fit your life. Expect frank talk on coaching vs therapy, the mental load of living in the past or future, and why self-awareness is the beginning of spiritual authority.

You’ll also get real tools to put into play today: a “CEO meeting with God” journaling practice, a purpose-driven quiz to spark direction, and a detailed free ebook, Elevate Your Wisdom to Wealth, that outlines avatars, messaging, and marketing steps for service-based businesses. Neena’s upcoming Purpose Filled Kitchen blends cooking and coaching, reminding us that growth can be nourishing, joyful, and human. If you’re craving connection, clarity, and a business that feels like you, this conversation will meet you where you are and point you forward.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—what truth are you ready to build on today?

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hello there everyone and welcome back to the next episode of Overcome Yourself the Podcast. As you know, my name is Nicole, and I'm so excited to be here today with Nina. And now Nina mixes this, she has this beautiful mix of faith and what's going on in your head. I'm not gonna butcher it anymore. Nina, take it away. Give us a little bit, tell us a little bit about who you are and who you help.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Oh,

Nina’s Faith-Based Coaching Philosophy

SPEAKER_00 0:31

yeah. Hi, everyone. I am Nina Perez and I am a transformational life coach. I'm also a chef. Um, so I believe in like helping people from the inside out. So faith is a big component of it for me because faith is what really has helped me survive a lot of things. And so um I definitely, you know, blend a lot of faith with inner working and transcending all these unwanted behaviors. And then I help women, um, mainly women, create um the businesses that they want to create that aligns with their values. Because a lot of times the world just tells you a lot of things and you don't know where to go. And I think that we all we all have to live in a space that we're proud of, that we love, and that we want to do. So that's what I do in a nutshell. I help women really create coaching businesses or service-based businesses that align with their values.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Oh, that is amazing. Um can you can you talk to us a little bit about faith? Is there is there like a specific, are you speaking about a specific religion here? Or are you talking about just having faith in something and then you can work with that?

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Well, I've worked with women that in all kinds of faith, but I am a Christian. So mainly the women that come to me are are coming to me because they know I'm a Christian. So, you know, I lot I talk a lot about God, I talk a lot about, you know, Jesus, I talk a lot about, you know, us aligning ourselves with our belief system. But honestly, I have friends that are Muslims, I have friends that are, you know, I have friends that are um Buddhists, I have friends that are everywhere. Um, because I don't discriminate on that, on that piece. But I do like them to know that because if they come into the space, they need to know that I am a Christian and that I will that's where I'm gonna be leaning because that's what I believe.

unknown 2:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Of course. I love that. Um, that is amazing. And so can you talk to us about um, because uh when you talk to us about faith and aligning with our values, that that can be a little far-fetched. So can you bring that back down to us and kind of give us a more graspable concept of what that means? Like, um, what if I don't know my values, for example? Like I do, but I'm just saying in our audience, what if we don't know our values?

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Yeah, well, that's actually something we

Defining Values And Purpose

SPEAKER_00 2:44

go through. Um, uh, you know, I have some uh a big project coming out in September for women. It's called Purpose by Design, and it's gonna be um 90 days of me helping women understand what their values are, what is it exactly that they feel they should be bringing out into the world, and then how do we create that? And we're gonna be running. It's 90 days, we're gonna just do it. And so faith is a component of how do you anchor yourself into what you believe, right? I, you know, I wasn't always a Christian. I always, you know, I before I did other things, and so um, for me, it's like, how does God play a part in what it is you're trying to build? So right now, I I just completed a uh a journal that I'm um I'm selling on my shop that is a CEO meeting with God, and basically is you spending about 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how long you want to take, uh spending um very particular meetings with Him on, you know, maybe a maybe a scripture comes up. What does that mean to you? How do you align that? What does that mean about your business? How do you grow that? You know, all that kind of thing. So aligning our purpose and value, sometimes we know, but we just are too afraid to say that that's what it is, because we try to be politically correct or socially correct or whatever the correct thing is. And I think that, you know, just really start searching yourself because you need to realize that you maybe there's some healing that needs to go on. Maybe there's some things that you know that you really can help people with. So it's really about a journey, but we need to break down um discovering what those God-given uh things are for you. I even have a free quiz. If anybody wants to go on my site, they can take a quiz. It's a purpose-driven quiz. It'll ask you 20 questions and it'll tell you kind of where you align and maybe what business you should be looking

Spiritual Gifts And Business Alignment

SPEAKER_00 4:36

at according to that.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

It's really interesting. Um, so is this strictly on values or do you look at spiritual gifts as well?

SPEAKER_00 4:46

No, both spiritual gifts as well. Yeah. And anybody who joins um or works with me, because I have a lot of women who are working with me right now. We actually really go through this big uh audit, if you will, of all of your natural gifts, because a lot of us have gifts. And then also, what are your spiritual gifts? Maybe you're a person who can teach or is patient, is kind, is motivating, it's you know, all the all the spiritual gifts that can come out. So, yes, we do both. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Oh, that's beautiful. Um, now you kind of touched on this, but I would like to hear a little bit of your story of how you overcame yourself. Um, because I imagine that you didn't start off doing this, right? Like this feels like a journey that you you kind of walked into like I did. So I'd love to hear the story behind that.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Yeah. You want to hear the the story behind how I overcame myself? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

How did you end up helping women in this

Nina’s Story Of Healing And Growth

SPEAKER_01 5:45

very specific um beautiful and transformational area?

SPEAKER_00 5:49

You know, it started a long time ago when I realized I was I was really bogged down with a lot of depression and a lot of anxiety and a lot of victim mentality. I mean, it really was a thing for me. And it's because, you know, I've been abused as a child. I was almost murdered by my domestic partner, you know, and things like that. So I had a lot of trauma. And that trauma, even though everything I did in life, like every job I went to, I rose. I I was always like at the top of the game. But it was because I didn't want to deal with my nonsense, right? So I dove a thousand percent into all of my work, right? So it was always work, work, work, work and nothing else. And then um I realized one day that I would just hit a wall. You know, I had two kids. So I had a kid uh at 15 years old, and then a second kid at 21, and I was in a toxic marriage and um I just was depressed. Okay, and I I came to this place and I came to God and I just laid it down and I'm like, I cannot do this anymore. I cannot do this, you know. So I left it there and I started to really start to discover what is going on with Nina. You know, like how do we get out of this horrible hole that I'm in, this mentality, and there has to be something better in life, Nicole, because I I was in a dark place and I didn't even want to live anymore. So it was like really dark. But I realized that you have to feel it to heal it, right? So I had to start to realize that I had these deep feelings that I didn't want to deal with. I was I was just like running away from them, suppressing them, don't want to go there. That hurts. But it wasn't until I actually sat with it and let I say God because I was praying in prayer about it. I was laying in the bed, I was just praying. I'm like, okay, God, just show me. And I started going down this road of like all the abuse and all, and all of this stuff started coming out, and I cried like nobody's business. But I also healed. I realized I had to really feel these pains in order to heal it instead of running from it. Then I wrote my book, which is hit me with your best shot. And when women started reading that book, they started coming up to me in coffee shops and places I was at and was telling me how their father did this or their brother did this or their this or their mother did that. And I'm like, wow. So they started using it in book clubs and they started using it in different places. And I was like, I can help somebody more if I am truthful about who I am and what I've gone through than if I just try to be happy, go lucky, and fake it all the time. And so that's where the healing journey began. And then I've got my uh masters in neurolinguistic programming and then positive intelligence and uh all the all the all the things right that you get when you first dive into personal development, all the books and all the courses. And so that's what I did. And then the podcast came out, which is straight talk, no sugar added, which is started with my journey in faith, and then it just evolved to talking with amazing people like yourself who are out here doing these great things to transform the world, even if it's just one voice at a time, right? So that's how it kind of started. Um, and that's what I help people with. Like, let's talk about that place. Why are you feeling like that? What does that mean to you? How is that you know, what are we doing? It's not therapy, it's coaching, and that's the difference, right? So, yeah, that's that's a little nutshell of it.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

That's beautiful. Um, you know, one of the things that I talk to my clients about um all the time, something that my coach talked to me about, and I pass it on as well. Um, having a team in place, right? And having a therapist is a very important part of that team,

Coaching vs Therapy And Presence

SPEAKER_01 9:40

but also having a coach, right? Because the therapist, somebody put it this way, it's very oversimplified, but it's a kind of a nice way of looking at it to me. Um, where the therapist helps you kind of deal with the past, and then the coach is gonna help you use all of that to build out the future. That's um, but you you you have both sides of it, right? Because if we're living in the past, we're living in depression. Like if our minds were in the past, we're in depression. If our we're living in the future, now we're anxious. And so having someone help us deal with both of those sides so we can be in the present.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Yeah, agree.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Accepting everything that happened. Um, I guess I have a very similar journey to yours. I don't know how similar, but um, I related a lot of the things that you mentioned happening to you, some of the stuff that I haven't even started talking about on this show. Um, but um, let's just say I know what it's like to almost die at the hands of a loved one. Um and I can't have things around my throat now because of that incident that happened to me many, many years ago. Um, but thank you for sharing that because I I just want you to know that we appreciate your vulnerability. Um, and there's there's so much truth to what you said, especially where we are right now in the world. Um there's so many people talking about what other people are doing, what other things are happening, they're quoting things, but I think people are craving real stories, real connection, real joy and hope and struggle and opportunity. And I got I read an article, I know this is gonna come out later, but when we're recording this episode, I read an article about how sitcoms they used to be like in the 80s, everything was happy, everything was great, and then you know, like everything would get solved in 20 minutes, and then we moved into the era of CSI and things started getting gritty. And I remember, I remember watching CSI Thursday nights at nine, it was like a family event, everybody would come together, we would watch CSI together, but things got really gritty and really dark, dark, and now we're we're starting to come on the other side of that with wait a second, it's too dark now.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yeah, I think people are bogged down.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

I I agree with you, yes, and so we have shows like they were mentioning Drew Barrymore has this show where she doesn't apparently I haven't watched it, but according to this article that I was reading, she's not knocking other people, like she is actually

The Case For Joy And Gratitude

SPEAKER_01 12:15

just having fun, she's bringing joy, and I think people are craving that now. So, can you talk to me a little bit about the importance of joy and gratitude in everything that you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 12:25

It's it's uh literally what shifted my life, literally, right? Because when I was um struggling, I, you know, was was really it was dark all the time, all the time, all the time, right? Because let's let's be real. I know that things are ugly right now, you know, the politic world and all the crap out there, but the truth is that it's always like that. It's always like that. The problem is we're getting too much information at once, too much information, and we're losing the human touch, right? And so, even like YouTube, a lot of people are mad at them, but I'm kind of happy about it. They actually just demonetized all AI faceless videos. Good for you, YouTube, right? Because people are craving real, they're craving people, they're craving actual connections again, right? And I I your assessment is beautiful. I agree with all of the different seasons and all the things that we've gone through in these decades. I agree with that, right? I'm 52, so I'm a Gen Xer, right? I had the the blessing and the privilege of being a prior any of this, you know, social media and computers and all that. And I have the the blessing of still being young enough to understand it all too. So I'm in that space that I really, really am happy about. But I agree with you, joy and gratitude has to be the number one thing. So one thing that I've practiced my in my entire last uh 25, 35 years is gratitude. So I get up every morning, open my eyes, and I'm so grateful for that. And then I I really think about three things, but it's always like more than three that I'm super grateful for. Now, if if some of you are listening, like, what do I have to be grateful for? Well, you have so much to be grateful for that you don't even know it. Okay. I was watching a video on um Instagram of a mom and a daughter dressing one of the daughters who is completely uh uh paraplegic, right? And I'm thinking, I can still walk, I'm grateful. Right? I I could still go make my own meal, I'm grateful. I can see, I'm grateful. I can you know, like so think of something that maybe someone else wishes they had that you have. Don't look at somebody in front of you and say, Oh, they got everything. What's that?

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Or look at what where you were before. Because I was just gonna say that. I was going there.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Yes, yes, and look at where you've been and where you are today, because I'm telling you, if you take the time to track where you were and where you are, you are going to see the significant growth. And maybe some of you are like, no, no, no, I I'm I'm a lot worse than I used to be. That could be true, but it doesn't mean that you have to stay there. You also have the decision to shift it and move forward. And I think that that's what it is too. We all have to take responsibility for ourselves, and you can't blame your family and your family history and who did what to you when. You have got to take control and take the reins of your own life and be grateful for what you have right now. And when you are given a little and you're grateful for the little, more will be given to you. I really believe that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Out of that, those are Jesus' words. Um, the parable of the coins, right? I know that one has a lot of names, but it's so true. And it's it's really about our perspective, right? It's not that we're that there's new things coming in, it's about the gratitude, learning to practice gratitude, especially when things are going well, is so that we can remember to notice because it is

Practical Gratitude And Perspective Shifts

SPEAKER_01 16:05

so easy for things to just become what it is, right? Like you get a new job and you are so excited, but now you have a lot more work. Um, and then it's more stressful, and you're like, oh, right. Um, and so it's it's all the little things, and even just thinking it down to your point. Um, when there was moments where I was like, I don't know what to be grateful for, um, I started getting really technical and I started trying to find the smallest, you know, detail. And so even if it was the fact that the combination of gases in our atmosphere was exactly correct so that we could breathe. Because if there's too many hydrogen atoms, we die. If there's too much CO2, we die, right? We can't even breathe. And so just the fact that we have that, and that we are just far enough away from the sun, and you know, and so there's tiny little things, and what things that are like totally out of my control that I can be grateful for the greens in the trees. Like, if you look at all there's so many different greens, and you look at different trees, and you get to experience that, or the smells, you know, like remembering just smelling your coffee, smelling the grass, smelling after the rain, you know, just all the time, smelling a baby. Baby smells so good. Apparently, that's what like your inside smell like, like the inside of the uterus. That's what a baby smells like. And so we smell really good. Our uterus smells really good. That's like, you know, like the food, right? And that's the thing that we smell, and we're like, oh my god, that smells so good. And that comes from us. Um, and so just all those little beautiful tiny details. Um, I like to remind myself because gratitude saved my life. Uh like I I tell everybody that if I hadn't figured this out, I don't know where I'd be. Um, you know, there is scientific evidence, like it it changes things inside of our body, like pain, we feel it less. Healing happens more, it happens faster. And these are not just like woo-woo, like, oh my god, it's true. Like documented scientific fact. And so, yes, gratitude and joy. Now, you had mentioned everything that you're talking about, is fantastic. I'm loving this conversation.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

And you had mentioned that you had a very special gift

Free Resources And How To Connect

SPEAKER_01 18:25

for my audience. So, can you tell us a little bit about that? I know you already mentioned the quiz, but you had told me something else.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

So, oh, yeah, yeah. So, there is um, for those of you who are listening and maybe you want to do some sort of service-based business or coaching business, there's a free ebook that I have written that actually gives you all the steps that you need to get started. So it's called Elevate Your Wisdom to Wealth. And it's taking like all of the things that you have done, all of the all of the skill sets that you have. It even asks you a couple of spiritual questions on there, but it also gives you frameworks like, okay, who's your ideal avatar? Who do you want to go to? How do you find them? Where do you go for that? How do you market yourself? All that. So I took um basically my coaching program, and I just uh condensed it as much as I could um to give people a heads up. So those of you who are really like wanting to, hey, let me see if I actually am on the right track, or maybe I want to start this coaching business, but I don't know what I want to do. I really highly recommend that you get it and you know do the exercises. There's a bunch of exercises. I mean, it's really in detail. And it's called Elevate Your Wisdom to Wealth. And you can get that on my shop actually, which is shop.ninaPerez.com. So Nina is N-E-E-N-A Perez.com. And there's a bunch of stuff on there too. There's um, you know, there's some um masterclasses that are free that are on there, there's some other free resources. All my stuff is on that shop. So if you go on there, shop.nina Perez.com, you'll find it. And please use it. A lot of people have written back to me, told me how much they've had good success with it. So go for it. It's all yours.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yay, that's amazing. Thank you so much. You're welcome. And of course. And um for those of us who would love to connect with you on social media, how can we stay in touch with you?

SPEAKER_00 20:10

So you find me anywhere on Nina Perez, literally anywhere. And you can also find me at straight talk no sugar added. So either one. You can find me the either one.

unknown 20:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Awesome. And we just like you're that's like the the title we type into social media to find.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

Okay. And it'll you'll find me everywhere. Yeah. And right now I'm actually working on a big project because I'm I've been a chef for 20 years. Um,

Purpose Filled Kitchen And Final Tip

SPEAKER_00 20:32

and I am uh launching a new YouTube channel called the Purpose Filled Kitchen, which is basically cooking and coaching. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Oh my gosh, that is so fun. I love cooking. I love, yes, I'm in Miami, so I love all kinds of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

I love Miami. Yay. Um, and so that sounds delicious and very informative. Um, so I love that. Um, I'll be on the lookout for that. Um, now before we sign off, yes, of course. Um, I'd like to know what's your biggest tip? Like, what's that big tip that you give your audience that gives them the biggest aha moment? We want you to give it away here.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Yeah, you know, I I just want you to acknowledge that um you have to have awareness that you do have an inner war going on. All of us do, right? Self-awareness is gonna be the beginning of your spiritual authority. So if you're going through something inside of you and it's something that's really like, yeah, but I don't think I'm good enough, you know, this enough, that enough, skinny enough, tall enough, whatever enough, whatever the enough thing the world told you. That is to me a deep war that needs to be brought forward. So you need to sit in it and actually acknowledge it. Okay, thank you for being here. What is the benefit of this thing coming up for you and how do we shift it? Okay, so you got to be intentional. Don't just let thoughts come and sit there and and you know, uh cause a disaster in your day. Actually be intentional about what it is you are going to ponder and think about, all right? Because I believe that that is really where your spiritual authority is going to begin, where you start to be self-aware of what it is that you are believing that might not even be true. All right. So take the time to be intentional. That's my tip for the day.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

I love that. Yeah, we can't we can't fix what we don't know what it is. So the first thing you have to do is acknowledge. Yeah. Um, and that's such a common theme on this show. Um, yes, that's so yes, you're you're dead on. We love it. Um, this has been absolutely amazing, Nina. Thank you so much for joining us today. You are just a wealth of just absolutely wonderful info. Um, and you're so radiant and joyful. I love that. So thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Appreciate you so much, Nicole. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Of course, and thank you guys for joining us. We'll catch you guys next time on the next episode of Overcome Yourself the Podcast. Bye.