Unlocking Authentic Leadership with Kim Romain: Embracing Embodiment and Alignment

In this episode of the Passionistas Project, sisters Amy and Nancy Harrington interview Kim Romain, founder of the Rising Visionaries. Kim is a soulful strategist who helps purpose-driven leaders align their work, wellbeing, and impact without compromising their values. She discusses her passionate commitment to humanity, her journey through various careers, including law and nonprofit work, and her focus on embodied leadership.

Kim introduces her unique approach, the Alchemy of Ease, which emphasizes embodiment, alignment, sovereignty, and expansion. She also talks about the Strength Scape self-mastery profile, guiding people in reconnecting with their true selves, and the importance of having courageous, purpose-driven conversations. The episode concludes with Kim's dream for herself and humanity, centered around exploration, belonging, and love.

Listen to the full episode HERE.

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ON THIS EPISODE

[00:21] Meet Kim Romain: A Soulful Strategist

[01:29] Kim's Early Influences and Realizations

[02:57] A Journey Through Diverse Career Paths

[05:23] Transition to Nonprofit Sector

[07:18] The Click Moments: Finding True Purpose

[10:25] Embodiment and Alignment: The Alchemy of Ease

[17:47] Tools for Reconnecting with Self

[20:15] Authentic Leadership in Practice

[23:02] Embracing Authenticity in  Leadership

[23:33] Introducing the Strength Scape Self-Mastery Profile

[24:25] The Mechanics Behind Strength Scape

[30:33] Guiding Through Group Conversations

[34:05] Purpose-Driven Leadership for the Future

[37:21] Navigating Retrograde Seasons

[39:37] Empowered and Embodied Show [41:47] Personal Toolbox Essentials

[44:05] Dreams for the Future

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Passionistas: Hi, we're sisters Amy and Nancy Harrington, the founders of the Passionistas Project, an inclusive sisterhood where women find support, purpose, and empowerment. On each episode, we share stories of passion-driven women who are breaking barriers and redefining success. Today we're joined by Kim Romain, a soulful strategist and founder of the Rising Visionaries. She helps purpose-driven leaders align their work, wellbeing, and impact without betraying their values or burning out through deep conversations and powerful guidance. She clears the noise so they can lead with ease, clarity, and unshakeable self-trust. So please welcome Kim Romain. We're so excited to have this conversation with you today.

Kim: I'm so excited to be here. Thanks so much for inviting me.

Passionistas: Oh, our absolute pleasure. Um, so Kim, what are you most passionate about? Hmm.

Kim: I am most passionate about people. Um, that is really, since I was little, little, little, um, I knew that I was driven by being not, not always around people 'cause I am an introvert, but I'm driven by like, and really passionate about humanity and making sure that every person, um, feels as welcomed, um, and encouraged to be themselves as possible.

Passionistas: So how did you realize that when you were little, that you had that, um, that spark and did your parents, were your parents like that?

Kim: So my mom was, um, uh, one of the founding members of the National Organization for Women in the city that we lived in or in the town that we lived in. So, uh, I definitely grew up the daughter of an advocate.

Um, and, and learned a lot along the way. Um, by just seeing her, um, my dad many years later, I was 25 when, um, he came out.

So my, my dad is gay and, um, and yet always knew, um, right. I kinda always knew. Um, but having, having parents that were. Somewhat open. Dad wasn't always open, but somewhat open about who they are and what their beliefs are.

Definitely gave me the foundation to understand that we all have a right to believe. What we believe, um, particularly as it supports the greater good, the, the whole of humanity. Um, so yeah, so I think that's how I kind of knew when I was little. And then I was also really blessed with some amazing teachers who taught me about, um, civil rights and about humanistic movements and about different, even different types of religion in a very, very open kind of way.

Um, and so, yeah, it's always been something that I've, I've followed.

Passionistas: That's amazing. So as a kid, what did you wanna be when you grew up? Did you know where your path was heading?

Kim: Absolutely not. Nope. I wanted to be. So, uh, I am in human design world. I'm a manny gen, uh, manifesting generator, so that means we're multi- passionate. Um, so as a child, I wanted to be an actress. I wanted to be a restaurateur. I wanted to be a writer, and I wanted to be, um, do something with horses. That's all I knew. I have not all at the same time. Yeah, all the same. Well, and I've been to, let's see, I have my undergrad in theater, so there we go. I, I actually went in the directing and stage management direction there.

Did a little bit of riding too. Um, I did a lot with horses when I was in high school. Um, I have worked in restaurants, didn't ever become a restaurateur, but do love cooking. Um, and, um. Yeah, I think I've, I've kind of blended different things in throughout my life because that's what I do. I just kind of pull out those threads. And then I was an attorney for a while, so, you know, you, I just kind of followed different paths.

Passionistas: So how did you end up the attorney route?

Kim: How did I end up the attorney route? So I was, um, what was I doing when, oh, I was, I was in the tech sector. Um, I was. Very early on doing backend web development. And I fell into that because I was just interested with how they worked and I was good with language and I had been asked if I could help do some things for, do some writing for, for some of these websites.

And then I was like, Ooh, how's that done? So I wanted to understand, so I learned, so I was in the tech sector and I was hired by a number of attorneys to start working on their websites. Um, and. As I was having more and more conversations with them, they were like, you know, you should really be doing our work, right?

Not that work you should be doing our work with. 'cause I would go in and I would talk about what I'm passionate about, what are the changes, what's happening in the world. Um, and I heard it enough. That it, it swayed me to take the LSATs. Uh, I did very well on it and got an opportunity, uh, to move closer to my family in Chicago.

I was living in Arizona at the time and, uh, so yeah, the rest is history.

Passionistas: Wow. How did that lead you into the world of nonprofits?

Kim: That was an easy one. I have been involved with the nonprofit sector since I was 12. When I sat on my first junior board. Um, I have volunteered or sat on boards of directors, um, since then.

Um, it was nonstop. And when I was practicing law, one of the areas that I practiced in was nonprofit law. So, uh, I, I did a lot with nonprofit law, a lot with civil rights, and it was. When I got tired of dealing with the other attorneys every day, uh, it was a really easy transition to say, where can I use my skills in nonprofit management?

And then it was just a matter of finding organizations that I wanted to be aligned with. Yeah.

Passionistas: And what types of organizations were you drawn to?

Kim Romain: So a lot of civil rights organizations, and that led me to working with, um, with children's rights and, um, children's organizations, children's focused organizations that actually then led me into nonprofit education.

Um, and I found. Again, a place that I was really passionate about. I fell into the Montessori world. Um, I had just had a baby when that happened and so my, my now 15-year-old, um, started her educational, um, process in the Montessori world. And that has been something that even though I'm not. There anymore.

I don't take part in the school anymore. I'm still very much an advocate of, uh, the pedagogy and really think that it's something that, um, more people could benefit from. Yeah.

Passionistas: So, um, I. Was there a moment? Clearly you've been through many phases here, a couple, as have we, seems to be a predominant, uh, characteristic of a lot of our Passionistas. Um, but was there a moment along this journey that it all clicked for you? Like, this is, this is where I'm meant to be.

Kim: I think it was a series of clicks. It was, it was right. Click here, click here, click here. Um, the first click was when I left the practice of law and went into nonprofit. Um, and it really, um, the click there, it was a very strong click that I needed to be in impact, impact driven space law can be that that was not, um, my, my experience didn't feel very as impactful as I wanted it to be. Um, so, or, and the impact was in the, in the wrong direction. So the first click was when I went into the nonprofit sector. The next click was when I started, um, moonlighting in the nonprofit sector.

Even though I had a day job in the nonprofit sector, I was also doing other work for very small organizations and trying, uh, to support them in, in finding their footing and finding their audience and finding their boards. And so that clicked again, a little deeper, that consultative space, um, that guide space, that advisory space.

And then it clicked again when I left the nonprofit sector and started my business and, and I was trying to replicate who I was and what I saw when I was in the business world. And that was the loudest click where it was like, no, that's not what you're supposed to be doing. You know that. And so that was the big click that kinda landed into, okay.

I need to actually show up in the way that I, I know I can most successfully run my business. And then that led me to working with people to help them do the same.

Passionistas: And what does that look like, the way you think, you know, the way you wanted to show up? How is that different?

Kim: Yeah, it was from a place of connection, place of embodiment. Um, so really that's the, all of the other aspects that I bring into my business. It all starts from our connection to ourself. Um, and we lose that connection through staying focused, cognitively staying focused on what do we think? Right. How can we think our way, our logic, our way through everything? Um, and that is a huge disservice to this beautiful body that we walk around with every day.

It's not meant to just, you know, get it in shape and have it eat right and all of that. And that's, you know, part of caring for it. But it also carries a tremendous amount of wisdom, and that wisdom gets shut off, right? Literally cut off at the neck. And so. What I had learned with each of those clicks that I talked about, I was also becoming more and more, uh, embodied through each process.

I was coming back to myself in a deeper and deeper way. And so when I step into spaces supporting others, now whether it's a team, whether it's a group, or whether it's an individual, it's. First, from that place of embodiment, where can we come back to our body for the wisdom that's in our body so we can know what decisions we're supposed to make, how to align ourselves with the right work, the right partners, the right whatever for ourselves. Again, in service of ourselves, but also in service of humanity.

Passionistas: Uh, so how do you help people do that? What's the process?

Kim: Um, the process is, so I, um, came up with this thing called the Alchemy of ease. And EASE is actually an acronym. Acronym, and it starts with embodiment. That's the first E. Um, the A is alignment and alignment to me is that place we return to.

So we, um, will go out in the world and we'll have experiences and we'll have to keep returning to ourself. It's an ongoing, lifelong thing. So that's that place of alignment. The S is actually a dual S, it's sovereignty, so right ownership of self, that place of personal agency. It's also, there's a little s in there called Simplify because we have a tendency to overcomplicate.

And then that final E is expansion and that is both our own. Personal, both through ourselves, our businesses, that type of expansion, but also that expansion into the greater collective and how our energy, how when we are lead, leading through ease, when we're living in ease, then that ripples out into the world and more people can pick up on that energy and pick up on the ease for themselves.

Passionistas: So when people come to you and start working with you. Mm-hmm. What's step one?

Kim: Step one is to introduce themselves to their body. Introduce themselves to how to listen to it, how to, um, touch it. Right? We very often don't even have the capacity to touch our bodies without recoiling. Very often my clients show up and when I'm like, when I say, okay, what would feel good in your body in this moment?

They don't know. They can't come up with that answer, and so it really is coming. First and foremost, through that place of how do we reconnect to self because we've turned that off for so long, that until we can turn that back on, and until we can have that, that communication, that connection, we can't do, we really can't successfully do any of the other work.

We can't come to that place of alignment because we're not aligning to anything. We can't come to that place of sovereignty because what are we sovereign over? So we're not being able to make decisions in our businesses that feel good, that are sustainable. You know, many of my businesses are, are, uh, social impact businesses.

They're nonprofits, um, nonprofit leaders, nonprofit founders, and they show up just needing to make money so that they can pay payroll, so that they can know that they're gonna be able to be around to support their, um, clientele a year from now, three months from now. What happens is the leaders are actually showing up completely dissociated from themselves.

They're not connected to themselves, their leadership teams aren't connected to themselves. And when, when they're walking around in this de deregulated right dysregulated state where they, their nervous systems are janky, lack of a better word, um, when, when they're feeling stress and overwhelm and burnout constantly.

There's no way you can make a like you. The logic isn't there. You can't make the decisions that are good for you and good for your organization. So the very first thing we do is we like, just take a breath. How? How does it feel like, yeah, I get it. You're not sure where the money's gonna come in next month.

Are we going? Like, is that Grant gonna land? Okay. Why are we even looking at grants? Grants keep you in a dysregulated state.

How else can you make money for your organization? Yeah, we're gonna answer those questions, but we have to answer them from a state of regulation. And so that's, that is where we start.

And what we get to is we get to answer all those questions and we get to find that clarity, but we do it from a place that we can return to over and over again.

Passionistas: Yeah. What is it about us, our society, whatever that gets us. To that place. Why are we all so disassociated?

Kim: Oh, that's a loaded question. Um, so let's, let's talk about what's been going on for at least the last 20 years, right?

Long, probably longer than that. I lost track of time, but so much of our lives is played out on these computers. We're playing them out in, in social media, we're playing them out in, in news cycles that are constant. We're playing them out in these, these horrible competitions. We're playing them out in, um, reality TV.

We're playing, right? All this crap is happening in the world, and it used to be right. Keeping up with the Joneses, quote unquote, was one thing. Now we're keeping up with the Joneses and the Smiths and the right, whoever's all around the world because we're, we're constantly chasing something, but we have no idea what we're chasing.

We're just chasing, and the state of the world that we're in is also creating more noise. Now some of that noise is very real noise, very, very real noise. That that is dysregulating in and of itself. And a lot of that noise is also intentionally there to keep us from being able to regulate.

We're not meant like they don't want us to, to feel. Okay. They being, you know, we can go there, we can talk about the patriarchy, we can talk about those that, that are in leadership. We could talk about, like, we can go to all those places.

And absolutely talk about what the agenda there is 'cause there's a massive agenda. And yeah, we're, for us to even be able to think about where we want to be a year from now scares the hell out of most people.

Passionistas: So are you, it's interesting. So in terms of the patriarchy since you brought, yeah. Um, are you finding women are having a harder time connecting to themselves than men? Or is this…

Kim: No. Um, I think women and those who identify as women are finding it easier to say, I'm not connected and I don't like it. I think those that identify with men or as men who are.

Nonplussed by what's happening are going to be the last ones to say there's a problem. They don't have to be connected to themselves. And quite frankly, I think if they were, they probably wouldn't be okay with what's going on. Right?

Passionistas: Yeah. Yeah. So what are some of the tools to help us connect?

Kim: Great question. Um, the, the first tool is breath. It's absolutely breath. Um, we stop breathing all the time. We, we hold our breath, um, literally and figuratively. We're, we are holding our breath. And when we can be conscious and intentional about taking breath, right? Something as simple as, and I know I have to do this from time to time.

It's, it's, I, I. Don't recognize how shallow my breath is, and so retraining ourselves. So right. If you get up to go to the bathroom and get up to, you know, get a cup of coffee or a glass of water or something, take a deep breath and then take a second one, and then take a third one, and just practice breathing.

That in and of itself, like brings you back into your body. So breath is a huge one. Touch I mentioned before. I was talking to a friend of mine and she, when she first, uh, wakes up in the morning, she will actually, um, greet herself with some gentle, loving touch, right? She says it's kind of, you know, sometimes it's hard in the morning 'cause you have to get up, you have to go to the bathroom, and so it doesn't happen every day.

The way that I do it is actually either in or right after the shower and it's, it is reconnecting myself to myself. It is, it's sensual in the best way to be sensual. Right? Take the sexuality out of it completely. It is about being in, in contact skin to skin contact with yourself. I mean, we, we tell people to do this with their newborns, right?

You have baby put skin to skin, but we don't do skin to skin for ourselves. And so it is a beautiful way. To just reconnect with yourself and remind you that you're here. And, oh, by the way, heal a lot of wounds that we have around, like right, our bodies and, and how we, we dislike and, and, and trash our bodies all the time.

But just giving our, some, some gentle touch. Those are two really easy, really easy things that we have access to at any time of any day. Uh.

Passionistas: Yeah. Um, so you talk a lot about authentic leadership. What does that look like right now for you and for your clients?

Kim: Well, it's authentic, so it's gonna look different for all of us. Um, yeah, the, I, authenticity is one of those buzzwords that I think gets misused because I think when people talk about be your authentic self, they're not actually. Wanting you to be yourself. Right? I don't know who they want you to be, but not you. Um, and that's where, again, it's, it's coming. It's knowing who you are.

It's slowing down long enough. It's doing the work that is ongoing work because we're constantly evolving. To come back and say, who am I and what, and what is important to me? So, um, one of my clients, uh, nonprofit leader, she is, she is a mama bear. If I've ever met a mama bear, I mean this. She treats all of her employees like they're her kids.

And as you can imagine, that gets her also into a lot of trouble as a leader. Because, oh, it's just mom, right? When they don't wanna follow through on what she says. So one of the things that we're working on is how can you still be that loving, caring, right? That beautiful mama bear energy and have your staff take what you say seriously.

And so we've been working on what does that look like for boundaries? What does that look like for you to say no and mean no. Right, where you don't have to become somebody, you're not, she's never gonna be the person who is like, well, yeah, it's easy. I'm gonna just fire you today, or Right. It's, it's not, that's never gonna be who Deb is, but the, the person she is, is also struggling to lead her organization in a way that the organization needs.

And so to me that, that being an authentic leader means knowing yourself really, really well. Knowing what is okay to say. That's probably not how I have to show up fully here, right? We don't wanna fragment and bifurcate ourselves all over the place. And what aspects of self can we pull forward when and where, and understanding that more deeply.

Um, it's, it's um, just like with everything, it's always evolving and it's a dance. Because we don't, we do wanna bring, so I very often talk about, um, the, the strategic and the soulful, right? When I am in one of the board meetings for this particular organization, I'm leading with the strategic.

That's what they've hired me to do.

That's who I am for this organization. If I notice the energy of the room is off, I'm not gonna ignore it. I'm gonna say, I feel the energy is off in this room. Can we all just take a step back and take a deep breath so that we can come back into our bodies? So here I am bringing the soulful in, in a very authentic way, and I'm bringing the strategic forward in a very authentic way. Does that answer what, what you were,

Passionistas: Yeah. So talk a little bit about, um, the Strength Scape self-mastery profile.

Kim: Yeah, absolutely. So Strength Scape is something that is, oh, it's my baby. Um, it is, it came to me one day. Okay, so here's talk about AU authenticity. Um, I love Dungeons and Dragons. I have played d and d my whole life.

And, um, I was running a campaign a few years ago. And also working with my clients on all these different assessment tools that we've been using. And I looked at my character sheet and I'm like, why don't we have this as a human being, as a leader, why don't we have something that I, we can simply point to and say, oh, those are my strengths, those are my powers.

This is where, um, you know, if, if I get stabbed with poison, I'm instantly dead, kind of thing. Right. And so I started looking at where all of the assessments were, uh, overlapping, where they were aligned, where they were pushing against each other. And then I threw in their human design. 'cause I love playing with human design.

And I said, okay, human design. Our human design doesn't actually change. We're affected by transits throughout the year, but it doesn't change. All of these other assessments could change. Right. Our MBTI or our 16 personalities, our Clifton strengths, our even our Enneagram, like all that can shift. And what I realized after a couple of years of playing with these, these different things together was that all of those assessments are showing how we have conditioned ourselves or how we have, um, adapted ourselves.

To show up either how we think we need to or who we think we are, but it's not a hundred percent who we are. And when we put that against our human design, we have now better questions to ask to say, how do I bring myself back into alignment? So that's, that's kinda the mechanics behind, right? What Strength Scapes is.

And it really is a tool for individuals, for teams, for organizations to look at where we are, how we're showing up, what's working for us, and what we've kind of created and adapted for ourselves. And what questions can we ask to keep bringing ourselves back to that deeper place of alignment? And how can we support others in, in the form of groups and teams?

How can we support others by ask, continuing to ask those questions. Right. Like a client of mine today just sent me a text and said, okay, here's everything that's going on. It, it was a, you know, full meltdown.

Everything that you could imagine was going wrong is going wrong. And they just said, tell me what I'm not seeing.

Because I'm really tired of learning these lessons. I'm like, well, friend, I'm sorry to tell you, but we're always learning the same lessons over and over again. Let me remind you in your chart, and let me also remind you, these are the tools, right? These are the ways that you've said that you are in the world.

Is there something there that you can pull on? 'cause you have honed those skills. You've honed the skills of being somebody who, right. Has a strong strategic side through the Clifton strengths. You've al. You're also somebody who's designed to be very emotional. So how can those two work together for you?

And that's right. That's that opportunity to come back to self in a very authentic way and to then be able to move forward, sideways or backwards. Which way is best for the moment?

Passionistas: And how often do you, uh, do people reevaluate that? You said certain elements of that can change, can change, modalities can change. So what's the process?

Kim: Yeah, so as we have, you know, when we look at what that initial kind of, um, where you are. If there's any major change in your life, you've changed your job, you've changed your business, you've gotten married, you've gotten divorced, you've had a kid, those are really good times to start looking at those higher level assessments and say, is there any new information we could get here?

Sometimes that's really important because we, we feel off. Again, I will say for the most part, the upper, um, assessments. Carry less weight as we move through, um, because we don't need to lean on, um, the, uh. I wanna say the type, the, the, the, um, delineation of who we think we need to be, right? I take 16 personalities.

Oh, I'm an INFP. I know exactly what that means, by the way. I don't like nobody does. We, we take it and we go, that's who I am, and then we don't do anything with it. So. But we lean on that and we say that that's how I define myself. We don't need to define ourselves anymore. So while we can go back and re retest, and I've had several that have, I find that to be less helpful than saying, what have you already learned through that process?

Passionistas: Yeah. Makes sense. What do you think surprises people the most when they go through this profile process?

Kim: Um, ooh. Wow. The, I think what is really, one client I think said it the best. My energy is a whole vibe. Like, I think that's the thing is when they see it and they see how clear it is, what a vibe they actually have and like that's your vibe.

I think that's the thing that they walk away with and and know now how to integrate it into their lives. It's not just, again, it's not just having that definition of self. It's actually being able to say, oh, this is who I am and this is how I keep showing up, and how I keep learning about myself because it's not so strength scape is.

Right. It, it's chunky. It has a lot of information. It is a resource and it is something for you to continue to work with it. It's, it's, um, right, you can take the report and, and go off and, and do that on your own. You can do that with support for myself or others, but working with it continuously is what's going to allow you to.

Keep that vibe as you're moving through it. But yeah, I think it's that place of man that's, yeah, that's really cool. That's that and not cool in terms of, um, that's neat. I learned that about myself, but like, something that you really want, you wanna wear it every day. It's that piece of jewelry that you got that you never wanna stop wearing because it, it fills you.

Passionistas: That's beautiful. Um, we have been fortunate enough to come to a few of your group meetups that you host that are lovely, and we've also talked after them about being leaders of communities during let's time we're in right now in the world. And aligning not just your work and wellbeing, but also bringing the social impact element into that.

So how are you approaching guiding people through these kinds of group conversations? Um, the last one we were in with you, people were very stressed out about the world. You know, they were all really just laying it on the table and it was beautiful. It was very open and, and vulnerable. Um, how are you as a facilitator? Leading people through those kinds of conversations during this challenging time?

Kim: Yeah. Well, I'm, for one, I'm grateful that they're willing to have the conversations right, that the, and that the space is comfortable enough, I don't wanna say safe, because sometimes it doesn't always feel safe, but comfortable enough that they can bring their, their full selves to the table.

As a facilitator, it's really important to me to gauge the energy of the room. If there are certain individuals that are dictating the conversation, um, there I openly, I don't, I try not to do it. 'cause most, they're all virtual, um, or most of 'em are virtual. Um, I try not to do it in chat. I try and do it, you know, verbally and, and, um, visually.

Really to guide and to invite other voices to the table because I think that is the most important thing when we're having these challenging conversations is everybody's gonna feel something. The emotions are thick and deep. And again, I'm gonna lean a little bit on human design here. I'm, I'm emotionally defined, which means that I have the ability to hold that emotional space for those that are in the room.

So if there is somebody who is feeling that I sense is really feeling a lot in that moment, um, I can guide the conversation a little bit to temper that while not squashing it. And it's, it's, I think, has, I, we need to see the emotion. We don't wanna squash the emotion. We also don't want it to become. A single person conversation.

We want it to actually be a dialogue. Um, and, and having the awareness of whose voices are not being heard and inviting those to the table as much as possible. Um, and also honoring those that don't want to be heard in that moment and that want to just take it in because that also, many, many people just show up because they wanna be in community and they're open to hearing the dialogue and they're getting something from hearing it.

But speaking is not. It doesn't feel safe in that moment or doesn't feel aligned, and so we wanna honor that too. So it's, yeah, it's going person by person and just really trying to, as much as I can, um, feel into, uh, intuitively feel into what's, what's happening in the room.

Passionistas: Yeah. I love that we have the same philosophy in our community. It's like, if you don't wanna speak, you don't have to. We don't wanna force anyone to do anything they're uncomfortable with. As introverts, we totally relate to that.

Kim: Me too.

Passionistas: Yeah. So what's your vision for how purpose- driven leadership will transform the workplace in the next No, 10 years?

Kim: Um, I, I believe that we are all going to become more mission driven, um, as individuals. Um, I think the way the world is changing and the speed at which it's changing, um, is going to force us, um, lovingly with a guiding hand on our lower back, hopefully, um, to, to become more mission driven as individuals and. As leaders understanding that the mission of our organization, if it's in alignment with our, with our mission as a leader, fantastic, but it isn't always.

And so to be able to hold the space for both of those, who am I as a leader? What is my mission as a leader? What is my mission here on this planet during this time? Then what is the mission of the organization that I'm working with and for, and the people that I'm working with and for, and how can I hold those two things simultaneously?

That comes a lot from, like I just answered in the last question, right? That place of intuitive knowing I. And really honing those skills of being able to read the room right energetically. Um, being able to read the room just in terms of body language, in terms of tonality, reading the room in terms of who's in the room.

I. Um, and the room doesn't have to be in this meeting, but in the room in terms of your organization, in the room, in terms of, of Right, who are we actually bringing into the conversation? Um, and, um, there's gonna be a lot of, there's, we've already seen so much pushback, um, on, well, that's not important.

What's important is the best person wins or whatever nonsense is, is being said now. Um, I think that's why it's so much more. More important that we lean into what is my mission. Um, we are entering a time that is going to bring us back to ourselves as, as our own individual, knowing our own individual wisdom as being the most important compass for us.

And that's gonna be really uncomfortable for those that want to lead us through propaganda.

Because the more of us that step into, that's not my mission, right? That that doesn't smell right, that doesn't feel right. That's not my mission. That's not what I'm here for. And turning away from it, then that machine can't continue to survive.

And that's what we'll see, right? I think we're in a really interesting time. I mean, it's, you said 10 years and I'm like, woo, let's get through the next. And funny, most people will end up say, well, let's get through the next four. I'm like. That, like, I'm not even talking about that. Like let's get through the next two energetically and see what happens.

Passionistas: Yeah, I'll be happy to, happy to hit 2026.

Kim: Right? Exactly right.

Passionistas: With the way we're going, um, so you have a lot of great free resources on your website that. We encourage everyone to go check out. Um, but one of the, the, one of the ones that caught our eye was the retrograde with ease. Um, because I know that we are often saying to ourselves, oh, it's Mercury retrograde. That's what's going on. That's why my computer isn't working. Um, but it's so much more than that, right? So how can people use the retrograde seasons in their lives?

Kim: So, um, I'm not an astrologer. I love to dabble in it, but I'm not an astrologer. What I use retrograde for ease and why I created it is because, because we all do feel crunchy during that time.

And any retrograde, mercury being one of the more common ones that we can actually feel because it's a shorter timeframe. Um. The three weeks, it allows us to use that time to slow down and to do any reword. So, review, revise, um, uh, refinish. Right. Anything that starts with a re it gives us that opportunity to do it again, to slow down and do it again.

That's what retrogrades give us. Um, mercury, retrogrades tend to to enhance areas around communication, but it's not just communication. It's whatever sign it's going through at that time. But it really does give us that opportunity to slow down, take a breath. Redo things, try things in a new way. And so what I do for those three weeks is I send out audio messages that give you a sense of the energy for the day and an activity to experiment with.

It's just about playing and it's one small thing that you can do in 20 minutes or less, um, just or more if you want, but it really is meant to be just a tiny little sip of how you can, again, slow down, come back to yourself. Regulate there's another right reword regulate. How do we get to that place of moving through a time that, again, so many of us are feeling crunchy and do it very intentionally?

Passionistas: Yeah. So you also co-host the Empowered and Embodied Show with Louise Neal. So tell us about your podcast and why you were inspired to start it.

Kim: Yeah, absolutely. So we are, uh, three and a half years into our podcast and we love doing the show together. We actually started it. We were both focused on the world of work, um, in, uh, in the work that we were doing in the world.

And, um, so we started it as conversations about creating kick ass career, creating kick ass work in the world. Um, and through that it evolved to the empowered and embodied show, which we rebranded in 2024, because we realized that we were having conversations that weren't being had elsewhere.

And we want to encourage, particularly women to have these courageous conversations and, um, understand that while it may not feel so great in the moment, while it may feel challenging to get there.

On the other side of the conversation, there is always something else that we get to grow into. Um, and so that's where the, the term empowered and embodied is we're empowering ourselves to have these conversations from an embodied space. Um, we're in our bodies, we're feeling our way through it because if we think our way through it, we're just gonna mess it up every time.

Passionistas: Fair enough. And, um, in that. World's collide way. That seems to keep happening more and more with Passionistas. We actually were just on, in a mastermind with Louise.

Kim Romain: Oh my gosh. I love that.

Passionistas: Right before this, when her, when she popped up on the screen, I was like, oh, we haven't met Louise yet, but I know that name.

Passionistas: And then it's like, oh, you were just writing questions about your, her podcast yesterday. So, um, we haven't actually spoken one-on-one yet, but we literally just met Louise an hour. It's wild. Uh, shout out to Julie DeLuca Collins for her incredible mastermind. Um,

So what's a tool? I mean, you've talked about breathing Yeah and things like that, but what's a tool or practice in your own personal toolbox that you can't live without lately?

Kim: Um. It's interesting 'cause we were talking about this be before, uh, we started the conversation. It it is, it's being in nature. I, I need to have sunshine. We went, we're thankfully out of it.

We went 11 days without sunshine, um, last month and it was so painful. Um, getting out into nature, getting some sunshine, get, feeling the air on my skin, listening to the birds, listening to the leaves. Um, touching a tree, right? Talking about self touch, touch earth, touch trees, love on leaves, whatever you can do.

Um, but yeah, being in nature is something that the minute I feel disconnected, it's like, okay, where do I need to go and how do I need to do that? Yeah. And, and up here, and it's so, so funny. I've been, so, I've been in Canada for four, four years now. Um, yeah. Um, yeah, four years, almost five years. And I'm like, talk about losing track of time and, um.

Up here, the, we have Nordic spas, which is, they're popular in Europe and they're popular throughout Canada. And I guess I just was like, oh, they must've been a thing in the States and I just didn't know it.

Nordic spas talk about going back to nature. You're going in and out of hot and cold spaces, particularly I love going through, uh, into hot water, into cold water, and then just sitting and allowing my body to reregulate.

It is like. An amazing tool to, to help me through these times. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Passionistas: Very cool. So how can people get in touch with you if they wanna work with you?

Kim: Absolutely. Um, the best place is to find me either on LinkedIn 'cause I play around there sometimes. Um, or to come over to my website 'cause that has all the links to wherever else I'm gonna be.

Passionistas: Perfect. And then we have one last two part question. Okay. Which is, what is your dream for yourself and what is your dream for women?

Kim: I am gonna go back to what I started the conversation with saying that I'm passionate about people. So my dream for myself is that I continue to be able to walk on this path where I explore my humanity and I explore the experiences of being a human being, um, amongst over other human beings.

For as many days as as I can. Um, there's a lot of time in my life that I wasn't experiencing, that I was doing the job, that I was doing the things that I was right. Being, being that person versus being really intentional about having a human experience. And so my dream is to continue to just explore what that means for me.

Um, and it changes every day. And my dream for women is, is my dream for humanity, which is for all of us to know that we belong, know that we have a place, know that we're heard and worthy, and seen and loved, um, externally and internally.

Passionistas: Thanks for listening to the Passionistas Project. Since we are not only business partners, but best friends and real life sisters, we know how unique and truly special our situation is. We know so many solopreneurs, activists, women seeking their purpose and more who are out there doing it all on their own. They often tell us they wish they had what we have.

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