Conversations with Erika Shepard

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erika Shepard.

Hi Erika, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My road to a public speaker, heart-led consultant, and holistic nurse practitioner is a windy one! It all began back when I was an undergrad at Arizona State University. I had already switched my major TWICE and had trouble deciding on which direction to go since so much fascinated me. The idea of nursing came to me through a family member and decided to try that. I ended up loving it! I always loved helping people, and then being a self-proclaimed geek I was able to study science, the human body, and human experience. It was the best of all worlds for me.

I took an even less traveled road by becoming a psychiatric nurse. I spent years working on psych wards in hospitals, and even a year working with the prison population. For two years, I worked in the neurotrauma ICU but found my passion was mental and emotional health. In 2014, I decided to go back to school to obtain my master’s degree in family nurse practitioner at Georgetown University. Throughout my nursing career, I got introduced to holistic medicine approaches. These enabled me to heal undiagnosable autoimmune symptoms that I had suffered from on and off my whole life and decided that it was my calling to be holistic in my approaches going forward, not simply prescribing medication.

In 2017, I had HUGE life changes and decided I needed to take a break from conventional medicine. I asked myself, “What would bring me joy right now?” I threw away the “shoulds” and I ran Airbnb out of my house, got a part-time job with the airlines, traveled the world as a newly single woman, and while I did all of that I got trained in mind-body medicine, and theta energy healing. The whole time, I had a big smile on my face. I was doing life my way, and no one else’s. In 2018, I started my private mind-body practice called Inner Fire Wellness. For 3 years, I practiced only these holistic healing modalities and saw people (including myself) heal deeper than I ever knew possible.

I then had a calling to start serving “one to many” and got really quiet with that. What I couldn’t shake was, “You need to speak and consult, and reach people in a one-to-many model.” So in 2020, I turned Inner Fire Wellness into Erika Shepard LLC, turned my practice and healing modalities into online courses, and became a public speaker. No biggie. Then divinely met my business partner in 2021 and we Co-Founded Vibrana Consulting where we bring well-BEing into corporations and organizations. This year also brought the calling to go back into conventional medicine holistically, and so I am in the process of working again in telemedicine! Just a few minor changes along the way, ha!

My career put me in a front-row seat to human heartbreak but also had me witness the beauty and power of what the heart is capable of when it’s open for authentic connection. That is the center of everything I do from speaking to consulting, to nursing… connection. It’s why we are here. I have come to find that mental and emotional health starts with heart health! Our hearts need to experience a connection to ourselves and each other. That is why I founded the Capable Hearts Movement. Love and care can’t be known, they need to be experienced. This movement is meant to bring us back to one another.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh heck no, this journey has felt like the hike I took up to the base camp of Mt. Everest back in 2019. It’s been windy, rocky, unpredictable, hopeless at times, intense at times, calm at others, while at the same time being the most expansive, beautiful, empowering, and the rewarding journey I could ever imagine.

The struggles of being an entrepreneur who is a single woman have been that of learning boundaries around my time, energy, and resources, and then getting exposure so people know who you are.

I am a giver, it’s my nature, AND I had to learn how to say “no” to what wasn’t serving me, and “yes” to what would. It got to a point in my business that had a full schedule of clients weekly with a 2-month waiting list. I would see clients all throughout the week and also be managing my Airbnb, writing blogs and content, dating, traveling.

Ah! Even though SO many good things were happening, I had to learn how to REST. Do nothing. And as a single/solo entrepreneur that can be both foreign AND scary! If I don’t do it, who will? But making that a priority has made life so much easier, more fruitful, and productive when I need to be productive.

Another struggle has been finding ways to get the word out and build the brand in a way that feels GOOD. There are so many “how to grow your business” tips, books, and articles. Here is what I have come to learn (because I have done it ALL). Do what feels really freaking good. If it doesn’t feel good, it’s probably not your right path or strategy.

Learning to grow my business from my inner intuition and deep knowing versus listening to everyone telling me what I should do has stopped a lot of the struggle. It is my invitation to other business owners to do the same! Take what works for you and feels good and go with it. Leave behind what doesn’t.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Primarily now, I work by using my voice and speaking! Whether it is me giving a keynote, a lunch and learn, or doing a workshop with my business partner in Vibrana Consulting working with organizations and teams, I am very passionate about transforming audiences’ well-being, particularly their emotional well-being, through public speaking. Because of my career in medicine and healing, specializing in optimizing emotional well-being holistically, I am able to speak on these topics to audiences to help create lasting transformation within the audience members.

In particular, I inspire, empower, and empower professionals in high-pressure work environments to connect deeper to themselves and their relationships to unlock their passion and potential. I truly believe people have the answers to their own problems, and the keys to unlock the answers for what they want and desire in life. It has been my experience that with safe space and authentic connection, people can reach those answers within themselves.

What I am most proud of are the connections I make with people. Storytelling is a big part of my speaking style, and so when I vulnerably share parts of my story and people can connect and see themselves in it, have lightbulbs go off about what to do for themselves, and make impactful change because of that, it’s pretty cool. That’s connection doing its magic, and I am proud to be able to serve in that way.

I think what sets me apart from others is my raw authenticity. What you see is what you get. I put myself out there and am not afraid to be all of the parts of me anymore. I am the pierced and tattooed nurse who speaks and works in organizations with big goals and dreams, and I help give others permission to show up in the same way for themselves. I don’t play small.

What makes you happy?
I think an even deeper way to answer this is by letting you know what brings me JOY!

I love traveling the world and have been to all of the continents now except Antarctica. I love road trips, hiking, camping, luxury, adventure, whatever! As long as it involves fun and good people, I am there. I enjoy singing and took lessons for the first time 4 years ago! It’s never too late.

Joy for me is also in doing my own nails, curating jaw-dropping fashion from thrift stores, playing with natural beauty products, hot yoga, pilates, moving my body, treating my body to acupuncture or massage, cuddling with my cats or a connected human, good food (pizza forever), and deep conversations!

Contact Info:

• Email: hey@erikashepard.com
• Website: www.erikashepard.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/mserikashepard
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/mserikashepard

Image Credits
Julia Fay Photography and Milkshop Photo