[quote cite=”Najami Lezama” align=”aligncenter”][My] mission is to evoke awareness to create wholeness by evoking thought provoking, stimulating conversations that explores our needs and values. [/quote]
My name is Najami Lezama and I am from the island of Trinidad and Tobago.
I live in Brooklyn, New York and have been here since I was 15 years old. I went to Wingate H. School and I graduated from Medgar Evers College with a BA degree in Holistic Motivational Psychology and I am a certified professional life coach. I graduated from coaching program called Leadership That Works-Coaching for Transformation.
I have worked in social services for over 13 years and I presently work as a Substance Abuse Counselor and I am also a CASAC (Certified Alcohol Substance Abuse Counselor”>. I also work as a tutor at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, NY. I tutor English, Psychology and Sociology and developed a coaching program for the students called Academic Coaching Series. The objective is to help students override stinkin thinkin to enhance personal development, academic success, test anxiety and test taking skills.
What inspired you to take this career path?
I am the CEO of Circle of Life Transformation-a Holistic Life Coaching practice. Its brand theme is to Evoke Awareness to Create Wholeness. I work with victims of domestic violence, professional women and students. I am extremely passionate about serving and helping others and I get really, really excited when I am able to see a transformational shift in others. I believe life is a process of becoming and I am being the Being I am born to be.
I realized I was coaching people for most of my life but I was not conscious of it. But as I matured and developed my life and my career path, I realized and discovered my passion in coaching where I became certified and learned skill sets to become a holistic life coach, therefore, since life is a process and a journey, I added more tools to my tool kit so I can live my life on purpose, in purpose, purposefully.
How do you tie in the holistic approach to your teachings?
I believe first and foremost that we are Spiritual Beings having a human experience and we are all here for a purpose. There are some of us who connect with our life purpose and some who do not. I believe that everything we do is all interconnected holistically and everything, everything is about the alchemy of energy. If we realized how powerful our thoughts are, we would never think a negative thought. We would treat ourselves more in high regard and love, creating holistic healthy relationship with ourselves and others.
What is the Bush Wo/Man Conversations Project?
Bush Wo/Man Conversations Project is an extension of Circle of Life Transformation. Its mission is to evoke awareness to create wholeness by evoking thought provoking, stimulating conversations that explores our needs and values.
It’s a platform that promotes healthy conversations between women and men to create holistic relationships and community. It’s a platform that promotes Support, Networking, Fun, Championing, Knowledge, Service and Love. This was my 5th Bush Wo/Man workshop. It began in January of 2016 and its theme is based on creating holistic road maps in one’s life. January-How to create a Life Road Map, February-How to create a Love Road Map, March-How to create a Serenity Road Map and April-How to create a Numerology Road Map in order to attract one’s aligned cosmic mate with Lloyd Strayhorn.
Is there a specific person who can benefit the most from this?
This workshop was geared specifically for the black family and/or those who were interracial and were raising black children. This was primarily geared towards inspiring the minds of the children because it starts from young. If we do not make attempts to plant seeds of positivity into the fertile minds of our youth, the sick cycle of lack of self-acceptance is perpetuated. My workshops are also geared towards women, men and students by creating dynamic holistic shifts in its participants which is not only measurable but is also visible.
Today you have an event called “Mother and Fathers who are Raising Daughters: Chocolate Sistas with Kinky/Natural Hair. How to increase a Self-Acceptance and Self-Confidence Boosting Road Map”. What made you feel compelled to create an event around this topic?
It was about inspiring and encouraging black people especially children to embrace and accept their natural beauty because our image and standard of beauty is skewed based on Caucasian standard of beauty. Therefore, a lot of women and men in Africa, Jamaica, Haiti and other Caribbean islands are bleaching their skins. This is causing not only medical problems such as cancer but most importantly, it talks about a level of self-hate that continues to be instilled inter-generationally even to this day.
The intent was to empower, educate and create a fun workshop that explored our needs and values.
This is seen also in the entertainment industry where some black people strive to become fairer or lighter because they believe they will be more accepted and some change their appearance because of lack of self-acceptance. This workshop was interactive where children and adults participated in exploratory exercises where we created vision books that depicted their image of black beauty. Video was also shown based on an experiment that was done with children picking white over black dolls and what they identified as a better doll.
How would you encourage someone who might be skeptical but still interested in attending?
Whenever I do a workshop, my intent is to inspire and motivate. When I share what the workshop is about and it touches one’s spirit whereby one feels compelled to attend, then that person is supposed to be there. All who attend my workshops are those who truly supposed to there.
What is your favorite quote or verse that resonates with you and why?
Vision without Action is a Daydream. Action without Vision is a Nightmare is a Japanese Proverb which signifies that anything that you want in life starts first with a vision/dream therefore, if one does not act on their vision it becomes a nightmare because one becomes afraid to embrace their vision, to live their life on purpose with a purpose, to be the Being they were meant to Be. One has to not only see their vision but most importantly, Feel it to attract what they desire.
How can we keep up with future events like this one?
You can keep up with my future events on EventBrite, Bush Wo/Man Conversations Project, meetup.com, Instagram and Twitter. My website is in process of becoming very soon. I am going to take a hiatus during July and August because I will be going to Haiti with an organization called The PROCESS-a male rite of passage program to inspire our boys and prevent urban youth violence. We will be taking medical and school supplies to Haiti. You can look up The P.R.O.C.E.S.S on Facebook.
