Meet Katie LaRae | Motivational Speaker | Wellness & Empowerment Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie LaRae and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, what do you attribute your success to?
I still feel I am on the journey to success in terms of my larger visions for Project Evexia, but I genuinely consider the work I do each day to be a beautiful success if it helped inspire, motivate, empower, elevate, or give light to even a sole individual. I place such greater value on these small successes I am often reminded of, because there are few more rewarding, moving, or deeply fulfilling moments than witnessing an individual rise up, step into their power, get their light back, and start living to their full potential! I am grateful for the blessing of being a contributory factor to such things. I attribute the success of my ability to impact others in this way to my Faith in God, the intuitive guidance it provides me for what others are feeling or needing, and synonymously, true empathy. We all have an innate desire to be understood. I’ve worked with clients in their teens, to clients in their nineties of varying backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, cultures, belief systems, orientations, or any other differentiating factor. This notion remains true amongst all in my experience, and I believe it is this deeper level of empathy that bridges any potentially vast difference, or otherwise barrier amongst individuals I may encounter. When you meet a group or an individual with heart and sincerity where understanding, compassion, and lack of judgement can easily be observed and felt, tremendous breakthroughs can happen. I’ve been told it has been a very healing experience for many individuals as well. When I hear these things, it means the world to my heart, and I feel this all contributes to why clients and individuals tend to resonate well with me, or the support and guidance I provide. I like to share a good mixture of lightheartedness, emotional depth, keeping it real, and fired-up inspiration while in sessions or speaking engagements.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
With the founding of Project Evexia, my business has essentially become an extension of my heart and compassion for the world. As a naturally emotionally intuitive individual, I’ve intentionally and unintentionally been engaging in emotionally raw, uplifting, motivational, and profoundly healing exchanges with friends, family, strangers, and patients for as long as I can remember. Coaching and promoting healing in others simply always seemed to be more of who I am as an individual than something I initially set out to do, but life has a beautiful way of leading you to your highest calling. Though I was unaware at the time, much of my own healing had taken place in the process of helping others. This redirection of focus towards creating a positive experience, despite any difficult or painful experience I personally encountered, appeared to transform my perception of said experience into something more beautiful. Contributing to something beyond myself is what made my soul feel well and nourished, and it continues to do so. Undoubtedly, it became a key component in the development of my perpetual resilience, as there was always light to be seen in some way through any unfavorable circumstance. This understanding also created a more fulfilling sense of purpose in my life. I hope and fully intend to be a light that helps others see with the work I am doing, and I hold a sincere desire to help spread more light into the world, to motivate and inspire others on their healing journeys, and to uplift as many as I can in this lifetime. There is a wonderful quote I fully agree with from Erma Bombeck that states, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’”

After beginning my nursing career specializing in preoperative and postoperative care, something I’ve enjoyed for many years, my most favored element of nursing quickly became those unexpected and meaningful soul-to-soul encounters. Much laughter and many tears have been shared in those moments over far more than surgery. My passion for those little emotionally healing moments later led me to transition into outpatient mental health. Firstly, this enabled me to connect further with individuals to provide a variety of natural tools, techniques, and knowledge from nearly twenty years worth of personal passionate research into wellness, self-healing, mental reframing, neuroplasticity, building self-confidence, self-empowerment, personal development, energy shifting, mindfulness, and numerous other holistic and science based modalities used across the world to promote physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being. Secondly, came the alarming realization of the achingly increasing amount of adolescents or young adults struggling with mental health, or experiencing suicidal ideation. THIS feels like the epidemic that is not properly being addressed in a potentially preventative manner. These children and young adults do not seem to have been given exposure to even seemingly simple tools necessary to build resilience, self-confidence, empowered mindsets, or natural healthy coping techniques for the world we are currently living in. If not given exposure to the tools or guidance needed to increase their perception of themselves, their outlook on their reality, or the ability to recover from difficulties, this increases the susceptibility for suicidal ideation in any of our children, and this is not okay.

Irrespective of age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, orientation, background, status, level of success, culture, medical history, or life experiences, we can all benefit from a better understanding of our mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness. We can all benefit from discovering natural tools and techniques to increase, maintain, or promote our individual sense of wellness and well-being. I feel it is time to begin normalizing and discussing wellness in a way that includes and promotes addressing some of the following questions. How well are the things we are serving our mind? How well are our thoughts? How well are we speaking to ourselves? How well is our daily routine? How well is our balance? How well do we respond to negativity, stress, or criticism? How well are our relationships? How truly WELL are we living? How well is the system we’ve provided our children to prepare them for life? I truly feel these questions need to not only become dramatically destigmatized, but these questions also need to be less isolated and associated with one category of people, or one field as well. These topics apply to everyone in the general public, yet I would not consider everyone to be as commonly aware of the proven detrimental physical affects the disregard to our mental and emotional well-being can generate. How often have you heard of these things being discussed when someone speaks of being “healthy?” Again, I would not consider these topics to be as common as speaking on the importance of physical and nutritional health, yet they are greatly connected.

These are the experiences that lead to the founding of Project Evexia. The word Project, because I envision much more than a business in the future. This is a mission to raise mental health and wellness awareness, promote and destigmatize more encompassing wellness, educate and advocate for more preventative measures being taken to address youth suicide rates, and establish a movement leading to change, with the sincerest of hopes to slow, lessen, or prevent further loss of life. I chose Evexia because it is the Greek word for wellness and well-being. In conclusion, Project Evexia is a mission and movement for elevating wellness amongst all.

It is no easy task to individually initiate a movement of such needed and desired magnitude, but the overwhelming feeling of being Divinely lead to this path has been undeniable. Therefore, I have conviction and Faith it is meant to reach many, and it will serve a great and meaningful purpose all the while. I’d love to begin seeing others use #projectevexia when they are working on their well-being, when they are sharing their wellness journey, or simply to keep spreading awareness and light. It’s time to Live Well & Rise Well.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I will proudly represent Houston, Texas, as all within a 50-mile radius would, and I thoroughly enjoy the museums, Theater District, Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, the ample selection of live music events, many art and nature centers, watching the Houston Astros or Texans play, or indulging in some of the delicious foods Houston has to offer. There would be plenty of options to place on a week long itinerary. Brenner’s on the Bayou has been a particular favorite I’ve enjoyed for dining, and Vic & Anthony’s has some of the most delicious selections, and more specifically, bread pudding I have tried in my LIFE. I love finding the less fancy little hidden gems throughout the city as well. There are still so many restaurants or spas I’d love to try downtown. Self-care is important! Houston truly has so much to offer and choose from, but I’m also a small town country girl, so I enjoy spending a lot of time further outside of the city in nature, being on the lake, fishing, hiking, kayaking, riding on ATV’s, or just doing simple little things that bring me peace, like watching the stars. I absolutely love nature, admittedly more so in the fall, because let’s be real, this is Texas, but it is incredibly beneficial to our sense of health and well-being, so I will always promote spending time in nature.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would love to dedicate this shoutout to my parents. I am eternally grateful for my late father’s unconditional love, support, and encouragement throughout every chapter of my life. He was one to take great risks in life. Recalling this about his life inspired my own courage to do so. He was a mentor to many, held tremendous knowledge and wisdom, carried a lighthearted demeanor, and had a love for lifting others up too. I’m quite sure he is looking down still cheering me on from above as this journey unfolds. I am also grateful for the tremendous love and encouragement of my mother. While both of my parents held a great amount of empathy, this was very much consistently taught, demonstrated, and instilled into each of her children from an early age. Love and empathy leave an invaluable legacy to continue.

Website: https://www.projectevexia.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/project_evexia

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectEvexia

Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCHVT5VRIxyXhbjjAIqy3GVQ

Other: FOLLOW Project_Evexia on IG for additional wellness tips, awareness, and motivation! ❤️