This episode is a deep conversation about ancestry, spirit, and the support available to us when we remember where we come from. I’m joined by my friend Ari Huitzilopotchli, who works with women in midlife navigating identity shifts, endings, and the space between who they were and who they’re becoming.

This conversation is part of The Way Beneath the Work — a mini-series exploring what it really takes to find our true place within the ecosystem of supporting other humans. Not through branding, titles, or positioning, but through a deeper remembering of who we are and how we’re meant to serve.

Ari shares her own journey... from decades behind the chair in the salon to the deeply grounded work she holds now with individuals, women in midlife, and couples. Together, we explore ancestry, spirit, guidance, and how to tell the difference between intuition and the anxious head-chatter that so often pulls us off our path.

We talk about elders, lineage, belonging, and why this work is not meant to be rushed. Why healing isn’t something to “finish,” and why so many of us feel disconnected from our worth, our purpose, and our sense of place — even while helping others find theirs.

This episode is an invitation to slow down, listen more deeply, and trust the longer journey of becoming who you’re here to be.

Listen with an open heart. Take what resonates. Leave what doesn’t.

Connect with Ari:

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/fearless.femme.life/

Website: https://www.fearlessfemmelife.com/

00:00 — An Invitation to Listen
How to meet this conversation with curiosity instead of agreement.

02:25 — Belonging Beneath the Roles
Why this work isn’t about titles, branding, or identity labels.

04:10 — Ari & the Call of Ancestry
Meeting Ari and her relationship with spirit and lineage.

07:45 — Growing Up with Spirit
Early awareness, family dynamics, and learning to live with the gift.

12:30 — The Salon as Sacred Space
Holding space long before having language for it.

17:50 — Medicine, Elders, and Restraint
Why guidance requires maturity, lineage, and care.

22:40 — Spirit vs. Head Chatter
How to tell intuition from fear-based thinking.

28:15 — Trusting the Leap
Fear, courage, and walking the path anyway.

33:00 — Beyond Fixing Ourselves
Why healing isn’t something to “complete.”

38:40 — The Body Remembers
Memory, fascia, and embodied release.

43:20 — When You Feel Disconnected
Rebuilding relationship with ancestry and spirit.

49:30 — This Takes Time
Why the long road matters.

54:40 — A Message from Spirit
A closing blessing on belonging and love.

Holy shit friends—here we go.

This podcast has been rattling around in my head for seven or eight years. For a long time, it felt like something I should do. Especially if you’re in the coaching world the message was - have a podcast, build the brand, do the thing. And honestly, that pressure is probably why I didn’t start it back then.

This year, something shifted. It stopped being about my business and started feeling like it had real purpose. Like something I needed to say, whether it “worked” or not.

Out of Step is for people who support other humans—coaches, mentors, facilitators, educators, leaders, healers. But more specifically, it’s for those of us who feel like we live a little off the map of those worlds. The ones who don’t quite fit the standard strategies, systems, or personalities that seem to dominate these industries.

In this first episode, I share my own long, messy path—from hairdressing apprentice, to educator, to coach—and the parts of that journey that almost broke me. Burnout. The terrifying experience of losing my relationship with my voice. Questioning who I was and whether I even belonged in this work. And how all of that eventually led me to a way of working that feels honest and sustainable—what I now call Wayfaring.

This isn’t a how-to episode. It’s not cleaned up. It’s an origin story. Real stories, real questions, and some uncomfortable truths about what it actually takes to walk this path of supporting other humans.

If you’ve ever felt drawn to this work but uneasy with the usual formulas…
If you’ve ever wondered whether there’s another way to do this without losing yourself…
You’re in the right place.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Out of Step Podcast

01:44 The Purpose Behind the Podcast

05:44 Andrew's Journey in Hairdressing

10:49 Transitioning to Education and Coaching

18:45 Facing Burnout and Rediscovering Purpose

27:40 The Impact of COVID and Shifting Focus

30:14 Embracing Authenticity and Rebranding

36:33 Conclusion and Call to Action