From the Couch to the Stage: How the Becoming HER Framework Changed Everything

There's a moment I'll never forget.

I was at a winemaking class — just trying to have a good time — when a woman I had never met walked up to me before we left. She looked me in the eyes and said, "God specifically told me to come tell you something. Whatever it is you're working on, whatever it is you're building — you're thinking too small. It's not big enough."

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Because deep down? I already knew she was right.

A Girl From the South Side With a Microphone Dream

I grew up on the south side of Chicago. And if you know anything about the south side, you know it produces a certain kind of woman — resilient, resourceful, and determined to make something out of whatever she's been given.

From the time I was young I knew I wanted to be a voice. I wanted to tell stories that mattered. Stories that made people feel seen, heard and moved to act.

So I did what made sense — I went to Hampton University and studied Broadcast Journalism. I was going to be the woman behind the mic. The one people turned to when the story needed to be told right.

Then 2008 happened.

The recession hit, the media industry contracted, and like a lot of young Black Women in that season, I had to pivot. I found my way into counseling — and what I discovered changed the entire trajectory of my life.

The gift I thought was meant for a newsroom? It was actually meant for something much deeper.

Fifteen Years of Building Something Real

I spent the next fifteen years pouring everything I had into the work of healing. I became a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Illinois and a Licensed Professional Counselor in Georgia. I earned my Certified Domestic Violence Professional credential. I sat with women in their darkest moments and held space for healing that most people will never see or know about.

And in 2018 I founded Cultivate Your Essence — a multi-state clinical mental health practice dedicated to serving Black women, girls and the organizations that employ them.

I built something real. Something that has touched hundreds of lives across Illinois and Georgia. Something I am genuinely proud of.

But somewhere in the middle of all of that building — I started to feel it.

The quiet pull toward something more.

The Version of You That Got You Here

Here's what I've learned — both from my own life and from sitting with hundreds of women in therapy:

The version of you that got you here can't always take you where you're going next.

I had built an identity around being the therapist. The clinician. The one who held space for everyone else's healing. And that identity was real and it was good and it served a purpose.

But it was also starting to feel like a ceiling.

I had been featured in Essence Magazine. I had spoken on stages and appeared on ABC, NBC, Fox, WGN and iHeartRadio. I had corporate organizations calling me to speak, consult and lead wellness initiatives for their teams.

And I kept showing up — but I was showing up as a therapist doing some speaking on the side instead of a CEO, Speaker and Visionary who happened to also hold clinical credentials.

That's a small distinction that makes an enormous difference.

What Becoming HER Actually Means

That shift — from shrinking yourself to fit an old identity to expanding into who you were always meant to be — is exactly what I now call the Becoming HER Framework™.

Healed. Evolved. Restored.

It's not a tagline. It's a roadmap. It's the operating system behind everything I do — with the women I serve, on the stages I stand on, and inside the organizations I partner with.

Becoming HER means grieving the version of yourself that got you here — honoring her, thanking her — and then choosing to step fully into the woman you were always meant to be.

It means recognizing that your biggest dreams aren't too big. If anything, you've been thinking too small.

Just like that woman at the winemaking class told me.

This Is Not a Pivot. This Is an Arrival.

I am a girl from the south side of Chicago who had a microphone dream long before she had a therapy license.

And I'm finally — fully — living it.

As the Founder and CEO of Cultivate Your Essence, as a speaker standing on national stages, as a corporate wellness strategist working with organizations ready to build cultures where people don't just survive but thrive, and as a woman who is Becoming HER in real time and out loud — I am done thinking small.

And if you're reading this? I hope you are too.

This blog is where I'll be sharing the journey — the strategy, the story, the clinical insight and the lived wisdom. Whether you're a woman navigating your own season of becoming or a leader ready to build something that actually lasts — you're in the right place.

Welcome. 🌿

Lauren Michelle Jackson, LCPC, LPC, CDVP is the Founder & CEO of Cultivate Your Essence, a multi-state mental health practice serving Black women, girls and organizations across Illinois and Georgia. She is a speaker, corporate wellness strategist and visionary helping women and organizations Become HER — Healed, Evolved and Restored.