Recently, Bre Haizlip (“Dr. Bre”) gave an end of year motivational Zoom talk to the moms of The Local Moms Network. We all loved her down-to-earth advice and her commit to helping woman. For this week’s Meet a Mom interview, we spoke to Dr. Bre about her counseling and teaching career, her activism, some of her favorite mantras, and more.
Can you please share a bit about yourself?
My name is Dr. Bre and I am a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC). I specialize in individual and organizational evolution! I’m a sage-burning, hip-hop loving, daily-meditating, Light-seeking, science-savvy teacher and healer at the very core of who I am! I know that the highest purpose of my life is to share enlightened ideas that catalyze healing. I’ve come to understand and believe that only social justice is social healing. We all must have an opportunity to heal from our trauma and rewrite the stories that limit our well-being and worthiness.
I am originally from outside of Pittsburgh, PA and have lived all over the US and also in the United Arab Emirates, in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. I currently live outside of Seattle, WA with my partner of 13 years and our 3 daughters. Raised by a solo-parent (my Momma), I am a first-generation college student and the first 1st in my family to become a doctor. I didn’t know at the time that achieving such a feat would land me among the less than 2% of African American/ Black female university professors in the United States. I’ve come to understand that this tremendous honor is a privilege that comes with the honor of responsibility. Since completing my PhD in 2009, I have become an award-winning psychology professor, therapist, and equity & inclusion (EI) professional, serving those historically underrepresented in higher education and in corporate executive culture.
As an EI consultant, professor, researcher and activist, I have successfully led antidiscrimination efforts for more than 55 universities, non-profits, corporations, schools, and community-based organizations, both nationally and internationally. As an author and researcher, I have delivered over 150 trainings, talks, research articles and workshops all over the world.
What is your biggest mantras that you love to share?
My life is truly about the pursuit of what I call, self-sovereignty. I believe in the only absolute truth, which I call the Law of Self-Sovereignty, which is my guiding mantra, “Anything is possible. At any time. No matter what.” It is the only truth that remains true regardless of conditions.
“You cannot have what you are not willing to become -and you cannot give what you are not.” This mantra guides every part of my life and reminds me that I am not a human being having a spiritual experience; instead, I am a spirit being, having a human experience. I am and we are all energy and the life we experience is created by how we experience our energy in motion (or emotions). To have Love, I be Love. To have a friend, I must be a friend. To have wealth, I must become the feeling of wealth.
What should all mompreneurs be doing right now, at the cusp of a new year?
Build a “Blissipline”! You want to build a business from the best part of who you are – not out of scarcity or fear. To do this, you have to be willing to sit still and feel. This is what we do in my professional coaching practice. I help my clients build a Blissipline! This means having a daily practice that centers you in your highest self every day. Nothing is more important to your success in all areas of Life, than your own well-being.
A Blissipline is a gentle daily practice of personal rituals or habits that connect you with your source; your Light; your Life. Actually, it is your Life! It is the practice of designing each day with intention and purpose. If you don’t have a practice of tuning into high frequency intentions daily, then you’ll build a Life in reaction to events in your past. The goal is to build a business that is an extension of what’s possible! That means that we have to have all of our energy in the present moment, building our future, not imagining the limitations and insecurities of the past. This requires intention and consistency. My Blissipline includes the 4M’s –meditation, movement, meaning and mindset mastery. Every day, I do something in every category! I meditate every morning- no matter what. I move around every day –no matter what. I envision the highest good that my daily tasks could bring to the world every day –no matter what. And I feed my mind something new every day –no matter what. This is how I cultivate bliss, joy, courage and peace in my Life everyday –no matter what. This is my first “to-do” every day. This is where I love myself deeply and surrender to Love, instead of fear.
As a Black woman, can you please share a little bit about your experience this year, motivating others, during such a heavy year, with the death of George Floyd (and the subsequent riots), the pandemic and so much more?
As a Black woman, this year changed my Life. The moment that changed me forever, was not seeing police violence that resulted in the murdering of an unarmed Black American, that wasn’t new for me. It was the outpouring of White empathy that I had never seen in my lifetime. I had the opportunity to march in Seattle, WA, alongside my Black male partner and tens of thousands of White allies, chanting “Black Lives Matter”. It reminded me of all the good in the world. I never imagined in my lifetime I would see such a thing! It was beautiful and magical for me. That unifying moment changed my heart in the best ways possible, forever.
That’s amazing. What is your greatest hope for your daughter?
The toughest day this summer was sitting with my daughter and watching a police force a mother and her 4 children, out of their car and onto the ground, at gunpoint. The youngest of the children was a 6-year-old girl, who cried for her mother, lying on the ground with a gun to her head. As she cried, her Mom was only able to comfort her by yelling, “Mommy is okay, please don’t move, this will be over soon!” My daughter cried, full of fear, demanding to know why people hated us so much for something we can’t change. I told her to never believe that ALL people hate Black people. Where there is hatred there is fear. I then reminded her that what she was seeing was the world changing and that change must begin with us all taking an honest look at our country and how we treat one another. Honesty can be difficult, but anything that begins with Truth – will always end with Love.
Can you share a bit about your podcast?
We can’t heal through what we’re too afraid to feel through. My podcast, “Show-Up & Feel Through”is about taking time to pause for presence, pursue INNERstanding and build self-sovereignty! Here, we talk about how to Show Up for life’s most difficult emotions – by Feeling Through life’s most difficult questions. This is all about giving you access to the introspective tools and skills that therapists and psychologists use to begin or catalyze your own healing journey.