“Only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking.” – Audre Lorde
I BELIEVE….
…..that you are hiding and its not your fault. Because toxic racism and sexism and other hurts from the past have conditioned us to shrink. To keep quiet. To play a role. But you’re not here to play so small anymore.
I believe that there is more to your story than you think. You know the stories you may have told yourself are too irrelevant or sad or shameful or small or who cares right now? I believe those stories hold within them one-of-a-kind medicine for our time. And even if you never choose to tell those specific stories, there is a message and a journey in them that, if you feel so called, you can take others on. This is your purpose work.
I believe your unexamined stories will also reveal the tethers holding your voice hostage: the fear of breaking the rules, the fear of taking up space, the fear of being seen for your vulnerabilities and imperfections. And I believe you can practice your way out of these old fears and find your voice by using it.
I’m Cara Jones and I’m a story coach helping entrepreneurs untether their voices so you can build a magnetic business rooted in all of who you are, and get more courageous, bold and free.
I have been on a life long journey of coming out of hiding.
As a kid, I used to hide in obvious ways: like behind my mother when introduced to strangers. I let other voices fill the space. I followed the rules. I recited other people’s truths. I was the good girl.
As an adult, I learned to hide in less obvious ways: behind a thick coat of makeup and heels as a television news reporter, behind the telling of other people’s stories and even behind my own story coaching business: terrified of talking about my work on social media, incapacitated by any kind of “marketing,” spending my writing time learning other people’s framework’s vs. figuring out what I had to say.
In 2012, I began a new journey.
I started making a documentary film about my unique family history– based in a religion famous for arranged marriages and mass weddings.
I was scared as heck to put everything out there (you can read more about the story here). But here is what happened along the way:
I discovered, not just how the story defined me, but what I had to say about it. I learned how I could own the story vs. it owning me. I uncovered, within that story, a unique blueprint of a journey I could take others on. I also realized how the fear of judgement was gripping me in so many areas of my life: including my business. I started to realized how very many things I had to say …and that it was only in bringing all of me to my work, that I could have a real impact.
Over the past decade I’ve been working with people from all over the world to help them also discover the life changing magic their stories hold for their life, business and impact.
My professional experience includes:
*winning a few Emmys and a MOTH Story Slam
*starting the production company Storytellers for Good to promote the world’s most inspiring humans
*writing for publications including the Washington Post, Boston Globe and Huffington Post
*Trauma-informed certifications and studies with: New Ventures West (certified as a professional coach 2009), Sacred Depths Coaching (Joanna Lindenbaum), The Hoffman Process, The Work of Byron Katie
A special shout out to the voices and stories of those who have deeply influenced me and my work: Heather Box and Julian Mocine-McQueen of the Million Person Project, Kelly Diels, Adrienne Maree Brown, Dr. Michelle Mazur, Joanna Lindenbaum and Louis Mojica
A few more things to note: I support the Black Lives Matter movement and believe that dismantling white supremacy is the most important work and story of our time. I support The Loveland Foundation providing therapy to black women and girls, Raices Families Together Fund in fighting for immigrant rights and the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers.
I am the proud mama of a 4 year old girl whose naturally untethered voice inspires my work every day.