Today we’d like to introduce you to Laureen Trujillo.
Hi Laureen, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve made quite a few transitions over the years. At 18, I moved from a small town in New Mexico to Hollywood after being accepted to AMDA (The American Musical & Dramatic Academy) where I jumped headfirst into training for acting and ran hard and fast after my dream of becoming an actress. After about seven years of pursuing acting and modeling, I found myself booking more fitness photoshoots which led to a step away from acting and full-time focus on fitness and wellness. I got certified as a personal trainer and in specific nutrition and launched out into the self-employment realm, building a client base, teaching group fitness classes, modeling for fitness brands, and aiming to build an entire brand focused on faith and fitness. Within a few short years, I was feeling fairly accomplished and proud of the growth. However, after a very difficult season of life that spanned about three years and resulted in a lot of heartache, I found myself pulled back to my very first love: Ministry, sharing the gospel, and finding tangible ways to help others not just entertain them. Through my hardship, I was refocused on the things that I had once wanted as a young girl, to write books, land speaking engagements, and build something with purpose. The difficulty had resulted in so much exhaustion, imbalance, and discouragement, I knew that there was more that God wanted to do to bring healing and teach me how to help others in the process. So I pressed into that. My heart was stirred again to help others live their best lives– to become the best version of themselves in mind, body, and spirit. After a previous failed business attempt, I had become scared to dream and found myself struggling to find much excitement about any endeavor, really.
Until, I was faced with the truth that God can use everything, the good and the bad, to make something beautiful. So, I decided it was time to sit and write my story. I hired a life coach and got to work on myself and my goal. The result was a book that was written, edited, and published in less than a year that shares the testimony of my hardship and what God taught me about suffering and more importantly, His love. Its title- Festival in the Desert: Learning to Rejoice in the Difficult Seasons of Life. Once the feedback and reviews came back on the impact it was having on the readers and how they were experiencing healing, freedom, and the presence of Jesus, I knew it was time to shift and start building the dream I had left to die and reimagine what it could look like. With my coaches help, I went back to the drawing board on my original faith and fitness concept and decided that I didn’t want to train or teach classes anymore, I wanted to host and create the experiences and space for women to encounter God, learn tangible ways to take care of their health and fitness, and grow mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually through immersive conferences that go beyond just listening to speakers from a stage. It’s still in the very early stages, but I have already planned and hosted two virtual/online women’s faith and fitness conferences and the plan is to keep growing them, continue writing and speaking, and build a team to do this full time.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely has not been the easiest or straightest road, that’s for sure! Oftentimes over the years, I have felt like I am stuck in this place of “waiting for results” that can get quite uncomfortable, dealt with more changes and transitions that have left me tapped out and unmotivated than I like to admit, suffered from chronic fatigue, battled with grief, struggled financially, and even wrestled with doubt on whether what I had to write would be worth reading or what I have to share would even make a difference. I have had a failed partnership attempt that made me want to shut down and withdraw from pursuing entrepreneurship altogether, difficulty balancing self-care, and have found my friend circling ever decreasing in this city, which can feel quite isolating at times. But, I will say this, all of it has led to greater focus, understanding, wisdom, depth, empathy, and capacity and gives me more to draw from when I think of things to share with others.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am an author and speaker and I work with women to help them reach their fullest potential in mind, body, and spirit from a faith-based perspective. Though it’s been something I have been passionate for a very long time, the true test of my heart for ministry came from walking through a lot of trials myself and discovering that I really want to help others do the same and thrive in the process. The thing I have been most proud of yet is writing and publishing my first book. I did it all during the Covid pandemic after getting furloughed from my full-time job and rather than shutting down, I got focused and decided that being forced to be home meant that I could use my time wisely to build something beautiful that could potentially reach people for years to come. That is actually, what partially sets me apart from others, I think. I don’t want to just inspire people, I want to impact them, to help them step out of mindsets of defeat and patterns of unhealthy living, go after the dreams God has placed in their hearts, and do so as the healthiest, most vibrant version of themselves. I don’t like the surface-level things. I believe in being real, honest, vulnerable, transparent, and willing to do the heart work of deep change — I encourage others to do the same.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I like that there is a little of everything! The variety is unmatched in terms of appealing to any and every personality or interest. I don’t like how lonely such a busy city can feel when everyone is so busy all the time! I used to love how fast-paced things seemed but the older I get, I find myself more drawn to the moments of simply “being” which can be slightly difficult when you are always hustling and bustling.
Pricing:
- Book orders: $17.95 paperback
- Book ebook pricing: $5.99
- Women’s events: $25 currently
Contact Info:
- Website: www.laureenalexa.co
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/laureenalexa
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/laureenalexa
Image Credits:
Kasey Dunn, Eugene Haynes, Job Garcia
