Welcome Sophia!

An image of Sophia smiling.

We’ve been quietly training our newest team member for a while now. This is my chance to tell you all about her.

I did the usual things, took some pictures and wrote a bio, but for this newsletter I want to share the top 4 things that make me excited about sharing this dazzling being — Sophia Apostol — with you.

1: She’s a total book nerd.

She has a Bachelor’s in English Lit and a Master’s in Library Sciences. She’s worked as a book wholesaler. After our first interview she emailed me a photo of her bookshelf, which she’d recently reorganized by colour. I lost it.

2: She has a writing story that so many people can relate to.

Like so many of us, Sophia lost track of her love for writing for a long time. It got swallowed up when adulting stepped in and the magic stepped out. Sound familiar?

Then a couple years back, a friend dragged her to a Firefly retreat. She thought, “Well, I won’t write, but the beach will be nice.” On her first morning she sat around a circle, hands shaking, reading a story she’d just written about her childhood in Georgia. And whoosh, just like that, her passion was back. It hasn't left waivered since.

3: She has a way of making people open right up.

In the past Sophia has worked as a confidence coach, coaching people past body shame. She’s facilitated workshops in understanding your inner saboteurs, feeling confident naked, and “how to stop your inner judge from messing with your mojo” among MANY others. She loves helping people feel at ease and she really gets how to.

This is partly because she’s not afraid of the depths. She has lots of experience having deep, crunchy conversations and is always ready to journey further. She’s done a ton of personal work, which leaves her confidently connected to the full truth of any moment.

I walk home from every training session with Sophia feeling more clear and whole than I walked in. Every time, I realize that I told her things I didn't plan to, easily following the path of her curiosity into new and unexplored places. I trust her as a guide and partner on the inner path, and I'm excited to share that with you.

4: Did I mention finger testicles?

If you weren’t at our last open mic, let me walk you through the last 5 minutes. It was getting late and the energy was starting to lag. Sophia, who was co-hosting, had been tasked with creating closure before sending everyone out into the night. She got up, raised both her hands, and invited the audience to do the same, waving their fingers in the air.

Sophia said, “What do you feel in the room? What’s here? Call it out!” People were saying words like “willingness” “courage” and “possibility”. I stood at the back, watching those hands wave, feeling the tingle of warmth and connection all around me.

Sophia was so encouraging, so in-the-moment, reminding in her soothing voice us to, "Wave your finger testicles through the air..."

Then she stopped short, her eyes flashing wide. “You guys! I just said testicles!” A roar of laughter overtook the room. I mean a roar. Of course she meant tentacles, and she was momentarily mortified, but she stood there, hands up high, belly laughing with all of us, reminding us that to be human is to say the wrong word sometimes, and that words are funny and wonderful.

It was a perfect moment. The energy of the night bounced right back, and everyone left smiling.

Here’s to new beginnings!

Here's to expanding horizons, and all the possibilities of forward motion. Here's to Sophia and all that she’ll unlock in our beautiful community. And here's to all more roars of laughter, as we keep on rolling down this path together.

In it with you,