Episode 60

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Published on:

26th Oct 2025

Raised on Dysfunction, Dressed as Tradition

Born into survival mode, Maz Alexander spent decades navigating emotional neglect, sexual abuse, religious manipulation, and toxic cultural norms masked as “tradition.” From being told she should’ve been aborted to being sent to Jamaica and left with strangers, Maz’s story is one of inherited trauma — and radical reclamation.

In this episode, we dismantle the myths of strength, silence, and “just how it is,” and explore what true healing looks like when you rewrite the rules for yourself.

  • The danger of mistaking dysfunction for culture
  • How faith-based control can deepen trauma
  • Why “forgive and forget” keeps survivors in bondage
  • The lifelong cost of being the “strong one”
  • How Maz used travel, creativity, and humor to heal
  • Building safety, boundaries, and self-acceptance as rebellion

🎙️ What We Talk About:

  • Growing up unwanted and unloved — yet expected to perform perfection
  • Surviving childhood sexual abuse and being disbelieved
  • Narcissistic parenting, emotional starvation, and lifelong people-pleasing
  • The cult disguised as a Pentecostal church — and the spiritual abuse that followed
  • Breaking generational silence and rejecting blind loyalty
  • The myth of the “strong Black woman” and how it keeps us stuck
  • Leticia’s 3 Phases to Exit Survival Mode in action:
  • Self-Awareness: naming generational survival patterns and inherited roles
  • Reprogramming: rebuilding identity beyond “obedience” and “resilience”
  • Reinvention: living with boundaries, softness, and radical self-permission


🔑 Key Takeaways:

“I was born into survival mode — and I refused to die there.”
“Culture isn’t a shield. Sometimes, it’s the wound.”
“We can’t heal in the same environments that hurt us.”
“Forgiveness without accountability is spiritual manipulation.”


🙌 Why This Episode Matters:

Too many women mistake coping for culture. We inherit silence, normalize struggle, and call pain “resilience.”

This conversation shatters the generational scripts that keep Black women performing strength while dying inside. Maz gives language to the trauma we were told to “just deal with” — and shows what true freedom looks like when you stop surviving and start unlearning.


💬 Connect with Ma:


🔗 Resources & Links:


✍️ Listener Action:

Write down one “family tradition” that actually harmed you.

Now write what it would look like to replace it with truth, peace, and permission.

That’s how you rewrite the legacy.


🎧 Episode CTA:

You were not built to break — and you damn sure weren’t built to carry generational pain.

Share this with a woman who’s tired of calling dysfunction “normal.”

Leave a 5-star review to help more women disrupt the cycle and reclaim their lives.

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About the Podcast

Survival Mode Disrupted with Leticia R Francis
Disruptive Unapologetic Conversations about Survival Mode
Survival Mode Disrupted is not just a podcast. It's a rebellion.

A raw, unfiltered space where we finally stop pretending we're fine and start telling the truth—the truth about the trauma we've carried, the identities they had to wear to survive, and the radical decisions we made to break free.

Because here's the deal: survival mode isn’t just a season. It’s a damn identity. One that so many were forced to adopt just to get through life, to stay safe, to stay needed, to stay sane. But eventually, it starts costing you more than it protects. Your peace. Your purpose. Your power.

This podcast is for the disruptors—the people who were told to stay small, stay silent, stay grateful for crumbs… and said “hell no.”

Hosted by Leticia, The Survival Mode Disruptor herself—a trauma recovery mentor, speaker, and woman who has lived through the fires of abuse, betrayal, and breakdown and still chose to rise—this show dives deep into the unapologetic exits from survival mode that no one talks about.

You’ll hear from women (and a few brave men) who walked away from toxic relationships, soul-sucking careers, generational dysfunction, religious trauma, cultural expectations, and the lies they were taught to believe about themselves. Not because it was easy—but because staying would’ve killed something sacred inside of them.

These are the stories of bold pivots, quiet courage, and messy but miraculous rebirths.

Each episode is a conversation—a disruption—meant to wake something up in you. Whether it’s a guest sharing the moment they chose themselves for the first time, or Leticia dropping a truth bomb that makes you question everything you’ve normalized, this podcast is here to shake the foundation of your survival mode identity and replace it with something truer. Something freer.

We’re not here for surface-level self-care tips or fake empowerment slogans.

We’re here to talk about what it really takes to:

Reclaim your voice after being silenced.

Reinvent yourself after being broken down.

Rewrite your story when everyone else wants you to stay the same.

Release the guilt of choosing YOU.

This is for those who are done performing. Done pleasing. Done pretending.

It’s for the ones ready to exit survival mode—not slowly, not quietly, but disruptively and unapologetically.

You won’t leave this podcast the same.
You’ll cry. You’ll rage. You’ll laugh.
You’ll see yourself in every story.
And more importantly, you’ll remember who the hell you are.

Welcome to Survival Mode Disrupted.
It’s not just a podcast.
It’s a movement.
And your exit begins here.

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About your host

Profile picture for Leticia Francis

Leticia Francis

I am not here to inspire you—I am here to activate you.

As a Survivor, Keynote Speaker, and Trauma Recovery Mentor, I know what it’s like to fight battles no one sees. I also know that breaking free is possible. My work is about disrupting survival mode, exposing trauma-driven success cycles, and giving women the blueprint to reclaim their lives.

🔹 200+ podcast features & speaking engagements
🔹 Global Women of Choice Award Winner 2022
🔹 Creator of the Survival Mode Exit Plan
🔹 Host of Survival Mode Disrupted Podcast