Episode 54

full
Published on:

19th Oct 2025

The Audacity To Be Authentic

Bermuda raised her. Purpose pulled her. In this episode, Desta walks us through leaving a 21-square-mile comfort zone for engineering school in Toronto, pounding on closed doors back home, and finally smashing ceilings as a sustainability leader. But behind the wins was a private war: an abusive partner, post-separation warfare, and the moment her child intervened to stop an attack. That was the line in the sand. Desta shares how she rebuilt, from “functioning on autopilot” to living on purpose with ruthless self-trust, boundaries, and daily practices that keep her anchored.

  • Autopilot vs. authority: how “doing it all” hides what’s breaking you
  • Career on fire, home in flames: the hidden cost of performed strength
  • The choice that changes everything: “I am enough”
  • Motherhood, co-parenting, and protecting your peace in public systems
  • Reclaiming voice at work and at home—without shrinking to fit
  • Be You: relaunching a space for real, grounded transformation

🎙️ What We Talk About:

  • Survival mode as autopilot: routines that look productive but keep you numb
  • Leaving Bermuda for bigger purpose; being “the only” Black woman in a niche field
  • Seven years of closed doors, then a created role → leadership + sustainability impact
  • Abuse behind the scenes: the incident that flipped the switch and why leaving is only the first battle
  • Post-separation tactics, court, and choosing safety over optics
  • Reparenting the inner girl so the grown woman can lead
  • The 3 phases to exit survival mode:
  • Self-Awareness: name the pattern and the lie (I’m not enough)
  • Reprogramming: rewrite worth, safety, power, and standards
  • Reinvention: live as the woman who enforces the boundary—daily
  • Food, words, and thoughts: “watch your mouth” as a mental health practice
  • Community grief (violence, cancer) and staying human in a desensitized world
  • Be You: grounding sessions, intimate circles, and the audacity to be authentic

🔑 Key Takeaways:

“Autopilot keeps you productive—and unavailable to yourself.”
“The night I said ‘I am enough,’ survival stopped being my story.”
“Acceptance isn’t approval; it’s the door out.”
“If the door won’t open, create the role—and the life.”


🙌 Why This Episode Matters:

High-achieving women are rewarded for output while their nervous systems are on fire. Desta’s story exposes that lie and hands you a path out. If you’re juggling wins and wounds, this conversation gives you language, leverage, and permission to choose you without apology.

💬 Connect with Desta:

  • Be You Consulting — Instagram & Facebook: @beyouconsulting (relaunch target: 15 Oct)


🔗 Resources & Links:

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for Survival Mode Disrupted with Leticia R Francis

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.

Support This Show

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