Some conversations don’t start because they’re new; they start because they’re familiar.

In this episode, I sit with a truth that stopped me in my tracks after hearing it spoken by Iyanla Vanzant: “The masks we wear become our baggage.” Not poetic. Diagnostic.

This episode was sparked by watching how quickly people respond when someone dares to remove a mask, especially when that someone is a Black woman. What’s often labeled as discernment is, in reality, control. What is often called holiness is actually legalism. And what’s framed as concern can be judgment wrapped in religious language.

As a woman of faith who has served in ministry, lived inside religious systems, and later began the work of deconstruction, I share what it looks like to move from performance to healing, from conformity to conviction, and from survival to autonomy.

Within this episode, we explore:• How masks form as survival strategies.
• When faith becomes surveillance instead of transformation.
• The difference between legalism and healing.
• Why Black women feel this weight so deeply.
• The emotional cost of being the strong one, the good one, or the spiritual one.
• And what it means to unmask without shame.

This is a conversation about reclaiming your body, your voice, your choices, and your relationship with God, without fear, policing, or performance.

I’ll leave you with this question:
What mask are you still wearing… and what has it cost you?

Because when the mask is no longer serving your healing, it becomes baggage, and you deserve to travel lighter.

🎧 Press play if you’re ready to breathe again.