In a world that often pressures women to shrink themselves and measure their worth against unrealistic standards, Sapha Pardo Heckman stands as a fierce advocate for empowerment and self-love. As the founder of Your Soulful Goddess, she embodies the belief that within every woman lies a powerful goddess waiting to be reclaimed. Inspired by a poignant moment with her niece, Sapha’s journey began as a response to the heartbreaking struggles many women face regarding their self-image and value. With unwavering passion, she invites women to embrace their unique essence, break free from societal chains, and cultivate a life filled with love and purpose. In this interview, we delve into Sapha’s mission to inspire women to honor their true selves and live boldly, reclaiming their rightful place in the world.
1. What inspired you to create “Your Soulful Goddess,” and what does the name signify to you?
When my niece was 6, she approached me and asked with tears in her eyes if she was fat. Saying that my heart broke into a million pieces at that time would be, not only an understatement, but also a grossly inadequate description of the true internal turmoil and pain these words awakened within my very soul.
Because I’d been asking myself the same question for decades.
Because every woman I knew measured the worth and value against these very words time and again.
Because in that moment, the love, the passion and even the righteous anger I’d been feeling in my heart, body, mind and soul regarding the way in which the feminine has been disempowered, abused, dismissed, minimized, gaslit, and depleted for so many millenia, through the lives of so many amazing, and undeniably powerful women in this world became even more apparent to me.
The time for us all to stop playing small, to stop putting everyone else’s needs ahead of our own, and to stop minimizing our worth in every area of our lives was NOW, and I would be damned if the ghosts of these putrefied chains were going to take one more woman down with them.
In that very moment, I became a warrioress of the Divine Feminine within, and I promised myself to honor the Goddess within each and every woman alive in earnest. Starting with myself, and encompassing every single woman in this world. Because we all deserve better.
The name of the company is YOUR Soulful Goddess for a reason. It’s not that I am a Goddess alone, and at your disposal. It’s that within each and every woman on this planet, a Goddess who is ready to be reclaimed, amplified, honored and fully embodied resides; and we owe it to ‘Her’ (namely to ourselves) to honor her vastness, her undeniable power, and her uncontested worth and value. We owe it to ourselves to break the chains of old and become the women we were meant to be.
It’s up to us to take up space in this world, to stop people pleasing, to quit settling and self-denying and to honor the truth about tho we truly are.I started the company shortly after my talk with my niece because I want to see every woman on this planet empowered, awakened, and reclaimed in earnest.
I want each woman to fall madly in love with themselves and to create and live lives that feel like a romance for the ages. Not because they are perfect, or fit a certain criteria, but because they are.
Because they exist. Perfectly imperfect, yes, and capable of massive amplification at every turn, and NEVER meant to settle for less, or to play small in any way, shape or form.
This company exists because YOU are a soulful Goddess worthy of the most extraordinary life possible, and too often, we lose our awareness of this along the way.
2. Can you share the journey that led you to focus on empowering women and promoting self-love?
In a way, I answered this before, but I’d be happy to deepen my answer.
My journey into feminine embodiment & empowerment mentorship began with a profound personal awakening—one that started with tears on a yoga mat, surrounded by blissfully unaware yogis. It was a moment of deep realization, & a stark contrast to the autopilot life I’d been living.
You see, up to this point I’d lost myself in giving endlessly to others, sacrificing my own essence along the way, & in truth, I had no idea who I was; I didn’t believe myself worthy or valuable & I was inadvertently operating from a place of deep-seeded wounding that I was allowing to put me “at the effect of” in my life.
This lack of self-worth led me into toxic dynamics, grappling with an eating disorder, & facing suicidal ideation. These struggles were profound teachers, showing me how disconnected I was from my true self & the power within & the truth is, I wouldn’t change a moment or a single part of the experience.
As with most things, the dark places allow for a unique medicine that attunes us to a level of transmutation unlike anything we could possibly imagine, & it was here, that the realization that I could reclaim my life & redefine my existence from a place of empowered action took root.
Tears shed relentlessly on that yoga mat & they weren’t just tears of pain but also tears of awakening. They marked the beginning of my journey towards a new beginning. A transition into the process of self-romancing & self-reclaiming that are my deepest embodiment to date.
It was after this moment that I began to listen to the stories my body was sharing with me. & I learned to how honor my needs, date my wounds, & take pleasure in my true power.
Today, I stand before you not as someone who has merely survived in this life, but as someone who chooses to proactively fall in love with every second & romance every breath.
I stand in my “muchness” as a woman of amplitude & loving devotion to the process, & I see your power as clearly now as I saw my own on that fated day, so many decades long gone.
3. What challenges have you faced in building and growing Your Soulful Goddess, and how have you navigated them?
When I started my company, I set out to help women thrive, and my heart was set on helping women fall in love with themselves and their lives so that they could live deeply fulfilling, abundant, and loving lives that got to feel like a romance for the ages.
I did not, however, set out to be a CEO or a business owner. Yet life has a funny way to ask us to rise to the occasion beyond any and all dreams, and thereby, here I am, a relentless dreamer, a creative ball of energy and love, and a catalyst and guide for the woman who is ready for MORE in this life. Leading a company, learning about marketing on a daily basis, running an LLC, and walking side by side with incredible women of immeasurable power, and it has not been easy.
The hardest thing for me has been to keep going when things felt stagnant. Or when I thought I was speaking to the wall. But I’ve learned that there is value in devotion, dedication and resiliency, and every step I have chosen to take has allowed me to deepen my practice, to expand my reach, and to grow my business in ways I never could have imagined before. Any entrepreneur will tell you that the road is challenging, and the deepest insights into self have come from being an entrepreneur, and they would be correct.
The challenges are ever-evolving, but so are the opportunities to lead with integrity, heal wounds that have for too long enslaved or fooled me into believing I was at once, not good enough and yet too much, and amplify my sense of self beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Which is my very verbose way of saying, the coolest, yet most challenging part of being a CEO, is that I get to deepen my awareness of self on a daily basis, and that showing up even when I feel like crawling into a little hole and disappearing all together is the most amazing way to push beyond my limiting beliefs and lead myself from a place of empowered action and personal sovereignty, rather than reacting from a place of self doubt, which can be very easily done in an age when our businesses feel so deeply connected to our worth and value (which, they are not, of course)
4. How has your personal story and experiences influenced your approach to your work?
“I believe in YOUR power” this is the biggest tenant of my work with women of all walks of life because, I know what it’s like to perceive the self as a broken little shell of a person, and I know how important it is to recognize that you are not broken, you are a work in progress that has undergone and withstood shattering impact at times, but you are not defined by them. Nor are you “poor little you” against the world in this life. Not at all.
You are sovereign of your life, and as such, you get to choose better for yourself, and you get to change the narrative at any give point in time.
For too long, I believed I was doomed to settle for less, that I had to quiet, minimize and hide my inner power. I believed that all the trauma I’d experienced meant that I was broken, and I learned to live accordingly. Putting myself dead last, settling for less, allowing myself to feel and be at the effect of the world and the people around me, and living a life that frankly, felt more like survival than real living.
I firmly believed there was something wrong with me, and I wanted always to find out what was the issue I needed to fix to finally be able to deserve love, care, tenderness, etc. in my life.The hardest part was that when I started seeking help, many people (therapists included) kept treating me like I was, in fact, broken. As if my trauma was a life sentence I could not escape. As if labels were the only way for me to find a way to fix, patch-up or even disguise whatever it was within me that was not adequately suitable to this world.
But in the midst of this all, I discovered I believed in my own power. Not entirely at first, and with certain trepidation, mind you. But there was something within me telling me that I was enough. There was an inner sense of knowing that told me I deserved more because I was MORE than I could possibly understand, even, and perhaps, especially at my most shatteringly painful times.
And so, I learned to become devoted to the act of self discovery, self love and self seduction that have since become the foundation of my work with women the world over.
I am not the person you go to when you want a step-by-step system to “fix” whatever you think is broken or wrong with you.I am the person you go to when you know you deserve more, and when you feel terrified to admit that to yourself, but you’re willing to try and find out.
I am the person you go to when you know you’ve tried it all, and yet, somehow, you feel like you’ve remained in the exact same place you were in before, but you’re not willing to quit yet.
I am the person you go to when you know there’s more to this life than what you have right now, and I am the person that will say YOU ARE RIGHT. Whatever your dream for your life may be, I know it is for you.
And I believe in your power.
Because, no matter what, you are not, nor have you ever been broken, and I am here to help that old belief melt away so you can shine brighter than ever. I am here to tailor a one of a kind path for you as you reclaim your crown in this lifetime, and I am honored to walk side by side as you honor your power through this process.
No judgements, no labels, no cookie-cutter or one-size-fits all approaches. You are here to lead, and as you lead yourself through this healing journey, I will ask the questions your subconscious needs to become aware of so you can crown yourself queen of your life, and that, is the most empowering way to transform your life possible.
At least, in my experience,
5. What are some common struggles or obstacles you see women facing, and how does Your Soulful Goddess address these issues?
Many women face struggles such as self-doubt, disconnection from their bodies and desires, people-pleasing, and not knowing how to take up space in their lives. Often, societal expectations or past trauma make it difficult for them to access their inner power and worth.
There’s also a belief that, to be loved, women must prove their worth, which leads to seeing themselves as worthy only “as long as…”—For example, many entrepreneurial women feel they are only worthy if they reach a specific level of success, leading them to work harder and harder as a way to present “proof” of worth. Yet, all the while, they deplete their health, lose touch with loved ones, forget to honor their needs, and become unable to create intimacy, safety, or receptivity.
They think they have to do everything for everyone else, believing if they don’t, things won’t be done right. This mentality leads them to overextend and deplete themselves, further cementing the idea that they must prove their worth. This cycle blocks the flow of abundance, ease, and true freedom in their lives.
My work addresses these issues by guiding women toward reclaiming their feminine wisdom, self-love, and personal sovereignty. Through embodiment practices, subconscious reprogramming, and mindful self-seduction, women can heal emotional wounds, create deeper self-intimacy, and manifest a life filled with purpose, love, and abundance.
6. How do you maintain your own mental health and well-being while running Your Soulful Goddess?
I believe we all need support in this life, and I have not gotten as far in my healing as I have by reading self-help books alone. I spend a lot of time living the embodied action of what I teach my clients (be it shadow work, self-seduction, internal reframing, somatic release, etc) and I am always walking this life with a mentor, an aligned friend, and an aligned partner by my side.
Which means, I have learned the importance of community, and I refuse to believe that I know everything there is to know about anything.
The people I welcome into my life are aligned to my soul, and together, we share in deep intimacy that goes well beyond the patterns of old, and my friendships, romantic life, and family dynamics have changed so much because of this, all for the better, of course.
It’s important to have people in our lives that we can rest with. People who fill our cups, rather than depleting them. People who are there to hold safe space for us, and even hold us accountable with kindness and deep love when necessary.
In that same way, having teachers, mentors, and healers who are not tied to our personal lives, is also important because as amazing and powerful as we are, there will always be areas we can’t see clearly because we’re too close to them. Having a third party allows us to gain new perspectives and process what’s beneath the surface in ways we can’t always achieve on our own. It’s not a weakness—it’s one of the most powerful steps we can take toward real transformation.
7. What role does community play in your work, and how do you foster a supportive environment for women?
I love this question because community is a sacred cornerstone of my work, and I firmly believe women are meant to run in packs.
Women heal best when they feel seen, held, and supported by others on a similar journey. I foster this environment by creating intimate spaces where women can share their experiences without judgment, learn from one another, and celebrate each other’s growth. Whether through group mentorship or online forums, I emphasize connection and compassion. We build trust, share in vulnerability, and empower one another to rise in our fullest expression
8. Can you describe a moment when you felt particularly proud of the impact you’ve made through Your Soulful Goddess?
I’d be lying if I said that I am not proud of every single client call and transformation. I’ve worked with women who were brave enough to uproot their lives, and create more aligned, thriving, passionate lives.
I’ve had clients who struggled with people-pleasing and self-doubt, completely transform and move from feeling invisible and undervalued to confidently setting boundaries, rediscovering their voices, and attracting aligned opportunities that changed their romantic, business and personal lives in unexpected ways.
And I have seen women take ownership of their worth and transform their entire lives in alignment with their soul’s calling, which has been incredible.
These transformations are why I do this work—it’s not just about the individual, it’s a ripple effect of healing, and the more empowered women out there, the more beautiful our world gets to be, and that, is a dream I want to keep growing forevermore.
9. How do you stay motivated and inspired in your work, especially during difficult times?
I stay motivated by continuously returning to my “why”—the deep desire to see women reclaim their sovereignty and live lives that feel like a true romance for the ages. Because at the end of the day, I believe that you are your one true love, and when you live your life like this is the most potent truth possible, miracles happen, and they infuse our whole world with more beauty, more love, and more resonance than anything else.
Difficult moments are reminders of my own journey, and I draw strength from them as well as from the transformations I’ve witnessed in my clients. Regular self-reflection, mentorship, and embodiment practices keep me grounded. Plus, staying connected to a supportive community ensures I never feel alone in navigating challenging times
10. What advice would you give to women who are trying to find their own empowerment and self-love?
Start by getting curious about YOUR desires and shadow beliefs. Self-love isn’t something to “earn”—it’s something that already belongs to you. Learn to reclaim your power by listening to your body, honoring your emotions, and reframing limiting beliefs. Invest in a support system—whether it’s a mentor, coach, or aligned community—that can hold space for your growth. Know that empowerment begins with radical self-acceptance and letting go of the idea that your worth is tied to external outcomes
11. How do you balance your personal life with the demands of your business?
Balance comes from boundaries and conscious prioritization. I make sure to schedule time for myself, for my relationships, and for rest, just as I would for my business tasks. I practice what I preach—honoring my needs and recognizing when to slow down or ask for support. This isn’t always perfect, but I stay committed to tuning in with myself regularly to check in on what I need
12. Can you share a story or example of how Your Soulful Goddess has transformed or positively impacted someone’s life?
I worked with a woman who came to me feeling disconnected from her femininity and weighed down by external expectations. Truthfully, she reminded me a lot of myself because she had given so much of herself to everyone around her that she’d all but forgotten who she was, and she’d grown to feel completely numb. (This is a really common occurrence in women, and it feels so depleting and scary, because you start wondering if you’ve lost all empathy, when in fact, you’ve just been pouring from an empty cup for so long, there’s noting left to give until you learn to replenish yourself first and foremost)
But I digress…
Through our time together, she reconnected with her body, began embodying her own desires, and learned to create powerful intimacy in her relationships without feeding into the old patterns that had put her in a state of depletion for so long. In essence, she learned to romance herself and her life, and she put away all the people pleasing, the “you are more important than me” stuff, and dedicated herself to true self love and personal sovereignty.
In so doing, not only did she leave an unfulfilling job and toxic relationship, but also manifested a new career and partner that aligned with her Goddess essence in full.
Today, she describes her life as a dance of deep pleasure and purpose—this is the transformation I live for
13. What self-care practices do you prioritize to ensure you’re at your best for both yourself and your clients?
I prioritize practices that nourish both my body and my spirit—morning embodiment rituals, journaling, and time spent in nature are essential. Regular mentorship and therapy help me stay aligned and clear-headed. I also make space for pleasure, play, and creativity, whether that’s through dance, art, or time spent with loved ones. These practices ensure that I can show up fully for myself and, in turn, for my clients
14. How do you handle criticism or challenges related to your mission and work?
I view criticism as an opportunity for reflection and growth. (I owe this to many years, in acting, where I learned an observation is not a condemnation of my internal character or being, but one meant to enrich these) While it’s important to stay rooted in my mission, I always leave room for constructive feedback that aligns with my values, and I welcome discomfort with personal leadership, which is imperative.
I ground myself in the work that I do, knowing that it won’t resonate with everyone—and that’s okay. I stay connected to the women I’m serving, and their transformations remind me that my mission is valuable and needed
15. What message would you like to convey to other women about embracing their true selves and living authentically?
YOU are powerful beyond measure, and you deserve all the good things this life has to offer. Not because you have performed or done something to prove so, but because you are.
And more you can show up as you—unfiltered, unapologetic, and aligned with your truth self—the more your life will shift in miraculous ways.
Stop living for the expectations of others or the world’s conditioned “shoulds.” Begin trusting your intuition and your desires, and allow them to guide you toward the life you deserve.
Again, you are inherently worthy, and embracing your true self is the key to unlocking a life that feels wildly fulfilling
IG: @yoursoulfulgoddess
Podcast: Mindfully Sovereign
