Free to Be Mindful Podcast | Mindset, Permission and Real Talk for the High-Achieving Woman
The Free to Be Mindful Podcast is a weekly mental health podcast for high-achieving women, hosted by licensed therapist, speaker, and Latina mom coach Vanessa De Jesus Guzman, LPC, NCC.
Fifteen honest minutes with someone who actually gets what it's like to build something impressive and still feel like you're disappearing inside it. We get honest about ambition, identity, and the parts of ourselves we've quietly put on hold.
Each episode is unfiltered and grounded in mental health insight, for the woman who's tired of holding it all together and ready to come back to herself. It ends with a short guided reflection, a chance to give yourself permission for the one thing you've been putting off.
It's like a conversation with a friend... who happens to be a therapist.
New episodes drop every week.
Free to Be Mindful Podcast | Mindset, Permission and Real Talk for the High-Achieving Woman
Stop Code Switching and Start Showing Up | Ep318
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Stop code switching and start showing up: that's what I'm learning to do as a first gen, Dominican, high-achieving woman who's spent years adjusting my voice for every room I walk into. In this episode, I open up about the bridge generation, what code-switching actually costs, and what changed the moment I decided to show up as my authentic self instead.
What You'll Learn
✅ Why the switching started long before she had a word for it, and why it never actually stops, it just changes rooms
✅ What it costs to spend years adjusting yourself so everyone else stays comfortable
✅ Why the timing of feeling "othered" looks different depending on where and how you grew up
✅ The unwritten professional and entrepreneurial rules nobody can hand you when your parents were never in those rooms
✅ What it looks like day to day to stop code-switching and let your full self show up instead
✅ One reflection to use this week to notice where you're still switching out of habit
Chapters
00:00 Code Switching At Home
00:45 Hispanic Heritage Month Theme
01:38 First Gen Bridge Skills
04:04 College And Othering
05:19 Entrepreneurship And Loneliness
06:52 Dropping The Switch
07:58 Authentic In Every Room
10:20 Guided Reflection
11:23 Share And Closing
GRAB AN OFFER
🎁 Free Resource: 120 Coping Skills: https://www.freetobemindful.com/podcast-120copingskills
💛 Coaching for the Mom CEO: https://www.amigamoms.com
💡 Coaching for Child Therapists: https://www.thekidclinician.com/
💚 Coaching & Community for Latinx Therapists: https://www.latinxpracticecollective.com/
ABOUT ME
I'm Vanessa, the therapist who helps high-achieving adults become the best version of themselves, not just at work, but in the rooms that matter most. I host the Free to Be Mindful Podcast, named the #1 Latino Mental Health Podcast in 2026 by Feedspot. I believe the people who give everything to everyone else deserve to stop surviving and start living intentionally.
CONNECT WITH ME ON SOCIAL
🎧 Podcast: https://www.freetobemindful.com/podcast
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/counselorvdejesus/
📋 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/counselorvdejesus/
🎤 Speaking & Workshops: https://www.freetobemindful.com/speaking
DISCLAIMER
Free to Be Mindful Podcast episodes are for educational purposes only and should not be considered as or substituted for therapy or professional help from a licensed clinician.
