Episode 352: Redefining Success, Self-Care & Womanhood | Porsha Ellis | Let It Break CEO & Board Member of Compton Girls Club
Community is being redefined at a moment when burnout, isolation, and constant productivity are leaving many women disconnected from themselves and each other. In this episode, Kara Duffy sits down with Porsha Ellis, CEO of Let It Break, to explore why women are craving deeper, more intentional spaces, and how community can become a catalyst for personal growth, wellness, and meaningful change.
Porsha shares her journey from building creative agencies to leading a women-centered community rooted in self-awareness, service, and care. Together, they unpack the pressure to “do it all,” the importance of slowing down, redefining success beyond titles, and why giving back through mentorship, service, and organizations like Compton Girls Club, can shift how we show up in our lives and leadership. This conversation examines what it means to break old patterns, reconnect with purpose, and build communities that support the whole woman.
“We are so much more powerful, especially as women, in community.”
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352 - Porsha Ellis
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Kara: Welcome to The Powerful Ladies Podcast. I'm Kara Duffy, and today's guest is CEO of Let It Break, Pors every woman I know is currently reassessing their values, their circle, how they operate in the world, which means we need circles of other women and mentors who can help us find our new center as well as our new North Stars.
Let It Break is a networking community for women who are looking to go beyond the transactional and have relationships that are deep and honest, supportive, and of course also fun. For Porsha, this role has been one she's been manifesting. In this episode, we discussed the power of community, how to prioritize our own self-care and wellness, how to try to get it all done and why being of service can change everything.
Kara: Welcome to the Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Porsha: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
Kara: I would [00:01:00] love to begin by telling everyone your name, where you are in the world, and a few of the things that you're up to.
Porsha: My name is Portia Ellis. I live in Los Angeles, California, although I am originally from the Midwest. I'm from Michigan. I lived in New York for 10 years, so I will claim being a New Yorker. And I've been here for nine years, so I, I. I think Los Angeles is home. I can say it's home for now. I am up to a lot of things.
I would say primarily building Let It Break, which is our women's membership community really centered on personal growth, self-development, giving women the tools and. Tricks of the trade and resources that we kind of all need just to be better humans and better women and really creating a space for women to be able to pour back into themselves.
I think we play a lot of different roles as women, mothers, partners, where some of us are career women, but also needing to just. Know who we are at different phases [00:02:00] and chapters and transitional points of our life. So it really is a community built on supporting each other, being able to learn and grow individually, but have the community support of other like-minded women.
Kara: And this is the. Uh, community and networking group that was started by Savannah James and April McDaniel. How did you know, know them? How did you get in contact with them? Like how did this great opportunity come to you?
Porsha: Yeah, that, that's a really great story, I would say of manifestation for me. April and I have actually worked together for the last. 10, 10 years. It started, we started at a experiential agency. At the time I was living in New York. She was based in Miami. We started working there around the same time.
And then there was an opportunity to open their LA office and both of us moved to LA to open their office. Maybe eight to 10 months in, I was leaving to go on maternity leave for my second daughter. [00:03:00] She was actually leaving to start her other agency, Crown and Conquer. And then when I came back from maternity leave, we had built such a great relationship, it just naturally made sense for me to come and work and help build Crown and Conquer with her.
So I was there at Crown and Conquer for six and a half years, and I have two daughters. One is 11 now, one is eight. So for me and the, the work of. Crown and Conquer was really great to help build something from scratch, and I love the startup world and mentality. It's something that I feel like I really thrive in, but also I was recognizing that my kids were needing me a little bit more than what I was prepared to kind of balance.
So I had to make a decision. I went part-time with Crown and Conquer for about eight to 10 months, just to kind of restabilize everything and get my bearings and really make sure that I was showing up for my kids. And then. In that time, I think that helped me really think about what future I wanna build and what work I wanna be doing and what drives me and what, [00:04:00] I'm passionate about.
And I had a conversation with April. And just say, I obviously have loved building this with you, and I love the work that we're doing. I think that it's, obviously meaningful and really special in the way that we've done it. But also I don't think that this is long term for me, and I have to be honest about that, and I'm thankful to have a relationship with her that we can have dialogue and conversations proactively instead of, having to have it when things blow up. So, we had the conversation and she's like, okay, well that makes sense. Well, what do you wanna do? And at the time, I wasn't sure. I, I hadn't really put a lot of thought. I have, my career trajectory has always been in marketing. I've worked at experiential marketing, creative agencies.
And most of them have been really small, so that has just been my trajectory. I started in PR communication, so I've known a way of life and a way of work that has looked very similar over the last 10, 15 years. But I also thought that I wanted to kind of step outside of that and do something a little bit more purposeful.
So, the two things that I [00:05:00] told her was, okay. I think I'm pretty sure that wellness is somewhere where I wanna land. It's something that's important to me and how I live my life, and. What I'm teaching my girls and also something that's in service of women. We left the conversation there. I also on the side was kind of developing some ideas or just had thought about a newsletter or just, I was in a phase of information gathering about our women's health and cycle sinking and just being more aware of our bodies and getting more in tune with myself.
And two weeks later, April called me randomly on a Friday. I remember exactly where I was and she was like, I think I have a job for you. I was like, okay. And the one thing I will say is I am a big journaler. I write a lot of things down more. More so because my memory I feel like isn't the best sometimes.
So I use it as a tool to help me remember a lot of things, but also just write what I want. And a lot of what I was writing at the time was just kind of manifesting this women's being in service of women wellness and [00:06:00] just ideas and jotting things down. And at the time I didn't know, April and Savannah had kind of started hosting these smaller dinners. It was a group of five or six women. We were all friends. And the purpose of them was for them to pull out ideas of what conversations were coming up and what women were needing and what we were talking about and what we were all struggling with. I didn't know it at the time, but it was for a bigger purpose.
And so when she called me, she told me that she wanted to, her and Savannah wanted to start a women's community that was very different from professional growth. It really was taking all the things that we have all talked about, we've all learned the self-work journey that we've individually been on, and how do we kind of bring that together, but create community and support for women.
So, uh, that sounded exactly what I was looking for. And it, and it really all worked out. And I think what I always say, the testament I kind of pull out of that is always having people in your corner that believe in you, that see something [00:07:00] in you. April has obviously built Crown and Conquer and was the CEO of that business.
But she didn't want to, she knew she didn't wanna run another business, so she was like, you would be perfect for it. And so I think that for me it was really important to have people around you that see something in you sometimes that you don't see in yourself and that believe in you and give you opportunities and then you continue to pay it forward as well.
So that's my journey into Let It Break and it, and it is been a really smooth transition just because we all, Crown and Conquer and Let It Break, share offices together. So for me, even transitioning out of that business that I had been, in for so long, it was an easy transition. We all sit in the same office.
I still have access to April and Savannah when I needed, when we need to have meetings and talk, but also the support system and infrastructure is there too. So it's been a really great transitional moment for me. And smooth, smooth journey.
Kara: There are so many female communities and organizations popping up in almost like every niche you could care [00:08:00] about. There's one's for women who want to manage their money and invest more and do wealth building, there's business oriented one, there's professional growth, there's health and wellness, there's activism. What do you think is happening in this moment in time where women are feeling the need to be in circle with one another? Not just 'cause it, it to me was they're showing up not as a lecture series, but as conversations. So what do you see happening? What is like, let it break scene where we need this so badly right now? Like what? What's behind this phenomenon?
Porsha: I, I definitely think the pandemic fueled this need of community and gathering. I think it's natural for women in general. We just are so caught up in our own lives and all of the things, I mean, the world is crazy right now. I think we can all admit to that and feel it and see it in real [00:09:00] time. But I, I think coming out of the pandemic there was this.
Isolation. Everyone's kind of like in their little bubble because we had to. And so even the transition back to, normal life and that normalcy of just being out with other people, people were yearning to get back together and to have those moments of connection. That's what's really missing. And a lot of things that are being created is the humanness, the connection. I mean the professional spaces, it can be very transactional. And for us, why we built a piece of why we built Let It Break and what, what we're building it around is the humanness of, for us at Let It Break.
We don't, you don't come in saying, hi, I am Portia, I'm the CEO of Let it Break. It's about who you are. And I think a lot of us as women have lost touch with that. It's a lot about our titles and all of the roles that we play, but when we actually strip all of that away, how do you introduce yourself?
Okay, I'm Portia. I'm passionate about this, and you can talk about other pieces of you. And [00:10:00] that's really a big part of what it means for us to build, let it break in a more intentional way because it is stripping away all of the things that are the external, titles and things that we describe ourselves by.
And really getting in touch with the innerness of who we are and being able to kind of lean on that versus the other way around. Not to say that the other things aren't important but I think it's just as important for us to pour into ourselves from a human level. And then the community piece is so necessary because all of us, I, I remember when I became a mother, I felt very isolated and just.
Conversation or things. I thought everything that was happening to me, I thought it was happening to me in this bubble and no one else was going through it. And, and until I had a conversation with someone else, then I'm like, oh, this, she feels the same way. And that level of connection and community and not feeling alone takes so much stress and pressure and, gives us a sense of relief that, we aren't in this alone and that we [00:11:00] can lean on other people. And community now is more important than ever. Just again, because if we continue to isolate ourselves. We, we are just so much more powerful, especially as women in community, and I think we're seeing if, for us specifically, we are seeing the power of that because the conversations, the perspective really, I think is necessary when we're thinking about how we see ourselves, how we reframe.
We've talked about grief and just like, the, the idea of grief is someone dies or we lost someone, but it doesn't have to be death. It could be, we've lost a partner, we've lost a job, we've lost our sense of self because we become a mother, and now we have to change to this new version of ourselves.
And that's just one topic that we've to touched on or talked about. But I think the idea of community and being able to reframe and unlearn and talk about things and hear others' perspectives and then get resources from others that we might not have ourselves like that is important and it really matters, and we're seeing the impact of that, not only in our community, but I mean that's [00:12:00] why these networking groups exist.
Because you might be in your bubble, but you have someone else that can give you. A tool or a resource or a connection to something that you know, you might not be able to have yourself.
Kara: There's so much power in who, who's in your community and who's in your circle, whether it's who knows you or who you know. I am, uh, the personality that's like just a connector in general, and I'm always. Finding people and collecting them and thinking about who they should talk to next and how can we help. We had a friend recently have an issue with her car and she's like, but who, who can help with this? And I was like, hold on.
Porsha: I got, I got a
Kara: it was, so, I got a person, I got five, hold on, we'll send you them. But there's, there's, so, it's so powerful to be able to pick up the phone and call someone and say. Here's what's going on. Like, how do we fix this or, or how do we make this happen? Like, 'cause often it can be creation and not just problem [00:13:00] solving. I can't imagine life without my connections and network and community. I also know that I'm guilty of, being so oriented sometimes towards. Producing things and checking the list that I'm like, wait, I don't have, I talked to a human in real life, like in person in the past 48, 72 hours.
And so I know for myself right now, I'm going, I've been going through probably a couple years now, a period of switching from valuing myself based on what is on the to-do list. And looking at bigger things like leaning into a more, the more feminine, the softer. And the irony is like, I'm sure as like my productivity level hasn't gone down.
I'm just not oriented towards it. So like there's room for other things to show up. And when I was preparing for this conversation, I like, I'm amazed at how much [00:14:00] you seem to have space for your wellness, health, and self-care. And I'm like, okay, I'm gonna need some advice today about like, how is she making all this happen?
Because, if I, I, I truly put into chat GPT the other day, all the things I had to get done in a day and I'm like, help me make an ideal schedule to like get all these things done in the day. And it goes, that's a lot. I'm like, thank you. Yes, I know. Yes. And so I feel like I'm always having to choose, between things that I valued the same way and I've been programmed to be like, oh, skip lunch, be, and like, just keep working. Or if you, we can only work out before 7:00 AM or hey, we'll throw a walk in later and like, that'll be enough. But it like, it, it's not, it's like it, all these things might, they're not working anymore. So how do you do it? What do you recommend? How can women kind of come back and claim. Their self-care wellness practices.
Porsha: Well, one, I do not have it all [00:15:00] figured out either, so we're on the, we're on the same playing field. I, it is a work in progress, honestly, every single day for me. Especially having two kids and. My kids are at the age where they are needing me in much different ways, and it's stretching me beyond even what I thought, the conversations, and especially thinking about how I want to. Redirect how I was raised and, and do it differently. So that, I think for me, the bigger stretch is in this phase of life that I'm in right now, is the parenting stretch. But from a, from a wellness and self-care perspective, the, the things that have helped me is one, just having the awareness that.
Everything probably is not gonna get done and being okay with that. I was talking to someone last week and we were just kind of talking about this topic and they were like, well, how do you get it all done? I was like, I don't, I really, I really don't, and I am one, I am very similar to you [00:16:00] where. I am kind of like a productivity queen.
Like I can multitask and I can do all the things and it looks great on the outside, and normally my brain is scrambling on the inside. But I do, I, I think in the work that I've been, this personal growth work that I've been doing one of the biggest things that one of my coaches told me is, you really have to take pauses to slow down, and it seems so simple.
And it seems so kind of trivial, like, oh, okay, just slow down. And it is really helpful and necessary and even something that I've had conversations with some of my team that works on the letter break team, we definitely are mirrors of each other within that space. So it's great to have another outlet of accountability to keep us like we're having conversations with our members and women within our community to slow down and bring awareness and all.
So are we doing that? Are, are we being examples of that ourselves? So it's always a great reality check to have, have that within our working environment. But for me, I reduce the [00:17:00] steps of my routine. Like for some people they have like a 12 step skincare routine. I, I, I can't keep up with it.
I have to be honest with myself. I need two to three steps. And I remember having a conversation with my facialist and she was like, okay, and you can do this. You can do, I need two things, two to three things that I can like stick to. And I think for me personally. There's honesty that comes with that.
Like, what can I really do? Because I am an overachiever, I'm gonna place the 20, I'm gonna have the two. I'm looking at a to-do list right here in front of me and it's 20 things that all need to get done today. And then there's a reality hit that just it's not, so what are the top five, three to five things that I can do really well?
I'm gonna get done and then I'll paste it out, paste the rest of the things out for the rest of the, the weekend or the week or whatever that looks like. But I do think. Taking a second to just give ourselves some grace, especially as women give ourselves some grace and not everything is on fire and I think the continue [00:18:00] reprioritization of things, even though they all feel valuable, like what's the most valuable at the time? And we have to ask ourselves those questions. And often, like I really, I have a conversation with myself every morning. I write my to-do list or maybe the night before, and then I rejigger it as things, you have to allow space for things to come up.
And that for me has been the biggest life hack. As I was preparing for this interview you, one of the questions was like, what's your favorite book? And , I don't necessarily have a favorite book, but Atomic Habits was one of like the best tools that in, in my early thirties that I could say, help me think about things practically and then put together like a plan for myself that was actually manageable. And I think that's.
Kara: Yeah.
Porsha: Probably some of the things that people are doing often is like, we are creating this, this roadmap for ourselves that is not really, uh, actionable. It's not really realistic, and I think that reality check and [00:19:00] awareness is necessary. And also for me, the, the thing that I have to do is work out. I have to move my body. That, that is, is such a mental release for me. It's a physical release for me. So the, the working out part is something that. I have as like a non-negotiable, and I remember reading something. That said like, put it on your calendar and as, as serious as you would take a board meeting, as serious as you would take, a meeting that you had to meet with your kids', teachers, or whatever else is very high of importance to you.
Take it as serious as that and put it on your calendar as a meeting. And after doing that. I, I, I feel guilty if I make any other excuses because I wouldn't do it for something else. So I think having the lens and, and, and using that kind of framework to guide what you really value and then holding yourself to that standard is, is really helped me think about things differently.
And then. Prioritize my time. So that might mean maybe I don't have as much time for friend gatherings, or [00:20:00] maybe I don't have enough time to, I don't really watch a ton of tv, but maybe I don't have time to watch TV at night. I need to go to bed and prioritize sleep. So it is, it's a constant juggle for me.
I will say one thing that I haven't started to do yet, but we're doing it tomorrow night with a few girlfriends of mine we're having at midnight. That's like the new thing I, we planned it and then I've seen like 15 articles about it since we planned it. But I'm really excited because one, I, I do think it's an opportunity to be with friends and the community around friendships, I've realized for me is so important. Even more important now than ever. We, I have a group of friends. Not all of them live here in la, but we have kids. It's hard to connect, but let's just connect over the things that we know we have to do anyway, and it makes it so much easier. And then we can talk about ideas. We talk about dreaming and thinking about, what life could look like and not necessarily having to put it into action, but just thinking about [00:21:00] it and then by having other people to bounce ideas off of that for me, is I, I've seen the, the benefit of that in my conversations and relationships more recently, I would say over the last few months, and just being able to support each other and build together.
I think that, for me is gonna be the next phase of what a few things look like, and I'm excited to, to kind of bring it all together.
Kara: Well, I think you kind of hit on a key way that we can start to have it all, and it's how do we layer the things that matter to us? Like, we have to do the admin work, we want to hang out, most of the admin work isn't taking a lot of our brain capacity, so we can like chit chat and do it at the same time.
I, I feel the same way about trying to get in like outdoor time and fitness combined. I'm like, okay, I'm now making walks and hikes a social activity because we can walk and talk the whole time. We can be [00:22:00] outside, we can check a couple boxes and. If you feel better about it, it's like, okay, let's go do that, and then we can get lunch or brunch or a smoothie versus like, I need to be in bed. Like I, no, I don't wanna meet you for drinks at eight o'clock, nine o'clock, 10. Nope. Not like, Nope.
Porsha: Like in my, prioritization level, that's not it. And I, and I think that that's fair for me, again, even going back to the Atomic Habits book, the layering of the task. So for me, I've, every, every day I try to get outside in some capacity. So I may take, like, even if I'm, I'm at the office, I may take a 10 minute walk, but I'll pop in.
My headphones and I'll walk around, so I'm getting some sunlight, but I'm also maybe listening to a podcast or, obviously maybe I'm reading some emails while I'm walking. So I do try to do a little bit of all the things when I can, but still be able to prioritize taking care of myself.
So even the little 10 minutes outside in the sun is something that you, it, it is such a [00:23:00] booster for your day and your energy and your mood. You, you. Kind of don't feel the value of that when you think about it. But when you actually do it and come back, you're like, okay, like now I can power through the next four hours of the day or whatever your, whatever your day looks like.
So I do think for me, that's really worked well to be able to stack the habits that can be repeatable, that can be actionable, that, we can really think about how to be able to get more things done. I just, it is, we, we live in a productivity world and I think trying to escape me, trying to escape it fully is not, not in my wheelhouse, but how can I make it so that I'm still cre Creating space for myself is definitely necessary.
I.
Kara: Well, and there's so many ways that we can use technology too, like if you're on a, a Zoom or a Google Meet, now you can walk and talk and it transcribes everything. So you don't have to be taking notes unless you, need to be looking at a document or creating something together. Like you don't need to be at the desk to [00:24:00] have these appointments.
I have to remind myself every day, I'm like, wait, I can take my computer outside. Like, why wouldn't I do that? Powerful ladies has been in existence for a number of years now, and it's been really interesting to see the different themes of like what women are wanting and needing and how we're cycling through stuff. And I'm so happy right now that there's a shift towards, uh, away from a monoculture and like the Instagram perfection space to really showing more realities of what's happening. Like someone I saw on TikTok was calling it the like creative daughter approach where like we're seeing the mood boards, we're seeing like messier kind of outfits. It looks like you're an artist in all loft creating something versus being like, perfect. When you think about yourself and like what maybe you wouldn't have talked about [00:25:00] and shown before, but now you're like, screw it. We're gonna show it, talk about it, and put it all on the table. What are some areas that you evolved into? Like, no, we have to talk about this, and I don't mind letting people like see behind the scenes now
Porsha: Well, okay, two twofold. For me, I definitely am a, a perfectionist, so self proclaim, but you can see that in practice, in action, and it's something that I really have worked on. And, and it is interesting, I, I had a conversation and they asked me like, if, what would you tell your younger self caring about what other people think is at the, it will only be at the detriment of your advancement, your success, and how you see yourself and.
For me, I've really had to embrace that and just letting go of things, having to be in my little box of how I want things to go or what I want them to look like. Even in having kids, I've had to embrace that even more because I, [00:26:00] for whatever reason, my kids are little rebels and they're like, no, I don't wanna wear what you.
Played out, I wanna wear this. And so there is a, a letting go that I think across the board we're, we're doing as a society and as a culture. And I think that it's great. I even TikTok in how that social platform is created. And what that has brought, I think has been great in some aspects because it doesn't, it's just like everything you can, whatever, everything is accepted, it does not have to be polished.
It doesn't have to post it. And I, one of the things that. I really have been emphasizing with myself, and we've been talking about this within Let It Break, and also my personal community groups is just doing the thing, just getting things out. It doesn't have to be perfect because there's been so many times that I, I have an idea and I'm like, okay, well let me build it out and it has to be this way.
And then two years later, I haven't started the thing at all and I'm having a lot of conversations with obviously women within our Let It Break community about just. Putting [00:27:00] ourselves out there. And it's interesting for me personally, because I have traditionally been in roles that have been behind the scenes and I think purposely, 'cause I haven't wanted to come out of my shell or be too much in, the public eye.
And let it break is really calling me to step into more of that power and step into who I am and be okay with that and show more so for me. I'm okay with sharing anything. The one thing I don't do is I don't, I don't share my kids. You'll see, I never share my kids' faces on social media. It's just my own personal our family.
That's what we've agreed to. So. I protect and keep that private, but I use, I still show little clips and things that they're interested in. My younger daughter plays soccer and I'm like really proud of that and, and, and what my girls are doing. So I still, I'm still a mom and I still wanna be able to show that piece of my life, but I think everything else is just up for grabs, like my relationship, although I'm not in one I would maybe [00:28:00] protect that and keep that proud of it.
But everything else like topics. That we've talked about within, let it Break about, imposter syndrome or confidence, or how we navigate hard conversations or, what have you. I, I'm open to all of that and I think one of the things that I really love about Let It Break is we are having those conversations that maybe are a little bit taboo.
I, I'm 41 and. I just was saying to a, a doctor friend of mine that I'm like, up until a few years ago, I didn't even know what perimenopause is, although I could very much be in it. And I think those type of proactive conversations around health and how we treat ourselves and what that looks like and what's happening in the world, like all of those things for me are up for grab.
So I'm, I'm pretty much have like turned into an open book, which I think is great. And I think, I've hid my voice for a little while. And I think that there are areas of, of life [00:29:00] and aspects of womanhood that I do wanna speak out and, and touch on a little bit more. I think the wellness and the women's health piece for me is where my voice will probably be heard a little bit more.
I do, I think, and for me it's really, I'm raising two girls. So the more information I can have, the more things I know about and can share with them earlier on, like that is necessary. And I'm, I'm also a part of I'm on the board of a young girls group that's similar to Let It Break, which is, is phenomenal that we're teaching these young girls things that I don't feel like I started to learn until I was in my, later, twenties, even into after I became a mom in my thirties. So, I think conversation is necessary and for me, I'm pretty much an open book to talk about whatever at this point.
Kara: Well I'm glad you brought up, uh, your board position. 'cause I wanted to talk about the Compton Girls Club. I definitely saw the same themes and I was like, Ooh, there's a, there's a trend here of like giving back and it being female oriented. How did you get involved with them [00:30:00] and how has it changed your life being a part of it?
Porsha: I love this. So, and again, another manifestation moment for me, which is just reinforces the reason why I need to keep writing and keep just like putting ideas on paper. So I've only, I've been on the board just for six or seven months. I joined last June, but at the top of 2025, I kind of wrote out a list of things that were priorities.
For me, service was one of them. Specifically with younger girls and for twofold, one, I, I wanted to be able to give my own time back, but I also wanted my girls to be involved in some of that work. So finding and thinking about the type of service that I wanted to kind of commit my time to, I started to make a list of very, very short list of organizations that I felt connected to.
And Compton Girls Club was one of them. And maybe a few months later, I happened to see one of our Let It Break members, she's interim president right [00:31:00] now. She posted something about Compton Girls Club and looking for board members and so she was like, if you wanna nominate someone, she posted on social media.
And I responded to her and I said, well, can I nominate myself because I'm interested? And then we had conversations and that's kind of where things kind of started. We had a interview. I sat in a meeting, they voted me in. And it's been a great, we're obviously just kind of getting started.
And there comping Girls Club is in a, really great phase right now where they built something really great and now it's on us to really do the work to fundraise and push the name out a little bit more so that they can grow and develop. But I love it because it is so much like, let it break, but it's for the younger girls.
And I think if we could allow younger girls to be a part of Let It Break and a part of our program, like we totally would, and that really it, it is for our, the younger versions of ourselves. So it just is such a natural connection for me. This year I, I wanna get more involved. I mean, obviously our [00:32:00] board is more fundraising and event planning, and obviously thinking about how we get the name out and messaging out more widely. But I do wanna do some programming for the girls and be able to bring my children into the mix too. So it is such a natural fit for me. I, I love the mission of what they are creating.
And obviously will do whatever I can on my end to continue to promote and be, a presence for the girls so that they are able to get the information that we're getting and learning and, navigating through in our twenties and thirties and forties, these are teenagers. So it's been really great to be a part of that group.
Kara: Well, I'm gonna volunteer myself, but if you guys ever wanna talk about having your own business. I'm looking for opportunities to speak to young people about that
Porsha: Yeah,
Kara: I think it's such a missed opportunity for people to realize how easy it actually is to do it. And I mean, I love seeing things of kids who are 9, 12, 14 and they're like, I can already pay [00:33:00] for my college. 'Cause then my side hustle and you're like, I love this. Good for you.
Porsha: I actually have a friend, who is starting. She did a pilot program, which my girls were involved in, but she's starting a business that helps kids create their own businesses. So it gives them the digital infrastructure and I think giving kids opportunities to see the world differently. And again, this Compton Girls Club is specifically for black and brown girls who don't have the resources. But I think being able to give them an opportunity to see different lanes and possibilities is, is really important. Possibility has been a word that's popping up for me recently, but just being able to give that to them and give them perspective and opportunities is really important.
So, yeah, I'm, I'm excited to see how the, the organization continues to grow as well.
Kara: Well, and to your point, and it's also part of the origin story of powerful ladies, it's so important, even for adult women to know that [00:34:00] powerful isn't Oprah, Beyonce or Taylor Swift. You're like, there's so many versions of that, of in your household, in your neighborhood, in your community, at, there's so many ways that we can do.
And I think for a long time it was either that level or nothing. And knowing that, like there's a spectrum of what this can look like and what does it mean to you? 'cause again, we we're so, we've been trained to be so mean to ourselves and always thinking like it's not good enough. We haven't gotten there yet. Like we're not done. And when you look at what you've done already, it's bananas. If we go back to 8-year-old, you. What is she proud of that you're doing today? And is she surprised about anything that you're up to today?
Porsha: Uh, what is she proud of? Surprise. Maybe be I think my journey is coming full circle in, uh, I, I am a Libra, so I'm naturally a [00:35:00] people per Oh, nice. I'm October 7th. My older daughter is a Libra as well. So I'm literally raising the, the, the younger version of myself, which is. Insane and crazy all at the same time. But I, I grew up naturally just like a people pers people person. Like loved to just have all the friends and, be, I wasn't shy by any means, and then some point into my adulthood I've kind of become more of an introvert. But again, I think let It Break is forcing me in a good way to come outta my shell.
And, to just showcase who I am and what I care about a lot more. So I do think, I don't know if my younger self would be surprised that I'm come back full circle, but I think very proud that I'm stepping into just embracing who I really am and not afraid to kind of shy away from that. And I would say that maybe advice that I would give my younger self is.
Nobody has it figured out. [00:36:00] Everybody is winging it. Everybody is figuring out in real time whether it comes and, also like even no matter how much we feel prepared, sometimes we still are figuring out in real time. I've found that very true in motherhood where, some people just seem like they have it all together and then you have a conversation with them.
And then they're crumbling behind the scenes. So it is that, you have this perception of what you think people are going through, and then behind closed doors, everybody is, going through something. I've just had a conversation yesterday and we were just talking about all of the life things that are happening for people, real life, things that are happening for people, but from the outside looking in, you would never know.
So I think for me. Not caring what other people think. And really just like owning who you are and, and really leading with that is something I would tell my younger self. And also we are, we are, we're all just trying to figure it out. So don't, don't be so hard on yourself and give yourself a little bit more grace.
And I think for a kid that's. Easier said than done, and if easier said than done [00:37:00] for us as adults as well. But I, I've found a lot of reprieve in that, of giving myself grace and not the inner dialogue, course correcting that in real time so that we aren't so hard on ourselves. And, and really, I, I would say the one thing that I am doing now is creating joy boards.
So every quarter.
Kara: Oh.
Porsha: This is, I have mine in my my other room, so I can see it from here. I can't remember how the idea came about. Someone was doing something similar, but for me, we did an exercise at the end of the year at a friend's house and they were like, well, what's one thing that you're proud of?
Like, what was one defining moment of the year? And it took me some time to think about it because I just. Everything is just so, oh, that's too small. Oh, that's, and it, it, it's forcing me to think about my wins or the things that, I feel really proud about in a different way. So my joy board is, I, I'm doing it on a quarterly basis and it's pictures, it's things I've done, it's notes that people have written [00:38:00] to me.
Maybe it's an email. So I'd print all of the things off and I put it up just as a physical reminder. Of the things that are happening in real time. And although in the moment they did, they didn't feel small in the moment. I was really excited about it or it really lifted me up. It, I, I have a Instagram DM from my cousin that he, he was just like, raving about me and I was like, this is so great, but it's like, it's a reminder that people are, are, are in my corner in that, I'm supported in the things that I'm doing or that I'm doing.
Some things that I. I, after I think about them three, four months later, they may seem so small, but they were really big in the moment. And I think having a moment to reflect on those things and really bring them to our awareness is important. So for me, it's helped just to make sure I can remember all the things that are happening and I don't forget about the small things.
Kara: It is so easy when you're a forward oriented person to forget everything and. I know for myself [00:39:00] there's a, a yin and a yang to this 'cause I, I forget bad things that happen pretty quickly too, 'cause I'm running full speed ahead. But you forget the good things too. So I love this idea of making it a ritual to remember what's been happening and take a sec to acknowledge it. And we have so much more support. We've had so much more good things happen to us. In the past 12 months in particular, I've really had to keep grounding myself in remembering all of the miracles that are happening in parallel to all of the insanity that's happening. 'Cause there have been incredible miracles for me personally and my friend groups, and there's things happening every day that are and. It's the orientation that we give ourselves of what are we gonna pay attention to? Like, who are we gonna allow to be inputs into our lives? Which brings us back to Let It Break. Having women who are gonna be positive influences [00:40:00] and positive inputs into your life is so important right now i'm so protective of I'm giving my time and like what we're talking about. Like, I was at an event the other day and it just started getting, I was like, it felt icky. I'm like, I'm going home. We have to protect this like no other, like never before because it's so easy to collect all the junk that is happening. And I'm like, I can't. I know. It's, it's a lot. So who would you say Let It Break is for who are you looking for for members? Like who are your dream people to be
Porsha: It's interesting, we think about the audience a lot. And truly creating Let It Break is for all women. And I think that sounds very broad and I, and I do think at some point the audience narrows itself out. But for us it really is about curiosity about self and wanting to kind of take the steps to go a little bit deeper.
Like [00:41:00] if that's where you are in your life or you're, you have the level of curiosity, you're wanting to do more you're, you're really. Open and wanting to do the work. 'cause I mean, a lot of what we do at Let It Break, we have educational workshops. We have a few coaches who lead our workshop series and, and the things that we produce in terms of our programming.
And then we have the community group groups and events, which are like the fun stuff and, or like, maybe it's meditation or we've done sound baths. We did, we've done dance classes. I mean, anything that you can think that will kind of bring a little bit of joy back to our lives and allows us to make space for ourselves.
We've tried it. But on the educational side, it really is about you being open to exploring yourself on a deeper level and understanding like how you even got to where you are and, and are you okay with that? Do you like the person that you are, are there things that you wanna change? Now that you have the awareness, then what do you do with that awareness?
And for me, anything that I do, if, if I'm not able to [00:42:00] take away practical tools and things that can help me implement whatever I've learned into my life, then it really doesn't work for me. So we've prioritized that, and even in terms of how we built the programming and the curriculum that we have on the educational side.
So for us, it really is. Women who are open and curious and wanting to kind of dig deeper, but also do that amongst community. And I would say we have a very diverse community in terms of what their professional lives look like. Creatives and entrepreneurs and corporate women, and everything in between, but I think what unifies the group is that we are there not under the pretense that we wanna network or what can you do. For me, it's, we're all humans coming together. We're trying to be the best versions of ourselves. We know that personal growth work is a lifelong journey. It's not a destination that we end and we wanna be able to surround ourselves with women who are also thinking on that same wavelength.
Our minimum age is 25. I, I think our youngest member is [00:43:00] 28. But we do have members that are in their late sixties, early seventies. And I, I love that because there is this like intergenerational learning that when we think about what is helpful within a community group, it's perspective.
So you have the younger women that are giving some energy in life to maybe our women who are on the other end of the spectrum. And then those women are also have wisdom that, they can share. So I, there's this like, great synergy of, how our women come together and the respect that we all have for each other.
And it is, it's not a place of judgment. Like we're all on our own journey and trying to figure out life. So it really is come in, open-minded, open-hearted. There is a level of vulnerability that we as a leadership team and our internal team lead with that. I think that naturally just creates this environment that other people feel safe to be vulnerable as well, and talk about real life things that are happening and how we can ebb and flow through them.
So. I'm really excited for the community that we built thus far and just wanna continue to [00:44:00] break in other women who embody that same energy.
Kara: For everybody who wants to get to know you more, hang out with you, be a part of Let It Break, collaborate, et cetera, where can they find, follow, & connect with you
Porsha: Um,
yes. So for Let It Break, we're on Instagram specifically right now. Let It Break official is our Instagram handle. We also have our website as well to learn more. That's. Where a lot of information you can find about the membership. Me personally my name is Porsha Ellis and my Instagram handle is I am raising wisdom.
My kids' last name is Wisdom. So, that is my personal channel or handle across, I think all platforms.
Kara: Well, thank you so much for your time today. It's, I just wanna acknowledge you for the work that you're doing for your peers and also the young girls of the Compton Girls Club. To be in of service and to put so much into others while also taking care of yourself and your kids and just you're doing [00:45:00] all the things and it's inspiring. So thank you for the work you're doing. Thank you for having this community be available. We need them. We need ones that are wisdom oriented so much right now. So thank you and I can't wait to hear what people have to about it
Porsha: it. Thank you so much for having me. This is a joy. I'm glad I could start my Friday like this, so I, I appreciate it. I look forward to, to hearing the feedback.
Kara: Thanks for listening to The Powerful Ladies Podcast. If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe. Leave us a review or share it with a friend. Head to the powerful ladies.com. We can find all the links to connect with today's guest show notes, discover like episodes, enjoy bonus content and more.
We'll be back next week with a brand new episode and new amazing guest. Make sure you're following us on Instagram or substack at powerful ladies to get the first preview of next week's episode. You can find me and all my socials@karaduffy.com. [00:46:00] Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life.
Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Instagram: @imraisingwisdom | @letitbreakofficial | @comptom.girls.club
Website: www.LetItBreak.com
Porsha Ellis’s Linktr.ee
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Jordan Duffy
Graphic design by Jordan Duffy
Music by Joakim Karud
