ABOUT

Hey Bestie! I’m glad you’re here. I’m Yolanda Russell, former ICU RN, and Ralphie’s Mom.

I’m a Maryland native now residing in Austin, Texas. I am the host of the Date Better Podcast, Dating & Relationship Coach, and Speaker.

Libra sun, Pisces rising, and Capricorn moon. A 1/3 Splenic Projector. Enneagram 3. INFP. If you understand all of this, HEY BESTIE!

On October 19, 2016, I cried in a bathroom on a travel assignment. Burnt out, exhausted, unfulfilled, my soul begging me for a change. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew that nursing was no longer the ‘thing’ I was supposed to do.

That day in the bathroom, I decided to take a one-month break to rest and recoup—little did I know, I’d be breaking up with my profession and embarking on a radical ‘glow up’ journey.

I began sharing this journey on social media mostly for myself and documenting but also realized that it had the potential to help at least one woman who could see herself in my shoes.

At the time of my massive career shift - I was fortunate to have a supportive partner who encouraged me to take time and space to ‘figure it out.’

He was 14 years older than me (no, I had never been an old man chaser, LOL), but it was just how it worked out.

He was exactly who and what I needed at the time in my life. He had already done the whole wife and kids thing and that took presure off of me in my early 30’s becuase I didn’t know if that was what I wanted.

We were engaged a year after dating.
We were together for six years.

While I liked the idea of marriage, it wasn’t something either of us were in a rush for. We had a commitment and it worked for us.

And it probably would have kept working, except for the fact that we were on different pages. In different books.

We split amicably in September 2021 - after I used my words to initiate a ‘hard conversation.’ That breakup sparked a glow up, but let me tell you, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

I moved out on my own again for the first time in five years and started tipping my toe back into the dating scene. I’ve never done the math - but I’m sure that I went on at least 100 first dates (and no, dating doesn’t equal sex). I began sharing the good, bad, and ugly of being over 35 and dating with my Close Friends on IG. I had a running joke with my friends that I was an ‘aware hoe.’ This evolved into me talking about women embracing their inner Conscious 𝗛.𝗢.𝗘.™️ - a woman Honoring & Owning Empowerment.

I knew what I wanted. I wasn’t ready for it… but I went to my journal and wrote a list of traits, values, and experiences I wanted with my next partner on December 13, 2021. He came to me at the end of 2022.

You can hear more of that story here. I had done a shit load of personal development after leaving my nursing career. I also discovered the power of psychedelics and plant medicine for healing and transformation.

I found a community of some of the most expansive humans I’ve ever met. This transformed EVERYTHING for me…not just in dating, but in my confidence, friendships, and belief in being on the earth to do something BIG…

HELP WOMEN TRANSFORM (BREAK UP WITH THEIR CURRENT IDENTITIES) & STEP INTO THEIR POWER (GLOW UP).

You deserve to have the life, love, career/business, and community that your heart desires.

Sometimes you have to set life as you know it on fire so that you can set your soul on fire…you’ve got to break up to glow up.

XO,
Yo