The soul behind this work
Who I am & why I'm here
I’m Stevie Reneé (she/they)—a Gaja-certified well-being coach, Ayurvedic educator, meditation instructor, embodiment facilitator, and former full-time journalist whose work has appeared in publications including ESSENCE and Refinery29. For over 15 years, I’ve told stories about identity, healing, and liberation—long before I understood that storytelling itself was my first medicine.
My work lives at the intersection of ritual, embodied practice, ancestral wisdom, and Vedic philosophy. I guide sensitive, soul-led women and femmes in slowing down, listening inward, and reconnecting with the wisdom already held in the body—supporting them in reclaiming their voice and returning to themselves with clarity and care. In practice, this often looks like helping clients regulate stress, untangle protective patterns that keep them stuck, and rebuild trust in their own timing and truth. They leave with language for what’s been unnamed and practices they can actually return to between sessions.
Alongside individual wellness coaching and ritual-rooted 1:1 work, I also partner with organizations, teams, and collectives seeking more sustainable ways to support well-being, creativity, and nervous-system regulation. This aspect of my work is informed by my background in digital media and journalism, and by a lived understanding of the pace, pressure, and emotional labor of creative and mission-driven environments.
Soft Alchemy is the heart of what I do: a transformative process of turning survival into softness, and softness into power. Through SRL Well-Being and my podcast—Soft Alchemy with Stevie Reneé—I create spaces for reflection, restoration, and inner returning.
My 1:1 container for this work is Soft Alchemy Coaching—a ritual-rooted space for attunement, nervous system regulation, and embodied reclamation. These sessions are intimate, intuitive, and designed to meet you at the threshold you’re consciously stepping toward. I’m attentive, structured, and discerning, so this is work that's held gently with clear boundaries and real integration.
If you'd like to learn more, I invite you to book an alignment call below. And if you’re unsure where to begin, we’ll use that call to choose the most supportive entry point.
The path that shaped me
I was raised on intuition. As a spiritually sensitive child, I felt drawn to tarot, astrology, numerology, crystals, and the subtle realms of energy and symbol—even before I had the words to describe what I was sensing. That quiet sensitivity wasn’t a phase or an aesthetic; it was a language my spirit recognized instinctively, and that I’d only learn how to articulate years later.
My practice took root in my twenties through meditation and yoga, and later through the Gaja Total Well-Being Certification program—an educational coaching training that supported my study of Ayurveda, meditation, and Vedic philosophy as embodied daily practices. That study didn’t replace my own spiritual traditions; it clarified them, helping me name what my intuition had been guiding me toward for years. Since then, I’ve continued a devoted path of self-study and shared learning within my community in Vedic astrology (Jyotish) and other Vedic knowledge systems, tending to these teachings with the same reverence and curiosity that first called me toward them.
In 2022, I also began an ancestral journey that invited me to understand my lineage more fully and reconnect with West African and diasporic spiritual traditions that speak to my blood and my bones. As a Black queer femme born and raised in the U.S., I carry an embodied awareness of what colonial history severed: land, language, and ancestral technologies. Part of my healing has been reclaiming those threads and tending to the wisdom that survived.
What you’ll find in my work is the weaving of the esoteric intuition I was born with, the ancestral wisdom I’m returning to, and the Vedic teachings that have shaped me in ways I cherish. And while my voice, lineage, and lived experience are the soil this work grows from, the medicine itself is meant for anyone who feels called to it.
The devotion behind my practice
My intention is to offer this work with reverence for the lineages that shaped me, the ancestors whose wisdom endures, and the communities whose teachings I hold with care. I meet this work the same way I meet you: with presence, transparency, and a grounded devotion to truth-telling. I don’t position myself as someone above you or separate from you, but as someone walking beside you—a witness, a guide, and a mirror. Whether we’re working with breath, story, ritual, or somatic inquiry, my aim is to create a liberatory space where your truth can rise without force, and where recognition, grounding, and a sense of home can unfold in their own timing.
My practice is also nourished through community. I’m a part of MINKA—a community-centered, spiritually rooted collective based in Brooklyn, NY, where I once lived and remain in relationship. In addition to supporting their marketing work remotely, I serve as a practitioner, offering virtual meditations and workshops in partnership with organizations such as the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. These collaborations ground my work in relationship and shared responsibility. They remind me that healing is not a solitary pursuit, but something we tend together through listening, accountability, and care for the collective—not just the individual.
What is Soft Alchemy?
In a world that rewards speed, productivity, and external validation, many of us learned to live from the neck up. We learned to override fatigue, silence discomfort, intellectualize emotion, and push through by any means necessary. Women and femmes, especially, became highly capable in ways that required self-abandonment. We adapted. We achieved. We endured. But adaptation is not the same as alignment. For many of us, that adaptation was never incidental—it was a response to systems that rewarded our output while penalizing our rest, our sensitivity, and our truth.
Soft Alchemy is the shift from that adaptation into alignment.
Intuition doesn't shout. It speaks through sensations we learned to ignore while overthinking, overextending, and over-performing. Soft Alchemy is a structured practice of embodiment and recalibration. It helps you refine your relationship with your own perception—so your intuition becomes clearer, your boundaries more self-directed, and your decisions less shaped by external pressure or validation.
Because discernment lives in the body, embodiment isn’t optional—it’s foundational. Through consistent somatic practice, the nervous system learns that slowing down and feeling do not equal danger. As safety increases, intuition strengthens. Regulation, in this work, means capacity—the ability to remain present with what's true without being consumed by it. It is not the performance of calm. It is a practice of returning.
To facilitate this practice, Soft Alchemy rests on three pillars:
Remembrance — Recognizing that wisdom has always lived within you, even when it felt distant.
Reclamation — Retrieving your voice, boundaries, and narrative from patterns built for survival rather than self-leadership.
Ritual — Consistent embodied practices that keep you connected to breath, body, and inner authority.
Soft Alchemy is not about becoming someone new or controlling your circumstances. It’s about strengthening your capacity to remain connected to yourself within them, and returning to the self you once set aside.
This is where intuitive authority begins: in the quiet, repeated choice to trust what your body already knows.
How Soft Alchemy was born
Soft Alchemy didn’t begin as a brand. It began as a necessary shift in how I was living. For years, I worked in fast-paced media environments that required me to stay tuned in at all times. My journalism career was meaningful and creative—I told stories about identity, culture, and liberation, many of which felt personal to me. But being constantly plugged into cultural conversations, deadlines, and the emotional currents of the moment meant I was rarely offline in my own body.
I cared deeply about the work, and I absorbed a lot. I could sustain that pace for a while, but eventually my system would shut down. Living with anxiety, panic disorder, and agoraphobia rooted in safety trauma meant my nervous system had limits I couldn’t override forever. It began asking for a different relationship to pace, output, and attunement.
In my twenties, I also moved through an abusive relationship that changed the way I related to myself and others. I became guarded and hyper-independent. Softness felt unsafe and trust felt risky. From the outside, I appeared capable and composed, but internally I felt disconnected from my own needs and voice. Therapy was an important part of my healing, and alongside that support, meditation, ritual, and Ayurvedic rhythm helped me slowly rebuild trust with myself. They allowed me to soften without abandoning myself or my boundaries.
As I began unpacking my own patterns, I noticed how common they were among thoughtful, high-functioning women and femmes. Many of us have learned to over-extend, over-carry, and override ourselves in the name of being resilient. Soft Alchemy grew from my decision to relate to myself differently. As I slowed down, I became clearer. I reconnected with the intuition and sensitivity I had always carried, but had learned to guard. My softness didn’t make me weak—it became a source of discernment, connection, and strength.
This work is not about reinvention. It’s about returning to the parts of yourself that were always there, but didn’t always feel safe to express. Soft Alchemy is simply the name I gave to that process.
If something in this resonates, you may already be in a season of returning to yourself.
A note on scope & responsibility
My work is held within clear and grounded ethical boundaries. I don’t diagnose or treat medical or mental health conditions. Instead, I support stress regulation, habit formation, emotional awareness, and embodied self-inquiry. When appropriate, this work exists alongside—rather than in place of—licensed therapeutic or medical care.
This space is best suited for those who are functioning in their daily lives and ready to expand their growth. If you feel ready to explore this work in a supported space, you can begin with an alignment call, or explore my offerings below.
How this work lands
“Discovering guidance with Stephanie has been truly transformative, and I am incredibly grateful to have found her. Her unique blend of intuition, empathy, and professionalism forges a profound connection. Stephanie's intuitive sense resonates deeply, creating a space where I feel genuinely heard and free to explore my true self. What sets Stephanie apart is not only her empathetic approach but also her meditative guidance, a pivotal force in uncovering layers of self-discovery and grounding. In essence, Stephanie's holistic expertise has played a crucial role in helping me unveil my truth, and I am deeply grateful for the stronger connection with myself that she has facilitated.”
—vee MOntes, Founder & ceo, pyrimed (January 10, 2024)“It's been a blessing to be supported and coached by Stephanie over the past few months. Her warm and familiar nature helped me feel at ease right from our very first session; I always knew that I was coming into a safe space. Because of Stephanie's intuitive and divine gifts, I've felt heard, seen, and I've experienced wonderful revelations. And her guided meditations at the beginning of each session? Extremely grounding and most definitely a highlight of the entire experience. So grateful for her purpose-driven service!”
—Crea Jackson, Media & Entertainment Professional (February 22, 2024)“When Steph offered her life coaching services, I recall thinking how divinely orchestrated it was. I had finally fulfilled a huge milestone and I was eager to learn how to fly. What I didn’t realize until getting into sessions with Steph was she would guide me towards the realization that I already had wings. Steph‘s coaching style is about expansion of the individual; she’s receptive, diligent and practical. She’s a revolutionist who challenges her clients to be courageous enough to find the answers of their own inquiries internally. My art, my integrity and my vision have went through an incredible rebirth, expanding beyond what I could’ve ever imagined. And I’m incredibly grateful I was able to find these things for myself under the coaching of Steph.”
—Amanda (luxy) Moore-karim, Interdisciplinary Artist, Fashion and Beauty (June 1, 2024)
