Meet Shana Schoone | Author + Life Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shana Schoone and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shana, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Honestly, I never saw myself having my own business. In 2018, I had a near death expereince (pulmonary embolism after my double jaw surgery) which dramatically changed the way I look at the world. In 2019, I started writing poetry and I knew one day I would turn it into a book. Then in May of 2020, this fantasy world I was living in where I would see this certain man again whom I thought I was supposed to be with got engaged. I also was out of work for two months with the pandemic. It was then I was forced to sit with my pain which was very necessary. In October of 2020, I found myself praying one night and felt this divine force tell me my book was going to be about gratitude and then I worked late at night forming it into Mona Listen, a name I felt called to since the beginning which shows that writing is a form of art and a well-known art piece is Mona Lisa and I changed it to “Listen” because I want people to not only listen to the words in this book but listen to their hearts and to the lessons other people have to teach them. This book is what made me start my business. From here it has developed into an additional course on communication and I will be starting life coaching sessions very soon! There will also be more courses out in the future.

Overall, I see my brand as “helping others transform themselves through love- love of self, others, and the world around them”. In undergrad, I began studying the coping strategies of female survivors of domestic violence. I even got the opportunity to interview one. From this experience, my research, and my own life journey, I became fascinated with healing. My brand aims to help others on their healing journey. Specifically, help them find love for themselves and others and especially those who hurt them. Essentially, moving their everyday feelings from sadness and anger to love and prosperity working to unite humanity.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Although, my childhood shaped me, my story really begins after my near-death experience in June of 2018 after my double jaw surgery. I had 50 blood clots in one lung and 30 in the other and all the stats say I should be dead. I was only 19 years old at the time and had just undergone a serious double jaw surgery that I was told I would need at the age of 3. My surgeon had never had a patient who ever got blood clots, it wasn’t common in jaw surgery patients and I had 80. On the second night in the hospital, I was in the worst pain I had ever been in in life. My family was in the room in tears fearing my death. I was just given the max dose of morphine and it didn’t help my pain at all. Soon, all these flashbacks came to me from all stages of my life-the good and bad. I felt this overwhelming feeling of gratitude and love. This was the first sense of peace I had had. I was thankful for all the moments I had lived and people I had met. This changed my perspective on life and connections. However, it didn’t make me take extreme action.

I was blocked by the pain I didn’t allow myself to feel. I felt this pain throughout the summer of 2020 after I was job less for two months with the pandemic and the man, I thought I was going to marry got engaged. I was forced into the NOW instead of living in the past and future fantasy. This changed my life as I was able to rid myself of these negative emotions connected to my past through acceptance. Then in October of 2020, I was called to write my book. I worked tirelessly and late at night to write it my senior year of college with a lot of research projects and credit hours on my hands. But I was overflowing with so much insight and inspiration to write it. My book, Mona Listen, is a book of poems and essays that I started writing in 2019 that show how I see the world after my near-death experience. Then, I published it in April of 2021.

During my undergrad, I studied the coping strategies of female survivors of domestic violence. From this research and my own journey of healing, I have come to find that love is truly healing. many survivors told stories of befriending others and nurturing to help them cope best. I also grew up really isolating myself for a while because I felt a deeply that I was unlovable which stemmed from my malshaped jaw and relationship with my dad. Since the summer of 2020, I have been in therapy, working on my relationship with my dad, journaling, and changing my thoughts and beliefs of the my past and the world around me. My brand aims to “transform other lives through love- love of self, others, and the world.”

My business has grown from this book and my course on how to have difficult conversations. I will also be starting life coaching sessions very soon which I have been called to do for quite some time! In the future, there will also be more offerings like meditations and more courses. I will also be taking a more spiritual approach to this brand as time goes on.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
So, it is very important to note, I am a child at heart and can have fun anywhere! My favorite place here in San Diego is the beach specifically, Mission Beach. My roommates make fun of me for this, ha. This beach isn’t seen as the most glamorous. But I feel “at home” here maybe because when I first visited San Diego I came here, then when my family helped me move here in August, we came here. I feel it is a lot calmer than Pacific beach and people can truly be themselves here. It isn’t as “upity” as other beaches. Meditation comes very easily to me here. It is a great place to talk to friends, there are places to eat, some shops, Belmont Park, or you can just play in the water or sand, or skate (I still need to learn how).
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Oh my, I value connections and appreciation tremendously. I believe everyone who I have had a conversation with has shaped me into the person I am today including this brand. I really want to say thank you to my biggest supporters- my mom, sisters, and all of the people who have encouraged me and showed me love particularly in the last year with the release of my book Mona Listen. It is also important I thank the small HeadQuarters bar I worked at for three years in Minden Nebraska. The people here gave me a taste of humanity. We built a community, and I learned a lot about humanity itself and myself through the stories my customer told me.

Website: https://www.shanaschoonespeaks.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shanaschoonespeaks/

Other: Link to my book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mona-Listen-8-Lessons-Gratitude/dp/B0924123T4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=mona+listen&qid=1629651615&sr=8-1

Image Credits
These images were taken at an Emmy’s event last September by Tony Lattimore.