Today we’d like to introduce you to Debra Mazer.
Debra, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My story began in 1995 when I went from Math Genius to reading Tony Robbins, SARK, and Shakti Gawain books. I was a senior in high school. I went on to studying Sociology and Women’s Studies at Brandeis University, where I got into yoga, meditation, intentional communities, came out as bisexual, studied abroad in India (where I lived in a treehouse at Auroville Spiritual Community), and was a Teaching Assistant for a class called Sociology of Birth and Death, where we did partner meditations in a circular room, and lived our lives as if this year was our last.
Needless to say, I graduated with my Sociology degree and went on to live in Intentional Communities around the country: Twin Oaks Community, Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, and later, East Lake Commons Co-housing here in Atlanta. I learned about kale, alternative fuel, and most importantly, communication skills necessary when living and working with the same 20 people!
My life changed around September 11, 2001. I had just visited Earthaven Ecovillage in Asheville and was headed to Atlanta to visit my parents. The community I had stayed with that night organized the peace rally in Asheville on September 12th, meanwhile my dad, working in corporate, had colleagues who did not survive the events in NYC. A friend of mine from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage had just died of suicide, and I realized I had been struggling with mild depression and was ready to do something about it.
When I came to Atlanta, I heard a lecture with Brenda Cobb of the Living Foods Institute. She had healed cancer with the Raw Food diet. At this point, I was vegan, but her story floored me, and I went raw for the week. I started volunteering with Jackie and Gideon Graff of Sprout Raw Foods, and sure enough, I was making energy soup, cashew cheese, cleansing my colon, and saying my affirmations every day. My depression was gone, along with lifelong allergies + allergy medication.
Around this time (still 2001), I also got certified in Reiki. Again, needless to say, I was going through yet another serious spiritual awakening + transformation.
I received my first Raw Food Chef job at Everlasting Life Kafe in the West End, where I was a white Jewish woman suddenly immersed in the Black holistic community of ATL. Everlasting Life was owned by Soul Vegetarian, and everybody called me “Sister Debra.” It was a beautiful experience, as I was learning to listen and be a white woman “in the minority.” I attended cultural events in the West End, from Kwanzaa to Queen Afua.
At this point, I was a hippie about to purchase my vintage VW Vanagon Westfalia, which I drove to California and lived out of (and also ran on biodiesel fuel!)
I landed in Santa Cruz, California, where I worked at another Raw Food Restaurant, called 418 Organic Cafe. It was in Santa Cruz that I truly explored my love of dance. I went to Authentic Movement classes, “Dance Church,” and began to explore the West Coast transformational festival scene.
I remember I attended a party in San Francisco called “Life As Art,” put on by Jillian Love. There was raw food, and also an S/M room. It was wild! I have many, many stories to tell!
In 2004, something called me back to Atlanta, and I started a 4-course Raw Dinner Series in ATL called Vibrance. Vibrance evolved into a raw food delivery service in 2009, and I appeared on the cover of the AJC food section in a 4-page spread in 2010! In between, I was now running the kitchen and teaching all the recipe classes at The Living Foods Institute, which had originally inspired my raw food journey. As well as working at Lov’n It Live, another Black-owned raw food restaurant, where I met Andre 3000 and made many amazing friends I still have today!
In 2010, I had an awakening, that I really wanted to become a Life Coach, rather than “just” a Chef. Raw Food had helped me open to my authentic expression, my creativity, my spirituality, and more, and I wanted to help others blossom into their authentic selves. In 2011, I graduated from LifeWorks School of Coaching here in Atlanta and then went on to receive a second certification from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition as a Holistic Health Coach in 2012.
In the meantime, I moved back to California in time for “The End of the Mayan Calendar,” 2012. (Lol) I attended a New Year’s celebration in Sedona, and went on to live with friends I had met while attempting to move to Hawaii in 2009 (I only lasted a few months, before I missed ATL! True story!… although dolphin swimming and David Wolfe retreats are pages and pages out of an autobiography I am writing!)
Working in the vegan food industry in California, I had the opportunity of a lifetime to vend transformational festivals for an entire season. I attended Lightning in a Bottle, Shakti Fest, Lucidity, Symbiosis, and more. I like to say, I haven’t been to Burning Man, but I’ve been to all the others! This experience truly opened me up to a greater level of self-expression/ inner freedom.
The festival circuit and my health coaching school took me to LA, and I fell in love with it. I moved to LA in 2012, fell in love with Agape International Spiritual Center, created by Rev. Michael Beckwith, joined the Agape International Choir (a spiritual Gospel-style choir), became an Agape Prayer Warrior, and the rest is history.
Also, I won the Best of Raw Awards in California for my Hot Love Chocolate Truffles, vended Ecstatic Dance LA for years, had a lesbian lover, and lived a mile from the beach in a magic cottage with passionfruit, figs, a garden, and lots of love. I had so many amazing experiences, from seeing Oprah to traveling to Maui, meeting so many amazing people, and expanding my community and circle.
In 2015, I received a special opportunity to cater to Yoga Retreats for the global western yoga icon, Shiva Rea. This went on for an entire year, and I lived in a mansion in Malibu, California, during the retreats. I turned my recipes into a book, Retreat Recipes for Yoga Lovers, which came out in 2017.
Also in 2017, my 5-year romantic relationship ended, and my grief process spiraled me back to ATL, where I have friends and community to last a lifetime.
I started by landing at Modern Mystic, in Ponce City Market, as an Oracle Card Reader, worked the Stacey Abrams Gubernatorial campaign as a Field Organizer, and here I am! Exploring my sexuality with men again, building myself from scratch, picking up where I left off, and creating myself anew! Atlanta has changed and grown so much! I feel it is really ready for me! And I am ready to share my gifts and wisdom, like never before!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. Living a life of spirit, guided and led by spirit, is no easy path. I have chosen experiences, growth, learning, community, and friendship, over building a nest egg. And for the past years, I have been re-learning to be part of the “conscious capitalism” system, after rejecting it in my Sociology and Women’s Studies classes!
My family doesn’t always understand me, but they have always been supportive and a landing pad. I struggle and celebrate life every day! It is a struggle to do something expansive that scares me every day, and yet I do it! It is a struggle not always knowing what is next, but then the Universe blesses me with free Erykah Badu tickets, or the chance to feed Hot Love Chocolate Truffles to Janelle Monae. Or making out with someone in a tent under the moon, or being asked for an interview for VoyageATL. So, it is all worth it!
Morning Rituals truly help me stay balanced and centered. I’ve been meditating daily since 2014. I am a student of The Artist’s Way, and I write Morning Pages. I go for walks in nature, I have coaches, a therapist, support groups, and deep heart friends to hold hands with, along the way.
Please tell us about your business.
Debra Mazer Enterprises is my umbrella company that embraces everything I do. I currently offer one-on-one Life Coaching Sessions, Holistic Health Coaching, Intuitive Readings, Affirmative Prayer Sessions, and combinations of all of the above! My clients have ranged from clergy to CEO’s, to millennials in tech, to queer Gen Z artists, who are looking for creativity, spirituality, purpose, and meaning.
I also still do food. I am finally getting my Award-Winning Hot Love Chocolate Truffles into stores, and I’m a visiting Food Artist at Morningside Market. I specialize in Raw/ Vegan/ and consciously-sourced Vegetarian. I’ve done events from Recipe Classes to Personal Chef, to catering Business Masterminds, and small group events.
I’m leading an event I love, called Affirmative Prayer Circle, at Phoenix and Dragon Bookstore, and have recently taught spiritual productivity at WeWork. I’m also co-teaching a technique called Kylego, which is scripting your life, or speaking your future in the past tense. It’s a powerful technique, and it’s fun! It’s an instant energy charge!
I have another book I didn’t mention before, called Open-Eyed Heart-Wide Haggadah, which came out in 2010. It’s a New Age, culturally diverse, politically correct, and vegan-friendly version of the Passover Haggadah, or ritual guide, which is part of my Jewish heritage.
At the time of this interview, I’m about to begin teaching an online class called Write Your Book, that I am super excited about. And I know this will lead to more online classes, with more subjects that I am ready to share!
One of my passion projects is a video series called Luminescence. I’m interviewing Black lightworkers and healers on my YouTube channel, The Debra Show. I feel called to make an impact, from where I stand and the communities I’m part of, to shift representation of the New Age. I’m loving the connections I’m making with people, old friends and new, through this experience.
Honestly, I’m a multi-passionate Gemini, and I’m still weaving it all together. I’ve written seven books at this point, and I’m working on my next two, a raw recipe book I intend to get published with a major publisher, and what I call my “Autobiography,” a dream and life mission I’ve known in my heart for almost 20 years.
What makes me proud is that my kitchens are always secretly healing circles. I’m proud to inspire others to live their most authentically expressed lives, and to be their best selves. I’m proud to be a listener, and to be a bridge-builder, and a world-weaver, especially when it comes to race, culture, spirituality, sexuality, and community. I’m proud to build community and create community events, over the years, from New Moon Circles to Raw Food Dinner Parties, to Music events, Dance/ movement classes, and more.
I’m proud to bring the Kindred Spirits together, from different yet uncannily similar communities, across the country and world, and raise the Vibration and Frequency of the Planet at this time when we’re all feeling it, and we need each other!
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from childhood! I loved catching butterflies in our backyard in Pennsylvania (I know, not very vegan ;)) and going for bike rides on the bike path. I loved inventing puppet shows and board games with my best friend, Lauren Heist! And learning about space and time travel. Ice skating, acting, gymnastics! Getting together with my pen pal, Becca, every year. Summers. Buttercups. Wildflowers. I know that was a lot! 😉
Pricing:
- Morning Rituals Playbook – FREE e-book on DebraMazer.com
Contact Info:
- Website: DebraMazer.com
- Email: wakingdreamcafe@gmail.com
- Instagram: debramazer
- Facebook: Debra Jill Mazer or Debra Mazer
- Other: youtube.com/thedebrashow
Image Credit:
Anais Roselyn, Kelley Raye, Shaunie Briggs, Debra Mazer
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