9/4/2020 Guest Chik: Veronica MoyaHey Chiks! We'd like you to meet Veronica Moya! Veronica is a spirituality and meditation teacher based in New York City, whose emphasis is on nurturing self-reliance & assertiveness in young people. Read on to learn about Veronica's journey to the US and how she became the Boss Chik she is today! Coming to America: As a small business owner, I am often asked how I started my company and managed to find some success in what is such a competitive industry. I’ve been a wedding officiant for over ten years, specializing in small weddings and elopements. I’ve helped thousands of couples from all over the world get married in one of the most iconic places in the world - New York City! The funny thing is that I never set out to start this business. On the contrary, I left Buenos Aires, Argentina twenty years ago with hopes and dreams of becoming a Broadway actor. I packed ONE bag and in December 2000, I settled in New York City for good. I rented a tiny studio in Brighton Beach. My new life consisted of going to auditions, taking acting classes during the day and working as a waitress at night. While on an audition, I came across an ad for psychic development classes at the Edgar Cayce Center. I was very interested, because I remember always being around a prominent psychic in my own family. I also knew that this heightened perception of things came naturally to me. So, the idea of improving my own skills was very appealing. I took a class with Coni Buro and I was hooked! I started helping out at the Center, collaborating with the programs, and of course taking more classes. The directors took a liking to me and invited me to be a part of their program committee. I was now part of the planning team that decided what courses would be sold and what new author, teacher or practitioner should be invited to the center. It was a very exciting time for me! Within about 18 months of being part of the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE), I started doing psychic readings myself. At first, I was working parties and events, but as my confidence grew and my abilities improved, I started seeing individual clients. As children, we are taught from a very young age to use our intellect rather than to follow our inner compass. So, we just focus on the analytical and forget about those feelings and perceptions we feel inside. The classes I took taught me how to reconnect with and tap into all those, including what many people would call my “sixth sense.” Despite this new and exciting path, I found myself on, I continued to pursue Broadway acting with little success. By then, it was 2006 and I had been in NYC for six whole years. After countless acting classes, workshops, auditions, and community theater, I was no closer to becoming a Broadway actor. However, thanks to my intuition and my can-do attitude, I was able to land great jobs in the hospitality industry. I was assertive, decisive and very confident. The business world values those skills and I was landing General Manager positions in prominent businesses in the city. I was never happy doing just one thing, so, of course, while keeping my day job as a manager, I continued to offer intuitive counseling and Tarot readings in my spare time. Looking back, I realize that I was never going to be truly happy in life as an actor. It took me going through a past life regression with Kev O’Kaine to admit that. Kev was a friend and colleague from the Edgar Cayce Center who specialized in Past Life Regression therapy. One day, I was bored and, out of curiosity, I decided to explore past lives. We were chatting before the session when Kev took it upon himself to INFORM me that I would never make it as an actor. Well, to say that I was upset is an understatement. I argued with him for a while, but he stayed firm in his opinion (with information he was supposedly channeling from the beyond) and he insisted that my path was to teach Esotericism to children. Totally weird. Right? What the...??? Despite being upset about this new information Kev shared with me, I decided to practice what I preach and follow the advice that had been “channeled” for me. That was the day I stopped trying to be an actress. Becoming a Boss Chik: In March of 2007, I got married and this is how I discovered the existence of “Wedding Officiants.” I learned that pretty much anybody can get certified and obtain a license as a wedding officiant, and perform legal wedding ceremonies in New York City. Immediately, I knew this could be the perfect side job for me! Between the tarot readings and the weddings, I wouldn’t need a regular day job any more. So I quit my management job, created a new website (WeddingSolution.org), and I was off! My wedding officiating career had a life of its own. It grew at lightning speed - more than I could have ever imagined. I was making $2,000 per weekend marrying people. I remember the first couple I married had a quick ceremony in Grand Central Station. I even brought along a friend to take pictures. Looking back, I realize now that even on that first wedding, I was providing a package deal (officiant + photographer). Suddenly, weddings had become my thing, and spirituality and my intuitive counseling took a back seat. Over the next ten years, I organized, officiated, and participated in roughly 120 weddings a year. In 2015, I decided to formalize my offerings and create Wedding Packages NYC, an elopement company for those couples who don’t want the stress or expense of a traditional wedding. My company offers all-inclusive destination wedding packages in Central Park, and other popular locations around New York City. Last year, we had our best year yet! Business was booming and we were projecting to double our earnings from 2019. Well, we all know what happened next. The pandemic of 2020 completely destroyed our business. Every couple we had scheduled decided to call and cancel their wedding plans, some indefinitely and some for good. There were tears, misplaced blames, refund requests, victim acts, and vendors moving out of town. We had four straight months of absolutely no activity. During this time, I had no other choice but to adapt and pivot. So I decided to get back to my roots. My intuition. It has always played a big part in my life. I had spent many years giving counsel through my readings, so I felt this was a good time to get back to it. But this time, I wanted to do something meaningful, and I wanted to work with a group of people that I could actually help and make a difference. Adapting in times of struggle: Before the pandemic hit, I was offering meditation classes for children through an online platform. Not many people were showing much interest then. Now, with children being at home 24/7, parents needed new activities to help them manage their child’s energy and, in some cases, their anxiety. My meditation classes became an overnight HIT and attendance grew exponentially! As I developed a relationship with my students, I learned about their challenges, their needs and their wants. I also learned about their parents’ needs for a deeper connection with their children and spouses. So, I created new programs to serve their particular needs, as well. In my work, I do group classes and one-on-one sessions with both children and adults, to teach people how to better understand their connection to the deepest, truest part of themselves - their souls. Through these classes, I guide my students on an internal journey to find the wellspring of inspiration and autonomy that exists within ll of us. By focusing on the creative mind, the intuitive mind, I help my students get in contact with their internal sense of assertiveness and self-worth. My role is not to program my students to think that they deserve good things in life. Instead, I guide them on the path to realizing that they knew this all along and that they have always had the power to take their lives into their own hands. Today, because of the pandemic, small weddings - micro weddings - are “in.” Business is steadily picking up and I am relying on my team to run the company so I can follow the path that life has drawn for me. I am thrilled to use my story to inspire and educate young people on how important it is to listen to their inner voice. After all, this is how I got everything done in my life. All my achievements, all my accomplishments, including my new dream husband, these are all thanks to self-awareness and the inherent spiritual intuition that exists in each and every one of us.
2 Comments
Robin Wissner
9/14/2020 07:19:15 am
I know Veronica. I've consulted with her a few times over the years. I didn't know anything about her journey. This article is really interesting to me. It's funny how you can know a person for years and yet, know nothing about them...
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