You Have Been Summoned to Soar: Unlock Your Potential and Secure Your Legacy as a BOLD Female Leader

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Dr. Angela Aja

Welcome to Summoned to Soar Radio. This podcast was created for bold female leaders who are ready to rise above the hustle and create a life of.

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Dr. Angela Aja

Purpose, impact, and influence.

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Dr. Angela Aja

If you've got a big vision and a deep desire to make your mark.

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Dr. Angela Aja

On the world and a hunger to.

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Dr. Angela Aja

Step into your next season with clarity and confidence, then let me tell you're at the right place at the right time. Here's what we're all about. We're about helping women rediscover their authentic voice, reinvent themselves as powerful, influential leaders, and then reclaim their authority with a thought leadership book. With simple, actionable mindset strategies and the SOAR Method, which is our proven framework for transformation, you'll discover how to turn your challenges into stepping stones, lead with authenticity and boldness, and share your message in a way that leaves a legacy. Join me and my inspiring guests as we share personal stories, practical tools and strategies to help you align your life with your purpose. Whether you're looking to shift the narrative around women and leadership or cement your legacy as a Spirit Led visionary, this podcast will give you the courage and clarity to soar.

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Dr. Angela Aja

It's time to embrace your story, own your journey, and amplify your impact, even if life hasn't gone as planned. Transform.

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Dr. Angela Aja

Breakthrough.

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Dr. Angela Aja

Soar.

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Dr. Angela Aja

Are you ready? Hey. I just want to welcome you to my very first podcast. This has been years in the making and I'm so excited that you're here listening with me. If we haven't met yet, my name is Dr. Angela Aja. I am an empowerment coach, an impact strategist, and what I do is I help transformational leaders turn their adversities into their advantages, lead authentically, and then amplify their message to architect a lasting legacy. And I do that using the Soar Method. So I combine personal transformation with strategic planning to empower my clients to rise above challenges and soar into a life that is aligned with their divine purpose. So here are a couple things that I love doing. I love helping women shift the narrative around women in leadership.

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Dr. Angela Aja

I also love to help strategize the longevity of transformational visionaries, and I'll explain more about that later. And then securing the legacy of Spirit Led trailblazers, those are three things that I'm very passionate about. Here's what I want you to know is that you have been summoned to soar. And if you are going to soar, then I really want you to walk away knowing today that you have been empowered to soar. You have everything that you need inside of you to Soar. So I never intended on becoming the butterfly lady, but somehow along the way I did. And my story is that, you know, I was living the life of my dreams. I was in the ministry. I was married, I have four kids. I had discipleship group for women, and I had taken a year to disciple 12 women.

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Dr. Angela Aja

And after that year, then they went out and they got 12 women and they all mentored their 12 women. And then those that those groups graduated and then they went out and they found their 12 women and so on. And so I became a great, great grandmother, if you will, spiritually speaking, empowering women to really step into not just their identity in Christ, but also their identity as a woman. And so anyway, I thought it was living my dream. After 25 years of marriage in the ministry, my life got turned upside down. I went from being a. The. The first lady of the church to a divorced single mom.

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Dr. Angela Aja

I went from living in a beautiful Texas ranch to living on the floor of an apartment with my kids, playing Yahtzee on the floor, eating on the floor, sleeping on the floor until I was able to rebuild my life again. I went from speaking in the pulpit to selling windows door to door. And I would not wish that on my worst enemy. Let me tell you, that is not a fun job. But I did, I do want to report that even doing that job, selling windows door to door, I was trained by an old school salesman and you know, he just would drive me up to the door and say, you know, get out there and go say this. And I would come back, they'd slam the door in my face, I'd come back to the car crying. And he'd say, what'd you say?

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Dr. Angela Aja

And I'd say, I said this. And he said, don't say this, say that. And he would drive me up to the next door and one day he said to me, he said, you know, quit going after the yeses and go after the no's. Go get as many no's as you can. And that really changed the game for me. And I learned something about failure that day, is that, you know, there is no success without failure. He said, you know, it takes so many no's to get a yes. And so if you have been afraid of failing, there is no faster way to success than to fail. So, yes, I want you to get out there and fail.

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Dr. Angela Aja

But not only did I go from speaking in the pulpit to selling windows door to door, I went from wearing a Rolex with diamonds to standing in the food stamp line and so the reason I tell you those things is because I want you to know that my commitment to resilience after my world had gotten turned upside down is real. And, and so along the way my healing journey, my world got turned upside down. I was devastated. I thought God had abandoned me because I knew that I had a call on my life since I was in the third grade. And I stayed true to that call. And so, you know, I thought that God had abandoned me. But what he showed me along the way was that.

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Dr. Angela Aja

And he showed me this through giving me a revelation of how our journey as men and women mimics the journey of a caterpillar to a butterfly. And that's where my book summoned to Soar. The five stages of the rise of a woman was birthed. So what I realized along the way was that, you know, a caterpillar, when she goes into the cocoon many times hangs upside down. And so when your life gets turned upside down, you are perfectly positioned for transformation. The second thing I learned about the caterpillar is that you were probably like me. You were probably taught that the caterpillar turns into the butterfly, but it's not true. They lied to you. The DNA of the butterfly is trapped inside of the caterpillar.

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Dr. Angela Aja

And the caterpillar has to go into the cocoon in order for the caterpillar, that outer shell of the caterpillar to be stripped away so that the DNA of who she was really created to be can be released, reshaped, reformed, and then revealed to the world. And that's exactly like us. The DNA of your purpose, the DNA of your calling is already inside of you, but it's probably trapped inside of the caterpillar version of who you were created to be. And so just like that little caterpillar, we have to embrace the process. Many times is. Is spurred on by the dark night of our soul. We have to embrace the process of transformation. And that can only happen in the cocoon in a. The secret place that can only happen in a season of development.

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Dr. Angela Aja

And, and so I talk more about that process in my book and it's on Amazon if you want to get it. I highly recommend getting it because you're going to really understand, get a good understanding of where you are in the process. Now this is again, it's writt to women, but this is really a. There's a lot of men who read this book too, because it is the human journey. But just like that little caterpillar, we have to let go of the man and woman that we've become so that we can become who were created to be. We have to let go of our fears, failures, and imperfections, because that is the caterpillar encasement. And then we have to just let. We have to let go of all that caterpillar residue, all of the.

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Dr. Angela Aja

The conditioning that we've been through to that hinders our belief in ourself and our calling and our purpose and who God created us to be. And so the other thing that I learned that about the caterpillar turning into the butterfly is that the whole time that the caterpillar is in the cocoon, number one, she loses up to half her weight when she's in the cocoon. And I just want to tell you that if you're experiencing loss, if you have experienced loss again, that means you are perfectly positioned for transformation. Loss does not mean you're not good enough. It simply means that you have entered a season of real transformation. And then once that little caterpillar goes into the cocoon, the whole time she's in there, she cannot excrete. You heard me right. She cannot go to the bathroom.

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Dr. Angela Aja

She is swimming in her own stuff. How many times have you felt like you're swimming in your own stuff? You're swimming in your fears and your failures and in your imperfections, and I'm not good enough. And I don't know how, you know, who would want to listen to me? So. So the whole time she's in the cocoon, she swimming in her own stuff. And. But if she endures the process, then something incredible happens. If she endures the process in the cocoon, she becomes a fully grown, beautiful butterfly. But the problem is that she's still in a tight place. So here she is, she's a fully formed butterfly, but she's still trapped in the cocoon. And so, you know, I'm. You might be. You might feel just like that.

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Dr. Angela Aja

You might feel like you've gone through the process of development, but you're trapped in a tight place. And that just means that you're ready to break through. The only way for that butterfly to get out of the cocoon is to begin to kick her way out. And so she kicks and kicks, and finally she falls to the ground in exhaustion. And as she's laying there, then, she's got these new things on the side of her body. She's got these new instruments of aeronautical design, and she just instinctively begins to flap her wings. And when she begins to flap her wings, now this is Pure science, let me tell you. As she begins to flap her wings, it forces all of the excretion that she was swimming in back up into her body and into her wings and hardens.

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Dr. Angela Aja

In other words, all of the crap that you've been through is what's meant to give your wings the strength to fly. You cannot fly without having gone through stuff. And so that is, you know, so powerful. And that really spoke to me in the moment that I felt like I was swimming in depression, anxiety and abandonment and rejection and all the things that gave me hope that if I would just stick with it and be resilient and hold on, that one day everything I've been through would work to my advantage. And then the reason I named the book Summoned to Sore is that, you know, once the caterpillar, she endures the process, she becomes a butterfly once she breaks out of the cocoon and. And then she's using her wings, she's in the air. She's not afraid to be seen.

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Dr. Angela Aja

And I don't know about you, but I was so afraid to be seen and to be visible. And, you know, I was a wallflower. I was, you know, the one in the background serving and afraid to show up and afraid that if I showed up powerfully that I would overpower other people. But I realized in studying the butterfly that once she is in the air, she's flying. She's living with purpose. She's using her wings the way that they're supposed to be used. She's not afraid of being colorful and beautiful and being seen. Then something incredible happens. As she is in the air, flapping her wings, she catches the tailwind. And it is when she catches the tailwind that she doesn't have to flap her wings anymore. The tailwind begins to take her farther and higher than she could ever go on her own.

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Dr. Angela Aja

But the tailwind does all the work. And I believe that is a prophetic sign to us, that if as we are living with purpose, as we are living out our calling, we're in the air, we're doing what we've been called to do, we're not afraid to be seen, to use our voices, then there is going to come a point where you will catch the tailwind of God. And the tailwind of God will take you to places that you never dreamed that you could go. And I believe that's a fulfillment of, you know, Amos 9:13, that he's going to make things happen so fast it'll make your head swim. And this is where I believe God Begins to make up for lost time where you feel like maybe you lost time and the things that you've been through were setbacks.

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Dr. Angela Aja

Those things really have prepared you to come back better than ever. And so, you know, soaring is so important to me. And here's what soaring means to me is that and this is what I help people to do. And when I say I help people break out of the cocoon and soar. The S stands for experience sudden breakthroughs that advance you forward faster. The O stands for overcoming obstacles that keep you stuck. The A stands for accomplish whatever you set your mind to. And then to the R stands for to reinvent your life, your business, or your ministry with purpose instead of, you know, just staying on the hamster wheel. So in the first step, sudden breakthroughs that advance you forward faster. That is representing the S and soar.

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Dr. Angela Aja

This is where, you know, you can optimize your potential and you can address your barriers head on. And then you can emerge from your cocoon empowered and accelerate your process. Oh, overcoming your obstacles that have kept you step stuck. You know, you can obliterate your self limiting beliefs. A self limiting belief is just a belief. It's just a mindset. And so I teach people that they are powerful choosers. And you choose subconsciously or unconsciously, you choose your beliefs, your mindsets, and sometimes those are self limiting. But just as much as you can choose a self limiting belief, you can also choose a self empowering belief. And so this is where we identify and confront those mental and emotional barriers that keep you stuck in your old patterns.

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Dr. Angela Aja

And you know, you get to break free from your mental and emotional barriers that keep you stuck in old patterns. That's not the way God designed you to live. He didn't design you to live stuck. But when you break free of your limitations, then you begin to really evolve with authenticity. Embrace your truest self and step into your purpose confidently. So the A is accomplish whatever you set your mind to. And I believe that is biblical. One of the things in my book, Summoned to Soar, one of the stories I tell is about Queen Esther. And here she was living in the kingdom, but she was hiding her true identity. Wow, I hope that hit somebody between the eyes right there. So, you know, here she was living in the kingdom, but she was hiding her true identity.

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Dr. Angela Aja

But her uncle, you probably know the story, her uncle said, hey, your people are about to annihilated and you need to come clean about who you are. And this, you know, it's your time to step into your for such a time as this. And so he said, you know, you need to save your people. So she said, okay. She threw a banquet for the king to butter him up. Now, mind you, if you read the story, the king has already told her that I love you so much. You can have whatever you want up to half the kingdom, it's already yours. And instead of picking him up on that, she throws a banquet to butter him up. And then if you read, I believe it's in chapter four.

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Dr. Angela Aja

She, instead of asking for what she wants, instead of asking the king to free her people, she. Here she is wearing the crown, wearing her royal garbage, living in the castle. And she gets on the ground and she throws a fit. She's using her emotions to try and manipulate, to get what she wants. And guess what? She wanted a man to fix it. And the king extended his golden scepter to her. And he says, get up. I'm paraphrasing here, but he says, get up and go write the edict the way you want it to look. In other words, I believe that you have an opportunity and you have permission even, yes, from God to go write the next chapter of your story the way that you want it to look. And then, guess what?

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Dr. Angela Aja

The king put his signet ring of approval on it and made it irrevocable. And I know that's one of the messages that God has given me to speak over you is that you get to go write it the way you want it to look. It may not have turned out the way you thought it was going to turn out, but you get to go write the next chapter the way you want it to look. And so part of that involves developing strategies for achievement and goal setting that enables you to comp. Accomplish whatever you set your mind to.

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Dr. Angela Aja

So, you know, this is a key part of ensuring that your message, the message that you've been put on this earth to speak, is aligned with your purpose and calling and that you're being intentional, that you're living with a sense of purpose, mission and vision so that you can accomplish your goals. And then the R it stands for reinvent your life, business or ministry with purpose. And this is where I really believe that, you know, when we. When our world gets turned upside down, when we go through the dark night of our soul, when we go through anything, that we have an opportunity to reinvent ourselves for the next season. Because who you are today is a result of what you've been thinking. And in order to step into a new season, you've never been the person that you are.

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Dr. Angela Aja

You've never been the version of you that can live in your next season. And so we have to reinvent ourselves as the next version. Not someone different, but the best version of who were created to be so that we don't sabotage our next season. And so, you know, this is where we get to be impactful leaders, making a significant difference in our own sphere of influence without sabotaging where we are and really sabotaging that call on our life. So this podcast is going to be really a clearing call to people who are on the rise. So now you know what it means to soar. If you're soaring, you are on the rise. And here's what it means to be a man or woman who is on the rise, to be resilient. A person who is resilient knows how to not be defined.

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Dr. Angela Aja

From their past, they've come through some stuff. They have experienced life. But deep down inside, they know that their setbacks have prepared them for their comebacks. So, you know who you are. If. If this is you. If you're resilient, you have tenacity. You're probably the strong one. You may even be the fixer or the go to person, and you probably even carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. The problem is you make it look good, you make it look easy. But something inside of you have a natural buoyancy that just, you know that you are called to snap back from your setbacks. I call this the Tigger anointing. Tigger was, you know, the bouncy one in Winnie the Pooh, and he could snap back. Resilient means to be buoyant and to snap back.

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Dr. Angela Aja

And so this podcast for you, if you relate, Tigger, you can bounce back because you're strong. But, you know, when you're the strong one, there are downsides to being the strong one. And. And you need support, and that's what this podcast is going to provide for you. But, you know, you may be compelled to overcome your obstacles and break through your barriers, but you know that you are not called to settle for an ordinary life. There's an extraordinary dream inside of you that keeps you bouncing back. So if that's you, this podcast is for you, for people on the rise. That was. The R stands for resilience. The I stands for intentional. If you're intentional, you know, you may have heard things like, well, if it's God's will.

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Dr. Angela Aja

But, you know, something inside of you just says happenstance and haphazardness are not going to be indicators of God's will for my life. You're intentional, you're in deliberate, you're focused, you're committed to the full process. If that's you, this podcast is for you. And you may at times feel a tug of war between your destiny and your day to day grind and it tries to entice you to succumb to the disruption of these pointless obligations. But as an intentional person, you're committed to being focused in the direction that you're moving in, moving toward your purpose, your calling, and leaving an impact and a legacy. The S in being People on the Rise stands for Spirit Led. So this podcast is for you if you are spirit led. I always say that Spirit le people rarely follow conventional wisdom.

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Dr. Angela Aja

So you're probably an outof the box thinker and you don't lean on your own understanding for your decision making process. You are probably kingdom minded with eternal values and priorities. You're perceptive, you're you, you're guided by your intuition, you're empathetic and you. One of the problems is you have is trusting yourself. And you probably if this podcast for you is for you. If you are undaunted by what you see, but you really exhibit faith for the unseen, you are not influenced by the approval of others or the dissatisfaction of others, but you're committed to a vision that really encompasses the vastness that extends far beyond who you are as an individual. So if that's you, if you are resilient, intentional, spirit led, then this podcast is for you. And then the E in People on the Rise stands for empowered.

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Dr. Angela Aja

So if you long for that empowerment so that you can be that empowered person, you show up fearlessly to make a bigger impact. You value showing up fearlessly. You know that you're empowered for the job. You're not afraid of, you know, standing in your personal power. You have a revelation that you being powerful and using your voice and using the call and your purpose is not going to detract from the power of God, but rather it's an expression of the power of God that lives inside of you. And so you might even feel misunderstood at times because of your commitment to living empowered. You want to use your influence to over your past, your present and future, over your thoughts, patterns and behaviors. You value personal development and mindset.

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Dr. Angela Aja

And so if that's you, if you are a person on the rise, then this podcast is for you, is a clearing call for you and I'm going to support you through this podcast on your rise to soaring even higher. So, you know, I hope that over the course of our time together, as you show up and listen and you are not only inspired, but you use the tools to go from inspiration to implementation that I'm going to provide for you. One of the quotes that Mother Teresa said, she said, I know God won't give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much. And I love that because I think that really captures the essence of a person on the rise. They know that they can handle anything.

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Dr. Angela Aja

But you might say, God, why do you trust me so much? Because sometimes you get a little bit tired. So if that's you, keep listening. Make sure that you are subscribed to this podcast. And I just want to encourage you to spread your wings even farther. And I'm here to be the wind beneath your wings. You have been summoned to soar.

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Dr. Angela Aja

Thank you for tuning in to Summoned to Soar Radio. This is where bold female leaders just like you embrace the call to rise above the ordinary and step into a life of greater purpose and impact. Hey, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so that you'll always know when.

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Dr. Angela Aja

The next episode drops.

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Dr. Angela Aja

I want to remind you that you have everything you need to turn your challenges into stepping stones, amplify your message.

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Dr. Angela Aja

And leave a lasting legacy. Whether it's writing a thought leadership book.

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Dr. Angela Aja

Or leading with more purpose, or designing a life that's fulfilling and meaningful, it is your time to soar right now. So go boldly align your work with your calling and let your leadership inspire, change, shift narratives, and make your mark on the world. If you're ready for the next step, then head on over to Angelaja.com and join the Crown membership. It's a sisterhood of women who are reigning with grace, wisdom and purpose. Together, we'll transform your story, your leadership, and your legacy into a movement that lasts for generations. Until next time, keep rising. And remember, transformation begins the moment you answer the call to soar.