Yana Speaks is a platform dedicated to guiding individuals on their spiritual quest. With a focus on teaching and speaking, we offer a range of spiritual development services and courses. Our mission is to create a safe space for those who feel different yet seek to embrace their unique spirituality and connection with God.  

My love for the Bible and proving family mysticism wrong became a driving force in college.  What I believe we should all experience is a trust in a God we cannot see, but I know my life is evidence of miracles.  I have always had an awareness of God in my life. I can remember singing songs to God to heal my brother, even as a child. I have always known and been sensitive to the fact that there is a God. Yet when I was 16, although in and out of churches most of my life as a Catholic.  I believe I had a conversion experience because it was there at the Spanish Baptist Church of Soundview; I surrendered my life to God. It has been a transformational journey, not just spiritually but holistically. A life God has been reconciling moment by moment.

I am an overcomer who remembers where the Lord found me. My sin and emptiness cannot separate me from my God; my honesty and boldness make a difference.  In many ways, I feel like a modern-day woman at the well, and while she left her bucket behind. The reality is that recovery transformation continues along the journey. I personally and professionally seek a life of faith, but I also know that Christ is my foundation, and I Am. At the end of my life, what is most important to me is that people remember me as a child of God. Receiving credentials was a way to do the work and be validated as this overcomer who continues learning with the desire to be a change agent in churches and our communities, never forgetting where the Lord found me. I want to help others with my story by being insightful for their moments of need and walking through doors that once closed for me or where I don't fit in aka Weirdo.

I, by all accounts, should not be here, and it was at the hands of my mother and a life of abuse and addiction that resulted in the death of my infant son. That only became a lens for my life of recovery healing.  Those events explored and challenged a life of true exploration for healing, empowerment, and liberation, especially from self-hate and harm. I want my life to bless others because I'm blessed. 

God saved me when I did not know him formally and I believe that is part of why my darkness became a catalyst for the kind of woman I want to be in this life.   YanaSpeaks is my knowledge of the streets to always be intertwined with my wisdom of learning; not just for my benefit but to change lives one person at a time. I am far from perfect but always looking to be better.