The Sovereign Soul: Learning to Embody Future-You – An Interview with Tina LeAnn

What if the version of you you’ve been searching for has been within you all along—waiting for you to finally listen?

For Tina LeAnn, awakening didn’t arrive through a single defining moment. It unfolded through years of inner questioning, burnout, and a health crisis that forced her to stop, reset, and rebuild her life from the inside out. From her early years navigating a tumultuous home to walking away from a corporate career at Harley-Davidson and healing adrenal failure through radical lifestyle shifts, Tina’s journey has been one of remembering—remembering her body’s wisdom, her intuitive gifts, and her ability to create a life that feels like freedom.

Today, Tina combines Human Design, NLP, and transformational coaching to help others reconnect with their truth. In this conversation, she shares how listening to the “whisper” of your future self can change everything, why exhaustion is often a doorway to alignment, and how reclaiming your sovereignty begins with radical self-responsibility.

Continue reading or listen in by subscribing for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or YouTube to discover how Tina LeAnn helps others step into the most authentic, empowered version of themselves.

Tell me about your story of awakening to consciousness, mindfulness, and spirituality. Did you grow up with any kind of faith or spiritual practice, or did that come later in life?

Tina LeAnn: Well, it’s kind of a long story—as it usually is, right? When I was a child, my parents raised my sister and me in the Lutheran church. They wanted us to have the experience of going to church, learning the teachings, and having that foundation. My mom would say, “Keep going to church and Sunday school until you’re confirmed. Then you can make an educated decision from there.”

I was raised Lutheran, but I always questioned a lot of things about the religion—so much so that the adults would sometimes get annoyed with me. It never fully resonated, but I had this great curiosity: What is all of this really about? It always felt like there was something more than just being human on this earth. That curiosity led me down a really beautiful path later in life.

So, did you get confirmed?

Tina LeAnn: I did—and then I never went back, except for weddings and funerals.

What were some key moments where you felt a breakthrough in your spiritual thinking or experience? Were there certain experiences, teachers, or books that helped you?

Tina LeAnn: Yes. And how in-depth do you want me to go?

Give me everything you want.

Tina LeAnn: Okay. I grew up in a pretty inconsistent, chaotic household. Looking back, that was one of the biggest catalysts for me. I didn’t have the language then, but I wanted to understand what it meant to be human and to create a different life for myself.

Even in the inconsistency and toxicity, my parents did the best they could with what they knew. We now have a wonderful relationship, but back then it was tumultuous. I remember thinking, I want better for myself. I want to be a good person. I want to live without all this anger and unpredictability. That desire is what led me down this path of learning how to live well and be well.

It started with a psychology class in high school. I began learning about depression and the labels we put on things. I realized, Oh, my parents aren’t out to get me. They’re dealing with things they never dealt with. That sparked something in me. And because we didn’t have the internet back then—I’m 55—I went to the library and dug into books and magazines. I started counseling, too, which was incredibly helpful. Even traditional counseling gave me a glimpse that I could choose a different life.

In my mid-twenties, I moved from Wisconsin to Colorado. Getting out of that environment changed everything. I met people from all over the world who were genuinely living—skiing, hiking, kayaking, being outdoors. They weren’t working just to survive; they were working to live. I learned so much during those years.

I had been a mechanical designer working for a company that built electromagnetic motors, and I took a 50% pay cut to move to Colorado because so many people were relocating there. After a few years, I moved back to Wisconsin to continue building my career, but that time in Colorado shifted something in me. From then on, I felt a constant tug-of-war between the traditional career path and the desire to travel the world and work remotely—long before we even had language for that.

Eventually, you came to a point where you felt called to help others. Could you take me through your career path—you mentioned Harley-Davidson was part of your journey? What were the twists and turns that led you from engineering into something more purpose-driven?

Tina LeAnn: Yes—Harley was the last place I worked, and it was so fun. I had a blast. And at the same time, I kept feeling, This isn’t me. I struggled sitting in an office all day, every day. I knew I wanted something different.

In 2008, the economy crashed, and Harley-Davidson went through a huge restructuring. The company was so large that the process took years. By 2011, the restructuring reached the Product Development Center where I worked. At that time, there were around a thousand employees in the building—maybe thirty of us were women. Engineering is a very male-dominated field.

They announced they would lay off 30 percent of the staff—about 300 people. During that season, I had gone back to school to get my communications degree in journalism. My plan was to finish the degree, move into working for HOG Magazine, and give it a year. If it didn’t work out, I would leave and try something else.

But the layoff announcement came earlier than expected—I still had one semester left. I remember going back to my desk thinking, What do I do? I didn’t want someone else to lose their job. My mindset at the time was, They need their minorities—female engineers are rare. So, I went to HR, told them I was in school, and shared my plan —unknowingly putting myself on the layoff list.

I ended up being laid off, and honestly, it all worked out beautifully.

I immediately asked myself, What’s next? I’d loved photography since eighth grade. I had a good camera, and at that time, digital photography was exploding. The whole industry was shifting—moving away from studio portraits to outdoor, documentary-style sessions. My sister-in-law and a few friends asked me to photograph their families. I resisted at first, saying, “No, I want to work for National Geographic.” But I eventually said yes—and I had so much fun that I started a photography business.

I’ve always loved photographing people. Even when I travel, I take more photos of locals than of landscapes. I love interacting, hearing their stories, and capturing who they are.

Starting that photography business, though, required me to grow in ways I wasn’t expecting. As many entrepreneurs know, when you start a business, you don’t just build the business—you build yourself.

What were some of those early challenges—things you began to see in the mirror as you started the business?

Tina LeAnn: So many. I had spent twenty years in engineering, behind a desk, largely unseen and unheard—both in my career and in my childhood. Building a business forced me to let myself be seen. I had to stand in front of clients, direct them during shoots, put myself on social media, and speak confidently about what I offered.

Financially, it was another big shift. I went from a steady paycheck and predictable salary ranges to marketing myself, bringing in clients, and asking people to pay me for something I loved doing. I undercharged at first—way undercharged—until I calculated the hours spent prepping, shooting, and editing, and realized I was barely making anything. That’s when I finally raised my prices.

It was a huge learning curve—especially shifting my whole mindset.

You experienced a health crisis several years ago. How did that change the trajectory of your life? And what were some of the traditional methods you tried before discovering what ultimately helped you?

Tina LeAnn: I had overworked myself. I was going to school full-time while working full-time at Harley, and then I went straight into launching my photography business. That required hours and hours of work—learning business, learning studio lighting, driving to shoots. I was probably working 80 to 90 hours a week.

At the same time, I was married and living what many would consider the “perfect American life,” and yet I was unhappy. I was trying to keep all the plates spinning, and I worked myself into adrenal gland failure, depression, and anxiety. I had migraines—first occasionally, then two a week, then five a week. My life became about coping. I would cancel everything except photo shoots. I couldn’t plan ahead. My social life disappeared. My body was screaming at me: Something is wrong. You know it, and you need to take care of it. But I kept ignoring it.

I went the traditional Western medicine route—doctors, CAT scans, MRIs, all of it. They couldn’t find a cause for the migraines. My doctor finally handed me a prescription and said, “Just take one when you feel a migraine coming on.” After months of testing, that was the solution.

I got into my car and thought, No. I can’t live like this.

At the time, I was in a networking group with a chiropractor. I called him and said, “Can you help me with these migraines?” He got me in the next day, and we began an aggressive treatment plan.

That night, I went home and googled: What causes migraines? How do you fix migraines naturally? I went down the black hole of research. The first place I started was food. I had been eating “fairly healthy,” but I was still following the mindset that as long as you’re eating 80 percent healthy, the other 20 percent doesn’t matter. What I discovered was… the other 20 percent does matter.

I decided I would eat clean for 30 days—mostly fruits and vegetables, plus lentils. I cut out sugar and dairy. I’d stopped drinking milk years earlier, but I lived in Wisconsin and didn’t want to give up cheese. I gave up everything. When my husband came home, I said, “Here’s what I found. Here’s what I’m doing. You’re going to support me, and you’re not going to make fun of me.” He said, “Okay.”

I ripped the band-aid off and started the next day.

Within five days, the fog lifted. My depression eased. My body felt calmer. Within two weeks—actually less than two weeks—my migraines were gone. Even my carpal tunnel disappeared. I remember thinking, Oh my gosh, I’m onto something.

I completed the full 30 days and felt so good that I thought, I’m never eating anything bad again. But I decided to test it, like a scientist. I ate a piece of cake—migraine the next day. A couple of days later, I ate a piece of cheese—within 20 minutes, all I wanted to do was sleep.

That’s when I realized: I’ve felt this fatigue since middle school. And it was cheese?

So I rebuilt my relationship with food. For over a year and a half, I cut out sugar completely—not even condiments with sugar hidden in them. I wanted to give my body a full reset. And I’ve been eating that way ever since.

Your transition into becoming a transformation coach—when did that desire to serve people begin to emerge?

Tina LeAnn: It actually started hand in hand with my photography business. About three or four years into the business, when I experienced that health crisis, I was also exploring other healing modalities. I was transforming so deeply—physically, emotionally, spiritually—that I couldn’t help but share what I was learning with everyone around me.

During that time, I discovered Human Design. I fell in love with it because I’m a science nerd, and Human Design bridges science and spirituality beautifully. I was doing so much work with my body and my inner world that Human Design just resonated.

My niche in photography was brand photography and senior portraits, and with my brand clients, I began running their Human Design charts. It helped us discover their messaging and what they wanted to express. Before sessions, I would ask them questions to help them get to know themselves better. That created trust and emotional safety, and the more they opened up, the more I could capture their true essence.

So, without realizing it, I began weaving coaching into my photography business. I was creating a space where clients could feel seen.

Then, about four and a half years ago, I got divorced and knew I didn’t want to stay in Milwaukee. I shut down my portrait business and went on the road for a year. I had been designing websites on the side during winters—photography slowed down in Wisconsin—so I leaned into that work to fund my travel.

And again, I started bringing Human Design into those conversations with website clients, too.

At some point, I realized: I just want to do this transformational work. It lights me up. It’s incredible when someone sits across from you and has an aha moment—a shift so big it literally changes their life from that moment forward. It’s beautiful to witness.

Talk to me about Human Design. What is it, how does it help people, and how do we grow from it?

Tina LeAnn: Human Design is a modality channeled by Ra Uru Hu — and it still blows my mind that one person channeled and assembled something this complex. It combines astrology, the I Ching, the Kabbalah, the Hindu chakra system, quantum mechanics, and genetics. You input your birth date, time, and location into a system, and it generates what’s called a body graph or Human Design chart.

The chart looks like shapes, numbers, and planetary symbols, but at its core, it shows your highest self — you without the blocks, limiting beliefs, or conditioning. I use it to help clients see their gifts, understand their energy, and make decisions that are aligned with who they truly are.

Many people come to me feeling lost, anxious, depressed, or simply out of alignment. The chart gives us language and clarity. We can explore things like:

• What their purpose is
• How best to use their energy
• Whether they’re making decisions from truth or from pressure and “shoulds”

What I’ve found is that people often know these things deep down, but they don’t believe themselves — they suppress it. When their chart reflects that truth back to them, there’s this moment where their shoulders drop. It’s like a permission slip to finally be who they really are.

And when someone reads your chart and truly sees you — both your strengths and your challenges — it’s powerful.

You are a 3/5 Emotional Manifestor, and you share that everywhere. For those unfamiliar, what does that mean?

Tina LeAnn: The 3/5 is my profile — those numbers come from the conscious and unconscious sun in the chart. The 3 line is experiential. I learn through doing, experimenting, trying things, and even “failing.” But I don’t see failure as failure — I see it as data. I try something, it doesn’t work, and I move on. That pattern has been in me since I was a kid.

The 5 line is a projected line. People project onto me — good or bad. Earlier in my life, I took those projections personally and tried to shape-shift to be what others wanted. Learning about the 5 line helped me realize that: Oh… It’s not me. It’s their projection.

The Emotional part refers to my authority — how I make decisions. I need time for my emotional wave to settle before I say yes or no. I used to agree to things in the moment when I felt excited, then regretted it later. Now I ride the wave, wait to reach neutral, and choose from clarity.

And then Manifestor is my type. Manifestors are initiators — we get creative surges, build something quickly, and then need to rest. Our energy comes in pulses. We are here to start things, not necessarily to maintain them.

For comparison:

• Generators have sustainable energy — they go and go.
• Manifesting Generators combine the manifestor’s initiation with the generator’s stamina.
• Projectors see deeply into systems and people, and require more rest.
• Reflectors are rare and work with lunar cycles — they mirror the health of the environment.

Even just learning the basics can change someone’s life. If a projector learns it’s healthy to rest, suddenly resting isn’t a flaw — it’s alignment.

What are some of the common challenges that people come to you with when they hire you as a coach, and how do you use Human Design to help them navigate those?

Tina LeAnn: Many of my clients feel lost — like they’re in a midlife transition or, as I like to call it, a midlife rebirth. People often refer to it as a crisis, but I don’t believe it’s a crisis. I believe it’s a rebirth.

Maybe they’ve been in a career for 20 or 30 years and suddenly feel like there’s something more. Maybe their kids have left for college, and now they don’t know who they are outside of motherhood. Or they feel anxious, stuck, or held back by something they can’t identify.

Using Human Design, we look at their energetic blueprint — their gifts, their purpose, how they’re meant to use their energy, and how they’re wired to make decisions. I also use NLP, so we can clear limiting beliefs or subconscious patterns at the root. Together, the shift happens quickly.

Often, the session “plants a seed” — they suddenly see a possibility they never considered. Or they remember a part of themselves that got buried. Over time, they start feeling whole again, trusting themselves again, and reclaiming confidence. Many people — especially those who have spent years putting themselves last — are really coming home to themselves.

I have a feeling this ties into the name of your business — The Sovereign Soul. Why did you choose that name, and what does it mean to be a sovereign soul?

Tina LeAnn: The name just dropped in one day. I was in Austin on a road trip, and the words The Sovereign Soul came through. I immediately bought the domain name, and two years later, it became my business.

To me, being sovereign means taking radical responsibility for your life — coming back home to yourself and living from your own truth. It’s standing in both strength and softness. It’s being compassionate toward humanity and the collective, while also standing firmly in your authenticity.

We are all uniquely designed — like our thumbprints. To be sovereign is to liberate yourself from the inside out.

You offer a six-hour one-on-one Breakthrough Session. What happens during that session?

Tina LeAnn: That session is entirely NLP — neurolinguistic programming.

We start by diving deep into personal history. I’m listening for specific words, patterns, behaviors, and limiting beliefs. Clients talk, and I take notes on what shows up: emotional themes, repeated phrases, or places where they get stuck. Together, we identify what they want to release.

During the session, we:

• Release the five major trapped emotions
• Release any additional emotions stored in the body
• Identify and clear limiting beliefs tied to career, relationships, money, or self-worth
• Use mental and emotional release techniques so the shifts happen at the subconscious level

If needed, we do parts work. That’s when someone says, “Part of me wants this, but part of me doesn’t.” Those parts often want the same thing — to keep the person safe — but they’re working against each other. We bring those parts back into harmony.

We also set goals and anchor new values so that their transformation becomes embodied. After the session, they take purposeful action, and we meet two more times to support integration and keep the momentum going.

Amazing. I mean, the name Breakthrough — it’s going to be a breakthrough. You’re going to have some serious breakthroughs in this time. You also have a session coming up called The Future-You First™. It’s an online event in December, and then the Future-You™ Retreat in May 2026 in Tulum. So I’m curious about Future-You First. What does it mean? What is this online event in December?

Tina LeAnn: The Future-You First™ five-day event is all about putting the future version of you first. We’ll use Human Design, Gene Keys, and NLP so participants can understand who they are at their core and how their decision-making energy actually works. Using Human Design, we explore how they’re wired to make choices, and then we layer in tools and practices to set them up for success.

Once they understand themselves more deeply, we look at how to make aligned decisions — both big choices and the small micro-choices we overlook. Those microscopic decisions matter more than we realize.

The Future-You™ Retreat in Tulum is that same experience — but on steroids. It’s a six-day, five-night retreat at a private luxury villa with a chef and a couple of beautiful excursions. It’s an intimate group — a maximum of ten people — and each person gets their own room. The space is designed for deep integration, giving people time to really sit with themselves, reflect, and receive.

I don’t want people to leave and lose the momentum. I want them to continue building on what they started — long after they return home.

May 11–16, 2026, in Tulum. Where can people follow your work, book a session, or learn about the retreat?

Tina LeAnn: The best place is my website — thesovereignsoul.co. Everything is there: one-on-one coaching, the breakthrough sessions, and the retreats. I’m also on Instagram.

One last question. If someone is listening today and thinking, “I know I need this kind of work — I need more tools to understand myself — but I don’t feel quite ready,” what encouragement would you give them?

Tina LeAnn: Keep listening to the whisper. Don’t let it fade. When the time is right, you’ll know.

Tina, it’s great to meet you, great to connect with you. I think about your story — that young girl who was made fun of and didn’t understand why people reacted to her the way they did — and now you are so embodied in who you are, using these incredible tools to help others. To see that transformation over five decades is powerful. Thank you for the investment you’ve made in yourself and in others.

Tina LeAnn: Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure.