Lifting the Veil, Part 2 – Meet Staci Levine
Hello friends,
As part two of Lifting the Veil, I get to tell you a little about me……
I’m Staci Levine. Owner of SLPR, a 25+ year-old PR and marketing agency and co-founder of Sacred Woman Retreats. I’m a high-frequency, type-A, uber-organized, Marie Kondo-loving, over-achiever who thrives on multi-tasking, networking, and achieving success. I’m also a plant-based nature lover and Aquarian in every sense of the word.
My story is one you may find difficult to believe, sometimes I do too.
I was born in the mid 1960’s to a Jewish mother and father in Queens, NY. We moved to Southern California when I was three and we literally lived all over - from Tarzana, Ventura, Oxnard, Ojai, to a small town outside of Ojai called Maricopa, to Hollywood to Pasadena to Santa Monica, ultimately calling the coastal westside of LA home.
My parents divorced when I was very young and I was shuffled back and forth between my mom and dad, living poor on a farm and rich in the Hollywood hills. Eating at renowned restaurants, living next to celebrities, driving in really fancy cars at dad’s, to killing rabbits in the fields in front of our home for dinner and playing in the local dump at my mom’s, where I had a pet goat and our horse served as transportation. My dad ran a successful clothing manufacturing conglomerate, while my hippie mother could barely scrape together two pennies to take care of me and my brother. The two lives I lived couldn’t have been more contrasting. It was a true rags AND riches life happening simultaneously.
I managed to get myself thru high school alive, doing more drugs than I care to recall. After a stint in junior college, I decided I was going to be in the fashion industry like my dad. I learned the importance of a strong work ethic and an intense commitment to success and spent the next decade building a very successful career. I poured myself into my work…. my drive to succeed was ferocious. I joined a PR and marketing agency and quickly became a partner, building an action sports division and contributing to the success of many global brands such as Vans, G-Shock, Smith Optics and Dakine, and managing PR for large-scale events like the Mavericks surf contest and the Vans Triple Crown series.
Those years in action sports were unforgettable. I worked the hardest I ever had, traveling the world and meeting some of the most inspiring people who were making a living doing what they loved. It seemed that my work and life had blurred together.
During this time, I found a soulful joy in skateboarding and surfing - and for the ocean, which provided me solace that I hadn’t found elsewhere, as well as a deep love for travel. That was a turning point for me. I promised myself I would only ever do enriching work. Then yoga came into my life and I began to really understand myself in a way I never had. I learned to breath, I learned to calm my mind, and to truly feel and be self-aware. This began my passion for health, wellness, and holistic healing.
Through the years I became estranged from my mother, lost my brother, met my soulmate, got married and birthed my greatest joy. My daughter is now 13 and is also my greatest teacher, showing me a love I never knew existed.
I’ve come to realize that the traumas I’ve experienced in my lifetime, including physical abuse and a horrific car accident that I was blessed to have survived, have been trapped in my physical body that I’m working to release. Self-care has always come last, but I’m learning to prioritize myself. I’m also learning to unapologetically stand in my power as a fierce, strong, resilient woman with a fiery soul. Everything I have been through has brought me to now, to who I am today.
My agency SLPR still thrives, and Sacred Woman Retreats has come into my life at the perfect time. It provides me an opportunity to bring women together to support and uplift one another while personally feeling supported. I can contribute my marketing, PR and event experience to its success while in return it gives me the opportunity to connect with people on a deep, meaningful level while traveling the world and creating community. The lines of work and life are once again blurred, and I couldn’t be happier.
Thanks for reading. You can find me @slevine66 or @sacredwomancollective ❤️