Why is it that when we laugh, we shine a little brighter—and sometimes attract just the right people? This week, I’m joined by my hilarious and inspiring soul sister, Alexis Castorina. From corporate marketing boardrooms to comedy stages, Alexis has transformed her career—and her life—through humor, mindset work, and one powerful rebrand.

Alexis is an award-winning entrepreneur, mindset consultant, career coach, and comedian. She shares how humor became her secret weapon for relatability, trust, and personal transformation. We dive into how to “read the room,” when to crack a joke (and when not to), and how humor can literally shift your vibration and attract more aligned success.

On Quianna Marie Weekly, we’re chatting about business growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating wins of all sizes through the lens of a photographer at heart. Sprinkled throughout stories and interviews with past clients, photographers and other business owners this podcast is designed to help you step into your purpose and to truly create a life you’re proud of, a life worth photographing and sharing.

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Today’s episode is brought to you by The Green House, my resource garden for photographers! Let me help you AMPLIFY your heart online and in real life to turn bridesmaids into future brides through templates, workshops, and freebies!

Review The Show Notes:

The Funnier You Are, The More Money You Make (4:56)

How Humor Led To Success In Alexis’ Career (6:17)

Finding Discernment In The Workplace (10:09)

What It Means To Punch Up (15:08)

Strengthening The Funny Bone (20:05)

Treat Your Life As Your Most Important Brand Campaign (25:38) 

Creating A Rebrand From Within (35:10)

Key Tip From Alexis (42:15)

Mentioned in this Episode:

• instagram.com/alexiscastorina
• alexiscastorina.com
• Book Waitlist: Rebrand You

Review the Transcript:

Quianna: I wanna take us back to a time when my cousin Cayla, and three of our best friends were rocking our sky high, Jessica Simpson heels sipping on our vodka cranberries and dancing with a light show. Let me tell you, a headache of a light show around all of us and these sweaty people in the bar leaning on each other to keep from falling.

Why was it that anytime a cute guy caught our eye, we would shove each other with an elbow to make each other laugh. No jokes were cracked. It was like a silent inside joke. Only we were in on. We would just all start smiling, giggling, and laughing literally over nothing. By the way, but with a shimmer of hope that the cute guy will see us in our prime of laughter and urge him to walk over to us and spark a conversation.

Trust me, it didn’t always work. But our batting average for this wing woman plan actually worked pretty often. Why is it that when we’re laughing and smiling with a genuine smile that we look like we’re living our best life? Is it true that laughter really is the best medicine. Flashing back to today, how are we using humor as a tool for business growth?

With so many algorithms to chase, analytics to study, and trends to watch, have you ever thought about the potential to build your personal brand and scale by cracking jokes and adding humor to your business plan? I often think about humor as a scale. To me, you’re either funny or you’re not, but there’s a ton of gray area with humor.

Laughter builds trust, creates relatability, and can help build deeper connections. As business owners, we want more of all of that, right?

Today I have the honor of introducing you to a new soul sister Alexis Castarina is an award-winning corporate marketing veteran, turn entrepreneur, mindset consultant, career coach, and comedian.

In 2022, she founded Alexis Cast Consulting, a specialized consultancy that provides marketing strategy, mindset, career and life design, coaching and speaking services that help individuals and businesses thrive. As a certified neurolinguistic programming NLP practitioner by the Association of Integrative Psychology, she teaches people how to eliminate the baggage and harmful thought patterns they’ve held onto for years that are blocking them from thriving mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Her journey from corporate boardrooms to comedy stages has given her the tools to inspire, uplift, and connect with audiences in a way that’s entertaining as it is empowering. I first met Alexis through the Speaker Spotlight event, hosted by our friend Steph, and I’m beyond grateful for this connection and excited to introduce you today.

If you’re listening on a walk or busy working away, follow along with Alexis at Alexis Cast Arena on Instagram as we chat today. That’s Alexis, C-A-S-T-O-R-I-N-A on Instagram. I don’t know about you if you’re anything like me. I love following along with whi. I’m listening to, I don’t like waiting till the end, so there’s a sneak peek to follow along with her.

Right now we’ll be chatting all about humor, how laughter and comedic relief helped Alexis build her career. How humor makes you more trustworthy and likable and different ways that we can strengthen our funny bone. We’ll be diving deeper into humor in the office and on the internet, and how to play safe and when to push those buttons a little bit.

Stay tuned for even more mindset shifts to help read the room, use discernment in certain situations and how a rebrand from the inside out may be what we all need this year as a collective. Please with a warm welcome all the way from Sunny Arizona. Let’s welcome Alexis Castorina.

Welcome to Quianna Marie Weekly, a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins big or small by dancing in the kitchen.

Photographers who are excited to. Serve their clients and friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams. You can find all of the resources mentioned in this episode QuiannaMarie.com/podcast

Join me as I share weekly motivation, chat about growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating your wins.

Through the lens of a photographer at heart, come join me for a dance party. Ready? Let’s go.

Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to the party. Alexis, it is such an honor to have you on the show. How are you, Gorgeous??!?

Alexis: Oh, I’m doing so well. I am so excited to see your face again. I think the last time I saw you was at Letty Lume in Gilbert for Felicia and Anette and Heidi’s podcast recording.

Quianna: Yes, that was the last time we got to hug each other.

Oh my gosh. This podcast world is so fun and I’m so happy you’re in this circle with us. Oh, it’s so good to see you. So let’s get this party started. Anytime I’m with you, life is just more fun, more vibrant, and honestly more entertaining and memorable. So I just wanna introduce my audience to you with this first question.

Okay. Alexis, I have to know, in your opinion, is it true that the more funny you are, the more money you make?

Alexis: That is one of my favorite questions, and there are a lot of studies out there that talk about the fact that humor in the workplace relates to likability and likability typically relates to connection with clients, connection with peers, connection with colleagues.

So while there’s not a direct correlation that, you know, if you’re a standup comic, you’re gonna make a million dollars a year, uh, at your corporate job or your entrepreneurial pursuits, but there’s a better probability that your ability to connect and relate to people, which is really just emotional intelligence.

Through humor has a direct effect on whether or not you’re gonna be successful in the workplace.

Quianna: Amazing. Oh my gosh. And I love how you mentioned already how humor correlates to likability, right? It builds trust, it builds that connection and all of those feelings, all of that inner intelligence really adds up and helps you build that confidence.

And I think that’s where the business strategy comes in. So I would love to kind of unpack or hear more about your story, your success story, and how your sense of humor has really helped with your career. Let’s start there. Well, uh,

Alexis: taking it back to, uh, to the old school, I have always just kind of been a class clown.

I’m known in my friend circles since, you know, elementary school, just cracking jokes and lightening the mood. So. Humor has always just been inherent to who I am, like as a soul, as I kind of got into the workforce, what I found was just being myself, just being authentic and knowing when to interject. Um, some humor in the mix was super helpful because especially when you’re first starting out after college, if, if you went to college or, and you entered the, you know, the traditional linear path.

That so many of of us have fallen into, you’re trying so hard to just prove yourself to be, to prove that you’re competent, that you know what you’re doing. What I found was I absolutely tried to fake it till I made it, so to speak. But what I, when I learned that, like really just shedding that facade and just being authentic and self-deprecating in, in many ways was actually a superpower in that it made me more relatable.

It made me more authentic. And as I’m sure you know, when you’re working with people. You don’t wanna work with like the wet blanket. I mean, if you’re in a crisis situation at work. Who do you want to be on your squad? Like the person that’s spiraling and negative, or a person who’s like, well, F us. Right?

You know? You know, like now, like what are we gonna do and how are we gonna rally around? So to me, and this is like getting a little woo, but I know your audience can handle it. Yes. We love the woo woo. If you think about frequency and vibration and feelings, so anger, shame, guilt, resentment, low vibe, low frequency humor, joy, happiness, high frequency.

So the more that you can tap into that higher frequency through laughter and humor, the more that you’re going to attract better opportunities and better things. So it’s just, I mean, it’s just the metaphysical, it’s just neuroscience. It’s just the law of the universe. That’s all Quianna!

Quianna: Yeah. No, I love this so much and I love that you brought that into something that we can hold, because sometimes I think just like being pretty, just like being smart, right?

Like there are so many ways to define that, right? So when someone, you know, self-identifies themself as funny. A lot of us don’t think we’re funny. A lot of us think, no, I don’t know. I’m, I’m kind of the quiet one. Or I’m the one, I’m the ballbuster, or Right. Like, we kind of have to like self-identify ourselves to different things and it’s hard to kind of put a measurement to, to fun into funny, right into humor.

I would love, like in your experience, I would love to kind of dive into a little bit deeper when you mentioned knowing when to, to actually add that humor, right? Like, because that is an intelligence, like having the ability to read the room is something that I, I do believe is taught. Right? I do believe is something that we recognize our, our parents that, you know, happened to crack a joke at a funeral when we probably shouldn’t, but thank God somebody said something right.

Or when we are, you know, during hard times and these things comes up. So I think as children we’re exposed to different types of humor. But I guess my question is, is like in the workplace, when do you know like, hey, this, someone needs to lighten the mood here. Or like, when not to, like how do we find discernment in the workplace with humor?

Alexis: It’s, it’s a delicate balance because. You have to know your audience. True. I mean, you really do. I mean with, with anything that you do, you have to know your audience because it’s about building rapport. If you don’t know your audience, which your audience could be any stakeholder in your organization, whether it’s like an executive or a peer or a client, a customer, if you don’t know their threshold for humor and the style that maybe resonates with them, you really need to err on the side of caution.

Because it can, it can bite you. And something that I actually have in one of my bits is just about being too authentic in the workplace and how that can land you, uh, with a surprise meeting on your calendar from hr. But you, you really just, you need to proceed with like caution and just being on the more conservative side once you start to get to know.

Who someone is, their motivations and just what their brand of, of humor is. Then you can lean into that a bit more. An example that I can share is, um, at my last corporate job, the CMO, she was this amazing woman and there was a competitor who had just launched this like huge advertising campaign. They were on, you know, T, there were TV commercials, like the whole nine.

And so it was one of those, oh man, like they’re already ahead of us in terms of being first to market. I was like, should I do this? ’cause I was still building rapport with her and I had her, and I had her cell phone number. And I’m like, you know what? I’m gonna lean into the messaging that the competitor has in their ad campaign, and I’m going to create like a meme with her face on it that like has a funny one-liner that tied into the competitor to make her feel like, oh, you’re doing this well, we got this whole other thing going on.

So I swear that was one of the breakthrough moments where she was like, oh, okay, this girl’s cool. And that was just, that was like one of several. Of those experiences that I had where humor was able to just kind of like position me differently. We talk about messaging and positioning and marketing like that kind of positioned me as being confident enough to text the CMO, who’s like, I call her the HBIC, the head bitch in charge because.

This woman has been in boardrooms with like all dudes and she’s beautiful and blonde and has just been like, crushing it for her whole career. And I’m like, I’m just gonna say like, I’m just gonna say this thing and see how it lands and if I get fired, I get fired. And she freaking loved it. And so that just built this connection with us and um, that continued for several more years.

Yeah,

Quianna: I love that story and I’m so happy that I see this thread line of bravery with humor, right? Just like you mentioned, where you’re like, okay, you gotta know your audience. You gotta be able to read the room. You have to be able to take some risks. I just, I can’t believe how a silly little meme like that, that obviously in the context of that project and in that business and in that company meant something to her, right?

If you were to just post that on Facebook, people may not get it, but just having that kind of backstory, almost like create an inside joke that is magic.

Alexis: It was, it was great, and it was just, it was so relevant and time-bound. We always like to talk about, you know, piggybacking off of news cycles and marketing and just cultural moments to, to really catapult and, and lean into like when New York went dark, uh, gosh, those like 10 years ago.

But it’s still one of those like case studies everyone talks about, or like Oreo on their Twitter account, like made reference to this blackout that happened in New York. It’s like, if you can find those moments. And lean into them and your marketing and your messaging, and just the way that you, I don’t know, just approach positive or negative situations in the workplace.

If you can lead with humor and lightheartedness, it really does help build morale. With teams who may be going through a difficult time, or maybe you just wanna like tune up the celebratory spirit if you’re, you know, having a really good moment. So it really does, it just, it helps to deescalate things or amplify the fun.

Quianna: Yes. I love this. Well, I, I have this question for you. It’s like this little tick as soon as you said this. I would love, like, I feel like I understand the, when you say com, like in comedy, like the punch down, like to me that means like you’re making fun of somebody else, right? For their circumstances, for things possibly out of their control.

Right. For the most part. What does punch up mean? Can you explain like the difference?

Alexis: Yeah, so punching up and there’s like punch up writing, so which just means to like infuse some jokes into like a speech or copy or whatever. When I talk about punching up, I. With respect to the, the content and, and, and who and what you can talk about.

It is more accepted that we can make fun of people that are better off than us. So like, making fun of rich people like you would, you know, if, if we’re, if we’re like upper middle class, it is like in poor taste for us to make fun of people who are really struggling to pay the bills and, and trying to get by.

However, the, there’s a more of a green light for us to make fun of. What do they call, like, rich people problems. Okay. And just talking about, oh no, like I didn’t get my Peloton workout in today because my, my nanny was sick and. Had to go from Calabasas down to Brentwood or, you know, something like that.

So that’s, that’s, that’s what I mean by

Quianna: that. Got it. No, that’s so helpful. ’cause I am always trying to think too, like anytime I hear this stuff, I get these little texts. I’m like, wait, hold on. Before we move on, I need to hear this and explain that. I also saw this video and I wish I could quote like, or like give source to who actually said this.

But it was some like late night comedian and he was talking about how when you are sharing conversations with people, like when you are like actively making fun of somebody, it’s like there’s this, this checkpoint that he was explaining that you can only make fun of something on them, like what they’re wearing or their hair, things that it takes less than five minutes to change.

And this was like such a funny concept because like, so for example, I think, I think he was interviewing David Beckham or something and he had, um, in his hair. He had corn, um, rose in his hair, right? And he was teasing him about the corn rose in his hair. And like the little clip was, it was like a TikTok clip was like, well, I’m only making like, it’s only funny because that’s not something natural about him, right?

I’m not making fun of the color of his eyes. I’m not making fun of his height. Something that he can’t change in like five seconds, right? Maybe it wasn’t five minutes. Maybe it was a five second change. That was just something that I thought was so fascinating and I wanted to kind of chat with you about that, where it’s like, what are the different types of humor and, you know, how can we actually strengthen that funny bone?

How can we get better at being funny, but still being respectful?

Alexis: Oh my gosh, you bringing that up? It made me think of this moment that stuck with me in my early career. In my twenties, I was managing media for a, a large brand of colleges. I fly to, um, Ohio to, to take a, to take this meeting and I’m in a boardroom with the president of, of the school system, the vp who’s my boss, and many of our peers now the vp, who is my boss, very overweight, and I felt like, again, being an empath.

So the president, you know, it’s morning, everyone’s kind of shuffling in and there’s this like huge table of donuts. I. And he is like, I bet you won another one of those, huh? To the guy who’s very overweight. And I just remembered like, I was like, oh my God. Like that was so incredibly inappropriate and so mean.

And I could just see, like, I don’t know, you’re probably, I, I know that you’re probably like this too, where you can like just see and read emotions on people’s face. I could just see in like an instant just the like embarrassment and shame that like waved over his face in a matter of seconds and then him just trying to like, ha ha ha, like, chuck it off.

That is like such an extreme example of punching down, to reinforce your point that he couldn’t change his weight in five seconds or five minutes. So like do not ever go there making fun of someone’s shirts or you know, whatever. Like that’s just in jest and that’s totally acceptable. So there, there is definitely discernment in knowing like what’s appropriate and what’s not.

So to answer your question about what, how can we like build our, our, our, our funny bone? Yeah.

Quianna: How can we strengthen our funny bone? Which is just something silly I just made up. But yeah. Like, you know, how can we like strengthen our sense of humor? Is it something that we. You can practice, like do you watch YouTube videos of comedy?

Um, I know you are in this standup circuit, so you’re often at these comedy shows. You know, what are some ways that we can really learn more about humor in reading the room?

Alexis: Well there, um, there are lots of like really cool studies that are out there, just about humor’s effect in the workplace or humor’s effect in mental health, depending on what angle you’re looking for.

I mean, there are peer reviewed, you know, journals and articles that speak to whatever the thing that is, that you’re looking for, because humor has such a, a, a tremendous effect on so many aspects of our lives. In terms of just building up your own kind of like personal comedy or, or just kinda like comedic talent?

I challenge you to just, you know, observational humor. So like Jerry Seinfeld is a comedian who’s probably one of the most well-known of our generation for just. Observational humor, like, what’s the deal with this? You know, and it’s like just something so silly. You, you can like write down little moments in your day.

So I just have this like ongoing app, uh, notes on my notes app. Like anything that I see, I’ll be like, huh, that’s weird. I’ll just like write it down. Or like something that’s weird, something that like really fires you up. Like just write down things that you have some kind of emotional response to and the weirder the better.

You can kinda like note those things in your day. And then if you really do wanna like take it up a notch and look at. How, how would I like craft a joke about this? I have a framework that I, that I have, it’s like a worksheet for people. So if, if anyone’s interested in like a workshop or team builder event, it’s a joke structure, it’s a template for writing jokes, and it’s like you have the setup and that’s the premise, which is what’s that weird thing that you just noticed as you were walking your dog?

And then the twist is like, what’s the surprise? That is like in that premise, like what’s your weird observation about this trivial thing? Like picking up dog poop? I don’t know. And then the punchline is like the surprise that is totally outta left field that you would never expect to like land back to the premise, which.

The more it deviates from like where you started on that setup, usually the funnier it is.

Quianna: I love that. Yes, please. You’ll absolutely link that in the show notes so we can start coming up with those templates. We can come up with those one-liners. And I love your advice for documenting this, right? Like actually, it’s like almost like being proactive about your surroundings, about your habits, about what’s happening around you, situational.

The conversations that are being had around you, the moments that are happening when you’re walking through the grocery store, like you said, when you’re walking your dog and picking up dog crap, like whatever it is, is so relatable and like you have to pause. You have to be intentional about writing that down.

I was just chatting with a friend. I was just on her YouTube channel. We were talking about. Vulnerability and showing up and, and just being yourself and building authentic connections, all those amazing things. And that’s one of my favorite things to do is to walk into a room and be like, oh my gosh, wasn’t parking a pain in the butt.

Like I couldn’t find anything. And it’s not that that needs to be funny, it’s just that that’s relatable. Like, where did you park? I had to park away down seventh Street. Anybody need a Uber on the way home? You know, when we’re done with this event to walk, you know, we have to walk together or whatever.

They’re just so situational and sometimes I think we get so caught up. Like you mentioned in the beginning, like when you’re building your career, when you’re building your brand, you have to be so serious. You have to be taken serious in order to grow and scale. I. I love dissecting that and saying, no, actually it’s, it’s a yes.

You have to know what you’re doing. You have to put in the reps, but it’s so much more fun when we can laugh a little bit more, when it’s a little bit more lighthearted. The red line through all of this is simply being relatable. I. That’s the best part.

Alexis: Yeah. Remember, and remember during the speaker spotlight it, and I, you know, I was talking about conscious comedy and one of the things that was so relatable for all of us was, you know, everyone’s like in their glam and looking fabulous, and I’m just like, look at all you beautiful swans.

But I bet you all looked, you know, like ugly ducklings before you got here. Like, everyone’s in troll mode before they got here. That got a huge laugh because it was relatable. Like we’re all with our like, you know, makeup done and you know, hair. But the reality is we all had like oversized hoodies, no makeup, like hair in a bun.

And that that is just like, the more you can tap into just the realness and truth of our. Shared existence. Like that’s what connects us all. It’s like everyone wants to show up perfect. And you know when you feel good, when you look good, you feel good, it raise your frequency. I mean, there’s a whole thing there, but like most of us are just sitting around in hoodies and sweatpants throughout the day.

So like, let’s just, let’s just call out the struggles that we’re having, like, you know, a seven step skincare, you know, nightly routine that takes you two hours before you can finally settle into bed. Remember when we used to sweat off our makeup, like at frat parties dancing a little John, like, just things like that where it’s like, wait, how did you go from there to there?

Quianna: Ah, I love that so much. Oh my gosh, this has been so fun. So one thing that, speaking of the Speaker Spotlight event, um, hosted by our friend Steph, do Worth, we absolutely love Steph. I remember when you were on stage. Oh my gosh, Alexis, you said something that stuck with me forever. Like I cannot get it out of my head.

It is just like it’s burned in my brain and I just wanna share this like mic drop moment that you shared with us, and it was during this time in your career. I remember a little bit of the context, a little bit of the backstory as things were just falling apart. There was a lot going on and you shared that at that pivotal moment.

You started to treat your life like it was the most important brand campaign of your career. Like I said, like mic drop moment. What does that mean to you and how can we take, like, what can we take away from this today?

Alexis: I love this so much because it affected you that way. And it’s so validating because I’m actually writing a book about this.

Um, yes. So it affected me so much, and. The fact that you felt so deeply connected to that line just means everything to me. So what I meant by that was I had a lot of, I had a, like a back-to-back trifecta of shit that kinda like happened in my life. As many of your listeners I, I know are. You’re high achieving, you’re hustling.

You have these like huge dreams and goals, and you’re wanting to go after them and make it happen, and so you’re just going, going, going, going. And sometimes like you’re going so hard that you’re an autopilot and you don’t even have a moment to be like, wait, is that goal even the thing that I want?

Unfortunately. We don’t pause enough and slow down to reflect on like, how are things going. Usually there has to be like, like a right cross like knockout punch in your face for you to finally like slow down and take a minute and take a pause. Because you’ve been ignoring all these like little signals along the way that something didn’t quite feel right.

So I had that like punch in the face, the, the, the Tyson TKO, which forced me to pause and slow down and be like, huh, well that this is, this is, this is really shitty, but I’m not gonna play the victim. I’m gonna be the victor and I’m not gonna like. Say, why is this happening to me? I’m gonna say, what is this teaching me?

I was like, I need some kind of like blueprint that’s just like how my mind works. It’s like I have, I’m a manifesting generator, so it’s hard to like even organize my thoughts ’cause I have so many and I’m just always thinking about different things. But organizing them is, is, is something that I struggle with.

And so I go, well. What if I, I need to rebrand, first of all, like it’s time for a rebrand. Like I’m no longer this, you know, corporate person, which was my identity for so long. I was in a fatal car accident where another driver died and then I got a really significant health issue that happened to me as well.

So all these things forced me to slow it down. I’m like. There’s, there’s something here that it’s teaching me. And so I was like, well, it’s time for a rebrand. It’s time for kind of like the, the next chapter. So what if I treat myself like the most important brand campaign of my career and I use a format that I would take any kind of client through or, you know, my, my own company through.

In like a creative brief where, you know, we walk through like, what’s the business challenge, what’s the objective? What’s the market research and, you know, the SWOT analysis of, you know, what’s going on, what are, what are like, what are like a couple of con concepts or campaign ideas that you could have and like, let’s throw this one out and test it.

It seems to have the highest probability of success. And so I did that for myself where I kind of took myself through this like personal creative brief or campaign brief process, and I just went like from step one to step two and did a ton of like, what is my problem right now? Well, I feel really stuck.

I feel lost, I feel confused. And my objective is to design a life that I love that is filled with like joy and abundance. Like high level. I’m like, okay, well let’s figure this out. And mine really was around career. Like that was obviously I wanna do like the holistic, what’s going on in totality at an aggregate level.

But for me it was like, how am I gonna make money now that I don’t have a job? So for me, a lot of that was around like. Do I wanna do another corporate job or do I wanna really lean into this entrepreneur thing and figure out like what value I have to give? So I did all kinds of different assessments like Enneagrams, human Design, Myers-Briggs, disc, I even requested Myra grade school transcripts.

Like there’s a whole like rhyme and reason that I talk about. And then I just, I analyzed it all and I just made some assumptions and. It’s kind of led me down the path to where I am today, which is like, I love marketing, I love comedy. I love personal development. I love career coaching. Like how do I merge these into this multidisciplinary offering?

Which it’s hard when everyone’s like, you gotta niche down. I’m like. Babe, I’m a manifesting generator. Like I can’t niche down. Like I have too many interests to like just hone in on one area. So for me, like rebranding was just going through a process of. Dissecting myself with market research and making an educated guess on like what campaign would be most aligned to my personal mission, vision, values.

And right now I’m in, like, I’m in the activation phase and I’m testing and learning. So I, I talked to enough people about the thing that I did for myself that just gave me so much clarity and relief and. Reprieve. ’cause you know, it’s, it’s low when you don’t, when you’re not aligned with who you really are as a soul and you’re working in a career or you’re in a relationship that’s just not aligned with who you are.

That that there, there’s like so much unnecessary struggle there. And when I talk to people about this, they’re like, oh my God, can you do that for me? So I like created, you know, coaching around it. And that’s what my new book is about. So I’m writing a book and it’s called Rebrand You. And I’m telling you the title, like you’re the first to know.

I asked my editor if like I could share the title ’cause we’re not even supposed to be marketing it yet. Um, and she said, absolutely. So I know that this book is gonna help a lot of people, like it did me because. It’s a blueprint for how to figure out like what’s next for you and what is truly aligned with like, who you are as a soul and like what you came here to do.

Yeah. You’ll see more marketing, I guess, about the book, um, leading up to the presale launch, which is around the holidays. And then the official book launch is slated for, uh, January of 26.

Quianna: Yay. Congratulations. What an honor to be the first podcast to hear. Rebrand you. Alexis, I am so proud of you. This is huge.

Ah, I just, I wanna keep talking to you because I just feel like so much is unraveling now that you’ve shared this whole thing about rebrand. And what’s so funny is. The vocabulary for me, so my audience, my friends, my family, my followers, they’re very familiar with branding, right? Like the first thing that comes to mind is photos, right?

It’s like, okay, cool. We need a rebrand, right? We need updated headshot, so we need more content. It’s very content focused. And when I love working with clients, for me it’s, it’s looking at the full scope. Just like you mentioned, this is why this is so fascinating to me, and I cannot wait to get my hands on this pre-order because I love, like, like you mentioned, going to the deep dive, looking at your childhood transcripts, right?

Looking at like, you know, researching your inner child, all the stuff and all the stories that, that you. Hold yourself or that we’re told to you that you now believe and have created maybe these limiting beliefs and then who you’ve become because you had no choice, right? And then the trajectory of where you’re going.

So it’s, to me, a rebrand really encompasses the before, the during, like the present right now and then the future. Like where are you going? And so I love as a photographer articulating those visuals and sharing those ideas and making something that really documents who you are now respects and honestly celebrates who you were to become that person.

And then also projecting like. Your highest self, like where you’re going. And so I can really visually do that for everybody, right? Like I, we can go for a walk, I can sit in Uber with you on the way to the airport, whatever we can share, you know, ride, share. It doesn’t matter. Like any person that I come in contact with, I ask just a couple questions and I pull this out.

But that’s very visually, so I would really love to kind of like round out the conversation with you and share how are you doing this internally? You’ve shared. Research and you know, creating these campaigns. But when you say campaign for this really honest, like gut check, like these growth spurts that you’re experiencing, what does that look like for you and your clients when you’re really doing that inner work and not just what you want people to be perceiving online?

Alexis: Oh yeah, absolutely. Mindset is the. I would say it’s, it’s really foundational to this whole thing that could be like a whole nother episode because I’m so fascinated about mindset that I, as part of my rebrand process, not only did I say, oh my gosh, like I’m gonna lean into my bucket list of just trying standup comedy through this introspection and inner work.

I was like, I’ve always loved psychology and I’ve just always been fascinated. By like how our minds work and how that affects how we show up in the world and whether or not we’re successful or not and happy that going through this, I’m like, you know what? I wanna get certified in neurolinguistic programming.

And so neuro mind, linguistic language, programming, actions and behaviors, all of that is really just a study around what we think, say, and do and how that shapes. Our level of happiness and fulfillment in life. Going through just the, um, like the my NLP training and certification and just personal development videos on YouTube and just all of the authors we love to read about.

You may have this like beautiful vision board of like where you wanna go next, you know, your, your higher self, but if you’re holding onto emotional baggage. If you still have limiting beliefs, you’re not gonna get there because you, you’re not operating at the frequency to be able to hold space for the things that you want.

I had to uncover a lot of my own limiting beliefs, and I had to uncover a lot of my own baggage. For me, you know, I mentioned earlier just about like modest beginnings for my family. What I uncovered was a lot of my motivation and like how I showed up in my career was, was like fear-based adrenaline because of this like wound and trauma around scarcity.

So like everything I was doing was like to run away from that and to feel safe. Because like it’s, yeah, I recognized it. Great. But what I also recognized going through this introspection was because I had this scarcity mindset. Like I also had this feeling around like, I also had this wound and limiting belief around worthiness that I had to like prove myself, prove my value, and, and that can lean into like why some people, you know, peacock when, and lead with ego because they don’t feel worthy.

I. So I had to do a lot of work around that and, and also realize that like, holy shit, if I would’ve done this work earlier in my career and realize that like fear and like a scarcity wound and like a worthiness wound, if I would’ve healed that man, I could’ve been asking for raises. I would’ve felt confident like.

Setting boundaries and standing up for myself and like advocating for myself. But I had some, I had a lot of wounds and so I was a lot of times just grateful to have a job because I didn’t wanna be without money. So like when I lost my job, I had to face all of that shit, like, like drinking from a fire hose.

And it forced me to be courageous and. Rewire my programming and take actions that were so out of my typical patterns of behavior that it, it really forced me to lean into faith and just trusting that because I did the work and I know that what lights me up, what I’m good at, like all the, the analysis that I did, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats.

I’m just like, this feels so scary to say no to this client. That’s like a referral, but it doesn’t feel aligned, so I’m gonna say no and like miss out on that extra 10 grand a month and just trust that you know God, the universe has got me because. I’m tapping into the, you know, my sacral that’s like, is this a yes or no?

Oh, I don’t want that client. Okay. No. Then it’s scary as hell

Quianna: to do that. Yes. Oh my gosh. And that’s the power of doing the work, right? That is the power of pausing, of reflecting, of healing and making it fun. Like actually adding some, like sprinkling and some of that humor in there. Yeah, no, I’m just so proud of you.

And, and we could not have those choices. We could not have those decisions to make unless we’ve done the work. Right. Like, ah, I’m just so proud of you.

Alexis: Thank you. Ugh. I’m proud of all of the women that just are, are in this space that are doing the, that, that are doing these things and understanding like.

Who am I? What do I stand for? What do I believe? Like what lights me up? And just leaning into that as a, as a form of how we can discern and make decisions about things that are either aligned or not for us. I. Because, you know, we’re gonna be inundated with opportunities and things to, to, to do. And if you don’t know, like how you process information, like you’re a projector, you have a different way of knowing if something’s right for, for you versus someone that’s, you know, a manifester.

I love, uh, what is it? Erin Claire Jones, her new book, how Do You Choose? And it’s all about human design. So I would encourage anyone to, and I talk about human design in my book, but if, if you haven’t done like a human design assessment, I would recommend it because it’s like scary, accurate, and it’ll help you.

When you have decisions to make, is this, is this a yes or a no? Because we, we can doubt ourselves a lot. So if you lean into your human design and you know what that looks like, you’ll, you’ll have a better probability that that’s the right thing because you used how you filter information and decisions through your human design.

Quianna: I am obsessed. I love all those tests. I don’t like putting myself in a box. I really don’t. And I think sometimes with these personality tests and these things, it can feel that way. But yeah, the human design experience was the first time that I realized, oh wow, like this is me. Like this feels right. It doesn’t feel just like a random horoscope that I read in the newspaper.

You know, I’m dating myself to back then, but yeah, I highly recommend it too. So I. I love this so much. Thank you. So one question I love to ask every guest. Alexis, what is your key tip? What is something that you wish you knew sooner or something you’d love to share with listeners and entrepreneurs today?

Alexis: Yeah, something that I wish I knew sooner was just really understanding. Where my limitations are as it relates to mindset, and it feels really uncomfortable to go through that process. But if you are able to call yourself out on your bullshit, but I mean maybe, maybe that is too harsh, but if you understand why you are the way you are today and you do some hindsight and, and you look back at.

The subconscious programming that happened to you, because we’re all little sponges up until like the age of seven. So whatever things that you saw in your life, like a, a, a critique for how you looked, or this, there are so many things that are just little imprints and that sticks with you in your subconscious, whether or not you even recognize it.

So that can affect so many things in your life as an adult. So my tip would be take the time to pause, do some self-analysis. And this isn’t about pointing fingers because your mom was this way or dad was that way, but it’s just having a better understanding of how those imprints affected the way you operate today.

It has such a tremendous impact, and not only for you, but you can have empathy for other people and how. Their subconscious programming may be affecting how they show up. So instead of being like, my boss is an asshole, you can kind of look at your boss through just this new filter and be like, man, I understand why he’s like overcompensating because he didn’t get enough hugs as a kid.

You know, just something as simple as that. But it makes you, it makes you have empathy for yourself. It makes you have empathy for other people and for you. It helps you identify what the baggage is and what’s holding you back, and then you can work with a coach or a therapist or whatever to take action, not just spin on it and dwell on, this happened to me.

This happened to me. Okay, great. Whatcha gonna do about it? So to me that’s like such a pro tip is do mindset work because it will open up so much for you and it will put you on the path of meeting your higher self.

Quianna: Oh my gosh. Mic drop moment right there. That’s exactly what we needed to hear. I, I love this conversation.

Alexis, thank you so much. How can we connect with you? How can we be your BFF? I wanna know about your next, I don’t know, do you go on tour for comedy? What does that look like and how can we get our hands on your new book?

Alexis: Yeah. Uh, well, you can follow me on Instagram at Alexis Cast Arena. That’s my channel of choice, and you can visit, uh, my website, alexis cast.com.

I have some great freebies on there. So. If you’re in a position where you’re looking for some clarity, like, am I happy? Is my lifestyle aligned with my career? There’s a free download on the homepage, the, um, career and lifestyle alignment checklist, and you can just kind of go through some self introspection questions and, and ask yourself, uh.

You know how you’re feeling, and then yeah, you can sign up to join the wait list and, and get updates on my book. Rebrand you so you can, uh, join the wait list. Um, alexis cast.com/uh, book dash wait list. And then in terms of upcoming shows, I have a show coming up June 22nd. Yeah, it’s Stir Crazy Comedy Club in uh, Glendale.

And this is a fundraiser show. It’s an all female lineup and it is supporting, um, a. Nonprofit that is all about helping, uh, helping working moms who are, are struggling financially. So, so, yeah. So I am gonna probably not be doing as many traditional comedy club shows over the summer while I work on the book, but I absolutely love.

Speaking and hosting workshops for entrepreneur groups, corporate events, retreats. So if that’s interesting to you, then let’s connect.

Quianna: Incredible. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I think one of my biggest takeaways is really understanding your internal gut checks, right? Like finding the humor in everything, being aware of your surroundings, being aware of why you are the way you are.

Like the biggest like takeaway for me. And I just, I can’t wait to continue this ever, ever growing, um, development. Uh, and, you know, just all the fun stuff with you. So thank you so much, Alexis. I hope you have an incredible day and cannot wait to get my hands on up. Oh, thank you so much. I’ll

Alexis: talk to you soon.

Quianna: Oh, I love this conversation and I’m so happy you’re here to join the party. When I think about my family and day-to-day life, I am so grateful that we laugh every single day, all day long, we’re laughing, poking fun of each other, and making everyday tasks and chores more fun. We take our love for each other food and our goals very seriously, but everything else can be lighthearted and hilarious.

In fact, if you know me and my family, if they’re poking fun of you and making fun of you, and like all this situational humor, that means they really love you. If they’re really, really nice to you and don’t have much to say, then maybe you should watch out. That’s your warning. Oh my goodness. Do you consider yourself a funny person?

How are you adding more laughter and joy into your daily life in business? If you know someone funny in your life or someone that you follow that makes you laugh every time you scroll by, please slide into my dms and share. I’m a little burnt out on all the gurus on Instagram telling me what to post, when and where.

I’m looking for more joy and humor and laughter these days. Please. If you know anybody, tag me. Send them into my dms. I wanna follow along with them, and maybe that’s you. Let’s be friends. Let’s be besties. Make sure to follow along with Alexis and stay tuned for her book launch coming soon. I can’t wait to get my hands on rebrand.

You coming soon? We heard the book title first and I just think that is so, so fricking cool. My friends are making moves and it’s an honor to be a part of this history in the making. I appreciate you for listening and tuning into this mindset series. I am always. Always cheering for you, babe. Can’t wait to connect again soon! Love you. Bye!

That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie Weekly. Thank you so much for your listenership and support. You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast, I’d be honored if you’d show your support by leaving a review and rating on your favorite podcast app.

Until next time, keep on on dancing.

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