In this deeply moving and expansive episode of Radiant Resilience, Tawny sits down with Dr. Crystal T. Harrell—first-generation Yale PhD, bestselling author, TEDx speaker, public health advocate, and co-founder of Seven Sisters & Co.—for an honest conversation about healing, identity, and transformation.
Raised in public housing as one of ten siblings, Dr. Crystal shares the unseen side of her remarkable accomplishments: the anxiety, panic attacks, and complex PTSD that followed the loss of her father at age eleven. Together, Tawny and Crystal explore how unprocessed childhood trauma can shape adult mental health, how achievement can become a survival strategy, and what happens when life asks us to release who we’ve been in order to become who we truly are.
This episode dives into grief, nervous system healing, holistic health, inner child work, journaling, meditation, surrender, and the “goop phase” of transformation—where breakdown becomes rebirth. Dr. Crystal also shares the story behind her book Crystal Clear: A Journey of Self-Discovery, her upcoming work Butterflies Everywhere, and how she’s redefining success, joy, and womanhood beyond academic achievement.
If you’re navigating identity shifts, burnout, grief, or a season of becoming, this conversation will make you feel deeply seen—and remind you that healing doesn’t happen by bypassing the pain, but by honoring it.
This episode includes discussion of:
- Childhood trauma
- Death of a parent
- Cancer
- Panic attacks
- Anxiety
- Complex PTSD
- Grief and delayed grief processing
- Emotional overwhelm and burnout
- Poverty and public housing
- Dissociation
- Mental health struggles
Listener discretion is advised.
CONNECT WITH CRYSTAL
www.crystaltharrell.com
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