LA Trip Ep. 3: Conscious Leadership & Human Connection with Gwynn Simpson

On this episode of We Built This Brand, Chris Hill sits down with Gwen Simpson of Phoenix Rising Consultants. Gwen shares her unique approach to human capital development, blending intuition, positive psychology, and conscious leadership to help individuals and businesses thrive. From startups to established companies, discover how human connection, mindfulness, and purpose-driven strategy can transform your brand and your life.

Show Highlights: 

(00:00) Introduction and Host Welcome

(00:28) Guest Introduction: Gwen Simpson

(01:20) Gwen's Background and Beliefs

(03:07) Consulting and Human Capital Development

(04:57) Challenges of Modern Technology

(07:15) Incorporating Consciousness in Business

(09:03) Final Thoughts 

Episode Transcript

(00:18):
Welcome to, we Built This brand.
I'm your host Chris Hill and Adhrucia is currently
in, um, on one of the panels talking right now.
So she's not joining us for this interview.
Um, but I'm really excited today to have Gwen Simpson with me.
Gwen, thank you for, um, your time and happy to talk to you today about your.
Um, your company, Phoenix Rising Consultants.

(00:39):
Okay, thank you Chris.
I'm here at the Equity Angels, uh, conference for
Entrepreneurs and I was here to introduce Stacy Spikes.
Mm-hmm.
Who just finished authoring Black founder and it's a
bestseller and uh, I'm happy to be here in California.

(01:00):
Yeah.
Well, it's great to be here and I'm glad to have you.
Um.
And yeah, I thought your introduction to Stacy was really great.
I mean, yeah, I think he said it best himself.
He is like, I'd like to meet that guy.
So you clearly had some very kind, very
insightful words, um, to say and to introduce him.
So
yes, Stacy, that was really good's, a visionary and, um.

(01:20):
I am a metaphysical practitioner.
Okay.
So I believe in intuition and premonition and dreams.
Mm. And my goal is to help others believe in that
intuition and to exercise that to be successful.
Oh, interesting.
Interesting.
So what, what led you to, um, to that career choice to that?

(01:43):
Actually my mother and my grandmother and my great-grandmother because
my mother remembered her previous lifetimes and shared that with me.
And, um, my, uh, relatives are originally from New Orleans, and we do believe
in reincarnation and we do believe that we are here in a lifetime to serve

(02:06):
and to ensure that others carry on a philosophy of higher consciousness.
Hmm.
Where everyone is treated equitably.
Uh, we do believe in the creator and we believe
we are all here and we need to be purpose driven.
Yeah.
To
raise the consciousness of society.

(02:27):
Hmm.
So I like to counsel, um, young people and inform them about potential.
And to give them, uh, a foundation of positive psychology
so that they feel whole and they feel, no matter what the
circumstances are, they can realize their dreams and their goals.
That's really cool.

(02:48):
Um, and so, so many questions come from that, but like.
It's, it seems interesting that like, so are you, are you
consulting with individuals as well as with businesses?
Or how does that, how does that, because then how does that get all combined?
Because I noticed you had human capital
development as also part of your business name.
Yes, and I do consult with businesses.

(03:10):
Okay.
And I do try to.
Them strategy so that they understand how to deal with employees and
that they understand what employee relationships are in the workplace.
Yeah.
I also have a private sector, uh, consulting where I consult one-on-one.

(03:30):
But that's been my goal in, in human capital development to
help companies, uh, achieve success through good employee
relations, because employees are the greatest asset, right?
And our people are our greatest asset and our youth.
Are going to replace us, and we wanna make sure that

(03:50):
they have foundations of positive psychology so that
they can move and achieve whatever dreams they desire.
Hmm, that's interesting.
Um, how do you, how do you see that helping, like startups and small businesses.
Startups have to use intuition.
They have to look at their strategy, they have to believe in the

(04:12):
subconscious, they have to ensure that they have a positive foundation
so that when they are knocked down, they know how to get up.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, entrepreneurs are great examples of that.
Everyone's had struggles during a business.
Hmm.
But
do you let that struggle keep you down?

(04:34):
Or do you wake up and say, no, I'm gonna make it.
I'm not gonna let this struggle break me or break my company.
I'm gonna keep on moving.
And to understand that there are people in circumstances
that happen naturally so they can continue down that path.
Yeah, that's, that's really, um, that's really interesting and like.

(04:57):
How about the, how about like our current generation?
Like what, what are you finding to be some of the
challenges maybe now that didn't exist years ago?
Or is it just all the same
history?
Repeat repeats itself, but we have new technology and I think what we're
challenged with now is knowing what is real and wasn't what isn't real.
Hmm.

(05:17):
Because AI is a good technological tool, right?
But AI does not have a soul.
Only humans have souls.
Right?
And so we as humans have to remember that
we are humans having a spiritual experience.
So you can create robots, you can create technology, you can create

(05:40):
applications, but human relationships are the most important on the planet.
Yeah.
Yeah, I, I would agree with that.
And I mean, just, it's amazing to me how personable AI can be at times
and almost how deceitful it can be in making you think, oh, it has a
solar, oh, it knows me better than any person I've ever known in my life.

(06:01):
Right.
And, um, how it can drag you down a path you may not want
to go down if you're too reliant on it, as opposed to,
um, you know, trusting on actual human advice and wisdom.
And that's some of the challenge that I used.
Are experiencing now because they're so tied to their cell
phones, they're so tied to social media that they do not

(06:25):
engage in human contact as much as generations prior to.
Hmm.
So we don't wanna lose that.
Yeah.
And we don't want our youth to think that they're not
loved and that no one shares the feelings that they share.
Right.
But because of social media and because of the cell phone and because of ai.

(06:48):
That human contact has declined, especially over the last two decades.
Yeah,
so we wanna ensure that they understand your people first.
You do have a subconscious, you do have a heart chakra.
And while AI may give you tools to, uh,
handle business, AI does not have a soul.

(07:12):
Only the creator can put a soul in a human being.
What is one tip you would give to someone who wants to, um, you know,
maybe incorporate more of this consciousness in their business and.
And how they operate with their employees.
Learn who you are.
One of the ways I teach individuals to learn who they are is through astrology.

(07:36):
I've, uh, studied Carl Young, who did over 4,800
charts, and when you learn your son, your moon.
Sentence sign and what behaviors are attached.
Mm-hmm.
You can look at the pros and cons of those behaviors and try
to follow the pros, the positive behaviors, so that you're

(07:57):
a good human being, being service of service to others.
Yeah.
That's interesting.
Um, I, I find that, you know.
Most people will say, you know, learn, you know, the
Myers-Briggs or, um, oh, what's the, what's the Enneagram?
The one with all the numbers on it.
Right?
Um, but I've always joked that like, Enneagram, especially
where I come from, Enneagram seems to be just the,

(08:19):
the conservative Christian version of the horoscope.
And it's interesting how all those things can
help you learn about yourself in a deeper way.
In religion, if you look at religion, there are great,
great prophets throughout all religions, and they all had
dreams, they all had intuition, and they all followed that.

(08:40):
And so good human behavior follows.
Every religion on the planet, whether it's the Kabbalah, whether it's
Judaism, whether it's Christianity, Christianity, Catholicism, Islam,
Hinduism, all of the great religions teach us good human behavior.

(09:00):
No.
Well, that's really awesome.
Well, um, in terms of this podcast, this is, we built this brand.
I always like to ask at the end of an interview, um,
you know, what brand do you admire the most right now?
And so like in the theme of this, like what brand
would you say is being the most conscious right now?
Or using human consciousness, or maybe that's the wrong way to say

(09:23):
it, but what brand would you say you admire the most right now?
I admired humanitarian service, and so I would like my company to be
known as a service to raise the level of consciousness in humanity.

(09:47):
Hmm.
So, so who would that company be though,
if you were to pick one right now that that is doing that?
I think brands through their charity and their philanthropy.
Are catering to that human service and humanity because they're

(10:11):
all giving to people who are less than people who need help.
So I think all Fortune 500 companies, smaller
companies, mid-size companies are charitable companies.
So I think it's that charitable arm that's really servicing humanity.
Gotcha.

(10:31):
Well, very cool.
Well, Gwen, thank you so much for coming
on the podcast for this brief conversation.
Um, where can people find out about you and,
and reach out to you if they wanna learn more?
They can uh, email me at G [e-mail].
Alright, we'll make sure I'm also
on Instagram Bunny dot Simpson.

(10:55):
Excellent.
Well, we'll make sure that that's in the, um, show notes and, uh, yeah.
Thank you so much for coming on.
It's been a pleasure.
Thank you.
All right.
Bye-bye.