Today we’d like to introduce you to Dani Watson.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My podcast, Awaken Bake, is by far the business I am most proud of. Although it is my most recent business endeavor, it’s something I have been building up to my entire life. I started my journey as a theater kid, I started very young and planned to pursue performing for the rest of my life. When I was 19, I dropped out of my first college where I majored in dance due to a severe eating disorder. After getting treatment and being cleared to go back to “normal” life, I moved to NYC, majored in Musical Theatre at the American Musical & Dramatic Academy, and continued to pursue a career as a dancer, model, actress, and performer. I had this underlying feeling that something wasn’t right, but at the time I was a victim to the system of this hustle culture. I was constantly getting sick, my mental health was never really seeming to improve, but I felt like I was doing everything the right way… which is why I was so confused because I was so unhappy.
During the first month of quarantine, NYC shut down and I moved in with my boyfriend (now husband) Isaiah on the East Coast. I started reading more about spirituality and Buddhism. I went thru some intense spiritual awakenings and even an identity crisis here and there. It made me realize that my path really wasn’t to be a musical theater performer. I wanted to dance and perform for myself because I love it. But cultivating a career around something that often triggered my anorexia just didn’t feel worth it anymore. My new goal was simple, to be happy. I started working on my first business ever, centered all-around Kindness & Inclusivity (“KIND is the new CUTE”). While this felt like a step in the right direction, I still felt like I had no REAL direction of where I wanted to take it. Meanwhile, I had also been documenting my fitness journey “from sick to thick” on Instagram, all about my struggle from being anorexic to building back a strong, healthy, curvy body. After I started to gain more followers and sponsorships from fitness related companies, I decided to launch an online fitness program centered around building your glutes & gaining muscle. Again, I was searching for a way to help people and this felt like something I was good at and a lot of people were interested in.
I was happy doing this but I found myself always coming back to the same topic… Spirituality. I wanted to incorporate it into everything I did. I even created a booty building program called “Manifest Your Dream Booty” which is actually still available. I knew I wanted to do more with it but I wasn’t sure how until I met my business partner, Kelsey!
Kels and I became friends immediately after being introduced. Our husbands work together in the Navy and I was so excited to meet a cool new friend who had the same ideas and values as I did. Kelsey is also very spiritual and we bonded over our love for both Spirituality and cannabis. The podcast happened so naturally and so fast. We went from brainstorming about it during a smoke sesh on the beach in Maine to creating the podcast itself that night. Our goal was the same: to inspire others on their spiritual journey & normalize the use of cannabis along the way.
Awaken Bake Podcast is an educational, high-vibrational, mystical, spiritual podcast. We started this podcast in New Hampshire in late September of 2021 & we have grown so much since then!
Now that our husbands are stationed here in San Diego, Our office is downtown, and our recording studio is in North Park, in my house.
Awaken Bake has been top-charting every week consistently on at least one if not multiple platforms, and we just reached 2.4k listeners. The episodes drop twice weekly (Monday & Thursday) and we are so grateful to announce that out of 2.8 million podcasts, ours is in the top 10% globally! (According to Listen Score)
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The crazy part about this podcast is that nothing has felt like a “struggle” once. I think when you are in alignment with your higher purpose, everything is easier and fun, even when things are new or challenging. The great thing about working with Kelsey on this podcast is that we balance each other perfectly. I handle a lot of the digital side of things and social media marketing, whereas Kelsey handles our scripts, our blog on Patreon, and a lot of other creative aspects to the podcast. We have definitely had times where one of us was struggling in our personal life and the other had to pick up some slack, but when you love what you do, you’re happy about doing it. I am so grateful to have this podcast that genuinely excites me everyday and in every aspect.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
The podcast is all about awakening your spirituality within, but we focus heavily on Divine Feminine Energy, manifestation, and marijuana. Feminine energy is often misunderstood and it is within all of us. Our society focuses heavily on just the masculine, resulting in the hustle culture, the work hard everyday till you die, no sleep lifestyle. We, as a society, have actually become over-masculine and it’s causing many people to burn out, become ill, and has already led to more and more poverty and pain due to the lack of balance in the collective consciousness in our world.
We teach people about what it actually means to exist in your feminine energy and how they can harness that energy going forward to create a more stable and enjoyable lifestyle.
We often think of the feminine as being weak, soft, or quiet. But in reality, divine feminine energy is the creative space, it’s where ideas are born, and it’s what allows you to actually take care of your physical body. It exists within all of us, and through meaningful conversation, the podcast breaks down exactly how to balance your feminine and masculine energy to bring more abundance, love, money and success into your life.
I am most proud of the way we have been able to inspire so many people to become more educated and aware of their personal power. I am constantly reading messages from people saying now that they’ve started implementing what we talk about on the podcast into their lives, how they’ve never been so happy and so full of peace. I always knew I wanted to inspire others and now I know how. We are creating a community of free thinkers who strive for balance and happiness, something each and every one of us are deserving of.
You’d also be very surprised to learn how many women have guilt centered around using cannabis. Many mothers have messaged us saying they feel validated about using weed after finding out about us. Although I have no actual affiliation with The Last Prisoner Project, we encourage all of our listeners to check them out and support in any way you can. So many lives have been thrown in jail for something almost everyone I know partakes in every single day. I am very privileged to be able to freely discuss and use cannabis while others are behind bars for non-violent marijuana charges.
What makes you happy?
Laughing with other people is absolutely the best feeling. Laughter is one of the quickest ways to raise your vibration, along with gratitude. I have always surrounded myself with funny people and I think that’s one of the reasons our podcast is so successful. We’re hilarious, and we make happiness our top priority.
Pricing:
- Patreon Tier 1- $3/Mo
- Patreon Tier 2- $5/Mo
- Patreon Tier 3- $10/Mo
Contact Info:
- Email: Awakenbakegirls@gmail.com
- Website: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qCY7i40y7uYr5zcdOvIR5?si=V3Va9DigSbOSjqG_y4TnPQ&dl_branch=1
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/awakenbakepodcast?utm_medium=copy_link
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/CqolKjQC_Fc
- Other: https://www.patreon.com/awakenbakepodcast
Image Credits
All photos are taken and edited by Awaken Bake
