The Art of Living Between Worlds
TORIE SMITH Dr. h.c.
The Aaurich Magazine | Torie Smith — The Art of Living Between Worlds.
This feature explores an unconventional approach to business and branding — one where humanity, vision and individuality are just as important as strategy.
Torie’s story raises an interesting question for today’s founders and business leaders:
Do you have to follow a conventional path to build something meaningful?
Perhaps not.
You can build a brand while staying human.
You can pursue growth while staying connected to purpose.
And you can create your own definition of success.
Read the story of Torie Smith in The Aaurich Magazine.
📖 Read the full magazine: HERE
“THE ART OF LIVING BETWEEN WORLDS”
Torie Smith is a multidimensional entrepreneur, hospitality leader, author, speaker and consciousness practitioner whose work sits at the intersection of human behavior, psychology, branding, leadership, spirituality and business transformation. With more than two decades of experience in hospitality, an academic background in Visual Communications and advanced studies in psychology, Smith has developed a distinctive philosophy centered on authentic human connection, intuitive leadership and purposeful business.
She is the creator of Harmonic Living® and Galactic Attunement™ and the founder of the Empathic Gangster® lifestyle brand. Known for challenging conventional approaches to leadership, branding and sales, she advocates a more human-centric approach to business — one that values empathy, creativity, authenticity, community and meaningful experiences alongside commercial success.
A journey from hospitality floors and human psychology to consciousness, creativity and a radically personal philosophy of leadership.
There are some people whose professional identities can be captured neatly in a sentence. Torie Smith is not one of them; her world does not fit comfortably into conventional categories. Hospitality executive, artist, mother, wife, athlete, brand creator, speaker, author, channeler and consciousness practitioner are all accurate descriptions, yet none of them, individually, comes close to describing the person behind them.
Smith’s life is better understood as an intersection:
Hospitality meets psychology.
Branding meets human behavior.
Art meets intuition.
Business meets spirituality.
Leadership meets empathy.
The physical world meets what she describes as a multidimensional reality.
Rather than choosing one identity and leaving the others at the door, Smith has built a philosophy around bringing all of them into the room. That instinct to integrate rather than compartmentalize, may be the defining characteristic of her personality and professional journey.
She describes herself as the product of an organic evolution, a life made up of countless experiences, identities and versions of Self. The image she uses is that of a kaleidoscope: individual fragments forming an ever-changing whole.
It is an apt metaphor for a woman whose career has developed through seemingly unrelated chapters that have gradually begun to reveal a common theme. At the centre of that theme lies humanity.
Smith has spent much of her life watching people. She observes-
How they communicate.
How they react under pressure.
How environments influence behavior.
How leadership affects performance.
How customers experience spaces.
How individuals carry their unseen stories into apparently ordinary interactions.
Long before she had a vocabulary for consciousness or spirituality, observation was already one of her greatest strengths.
That ability would later become one of the most valuable tools in her professional life.
A Life That Refused to Follow a Straight Line
She describes her life as a succession of unexpected turns, side quests and scenic routes. What might appear from the outside to be a collection of career changes and personal reinventions, to her, it’s been a continuous process of discovery.
Hospitality was one of the most significant of those unexpected destinations.
At 22, Smith entered an industry that would ultimately occupy two decades of her life. She fell in love with it almost immediately. Hospitality became her classroom, but not merely in the conventional sense of learning service, operations or management. It became a living study of human behavior.
Few industries expose human nature quite as directly as hospitality. People arrive hungry, tired, excited, impatient, celebratory, disappointed, intoxicated, anxious or simply looking for connection. Employees operate under pressure while attempting to create memorable experiences. Managers must balance commercial expectations with the unpredictable reality of human beings.
Smith watched all of it and noticed patterns.
She became particularly sensitive to the relationship between leadership and frontline performance. Over time, she naturally became a bridge between the two worlds within the hospitality environment. Employees trusted her with what they were actually experiencing. Management could hear difficult truths from her because she knew how to translate those truths into language that could produce action.
It was a role she never formally designed for herself; it emerged organically.
She believes some of the most important things happen when one is attentive enough to recognize where life is already moving.
The Human Being Behind the Job Title
Smith’s understanding of leadership begins with a simple refusal: she does not see people as job descriptions.
A person may occupy the role of bartender, manager, executive, entrepreneur or CEO, however beneath the professional identity is a much larger human story.
There are ambitions.
There are fears.
There are relationships.
There are families.
There are talents that may never appear on a resume.
There are personal struggles that may never be discussed at work.
There are different ways of learning, communicating and processing information.
For Smith, effective leadership begins when these realities are acknowledged.
Leadership is therefore not simply about giving instructions, it is about creating conditions in which people can perform at their best.
Where Hospitality Became Human Psychology
Smith’s professional background in hospitality exists alongside an academic and creative foundation in Visual Communications and advanced studies of psychology.
The combination is unusual.
Visual communication taught her to understand presentation, design and the power of visual experience.
Psychology deepened her fascination with human behavior.
Hospitality exposed her to that behavior in real time.
Art gave her another language through which to interpret the world.
Spiritual exploration added yet another dimension.
Rather than keeping these disciplines separate, Smith fused them and the result is a distinctive way of looking at organizations.
For Smith, a business is never merely a collection of processes, it is:
An environment.
An atmosphere.
A series of human interactions.
A sensory experience.
A psychological experience.
An energetic experience.
This is particularly apparent in the way she approaches branding. She does not regard branding simply as a logo, color palette or marketing strategy.
A brand, in her philosophy, is an expression of identity. Its authenticity depends on whether the experience behind the marketing actually reflects the values being communicated. The details matter.
The way employees speak.
The physical environment.
The customer journey.
The tone of communication.
The values demonstrated when nobody is watching.
The invisible culture behind the visible product.
All of these elements eventually become part of the brand.
For Smith, an authentic brand cannot simply be manufactured from the outside. It must rather originate from something genuine within.
The Creator Rather Than the Follower
Smith’s approach to creativity reflects the same philosophy.
She is deeply influenced by artists, nature, performers, dancers, photographers, musicians and storytellers. Yet she is equally resistant to the idea of simply reproducing what already exists. Her instinct is to create from her own experience. That has become particularly important in her entrepreneurial journey.
When she entered the online business world roughly a decade ago, she found many of the prevailing formulas deeply incompatible with her own instincts. The standard blueprints for building businesses and personal brands did not resonate. Instead of adapting herself to the blueprint, she discarded it and created her own. This decision became a turning point. It reinforced something that had already been visible throughout her life:
Smith is most comfortable when she is exploring rather than conforming.
She does not appear particularly interested in being the conventional version of anything.
Her professional identity does not need to resemble that of a traditional executive.
Her spirituality does not need to resemble traditional spiritual teaching.
Her branding does not need to resemble conventional marketing.
Her leadership does not need to resemble traditional hierarchy.
Her concept of empathy does not need to resemble the popular image of sensitivity as fragility.
This is where ‘Empathic Gangster’ enters the story.
Empathic Gangster®: Sensitivity With Strength
The name itself captures something essential about Smith. The combination is deliberate!
“Empathic” represents sensitivity, perception and emotional awareness.
“Gangster” introduces an entirely different energy; confidence, irreverence, independence and an unwillingness to be constrained.
Smith discovered early that conventional descriptions of empathy did not adequately represent her experience. Too often, sensitivity was framed through limitation or victimhood. She wanted another interpretation where-
Empathy could coexist with strength.
Sensitivity could coexist with assertiveness.
Spiritual awareness could coexist with humor, personality and ordinary life.
One could explore consciousness without abandoning the physical world.
One could be deeply intuitive and still be practical.
One could talk about cosmic consciousness and, in the same breath, remain comfortable in a bar, on a dance floor or in an everyday conversation.
This integration is central to Smith’s identity.
The result is a spiritual personality who does not appear interested in looking traditionally “spiritual”. And that may be precisely what makes her accessible.
A Different Vocabulary for Consciousness
Smith’s spiritual philosophy has developed into two principal frameworks: Harmonic Living® and Galactic Attunement™.
Harmonic Living® represents what she sees as the physical foundation. Nature, the body, environment, holistic practices and everyday habits become the grounding layer.
Galactic Attunement™ moves into her broader exploration of consciousness, perception and what she describes as ‘Galactic Law’.
At the heart of these ideas is Smith’s belief that people can examine the assumptions and programming through which they interpret reality.
She places enormous importance on perspective. The meaning assigned to an experience can influence the experience itself. Change the lens and the reflection changes. For Smith, this is not simply an intellectual exercise. It is something to be embodied. Her approach is therefore less about memorizing spiritual concepts and more about incorporating them into everyday life. The philosophy also reflects her lifelong fascination with the human operating system.
She has always been interested in what makes people behave the way they do, what shapes perception and how internal narratives influence external experience.
Her spiritual language gives that fascination another dimension.
The Power of Reading the Room
One of Smith’s most distinctive professional abilities is her sensitivity to context-
She listens before speaking.
She observes language.
She notices emotional boundaries.
She senses defensiveness.
She pays attention to the person rather than simply the position they occupy.
This allows her to communicate differently with different people as-
A message that works for one executive may fail completely with another.
A frontline employee may require a different form of communication than a senior manager.
A highly analytical person may need evidence and structure.
Someone else may respond more strongly to imagery or emotion.
Smith adapts: She does not regard this adaptability as manipulation. Quite the opposite; she believes the purpose of understanding people is to communicate more helpfully, not to control them. That distinction is central to her ethical approach.
Her leadership philosophy is less about controlling behavior and more about creating the conditions for authentic behavior to emerge.
The New Leader
Smith’s vision of leadership is increasingly aligned with a broader transformation occurring across workplaces-
Authority alone is losing some of its traditional power.
Employees are more conscious of their worth.
They expect respect.
They expect their lives outside the organization to matter.
They want their leaders to recognize that they have ambitions and responsibilities beyond the workplace.
Smith sees this as a positive development.
She believes the strongest organizations will increasingly be built around gratitude and collaboration. A leader who genuinely appreciates their people can influence the emotional atmosphere of an entire organization. A cohesive team can accomplish more than a collection of individuals simply completing assigned shifts. The old model of viewing employees as numbers, positions or staffing coverage is, in Smith’s view, becoming increasingly unsustainable.
The future belongs to organizations that understand the human being behind the position. That does not eliminate accountability. It changes the foundation from which accountability operates.
The Human Advantage in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Smith’s philosophy takes on particular significance in an era dominated by artificial intelligence.
AI can write.
AI can analyze.
AI can automate.
AI can generate images, organize information and accelerate processes.
But Smith believes there is something technology cannot replicate: lived human experience.
A machine does not have a childhood.
It does not experience friendship.
It does not stand under the sun and feel warmth.
It does not create from a lifetime of memories.
It does not carry a mother’s experience into a piece of art.
It does not walk into a restaurant and sense the emotional temperature of a room through decades of lived observation.
For Smith, those experiences constitute a form of human intelligence that should not be undervalued. She sees technology as useful, but believes human craftsmanship may become more valuable precisely because automated content becomes abundant.
The paradox of artificial intelligence may therefore be that it increases the value of authenticity. When everything can be generated instantly, the human story behind something may become part of its value.
Experiences cannot simply be reduced to efficiency. They are meaningful because a human being was present.
STOP SELLING
Smith’s philosophy of business is also captured in her book STOP SELLING: Watch Your Sales Skyrocket.
The title is deliberately provocative. Its underlying argument challenges the traditional image of sales as persuasion.
Smith believes entrepreneurs should build businesses that are such authentic reflections of themselves that the act of communicating about those businesses becomes natural.
Business becomes self-expression.
Sales becomes relationship.
Branding becomes identity.
The customer becomes a participant in an experience rather than a target.
The idea is consistent with everything else Smith creates. She is interested in removing artificial separation.
The entrepreneur and the brand should not be strangers.
The business and its values should not be strangers.
The customer experience and the employee experience should not be strangers.
The public image and the private reality should not be strangers.
When those elements align, Smith believes something more powerful happens. ‘The business becomes a home’.
A Woman Who Refuses to Leave Parts of Herself Behind
Perhaps the most revealing thing about Torie Smith is not any individual title she holds. It is her refusal to abandon the other parts of herself when entering a new chapter.
She is an artist who became a hospitality professional.
A hospitality professional who became deeply interested in psychology.
A mother whose experience of family transformed her understanding of selflessness.
A business creator who became dissatisfied with conventional business formulas.
A spiritual explorer who refused to separate spirituality from ordinary life.
An empath who rejected the idea that empathy should mean weakness.
A leader who sees collaboration as more powerful than hierarchy.
A creator who believes technology should never eclipse human craftsmanship.
Her life is not a sequence of abandoned identities; it is an accumulation.
Each chapter remains present.
The hospitality years inform her understanding of people.
Psychology informs her communication.
Visual communication informs her branding.
Art informs her creativity.
Motherhood informs her capacity for selflessness.
Spiritual exploration informs her worldview.
Entrepreneurship provides the platform through which these elements converge. This is why Smith’s philosophy of multidimensionality is not merely a concept she teaches. It is the way she lives.
The Meaning of Success
Smith’s relationship with success has also evolved.
She does not describe her life as a straightforward ascent. There have been difficult periods, uncertainty, reinvention and moments when established paths simply did not fit. Yet she does not regard those experiences as wasted time.
The detours were part of the journey.
The scenic routes were where she learned.
The side quests were where she discovered new aspects of herself.
That perspective has shaped her understanding of entrepreneurship.
Success is not simply the ability to generate revenue. Systems can create revenue. Businesses can be engineered to make money.
But Smith believes the deeper purpose of entrepreneurship is contribution.
A business can support a community.
It can create meaningful employment.
It can enrich people’s lives.
It can create beauty.
It can offer connection.
It can provide an experience that someone remembers.
It can give its creator a sense of purpose and expression.
Yes, Profit matters. However, profit alone does not define significance.
Building the Future: One Human Experience at a Time
There is an unmistakable ambition behind Smith’s work.
She is not attempting to make incremental changes to conventional business culture, she is building an alternative vocabulary.
Harmonic Living®
Galactic Attunement™
Empathic Gangster®
STOP SELLING
Each concept reflects the same underlying conviction: human beings are more complex than the systems they have built around themselves.
Smith’s vision is ultimately about integration.
The physical and the spiritual.
The professional and the personal.
The strategic and the intuitive.
The analytical and the creative.
The technological and the human.
The individual and the community.
She believes these dimensions do not need to compete. They can coexist. And perhaps that is the most compelling aspect of her story.
In a business culture that has historically rewarded specialization, Smith represents a different model — the integrated professional whose strength comes precisely from refusing to reduce herself to one category.
Her personality is candid, energetic, curious and deliberately unconventional.
Her worldview is expansive.
Her professional language moves easily between hospitality floors, boardrooms, psychology, branding, art and consciousness.
In an age when businesses are becoming increasingly automated, when artificial intelligence is transforming professional life and when employees and consumers are demanding greater authenticity, Smith’s philosophy arrives at an interesting moment.
The future may not belong exclusively to those who can build the most efficient systems. It may belong to those who can create the most meaningful human experiences within them.
Torie Smith has spent much of her life exploring that possibility. She does not appear interested in standing at the end of the road and declaring that she has arrived. Her personality suggests something very different.
She is still exploring.
Still observing
Still creating
Still questioning
Still connecting apparently unrelated pieces.
Still following the next detour.
And perhaps that is the most accurate way to understand Torie Smith — not as a woman who has finally found one identity, but as a woman who has discovered that she never needed only one!
Her greatest work may ultimately be the bridge itself: a space where –
Business can meet humanity
Leadership can meet empathy
Creativity can meet consciousness
Professional life can become something more than a career.
“Business is not simply about what we build or what we earn; it is about what we awaken, what we contribute and how deeply human we remain while creating it.”
In our latest Life Path Journey, Torie Smith shares the experiences and ideas that shaped her journey across business, creativity, personal growth, and conscious living.
THE ART OF LIVING BETWEEN WORLDS.
Entrepreneurship. Hospitality. Branding. Consciousness. Purpose.
A story beyond titles – about creating a life that feels truly your own.
🎥 Watch the full journey on YouTube.
🔗 Link: https://lnkd.in/dVBShMA3
BEHIND THE SCENES:
Your career uniquely blends hospitality leadership, psychology, branding, human behavior and spiritual practices. Can you take us back to the beginning of your journey? What were the defining moments that transformed your career from traditional hospitality into becoming a thought leader in consciousness-driven leadership and business transformation?
Who I am today and what I bring to the table is a result of my organic journey and Soul evolution. If you were to reflect my essence onto a wall it would look like a kaleidoscope; individual fractals of Self, with infinite stories and awareness that form each sliver.
I feel like I have lived a million different lives in the last 40 years, each one leading to a necessary knowing, in order to walk this inevitable (what feels like “encoded”) path before me.
I grew up in a very adult world, I had to figure out very quickly how to finesse the balance between being a force of nature and an excellent observer. At a young age I was navigating pretty heavy topics and narratives, external and internal.
I didn’t know that I was processing the collective, transmuting, alchemizing until I was in my 30’s. That clarity changed my life — the perception of my life.
Becoming a wife and a mom, flipped a switch within. I went from incredibly selfish, to a level of selfless I had no idea I was capable of.
I fell in love with hospitality on day one. I was 22 years old and I thought I was going in one direction, but The Universe sent me in another. If I shared a story for every time I was rip-corded and slung shot to a different path by The Universe, we’d have a book.
I’ve always been an incredibly observant person, taking mental notes; like I was building something behind the scenes in my mind. My whole life’s experience feels like an intentional scientific experiment; sometimes being consciously conducted by me and other times a version of Self, I can’t put my finger on.
Substances and consumption have always been apart of my journey, I went to AA and therapy before I graduated High School. The hospitality industry probably saved my life, it taught me consumption science.
When I began Channeling, shortly after having my first daughter, I began to innerstand Quantum encoding; which deepened my excitement and ability to provide a balance for humanity, in a consumption world.
I am where I am today because I’ve shared. I haven’t kept my perspective, innerstanding and stories to myself. I will jump down any rabbit hole with anyone, I am an open book and I love hearing other peoples experiences and witnessing how we resonate and how we don’t.
You often describe human beings as “multidimensional” and your work reflects that philosophy. What does this concept truly mean to you and how has it influenced your approach to leadership, organizational culture and business strategy?
Being multidimentional is very much my life. I have so many interests, facets and versions of Self at play. I exist in multiple realities simultaneously, we all do, it’s clearly what being human is.
Watching what it entails to bring a dinner service together, or any presentation together involves so many moving pieces. If you watch and slow it down, it’s like witnessing life. Individually it all seems random, but when put together it’s a beautiful experience.
When we innerstand Galactic Law and that all is reflectionary, we start to see ourselves as a part of everything; all is interwoven into one living organism — The Universe is a mirror with a reflectionary feedback loop. When we change our perception, narratives and perspective, the refection changes.
Knowing this effects how I show up as a leader, in more ways than one.
I understand the human heart because I’ve lived my own journey, and there is no hill of judgement to stand on.
I’ve been paying attention to human competency my entire life and we are mind-blowingly impressive.
Innerstanding Galactic Law, provides me a very specific lens; one that serves as an incredible foundation for Soul expression to be welcomed in my presence.
I have lived skill sets and experienced, and learned; professionally taught and self taught — I always put a Torie-Twist on it.
I have a BA in Visual Communications but I am also an artist; an art and nature lover but nature. I have an Honorary Doctorate in Advanced Studies of Psychology and 20 years in the trenches of hospitality. I’m also a channeler, a mom, a wife, an athlete.
I bring it all together. I refuse to leave anything that I love or lights me up behind.
Having spent over two decades in hospitality, you’ve witnessed tremendous changes in customer expectations and organizational dynamics. In your opinion, what fundamental shifts are required for hospitality businesses to remain relevant, emotionally connected and commercially successful in today’s rapidly evolving world?
My organic role over the last 20 years has always been 2 things, leading by example and the communication bridge between the frontline and management.
I tend to be a walking confessional for people. I also know how to speak to those of authority in a way that makes sense and inspires action. The frontline speaks their hearts truth to me and then I will translate it in a way, to someone who can do something about it.
I have been apart of the entire gamut of hospitality; in that, patterns emerged.
I’m not one to not speak up when necessary, I am very clear concise and straight forward.
I eventually realized that I need to be training frontlines, but most importantly management; because they effect their frontlines.
In my opinion, the fundamental shifts required for hospitality businesses to remain relevant, emotionally connected and commercially successful in today’s rapidly evolving world is by embracing and implementing humanity-centric ways of operating, mother nature sustainability systems, providing Soul quenching customer and associate experiences, creating inspired environments and intentionally nourishing those around them, including their community.
Your academic background in Visual Communications combined with advanced studies in psychology creates a unique professional perspective. How do psychology, emotional intelligence and human behavior influence branding, customer experience and leadership in ways that many organizations often overlook?
Knowing what I know about people and the human operating system could easily go sideways — I think we are seeing that happen now, within society.
Understanding psychology and how consciousness works can seriously go awry in the wrong hands.
When I am creating, speaking, sharing; I am considering the audience as my friends and family. What they desire; their dreams, hopes, goals, passions and heart, matter to me.
Manipulating, making people do what I want, is not how I operate. I prefer to witness the magnificence of each individuals organic nature and see where I can support and assist. I speak to their heart as a friend, because that’s where my truth exists.
I really don’t think about how psychology, emotional intelligence and human behavior influence branding, customer experience and leadership because I don’t function from my mind when interacting with people. I function from my heart and intuitive knowing.
How I set up a space and an environment is more strategic, based on Galactic Law innerstanding and energetic knowing but how I operate live is not compartmentalized or based on strategic strategy. It’s intuitive, genuine and functioning from heart awareness.
From what I have witnessed and experienced, a lot of organizations, function from the bare minimum, the bare bones of expectations. They build the building, write the outline of duties; they set an expectation, speak a language — they often have an expectation that isn’t practically executable.
They never get to truly know their associates. A corporate team crafts the expectations of the day to day, most often by those who have never been in trenches but innerstanding is vital. They create expectations without knowing who the human running the position is and what they are actually capable of. It’s basic and generalized, rather than handcrafted and individual specific.
Knowing your people, changes the game.
You speak about ensuring that a brand’s “heart-intention” aligns with how it is perceived by the world. What are the most common mistakes organizations make when building their brand identity and how can businesses create authentic brands that genuinely reflect their values rather than simply marketing an image?
Accuracy is important, along with transparency. It’s all in the details. The integrity and ways of operating, that happen behind the scenes always leaks through. It’s not just physical, it’s energetic — we’re stepping into an era where you can no longer fake it. Psychic awareness is on, if you’re bullshitting people, you’re done.
The most common mistake organizations make when building their brand identity is following trends, rather than setting them (not that that’s the point).
Creating an authentic brand, entails designing a Soul reflective experience.
Genuine Creators, rarely look to others to design the details of the experience they are looking to provide. Their values, heart, essence and Soul are inscribed in the foundation of the experience.
A great creator however, is open to humanities feedback, filtering it through an openness of simplicity and availability.
You are the creator of Harmonic Living® and the inventor of Galactic Attunement™; concepts that are both unique and thought-provoking. What inspired these frameworks, what problems are they designed to solve and how have they evolved since their inception?
Harmonic living® is the stepping stones, taking care of the physical form, setting the foundational springboard that supports Galactic Attunement™ — our ethereal journey.
Through Harmonic Living®, one will discover how to work with nature and cosmic energies for personal and spiritual development; while simultaneously integrating holistic health practices, into their everyday life. One will discover key concepts, that will allow them to harmonically balance their physical reality with their energetic/spirit driven reality.
Galactic Attunement™, foundationally is about consciousness, dissolving social programming and illuminating Galactic Knowing, Wisdom and Law — allowing one to discover their own cosmic magnificence, and what it entails to be human 360°; Cosmically, Ethereally, Celestially, Galactically and Holographically.
In the simplest form, Harmonic Living® is the physical foundation that supports Galactic Attunement™; which is involves the embodiment of Galactic Law (viewing and navigating The Universe through a lens of Cosmic accuracy via the laws that govern The Universe).
They support one another; balance one another — together they act as a supportive, gradual launch.
Lived application over the last 10 years has really confirmed what is law and what is open to preference selection, chosen by the individual.
Many professionals still view spirituality and business as separate worlds. Your work challenges that assumption. How do you bridge these seemingly different disciplines while maintaining credibility with corporate leaders and achieving measurable business outcomes?
Who we are as humans, is spiritual beings — we all show up to do business. It’s not a hard gap to bridge when I’m raw real about my experience and perspective. It pretty much levels all playing fields.
My gamut for existence ranges from Galactic Royalty to pirate, so I speak many languages; including fluent sarcasm.
I’ve been in hospitality for 20 years, I’ve learned how to approach and talk to “authority”.
The fact that I don’t speak like a typical “spiritual”; I believe works in my favor.
I’m a bartender, I was raised by a Sea Captian, I grew up on construction sites and next to the Rez. I’m married to a DJ, I’ve spent the majority of my life in the bar. I curse, I like a cold beer and I show up to throw down on the dance floor. I have the capacity to see the holographic layers of this reality — I can hear source frequency and don’t have it in me to pretend to stand on pedestal.
You have to remember, in session, I work with the unprofessional version of people; which is foundational for how they show as the professional version of Self.
In professional settings, I get a pulse on the individual I’m communicating with. I pay attention to their language, energy; I listen before I really speak. I get to know where their head, heart and defensive line is at; before anything else.
I then know how to communicate and articulate in a way that makes sense to the individual. I don’t just speak to hear myself speak, I want to ensure that I am being the most helpful for them.
I don’t push or force who I am ethereally on anyone; they have to open that door, request that rabbit whole. It could take a year for someone to learn more about me, then my name and that I have children. I go at their speed, pushing the line a bit but not more than they are comfortable or excited with.
I read the room, constantly.
Unless someone has explored my individual platforms, like my website, IG, Youtube Channel, Podcast or Linkedin; they have no clue what’s happening between these ears.
To most people, I’m simply Torie.
Those who have explored my pages, know what they are getting into… they reach out to collaborate, often because of my unique positioning and multidimensionality; therefore I don’t have to explain myself, simply be myself.
Modern leadership is increasingly being defined by empathy, resilience and emotional intelligence rather than authority alone. From your experience working with leaders and organizations, what qualities distinguish exceptional leaders in today’s world and what leadership practices are becoming obsolete?
Exceptional leadership often has a foundational perspective of gratitude and collaboration.
When a leadership position appreciates and is grateful for their staff and shows it, it effects so much of the energetic experience. A cohesive, respected team has the potential to go the distance.
When leadership views the experience as a collaborative effort, that shifts how people show up, feel and operate; it changes how the unit works together.
There are quite a few old leadership practices that are becoming obsolete; treating people like numbers, shifts and body coverage… leadership that functions from energetic hierarchy is becoming obsolete.
These changes are a result of our conscious awakening, a collective heart opening.
Perspective shifts, are allowing leadership to do what they need to, while creating an environment that serves all sides and positions.
People know their worth more than ever, and they are incredible competent and capable.
If a leadership position speaks and operates in a way that insinuates to their associate(s) that their life, priorities, goals, purpose and happiness aren’t important or of equal importance to theirs — I don’t see that dynamic lasting long or going well for them.
As an international keynote speaker and advisor, you’ve interacted with diverse audiences across industries. What recurring leadership or organizational challenges do you encounter most frequently and is there a particular transformation story that has profoundly impacted you?
Emotional maturity and vision are a necessary elements for leadership, most leaders have them, that’s how they got to their position but the ones that don’t yet, stand out like a sore thumb. A leaders emotional maturity and vision can crumble the whole unit or it can be the pulse and driving force that keeps it alive and thriving.
Throughout my hospitality journey I experienced both sides of the coin many times. You go into work and leadership makes the day feel like a battle field, or you go into work and the experience feels like a fulfilling collaborative adventure.
People often ask me, how do you create such instant transformations? It starts with laying a solid foundation for the perspective shift I’m about provide, then building a visual tangible bridge that they can walk over. Painting pictures with words and speaking in an articulation that is straight to the point.
A particular transformation story that profoundly impacted me and really confirmed my ability to successfully assist management, transpired within a two minute conversation.
A situation occurred one evening, as the bar was getting crushed during dinner service, I asked the bar back to please go get wine from the liquor room; he had a full melt down. What he told me as to why he didn’t want to was unacceptable, not on his part, but on the manager’s.
My bar back expressed that the way the manager speaks is confusing, aggressive and makes him feel incompetent. The way the manager was speaking to him was debilitating his ability execute his role confidently and competently, and that is unacceptable.
I went straight to management to nip it in the bud. I pay attention to the details of language and I knew immediately what was a miss and what shift needed to happen. I stated very clearly that I get that the manager comes from a different generation, but this new generation does not speak fluent sarcasm and a manager not speaking clearly, precisely and helpfully at work, is causing an execution issue and that’s not okay.
Sarcasm is not a language for the work place, not everyone speaks it fluently and it’s not helpful.
This two minute conversation transformed this manager. There was no malice of intention on his part, this was just the way he had been speaking for years. He simply needed the conscious awareness of how it was affecting performance and his ability to be a successful and helpful manager.
Founding the Empathic Gangster® Lifestyle Brand represents an unconventional approach to personal and professional development. What inspired this bold identity and what message do you hope individuals and organizations take away from the philosophy behind the brand?
Empathic Gangster® is a reflection of my organic awakening experience. It started birthing itself through me, shortly after I began channeling.
I can remember so distinctively, the moment, I discovered that I was an empath. I began down a road to discovering ‘what that meant’. Everything I found felt like Soul imprisonment and did not resonate. From day one, I knew that I would be forging a new way of perceiving and navigating these encoded abilities.
Nothing about what I am creating feels unconventional, rather an inevitable bridge that’s been waiting to be built. A bridge that allows us all to walk between worlds, that has always existed. Mainstream just hasn’t been consciously speaking of it or framing it accurately with in the narrative — it’s always been our truth, it’s just been sitting behind the scenes or been contexted as “fantasy”.
I want people to remember that we are multidimensional beings with consciousness co-creation capabilities. Our physical experience is a milla-fractal of our experience — a reflection projection of the technological and holographic reality that’s happening on a foundational level.
Every successful professional encounters setbacks, uncertainty and moments of self-discovery. Looking back over your own journey, how did such challenges and experiences shape your perspective on success, purpose and leadership?
My whole life has been a self discovery journey. I’ve been fascinated by the mind, human dynamics, nature, art, athleticism, technology, sound frequency, since I was a kid.
For the most part, my whole experience has been detours, side quests and taking the scenic route. But that’s where living, learning, experiencing and connecting happens. It’s all been an organic process.
When I started walking myself through the online business industry about 10 years ago, it was an incredibly Soul sickening experience for me. I had to quantum pivot and create from my own island of knowing and experience from which to share from. The narratives and beliefs of who people are and how to build a business for people, with people; was a blueprint I did not resonate with, so I had to create my own.
Artificial Intelligence, Automation and Digital Transformation are redefining workplaces worldwide. As technology continues to evolve, how do you see the role of human consciousness, empathy, creativity and authentic connection shaping the future of leadership and organizational success?
The human experience functions via heart beat, pulse, Soul, engaged connection; all things AI cannot offer or bring to the table perspectively. It does not innerstand our experience and it never will. It’s all lip serve with no lips.
However, all technology that exists outside of ourselves, junk drawer inevitable technology especially has served in preparing us to operate the internal technology in which mother nature has installed. It’s far more advanced that AI.
The quantum field that flows through all that is has existed, way before AI was encoded by man. The technology we use everyday feels incredibly antiquated in comparison to the technology that is The Universe. We were all born with internal headsets, wired and woven into a great interconnected web of consciousness. Everything we need, we were born with organically.
Some will choose to create with external technology and some will tap into their abilities to to co-create with the internal consciousness network that is available.
Heart, hand and human crafted experiences, art and projects will stand apart in value and genuine appearance. AI is great for assistance and possible inspiration and organization but it’s not the human perspective, knowing and hand craftsmanship the world deserves.
Even now I can instantly tell when something was generated by AI verses an artist — knowing AI did it, makes it less impressive.
When a leader understands the importance of human connection, engagement and inspired “touch” and intentionally includes it, honors it and protects its value — a game changer is at the helm.
Your book ‘STOP SELLING: Watch Your Sales Skyrocket’ presents a thought-provoking perspective on sales and human connection. What inspired you to write this book, what core philosophy does it challenge within conventional sales practices and how do you believe its principles can help modern entrepreneurs and business leaders build trust, authenticity and long-term relationships in an increasingly competitive marketplace?
This book basically asked to be written. I was at a pivotal moment in my life and career; I had this sense that I needed to tell my story and share my insight’s up until that point.
The core philosophy is to build a business that is a direct reflection of your Soul and organic ways of operating so that nothing feels like “work” and all feels like play and self expression.
It also organically implements perspective shifts in alignment with Galactic Law, through the lens of business and personal branding.
It dissolves old “sales” narratives, games and tactics and inspires more heart and humanity-centric ways of operating.
When entrepreneurs and business leaders are genuine in their presentation, it feels like going to see a friend. They also have to understand law, liability, and the importance of an experiential set up; when they do, they create something different, special.
Having conscious awareness over detail choices can often make or break a business. When I lived in Vegas I really noticed the difference between a thoughtful, handcrafted space verses a whole bunch of stuff thrown in a room. The magik is in the details, it also has to simultaneously be simplistic, straight forward and exciting to navigate.
When future generations look back at your work viz. from hospitality leadership to Harmonic Living®, Galactic Attunement™ and your contributions to organizational transformation, what legacy do you hope to leave behind and what message would you most like emerging leaders and entrepreneurs around the world to remember?
Owning or running a business is not just about making money, system’s being set up properly will do that. Business is about supporting the community, adding value to the world and fulfilling a Soul experience for yourself and those who engage with it.
