On this empowering Women on the Rise episode of the BFF Empowerment Podcast, host Blaque Diamond sits down with Leah Johnson—artist, author, retreat leader, and former city council member—whose life journey spans 25 years in politics to a soul-led pivot into painting and transformative healing. Leah opens up about the “addiction to success,” PTSD, postpartum depression, alcoholism, and a suicide attempt—and the courageous decision to step away from reelection to choose motherhood, sobriety, and self-advocacy.

Through creativity, spirituality, and community, Leah found a new path: publishing Finding Fantastic Joy (2022), developing a second book, and guiding women’s retreats in Teotihuacan that blend intentional creativity with ancestral wisdom and ceremony.

She and Blaque Diamond unpack generational trauma, forgiveness, the d ...