Raw, real and gritty…

I’m not your typical self-help guru.

In a world of toxic positivity, where common sense isn’t that common, I teach my clients How to Joy. In the process, I help them create the joyous life they never thought possible.

My approach is simple: I emphasize the importance of cultivating your paradoxical capacity for joy.

To do that, I empower clients to foster awareness, contend with obstacles and respond deliberately to events and feelings as they unfold while pursuing delight.

The details are wildly different for every individual, but the mountain is universal. If you follow the recipe I’ve laid out above, and you get good at it, you too can enjoy an inner well-spring that will carry you through bad times and into great eras with an emotional strength most people will never experience.

To be joyful, you have to look for the good and contend with the bad.

There are many ways up a mountain. Methods to pursue the positive while contending with the negative will be different for every one, but those two principles form the hardened lava of Joy Mountain.

The Joy Paradox

Joy is as delightful and desirable as it is transient and often, elusive.

Joyfulness though, isn’t a fleeting positive emotion. It’s an orientation, resulting from a joyful lifestyle.

Like any lifestyle, to be joyful is a practice, and like any practice, mastering it takes devotion, theory and application.

That’s where I come in.

I’ve been studying the realms of the unseen for decades. My devotion to personal development has taught me that like the yin-yang symbol, a precious coin or two sides of an ornate roof, lasting joy is made of two interdependent and complementary halves. Like two sides of a coin, the two aspects of being joyful are equally necessary to create the whole.

Pursuing my Relentless Commitment to Joy practice requires a seemingly paradoxical engagement with the duality of the human experience. Unlike a moment of pleasure, cultivating lasting joy is delicate dance between the complimentary polarities of pain and delight.

Contrary to expectations, when we become joyful, problems don’t disappear. Instead, the way we view, respond and engage with them does.

My Story

In a world of high-light reels and bullshit, I’m a real person.

And I’m proud of that.

I’ve always had a penchant for abstract thinking and strategy as well a passion for personal development. Riding the waves of those talents, I’ve been able to pursue higher-education, travel extensively and explore many rewarding and creative pursuits. I’ve worked as a Second City improvisor, performed stand-up comedy to sell-out crowds and been paid way too much money to attend nightclubs throughout London’s Piccadilly Circus.

Before that, I created a local chapter of an international sorority in record time as a vehicle to pursue local, national and international philanthropic endeavors. In grad school, I developed my “Relentless Commitment to Joy” practice in the wake of a clinical depression diagnosis. That practice saved my life during law school, and years later when I was faced with a complex constellation of chronic illness diagnoses following tick-borne illness and toxic mold exposures.

my methods

Happiness matters.

My life has given me a unique opportunity to understand how empowering and important joy can be. Harvard researcher, positive psychology professor and someone’s hot dad, Shawn Achor, calls this “The Happiness Advantage.”

When I was battling depression in 2011, discovering Achor’s research transformed the trajectory of my life. Today, that’s what I do for others.

Achor’s philosophy is profound but simple: contrary to colloquial opinion, happiness isn’t the result of success—it’s a key driver of it. Fueled with that insight, I worked on my mindset because my life depended on it.

Like a well-intended zombie, I walked through the motions of Achor’s happiness hacks, unfeeling and uninspired. Slowly, as my inner peace grew, I found more hacks to add to my practice, and over time, more access to my happiness. With the help of Achor's ideas, I gradually pieced Humpty Dumpty back together again, and created my Relentless Commitment to Joy practice.

Empowered by that practice and mindset, I journaled, traveled, graduated, meditated and moved. I performed stand-up again. I joined an improv troupe and got a weekly run at Second City in Chicago. Like Stella, I got my groove back.

With my groove restored, I assumed I was happy because I had once again built a life that was in alignment with my essential nature. I was wrong, and soon, I discovered that I was lucky to be wrong.

It’s easier to be happy when your life is beautiful but it’s empowering to be happy even when it’s not.

Five years after I got deliberate about cultivating my mindset, I lost my mother, my health and with them, much of my community and agency.

At the time, dozens of doctors plead with me to “mourn the life” I had, “accept” my fate as a bed-ridden chronic-illness patient.

Instead, empowered by my Relentless Commitment to Joy practice, I remained hopeful and dedicated to my goals, which I pursued with unwarranted joy and optimism. In the process, I learned to reverse and manage over two-dozen diagnoses while maintaining my position as the happiest person I know.

Now, I help others commune with their inner wisdom to cultivate the wellspring within, empowering them to turn their highest desires into an inspired reality with clarity, joy and courage.

discover how

What people are saying.

If Teal Swan and positivity had a baby...

It would be Yvette. She’s a rare combination of deep, real, safe, joyful and inspiring.
—C. D., Client Relations Officer
Yvette profoundly changed my life and mindset...

I used to be a co-dependent, self-sacrificing giver. With Yvette’s help, I have become an authentic, strong individual brimming with self-love. Her wisdom and support have been invaluable, and I am eternally grateful for this transformation.
— Q. F., Homemaker
I can't wait for Yvette's book!

This woman is fascinating!!
—D. G., Scientist

My Favorites

Not every one who wants to work with me is going to be able to. Even if you have the time and resources to apply, the application process is dynamic, nuanced and selective.

In an attempt to empower as many people as possible, I’ve put together a collection of my favorite tools and resources designed to support your journey toward joy at a variety of stages, including downloadable resources, readings and practices.

Explore what resonates with you today, take what sticks, leave what doesn’t and stay open to your ripeness changing overtime. .

Happy growing! 🪷