Balancing Passion and Purpose: Portia Chambers' Journey Through Entrepreneurship, Baking, and Personal Growth

This episode delves into the themes of self-discovery and finding balance amidst competing passions. Portia shares her journey of embracing baking, re-evaluating her event hosting, and taking a mid-season pause to reflect on her dreams and well-being.

• Reflection on being a multi-passionate entrepreneur 
• Yearning for a simpler life and connection to nature 
• Discovery of a love for baking sourdough and community nourishment 
• The challenges of balancing events and self-care 
• Decision to take baking seriously as a business venture 
• Announcement of a mid-season pause for reflection and realignment 
• Emphasizing the intertwining of personal passion and community experiences 

Your ears, your attention is, you know, greatly appreciated and honored and, honestly, is the thing that I is the reason why I continue to do it every single day and produce an episode every single week.

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Find Portia Chambers, founder of The We Experience on Instagram

Transcript

Navigating Life's Balancing Act

Speaker 1 0:01

Join me , portia Chambers , as I sit down with women just like you , sharing moments in their lives that shaped them into who they are today Stories of motherhood , betrayal , transformation , love and loss , vulnerable conversations , deep connection and collective healing . Welcome to the this Is we podcast . All right , so I thought I would give you a little bit of an update as to what is happening . Welcome to the this Is we podcast , ruth . And so here we are . I'm going to talk about what is happening with the we , what is happening with me , portia Chambers , outside of the we , and the dreams and the visions that I have within my life , and finding balance between all of the things . So , as you probably already know this , I am a multi-passionate entrepreneur . I feel like I finally am honing in and honoring that title and embracing it for what it is . I like to do a lot of things and like to have my hands in a lot of honeypots , if you will , but at this point in time , I feel like my hands are in far too many honeypots and I need to kind of reel back a little bit and understand . You know what I have time for , where do I wanna put my time and energy and what is honestly coming back to me in abundance in all of the things , not necessarily just financial abundance , but what is filling my cup up from the very beginning to the very end . And I'm totally aware of the ebbs and flows in business and in life , and it's not necessarily about which one's harder or which one's harder or which one's easier . It's really about finding the balance between the love , and so I thought I would give a little bit of context before I kind of give the direction for the we experience as to who I am outside of the we , because as very much as the person that you see that shows up for the we experience is very much me , I am somebody else as well outside of the we experience .

Speaker 1 2:07

So my goal , portia , outside of the we experience or just in life in general , is to live the simple life , to be offline more than online , to be in a home that is surrounded by nature , which I don't have right now . Surrounded by nature , which I don't have right now , I'm really doing things that fulfill me , things that bring things into my community , things where I can do work that I can do in solitude as well , be around others and finding that balance between all of it . So I have this immense love for hosting events , for really putting on an experience , if you will , and seeing others experience it , like that is where the thrill of events is . For me , it's really taking an idea that's in my mind , making it come to life and watching you experience it . And at the other side of that , I love to do things that are hands-on , that nourish my community . You know , going back to my yoga roots , going back to Reiki , going back to skin spinnings , these are all things that nourished my community . And so here I am , you know , diving into the next phase or the next step of my life , and I really hope this is the final phase , because I not that I'm tired , but I really feel like this is the opening door to the final phase of how everything is just going to work out , and I really feel it in my gut

Baking Dreams

Speaker 1 3:37

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Speaker 1 3:37

So I have been sitting on my hobby job , if you will , that's what I call it for the last two years , and this is is baking sourdough , and I am not much of a baker , I say this all the time , and this is something that really and truly just fell into my lap . My daughter wanted to learn how to make sourdough . I thought it'd be easier if I had learned and then taught her . And through that learning I fell in love , like head over heels in love . It gave me something that I didn't even know existed . It gave me something I didn't even know I was looking for and for the last two years I've just been kind of sitting on it . I sell sourdough bagels and loaves and pizza buns to my local community in such a small , very small manner and just kind of having fun with it rather than taking it seriously . Small manner and just kind of having fun with it rather than taking it seriously .

Speaker 1 4:27

And at the end of 2024 , I really had an eye-opening experience that made me realize that this is something that I could , that could be so much more than what I am limiting it to be . And at the end I want to say October , november of 2024 , I really had these big dreams for the WE experience . I wanted to take it to Calgary , where I fell in love with the mountains . I wanted to take our dinners to BC and I really wanted the we experienced to be all over Canada , not just in Southern Ontario . And I was riding high on those dreams . I was putting the work in . I was creating , redoing my media kits , I was connecting with people out in the West coast , I was working with businesses , I was finalizing venues . I was doing all of the things putting that big scary dream , you know , or making that big scary dream , into life .

Speaker 1 5:19

And then the end of December rolled around and I was in the height of my Christmas baking . The end of December rolled around and I was in the height of my Christmas baking . I was feeling really , really depressed and that is a story for another day that I am going to share and I had realized that there was so much healing in what I was doing over those last few days you know , those last few days of baking and it really put in perspective that if I work a little bit harder in this and put the energy out there , that this really can come back to me twofold , not only in abundance , but of course we still need to feed our families , put food on our table , have a roof over our head , pay our bills but at the same time it was truly fulfilling and I found an immense love for it . So I stood on that for , I want to say , a good two weeks , kind of going back and forth , deciding really where I wanted to go .

Speaker 1 6:12

I have been doing events , for you know , over the last two years two and a half years , if you will and events are hard . They are hard emotionally , physically and mentally . You question a lot of yourself every single time I do an event , especially larger events , and I really think it plays and weighs on you at the same time , and as much as I love doing them , I found by the end of the year I was kind of not enjoying them as much as I originally had and I had some conversations with people who had been in the event industry for a while and the events that I want to do , or want to put on , the experiences that I want to do , is very niche . I don't want to be an event planner or coordinator . I don't want to be a wedding planner . That is not a title that I want . I want to just create these things for myself , create it for you . I love once again putting that , bringing that vision to life . That is , you know where I land and you know , and that is like a different , creative side of me .

Speaker 1 7:19

And by the end of last year and honestly , the we Gather event in October really really took a toll on me and made me kind of look at a few things and question a few things in my life and be reminded of my worth and who I am you know in this event industry , if you will and who I am as an individual outside of it . And I am a person and I have great self-awareness that if I feel as if I am sacrificing pieces of myself to appease others , I know that I am in the wrong game and that I need to check myself before I proceed . So this is kind of where we are in that reflection era , in the we experience and with this reflection obviously gives space for other things to flourish . And so in January I made the big , bold decision to take my baking seriously . In January I made the big , bold decision to take my baking seriously . I've had so many people tell me that I need to open a bakery , that I need to make this something more , and I honestly just kind of kept it small for a variety of reasons .

Speaker 1 8:27

Safety time In my life I didn't necessarily have the time or space to take on more is really uprooting your life , your schedule and flipping it . You're getting up earlier and you're working in the evening . Sourdough is a complicated process . Complicated and easy , more or less , but it's something that takes , you know , it takes 36 hours to make . You start in the morning and then you move into the evening and then you bake it the next morning . So it is a long process and , to be honest , my days were starting at 6am and I would bake for four to five hours , I would have a small break and then I'd be sitting at my desk for four to five hours . And I'm not a full-time girly , I will tell you that right now . I will be completely honest , and it was taking a big toll on me .

Speaker 1 9:21

Doing something that was so fulfilling in the morning and then doing , you know , sitting in meetings for several hours in the afternoon , um was kind of , it was like a parallel universe in a way , and it really became evident , you know , after a few weeks , that balancing all of these things was becoming really , really hard . And I do do other jobs outside of the we experience outside of baking , and so I really had to kind of look and understand , you know , what things are fulfilling me and what things are not fulfilling me . So , come January , I decided that I was going to take this seriously . I was going to get into some farmer's markets . I was going to make my product more available . I was going to take on more baking days and really invest my time , my energy and my money into this dream , into this dream that I know will take me out of my subdivision home and into a forest and allow me to live the life that I truly want to live , and this is where the change is coming .

Speaker 1 10:23

So I want to consider this episode a mid-season pause finale , if you will , as I take a step back in the this Is we podcast and give myself the time and the space to reflect and find balance in both of the things that I truly , truly love . So we are going to be taking about two months off of the podcast , for sure , and I'm going to be really looking at my event schedule for the coming months . You know , dana walked into my life at such a interesting time and rocked it , if you will , because if Dana wasn't here , I probably would take the entire year off the we Experience and come back in 2026 . But she is here and I absolutely love hosting alongside of her and I absolutely love our dinners , and it's something that I don't necessarily want to press pause on . I just want to kind of look at it through a different lens . So the we summit and the we gather are still very much up in the air . It is one of those events that if everything just lands so perfectly , I will do them .

Speaker 1 11:27

But if there is resistance , if there is resentment , guilt , people pleasing and all of these kind of different emotions that don't necessarily fulfill me , they are going to be a strong . No , I know who I am . I am . You know , like I said before , I'm so self-aware . I know what feels good in my body , I know what feels good in my heart and I know what feels good in my mind . This was not an easy decision to do and I actually feel really guilty making this decision because I feel like I'm letting down so many , so many of our listeners , so many of those that took the time to schedule , you know , an hour of your day to sit down with me , to have a conversation with me . Um , I feel sad about that , I feel heartbroken about that , but I know that this is , that this is best for me , and I know , after this little break , this little hiatus , that I'm going to show up even more of myself and feel more alignment in both of the things that I truly truly love . So I don't really know what's next for the . I know that the podcast is obviously going to be the first thing to go . It is the most time-consuming thing , um that I but it also is something that I truly truly love doing .

Speaker 1 12:39

It was funny I was recording my last episode for before this mid season last week and I had mentioned to them that this would be , you know , one of my last recordings and and I felt guilty in that and it felt hard . And after that episode I told them at the very beginning of the episode and at the very end I kind of laughed to myself and I said I can't believe I'm giving this up . I can't believe this because I just had the best freaking time talking to you over this last hour and I can't believe this is something that I'm giving up and I'm not giving it up forever , it's just for two months because , honestly , I think this is such a part of me and I love sharing my own story and I love helping other women share their story and their truth at the end of the day . So , who knows ?

Speaker 1 13:26

I like to say that this year , the word of the year for myself is trust . Trust on so many levels . Trust that I know myself enough to put my big foot forward and be stubborn about what I want and what I don't want . To trust the universe that is guiding me in the direction that I know is going to be the most fulfilling , and to trust everything else around me and to trust the people that are supporting me , and so I feel like I'm just going to leave it here short and sweet , if you will . If you have any questions about any of these things , please feel free to send me a message on Instagram . Um , you know that's where you can best find me , but this isn't a sad departure , if you will , as an exciting endeavor . There are so many things that can be learned by trusting your intuition , by saying no to the things that make you feel really guilty around and by leaning into those dreams that you've been pushing off .

Speaker 1 14:32

I've been holding onto this for two years .

Speaker 1 14:36

This is a long .

Speaker 1 14:37

This is a big thing for me . I am not that person . I am not a person that plays small , that holds onto something for two years and then finally does it . I am a person that jumps in with both feet , does not look back and just runs forward , and I guess I'm doing that now , after two years . But it's very interesting to be doing this in such a different way . That is not something that I have done in the past and , like I always say at our dinners , I have a three-year shedding cycle . I am a person , I am a Scorpio and I am really that to a T , where I burn down to the ashes and I rise up as a phoenix stronger , braver , wiser and ready to take on life challenges . And this is that moment . This is the moment where I am burning to the ash and I am slowly rising back up , becoming a different version of myself same but different , and really excited to see where this all goes , because I think that is the best part .

Speaker 1 15:44

I'm really trying to honor the journey . I want to be present within this journey . I want it , you know , to go by fast but at the same time , to slow the fuck down , and I'm here for all of it . So if you want to follow along on my micro bakery journey , you can find me on my Instagram , on my personal Instagram at chambers underscore Portia . You can find it in the show notes as well . Um , and you'll be taken along the journey of how this all unfolds , because I know nothing about this . I know nothing about opening a bakery or having one in my home or or any of these things .

Speaker 1 16:19

This is all very much new to me . It's not something that I have done in the past before or have any kind of background in it . I feel like a lot of the things that I have done in my past . I might not have known them fully , but I have some sense of a background knowledge in what that looks like or what it could look like . But this is something that I have no idea . The vision is there , it's buried deep in my soul and I can feel it every single day and I can see it every single day and I'm excited to get there , I'm excited to relish in that and I'm excited to see where that takes me .

Embracing Change and Growth

Speaker 1 16:54

So , on that note , I just want to say thank you to everybody that has listened to the this Is we podcast from the very beginning up until this moment .

Speaker 1 17:05

Your ears , your attention is , you know , greatly appreciated and honored and , honestly , is the thing that I is the reason why I continue to do it every single day and produce an episode every single week , so there is going to be a little bit of a pause , but once again , this isn't the end .

Speaker 1 17:23

This is just a pause as I readjust to life and the balance of life and what that looks like and where I want to put my energy and what things I need to let go of , and this is one of those things . So if you're still with me , you know , 17 minutes into this conversation , I appreciate it and it's only up from here and I truly believe that when I flourish in one area , the other will will flourish as well . So I'm excited to see where the we experience goes for 20 , for 2025 . And I'm excited to see where my little baking journey journey goes as well , because I really feel that they're intertwined . And once I get that place in the woods , we'll be having dinners and yoga practices and eating amazing food all together on my property , because then I can share my love with you wholeheartedly and you can really truly understand who I am and what I want to bring into this world . Until then , I'll see you on the gram .