Karla Lewis is a graduate of Fisk University with a major in Business Administration Management and a Master’s in Counseling from the University of Memphis. She is a nationally certified counselor and a Tennessee-licensed Therapist. She is also a Life Coach for women. She is the Host of “Couch Convo With Coach Karla,” which airs live on Thursdays on the SVP TV Network on Facebook and YouTube at 7:15 pm and on Xfinity Channel 17 on Fridays at 7 pm in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia. She is a member of the Memphis chapter of the American Christian Fiction Writers and the Mid-south Christian Writers Conference.

Hello Karla! We're so excited to welcome you to the BCM Family. Let's dive right in, shall we? Kick-start your journey with us by sharing a little about yourself.

Of course, I'm Karla Lewis, also known as Coach Karla. I consider myself to be a creative Renaissance woman who loves music. I like to laugh and have fun. I think a lot of times, people think therapists are stuffy, but I'm not. I'm down-to-earth and approachable, and I care a lot about my community and always want to help improve things in any way I can.

Love that. How long have you been a Memphian or been in Memphis? What do you love most about our city?

I have been a Memphian all my life, except when I went away to college at Fisk University, which wasn't far. But I have had a chance to travel all over the country because I did a lot of traveling with the Fisk University Jubilee Singers. I love Memphis! Memphis is really unique, and I love the culture here. I feel like I can walk outside my door and see people from different ethnicities and different cultural perspectives and experience different cultures from everywhere, including food. I like the food here, and the Southern cuisine, but a big part of my life is the arts. Being here in Memphis has allowed me to work with popular artists like Carla Thomas, who gave me voice lessons. A big part of what makes Memphis beautiful is the culture, and the arts community here is thriving.

You have a public speaker and facilitator background, which has afforded you a platform to be in front of the masses. I read in your bio that you have overcome some major personal challenges, such as stuttering and other trauma-related issues.

As a child, I did experience trauma and I believe that one of the symptoms was stuttering. My mom actually spent a lot of time with me pronouncing words and helping me slow down. I never went to a speech therapist. I'm not sure that that was a big thing back then, but my mom was instrumental in helping me with that. She also encouraged me not to give up. That was a big part of what my parents taught me: never give up, keep going, and be determined about whatever you do. My mom is a patient person, and I would say I get my patience from her because I'm a patient person, too, which is helpful in my work.

As a multifaceted coach, you empower women to unlock their true potential and live their best life. What does that empowerment look like?

It really looks breathtaking, honestly. I see women go from a bowed head and soft speaking tone, lower confidence, and lower self-esteem to almost a whole new person because that's what confidence does for us. I work with women on speaking the right things to themselves. Changing the narrative they say about themselves is so important. It makes you carry yourself differently. Then, as I continue to work with the person over time, one day, they show up, and I see this person on the screen, and their countenance is lighter. Their faces are lighter. They have more joy. You can tell that they believe in themselves more and love themselves better. I get to be a part of that transformation.

How did you know you were called to help people through therapy and counseling?

Well, nobody gave me a chance to do anything else. I started off as a kid, actually. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents on both sides of my family. But my grandad, whom I affectionately called GeeGee, would talk to me about his problems and he would say, “I know you're a kid, but you're a really good listener”. I enjoyed that. I would actually give him advice. Now, what advice was he asking a little kid? I don't remember, but he was talking to me about his life issues. I love my grandfather and have always enjoyed helping people with their problems. That's from kindergarten up to now. I was always the person teachers left in charge of the room and those kinds of things. People just always came to me with their problems.

What makes your approach and perspective different and effective?

What makes my approach different? I know that my clients say that they feel really comfortable. They don't feel judged. I'm a good listener. I try to get people to change their life from the top down. Meaning how you start your day is so important. Again, how you think about yourself and see yourself in the world is so important. We're not going to be able to get your depression symptoms to decrease if you don't think well about yourself. I also give homework assignments. Homework assignments give clients a chance to collaborate with me. Also, from the outset, I collaborate with my clients on what they want their therapy to look like and what they want to achieve. Therapy is a lot about timing, knowing when to push a person, gently pushing, and knowing when a person is just not quite ready for something yet. Knowing the best time to do certain things in sessions is critical.

In your opinion, is there a difference between coaching and counseling?

Coaching and counseling can intersect. They do intersect. A therapist will work more with depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety. Coaching can help with life management skills, mindset, goal setting, and achievement. A therapist can do many things that life coaches do, but it just depends on what problems the client is bringing to the table.

A lot of entrepreneurs were birthed during the pandemic. As we embark on 2024, plates are getting full, and life is really life-ing. As serial entrepreneurs, we have many things going on, including finding time for family, networking, and running full-time businesses. What advice can you give entrepreneurs trying to balance life, work, and family?

The first word that comes to mind is support, support, support. Make sure that you have friends and family who are there for you when you need to rest or if you need help with projects. Also, sharing your vision and what you're trying to accomplish can be very important regarding their support. The other thing that's important with serial entrepreneurs or people who are givers is healthy boundaries and knowing that it's okay to say no and, quite frankly, that you can't say yes to everything, especially if you're a serial entrepreneur because you already have so many different things on your plate. Also, do not allow people to make you feel bad if you have to say no. When you say you're busy, you're busy, and they may not have the ability to understand where you are because they haven't been a serial entrepreneur. We can paint that picture for them if we like, but “no” is also enough. That's what I would share: support and boundaries and being discerning about what we should and shouldn't do. Activities that we should and shouldn't do or pursue at certain times because it might not be the right time to do something.

Let's go back a second. What could you give as a tip on managing and balancing all those things on your plate if you have limited support?

Well, if you have limited support, I would first network to build a community with people with similar interests and goals because that will probably be where a lot of your support comes from. I honestly can say that's where much of my support has come from regarding being an author. I joined the Memphis chapter of the American Christian Fiction Writers Group and got support there. Any networking events available in Memphis are your opportunity to meet people who are in the same vein as you, people who are progressive and want to achieve some things that might not already be on the board or out there. The other thing is hiring help. Hiring help will be important the further you get in your career as a serial entrepreneur. That could be a virtual assistant or an assistant that helps with administration or even utilizing some of the tools out there now, even AI and the support services available online. So, it can take some creativity, but it can be done.

Love it! So, along with being a therapist, you sing, write, act, and model all these exciting things. How do all those things fit into your brand?

Singing and modeling both help with my confidence. I think that I can translate that into working with my clients to help them see that when they get their confidence to a certain level, they can experience more unique experiences in life and have a richer life, so to speak. As far as writing and speaking go, I think that helps. Even when I'm working with clients on mantras or writing affirmations, that creativity that comes, I think that helps as I'm working with clients as well. Then, I also use my gifts in sessions sometimes. If a client feels comfortable, I will sing a song to them that comes into my spirit. Those are the most impactful things that people continue to carry with them for the rest of their lives and the things that I'm probably the most proud of.

Oh, my goodness, Karla. That is amazing. You have a self-esteem prompt journal. Describe how that helps someone with low self-esteem.

In that journal, there are 30 prompts that take you through a journey of self-introspection and make you look in-depth at where you are in your self-esteem. I tell people that self-esteem can change over time as we experience life. We can have a bad experience or a challenge, and it can bring our self-esteem down, like, for instance, domestic violence or just a bad intimate relationship. We need to build ourselves back up again. The journal also has 21 motivational quotes to encourage people in their journaling. There are also coloring pages that provide a therapeutic pause because I want people to take their time through the book and give themselves a chance to process and release many of the emotions they've experienced.

It's something that I'm really proud of. It's my first book, and hopefully, there will be many to come after this.

What are some of your signature topics and services? How do clients book you for a workshop or training session?

My topics are self-esteem, self-love, self-care, and persistence. Regarding companies, I work with and discuss team building, morale, effective leadership, conflict resolution, and effective communication. They can email me directly with their event information or request at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Perfect. You were also featured on “Bluff City Life” with Gina Nealy to discuss some therapeutic tips on handling grief during the holidays. Could you give us a snippet of some of those tips?

I discussed that we need to PAC during the holidays: prepare, be aware, and care. Prepare is being proactive and thinking ahead for challenging moments you may experience emotionally. It could be the day you lost your loved one, their birthday, or a day you all shared a special memory. Give yourself some space during that time and prepare for it. Aware is just about monitoring our mood and any changes we might experience, such as eating or sleep habits. It could be some physiological symptoms like anxiety or even sadness or isolation. Then C is where we take care of ourselves, taking advantage of our vacation days and leave time, which many people in the Mid-South struggle with. If we have to advocate for ourselves with our companies, that's what we must do because people need to understand that we're people and not machines, and we can't keep going all the time. But taking care of ourselves can also be therapeutic activities like painting and meditation. You don't have to be the best painter. It's about the therapeutic act, like doing some of the “sip and paints” that people are doing because they are therapeutic and just doing things that you know feed your spirit. After all, sometimes we forget.

Do you have any tips or advice for people who want to start fresh or have a better outlook for 2024?

Starting fresh, I would say do some “letting go exercises” surrounding 2023 and do some journaling. I'm a big advocate of journaling. I do some journaling to help process and release things from the past. People get hung up on journaling because they think they must do it daily. You don't have to do it every day. You can do it around a certain event. Then, as far as having a better outlook for 2024, I want to say that we don't realize how important we are to God. We minimize our impact on the world. We're very important, and we're pieces to this great big puzzle. His words say that we're the “apple of his eye” and that He took the time to number the hairs on our heads. That means that we mean a lot to Him. We must realize our importance and how we fit into the grand scheme of things. Then also think about what you want. Write it down and claim it by speaking it and believing it. Believe that you can have it. Believe that you can have the best. Believe that you can have the best in 2024.

That's a powerful word: “Believe”. You have to believe that it can be done. I love that and will make sure to keep it in my vocabulary for 2024. Do you offer any free consultations for any of your services?

Yes, I offer free consultations for both counseling and coaching. I have a client portal where people can schedule those consultations. They can find that portal on my website.

Was there anything you want our readers to know that I did not ask?

I want Memphis to know that I'm here as a support to help explain what therapy is and what we can achieve in therapy together, and whatever goals or challenges they have, we can nail it on the head in 2024.

FB: Coach Karla

IG & TikTok: @CoachKarlaLewis

Website: www.coachkarla.com