Today we’d like to introduce you to Choya Johnson.
Hi Choya, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
For much of my professional life, building stronger communities through education was my goal. However, I found myself standing at the intersection of people’s dreams and their realities. I spent more than two decades in the banking and finance industry, working closely with individuals, families, communities, and entrepreneurs around financial literacy, business development, and economic opportunity. But over time, I began to notice something deeper beneath the numbers.
Many of the financial challenges that people faced were not just about money. They were often connected to deeper issues, more personal issues like self-worth, communication, emotional wounds, and generational patterns that had never been examined or healed. This realization inspired a deeper calling in me.
Ironically, while building my professional career, I was also living a love story of my own. My husband and I have shared more than 30 years together, and our journey taught me that genuine lasting love is not something people simply stumble into, it’s something they intentionally build. Through seasons of growth, vulnerability, honest communication, and commitment, I experienced firsthand how powerful it is when two people choose to grow together rather than apart.
Those experiences inspired me to expand my work beyond financial empowerment and into emotional, generational, and relational healing. In 2018, I earned my professional life coaching certification and later achieved my Master Professional Life Coach designation. In 2023, I became a Certified Prepare/Enrich facilitator, a valuable tool, which helps me to guide individuals and couples through meaningful conversations about connection, communication, and long-term relationship health.
My passion for strengthening relationships within the Black community eventually gave birth to my first book, The Essence of WE: Mastering the Art of Connection, Communication, and Sensual Intimacy for Black Couples in 2024. I wrote it to explore the deeper layers of Black love—emotional safety, honest dialogue, vulnerability, and sensual intimacy that honors both partners as whole individuals. My hope was to create a space where couples could move beyond surface connection and cultivate relationships rooted in trust, intentionality, and mutual growth.
Later, I expanded that vision to support singles through my book The Essence of ME: A Soulful Guide for Black Singles Seeking Authentic Love. That work is dedicated to helping Black singles heal from past relationship patterns, reconnect with their authentic selves, and prepare for the kind of love that aligns with who they truly are.
Today, I continue to help individuals and couples build emotionally healthy, spiritually aligned relationships through my coaching practice, Inner Visions Life Coaching, the Essence Match connection app and site for singles, the empowering Essence Series books, and the relationship-centered resources I create. I believe deeply that when people heal and reconnect with their truth, their relationships transform—and when relationships transform, families and communities grow stronger.
And at the heart of everything I do is the guiding question behind Inner Visions Life Coaching:
Why not live your best life?
For me, that question is more than a motto. It’s an invitation—to heal, to grow, to love deeply, and to live with the courage to become who you were always meant to be, and to be empowered to have the life you design and desire for yourself.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has not been smooth nor easy. I have endured many obstacles to my peace- hopelessness, homelessness, fear of disappointing people, struggling in my coaching practice, a divorce from one partner, the death of another partner, mental, physical, and emotional abuse, and the loss of both parents. Transitioning from a long career in banking and finance into coaching, writing, and relationship education required both courage and faith.
Another challenge has been helping people understand the importance of emotional and relational wellness within our communities. Conversations about healing, vulnerability, and relationship patterns are not always easy. Many of us were raised in environments where survival was the focus, and emotional awareness was not always prioritized. Creating spaces where people feel safe enough to have those conversations requires patience, compassion, and consistency.
Writing my books was also a deeply personal journey. When you write about love, healing, and relationships, you inevitably reflect on your own experiences—both the beautiful moments and the difficult ones. That level of honesty requires vulnerability, but it also makes the work more authentic and meaningful.
At the same time, those challenges have been some of my greatest teachers. They have strengthened my resilience, deepened my empathy, and reinforced my commitment to helping others break cycles that no longer serve them. Every obstacle has reminded me that growth rarely happens in our comfort zones, but when we are willing to examine ourselves and use these obstacles as stepping stones instead of barriers.
So, while the road hasn’t always been smooth, it has been purposeful. Each step has brought me closer to the work I feel called to do, helping individuals and couples heal, connect, and build relationships that reflect the wholeness of who they truly are.
In many ways, those very challenges are what makes the message I share today so meaningful, because the journey toward living your best life is rarely perfect, but it is always worth it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Inner Visions Life Coaching?
At the heart of my work is Inner Visions Life Coaching, a relationship-centered coaching practice dedicated to helping individuals and couples cultivate healthier, more authentic connections with themselves and with others. My work focuses on emotional awareness, communication, relationship dynamics, and personal growth—especially within the Black community, where conversations about healing, vulnerability, and relational wellness have not always been given the space they deserve.
I specialize in helping Black singles and couples move beyond surface-level attraction and into deeper levels of emotional connection, self-awareness, and intentional partnership. Through coaching, workshops, writing, and relationship education tools like the Prepare/Enrich assessment, I guide people in exploring how their past experiences, beliefs, and communication patterns shape the relationships they build today.
One of the things that sets my work apart is that it sits at the intersection of lived experience, professional coaching, and cultural understanding. I bring more than two decades of experience in banking and financial empowerment, over 30 years of partnership with my own husband and soulmate, and my professional training as a Master Professional Life and Relationship Coach. That combination allows me to approach relationships holistically recognizing that emotional wellness, financial stability, personal identity, and relational health are all deeply connected.
I’m also proud of the body of work I’ve created through my writing. My books, The Essence of WE: Mastering the Art of Connection, Communication, and Sensual Intimacy for Black Couples and The Essence of ME: A Soulful Guide for Black Singles Seeking Authentic Love, are designed to guide people through meaningful self-reflection and relational growth. These interactive workbooks, along with the Essence Match connection platform, are part of a larger vision to create spaces where Black individuals can pursue love and partnership from a place of wholeness rather than scarcity or fear.
What I’m most proud of brand-wise is that my work consistently centers healing, authenticity, and empowerment. My goal is not just to help people find relationships, but to help them build relationships that are emotionally healthy, spiritually aligned, and rooted in truth.
At the core of my brand is a simple belief: healing transforms people, people transform relationships, and transformed relationships strengthen communities.
The question that guides everything I do is the motto behind Inner Visions:
Why not live your best life?
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something that might surprise people is how deeply music has shaped my life. I’m an avid lover of music, and throughout my life I’ve often felt like there has been a rhythm and soundtrack guiding my journey. Different seasons of my life have had their own songs—music that helped me process emotions, celebrate growth, and even find clarity during difficult moments.
Music has a way of speaking to my soul in ways that words sometimes can’t. It captures love, pain, healing, joy, and transformation all in a single melody. In many ways, that’s also how I view relationships and personal growth, there’s a rhythm to them. When we learn to listen, adjust, and move in harmony with ourselves and others, life begins to flow more beautifully, and subsequently, your body organically moves to the beats of life.
While many people know me through coaching, writing, and relationship work, music has always been one of my quiet sources of inspiration. It reminds me that life, much like a great song, is about feeling the rhythm, honoring the pauses, and allowing each moment to become part of a meaningful story.
Pricing:
- The Essence of WE-$12.95
- The Essence of ME-$19.95
- The Life Empowerment Workbook-$13.00
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.innervisionscoaching901.com
- Instagram: @innervisionary23
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/innervisionary23
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/choya-johnson-15572831b
