Member Spotlight: Lotus Malana Wong

Written By Mazin Jamal

Artwork: “Community Flower” by Christine Juang

Embrace is woven together by the strength of our vibrant community, meet Community Leader & Executive Priestess, Lotus Malana Wong.

Lotus Malana Wong is a multi-faceted flower and multi-hyphenate human: 

Beyond all of this, Lotus is an artist of life, creator of beauty, world traveler, and advocate for BIPOC creatives & spiritual innovators.

Tell us about your journey & how you got on your path.

Growing up I wasn’t raised in a religious or spiritual household.

We didn’t talk about God, Spirit or a Higher Power. We occasionally attended church because of my Great Grandmother’s faith but that wasn’t where I felt a connection. It was much more personal and intuitive.

As a little girl, every night before bed, I always prayed. I would pray to God and share my challenges, woes and wishes for my family and the world. 

Later in college, I was at a very low point. After falling deeply for my first love, our relationship ended. I didn’t know it at the time but the depth of our relationship triggered past wounds, which led to my own trauma response and our relationship ending. After that, I was heartbroken, lost and experienced depression for the first time.

Months later on the first day of the New Year in 2010, I had an encounter that I can only describe as Divine.

I was traveling with friends in Mexico off-roading on a deserted beach and our car got stuck in the sand. There we were ringing in a new decade stranded without cell service. It felt like a bad omen. Just when I was ready to give up hope, this gold suburban pulled up and a woman, her husband and big fluffy dog got out.

That’s when I met my Spiritual Teacher and Soul Godmother, Sally Turner.

On the car ride home, Sally shared that she was a Spiritual Coach and Quantum Biofeedback practitioner who teaches forgiveness as a universal tool for conflict resolution and transformational healing. I didn’t fully understand what she was saying but I knew I needed help and that I wanted to work with her. 

Through working with her I learned how to forgive myself, others, and any situation. I learned to set and hold boundaries. I learned how guided I am by the Divine and I was encouraged to explore my spirituality. To this day, forgiveness work has been the single most useful tool for returning to love, inner peace and harmony (my podcast episode on The Heart of Forgiveness).

For the last fourteen years, I’ve been at the spiritual buffet. Sampling many different streams leading to the same sacred well of truth: our essential nature is love. A mantra I return to often.

Rumi says, “As you start to walk out on the way, the way appears.”

And that is how my spiritual journey has been. I’ve traveled through 35+ countries from Thailand to Iceland to Mexico and discovered Spirit everywhere I go. I commune in nature. I commune in the sea. I commune in community and in the eternal home of the heart.

Through my journey I’ve learned that Spirit is not something outside of me. It is my essence, my center and all of life spirals from that still point. 

What is a spiritual lesson you are living into right now?

Every year I chose a teacher, a sensei, a guide and this year I’ve chosen Trust. 

While I am generally a very open and trusting person, when I actually peel back the layers and go deeper, total and complete Trust is hard for me. 

I’ve realized that this comes in part from how I was raised. In my family, both of my parents like to lead and be in control. For me, being the oldest, I naturally took on the same qualities. Even in my profession as a facilitator and experience designer, I use a high level of creative control and precision to design powerful experiences for leaders and teams. That said, while it can be useful professionally, it can also be stressful and too much, thus, the art of trusting and letting go is a growth edge and opportunity for me.

A couple of examples of how Trust has shown up: 
This year, I moved through a dark night of the soul while grieving the completion of a significant relationship. At times, the grief I experienced felt unbearable and excruciatingly painful but through the heartache and struggle, Trust, has been there. For me, Trust, is an act of surrendering to Spirit and in the moments that have brought me to my knees, my faith in God has carried me through. And when I actually pause and look at my life I see how wildly blessed, loved and supported I am…surrounded by angels.

Lake Atitlán, Guatemala (2021)

Another way that Trust has been present this year is through generosity and Spirit providing opportunities I didn’t know were possible.

A year ago, I set an intention to become an exceptional business woman and to be mentored by an exceptional business woman. I had no idea how that would happen. Soon after, my job ended and I was feeling stressed about what to do. My friend and Embrace Cofounder, Mazin Jamal, said to me, “Lotus, you’re not getting another job. If there’s anyone who can make great money being themselves, it’s you.” That was exactly what I needed to hear and since then I 100% committed to a life of soulpreneurship.

Since then, my branding and experience design business has really taken off and I am serving + elevating my ideal clients: high impact women of color. I also met the “exceptional business woman” mentor I had been praying for. Her name is Jen Kem and she has taken me under her wings and invited me to not just learn alongside her but to be a Cofounder of a women-led global movement and private equity fund called Femmefluence.

All this is to say, TRUST has been an instrumental Teacher and gift in my life and I’ve learned that by setting clear intentions and doing the work, you shall receive!

What does community mean to you? 

For me, community is everything.

My first community was my group of cousins, there were 8 of us growing up and I was one of the oldest and often the leader. We’d play house, fair, school, spies, and create our own small businesses. I created a lot of clubs as a kid too, the Butterfly Club, the Beanie Baby Club, and the Women in White club (during the Men in Black era). 

This longtime passion for bringing people together has grown tremendously. Over the last fifteen years, I’ve guided gatherings for thousands of people and built diverse communities around the world from creative coworking spaces to global happiness movements to what is now Embrace. 

Love & Liberation Forest Party 2021

What is the creation story of Embrace?

In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Mazin Jamal, Darrell Jones III (DJ) and I were each individually pursuing our purposes/missions in life. DJ saw the connections between what we were each trying to build separately and match made us all to work together.

When we started, we knew we wanted to build beloved community, unite the healing ecosystem in Oakland and build the “new church” a place to gather as spiritual practitioners. We began by hosting Love & Liberation Forest Parties to create a place where people could refill their cups and nourish their spirits to keep showing up for the larger movement. 

That said, our purpose has never been about throwing parties - that’s just a method of gathering and creating the multi-dimensional experiences that deepen connection and revive the spirit. We knew there was a greater need we could serve and that this could become something truly special.

Three years later, Embrace has become a community organization and home for beloved community that nourishes social + spiritual innovators and their callings. And we’re just getting started!

Embrace’s Spiritual Innovation Gathering (11.12.23)

What value are you receiving as being part of the Embrace Community?

When I talk to our leaders and community members at Embrace many of them tell me that this community has been an “answered prayer”. A place where they are seen, celebrated and encouraged to express their whole selves.

A healer once said to me that part of my soul’s purpose is to be the “essence of home” and that really resonates. I see what we’re doing here as creating a beloved home for our community to grow personally + professionally and for our larger spiritual innovation ecosystem to thrive. 

Knowing that we’re creating something special to others is incredibly rewarding. For me, this community has become my support system, my village, my council, my people, my home.

I truly believe that our souls made soul contracts to meet on Earth at this time to be of service to humanity. I see each of us coming into alignment and living more and more into our “Divine Assignments”. Honestly, I am just so grateful that such dope ass people want to be a part of this! And while we’re still figuring it out as we go, these are the people I want to rock with.

All is to say, THANK YOU FOR THIS LIFE.

Thank you Great Mystery, thank you Great Spirit, thank you to the Divine! Ashé.

Embrace’s Love & Liberation Foresty Party 3.26.24

Metamorphosis Rite of Passage Ceremony for Women & Femmes of Color 2023



Mazin Jamal https://mazinjamal.com
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