My name is: Desirée Pais.
I live in: Brooklyn.
I’m known for being: Founder of Benshen.co.
I’m talking about: Benshen Course! And our new Benshen Business Course that will be launching in the fall, which will be an eight-week seminar on the “Business, Strategy, and The Energetics of Success.” We also just launched a new podcast called Benshen Talks S.H.I.T (which stand for: So Honestly Into This/That/Them).
Before I created this, I was: I moved to NYC when I was 17 to work in the fashion industry. I loved it—didn’t have that Devil Wears Prada moment. I was very lucky to be surrounded by incredible creatives and industry leaders at such a young age and god bless my “Man Gen” energy (Manifesting Generator) because I did the hustle and put myself out in the world. It’s funny because even though my career is very different now, so many of the connections I made during that time are still connections to this day, as well as skills I learned along the way. So, if you're someone like me and love to try many different things—go for it! Every job I worked taught me a skill that I use now to run my company. Also, all of these gems I've collected along the way have become my unique differentiating gifts that allow me to stand out. Our interests will always lead us to new layers and levels of prosperity. We don't have to fit into boxes, and we certainly don't have to follow one path if we don't want to.
My interest was sparked when: I used to be extremely insecure. If you met me seven years ago, you wouldn't believe I was the same person. I was curious if I could go from being the most insecure person in the room to feeling like I was the most confident. It's been a winding road getting to where I am now, and everything I learned along the way I teach in our courses, workshops and offerings for Benshen.
The idea behind it is: When I created Benshen Course, I realized that everything I wanted was on the other side of getting out of my own way. What worked for me was accountability. That’s how the idea of Benshen Course came to life. We are almost four years old now and we've been doing this course every month with morning meditation livestreams, small groups for daily accountability, weekly workshops with me, guest teachers and more.
What “goddess manifestation” means to me personally is: Reclaiming my power and acknowledging and owning my wants, needs and desires.
One tip for manifesting your strength is: There are different kinds of strengths. There’s grit, which is perseverance—knowing what we want and who we are and that we’ll continue until we make our vision a reality. It means that we don't give up. We keep going. We have firm boundaries, saying yes to the things that line up with our vision and no to what doesn't. We know that rejection is protection, and what's meant for us will never pass us by. We won't stop until we have the life we want. The best way to do this is to get clear on your desires. Real desires. Not ones that we make smaller to fit into boxes. But what do you want and need..and then see what happens when you live from that space of owning who you are—all the parts of you. Because the parts that we try to shrink and make smaller are actually the most magnetic and amazing parts of ourselves.
Drawing out strength and power is not about what’s good and bad in our past, but rather: One of my favorite astrologists, Chris Corsini, put it best: “People think boundaries are like, ‘no, I can’t do all these things, I’m limited and all these rules and I hate rules.’ No, boundaries means you understand what you really want and you protect and take care of your vision. And when you establish a boundary, it keeps out everything that will fuck up your path to get that vision accomplished.”
The words I live by are: What's meant for me will never pass me by.
One truth that is so important, but people don’t always realize is: Rejection is protection and redirection. I promise you. Whenever something doesn't work out, take inventory of your life and recall the last few times things didn't work out—what happened next? Most of the time when I personally look back, I think, “Wow. Thank God that didn't work out because what happened next was way more aligned for me.”