Vanessa De Jesus Guzman is a Licensed Professional Counselor and National Certified Counselor who serves as a consultant for mothers and educators balancing career and family. As the host of the long-running Free to Be Mindful podcast, she provides clinical perspective on matrescence and the specific pressures facing high-achieving Latina women. Her work has earned recognition through features on The TODAY Show, Univision, and Parents Magazine, where she discusses cultural stigma in mental health and systemic underfunding for minority clinicians. Through her named SEL Book Talk series, she collaborates with authors like Julia Cook to provide educators with actionable tools for classroom social-emotional learning. A recent win includes the launch of her Real Talk Reset program, a structured framework designed to help parents manage burnout through guided therapeutic reflection. Her professional background includes eighteen years within the New Jersey school system, which informs her approach to curriculum design and public speaking for corporate wellness initiatives.