Lisa Kohn is the kind of woman who lights up a room. But behind her radiant energy is a story that is both staggering and liberating. A survivor of a religious cult and a childhood steeped in chaos, Lisa has spent decades reclaiming her voice, her body, and her right to joy. In her conversation with Hello Moxie host Nicole Donnelly, Lisa doesn’t just share her story—she invites all of us to radically reimagine what healing, leadership, and legacy look like.

“Love is my language. Love is my religion.”

Lisa’s life reads like fiction—raised in the Unification Church (also known as “the Moonies”) with weekends spent worshiping a self-proclaimed messiah, and weekdays navigating a drug-fueled home life with her father in 1970s New York. “The best seats I ever had at Madison Square Garden were at my mother’s wedding,” she quipped, referring to her mother’s mass wedding ceremony orchestrated by cult leader Sun Myung Moon.

Her memoir, To the Moon and Back, captures the surreal duality of growing up between two extreme worlds. But her transformation—from cult survivor to executive coach, keynote speaker, and fierce advocate for love—is what makes her story so essential for women everywhere.

Your story doesn’t end with what was done to you.

Lisa’s journey is a living testament to the Moxie Method: from Stillness and trauma healing to Spark, where she discovered her voice and purpose, and ultimately to Shine, where she uses her story to empower others. “I’ve rewired my brain with intention,” Lisa shared. “I’ve trained myself to see beauty, to wake up every day and say, ‘Good morning, sweetheart. I adore you.’”

This isn’t toxic positivity—it’s radical neuroplasticity. It’s rewiring after decades of being told she wasn’t worthy.

Love yourself—first, most, always.

Lisa’s mantra, “Love yourself first, most, and always,” is more than a cute affirmation. It’s the anchor that pulled her through addiction, disassociation, and cancer. “People say it’s selfish. I say it’s essential. You can’t pour from an empty cup.”

When asked about parenting after surviving profound abandonment, Lisa said she didn’t aim to be perfect—just present. “I went into motherhood with one goal: that my kids would always know they are loved. That love would be their home base.”

Healing happens in the body, not just the mind.

For Lisa, therapy was essential—but the real breakthrough came when she started doing deep somatic work. “My body did things I didn’t expect—screams, shakes, sobs I didn’t know were there. I finally had to say, ‘If this is what’s in me, it must have been hard.’”

She discovered she had been out of her body for most of her life. “It was dissociation. I just didn’t know that’s what it was. I wasn’t ‘in’ my body because it hadn’t felt safe for decades.”

Your voice is your power.

“I couldn’t speak ill of Moon,” Lisa recalled of an early media interview. “Even when I wanted to, my throat would literally close.” It took years—and a community of fellow cult survivors—for Lisa to reclaim her voice. Now she uses it to speak truth, coach leaders, and deliver her powerful keynote “First, Most, Always.”

Lisa believes our deepest healing becomes our greatest gift. “When you love yourself, you have more love to give. And the world needs that.”

What Lisa Wants Every Woman to Know

• “It’s not your fault. And it’s also not your future—unless you let it be.”

• “Joy isn’t the opposite of pain. It’s the other side of truth.”

• “Radical self-love is not indulgent. It’s political warfare.” (Audre Lorde gets a shout-out here.)

Lisa’s story reminds us that legacy is not just what we leave behind—it’s what we live, every day. And no matter where you are in your journey—starting out, climbing fast, or reflecting on the road behind—you have the right to heal, to speak, and to shine.