Title: Before the Wings Dry: Diazina Mobley on transformation, radical love, and creating a life that moves you.

In the debut episode of The Vulture Chronicles, Barbara Evans circles with healer and heart-gatherer Diazina Mobley for a luminous conversation about transformation, radical love, and embracing the glorious mess of becoming. From caterpillar goo to unshakable community, this is a love letter to creators still unfolding their wings. 

Barbara:
All right, here we go. Welcome to the High Perch.
Today we’re circling with Diazina Mobley — a brilliant human making beauty out of the beautiful mess.
Diazina, welcome! Can you begin by giving us a little background about you and what you’re creating? 

Diazina:
Let’s see. A little background about me… I’ll start from today.
I am creating me. That’s the first thing that comes up: I am creating me. 

The roles I have right now: 

• I’m the mother of an almost 24-year-old. 

• I’m currently a married woman. 

• I’m a business leader — I founded and am leading a nonprofit organization that was conceived almost 20 years ago, now budding in a new iteration of world change. 

I’m also a full-on radical, crazy woman when it comes to healing, growth, and the evolution of human beings. 

I’m a licensed clinical social worker. I chose that path because I wanted to do something good in the world — and honestly, I loved school, I got a scholarship, and I didn’t want to get a job right after undergrad! Looking back, I’m so glad I did. 

It’s taken me a couple decades to realize:
I can make an impact inside of institutions and inside of hearts. 

I work with mental health professionals, helpers, and healers to prioritize their own wellness and well-being, helping them maintain their sanity, humanity, and cultivating an opportunity to fully express a radical love of life. I help them take good care of themselves, just because they deserve it — this is important especially in a world where institutions don’t always believe that is the truth. 

I’m a gatherer of hearts. I love connecting with soulful people who desire a beautiful, peaceful world.
And when the connection happens… there’s Magic!  

Barbara:
Mm-hmm. 

Diazina:
I guess that makes me a magician too. 

Barbara:
Mm-hmm. I’ve personally experienced that magic firsthand — can confirm! 

Diazina:
I’m watery by nature — I flow with what feels right in the moment.
Sometimes it’s messy and weird and awkward. And that’s who I am. 

Barbara:
Awesome. Thank you. 

Let’s warm up with some playful questions.
If your creative process had a spirit creature, what would it be? 

Diazina:
These questions!
(laughs) 

The tame answer would be: butterfly.
But really, it’s not even the butterfly — it’s the messy, dissolving stage before the butterfly.
The messy-morphosis. 

You’re a caterpillar — and that is your whole identity. You decide you’re gonna be the best caterpillar in the world and then you get hungry, you eat a lot, you spin yourself into the chrysalis And in the really dark space… you completely dissolve into goo.
It’s a messy, unknown process before you emerge into a whole new expression of life. You look different, you move differently. You see the world from a completely different vantage point. You are reborn. 

During a dark time in my messy morphosis a mentor told me —
“You don’t yet know what your wings will look like when they dry.”
And that really stuck with me. That’s what the creative process feels like. 

Barbara:
Gorgeous. 

Diazina:
Thank you for that question. 

Barbara:
Thank you.
What’s something you never expected to get away with? 

Diazina:
(laughs)
First thought, best thought: raising a human being. 

Even when I was holding him in my arms, I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it.
It doesn’t quite feel like something I “got away with” — it feels like there was a whole lot of grace involved.
And today, he’s a pretty cool, complex human being. 

(laughing)
I didn’t steal bubble gum or anything like that, but parenting definitely feels like making it through something I thought might be impossible. 

Barbara:

Absolutely. Taking care of another human… sometimes it does feel like that. 

Diazina:
Yeah. 

Barbara:
Can you tell me about a time when a project or situation felt like a disaster… but turned into something great? 

Diazina:
Love and friendships lost. 

I’ve had a couple friendships end — devastatingly so.
On the other side of that, though, I’ve learned so much.
About bravery. Speaking my truth. Vulnerability.
Those lessons are infused in all my relationships now. 

It taught me to be discerning — with people, with projects, with how I steward myself, my family, my organization. 

Those were hard lessons. But beautiful ones. 

Barbara:
You just intuited my next question:
What’s something you’ve let die, in a good way, to make space for something better? 

(smiles)
You already answered it beautifully. 

Diazina:
(laughs) 

Barbara:
What’s the weirdest inspiration you’ve pulled into your work? 

Diazina:
That’s tricky because… what’s weird anymore? 

(laughs) 

Maybe this:
The phrase “finding the soul of my business.”
At the time, that felt really weird. Businesses are supposed to be tactical — practical.
But when I couldn’t make all the business funnels and tactics work, I realized: 

If I’m not connected to the soul of what I’m doing, it’s just another task.
And I’m not here for that. 

Barbara:
One thing I love about interacting with you is how alive your projects feel — like living beings.
You often talk about birthing them.
That energy comes through so clearly when you talk about finding their soul. 

Diazina:
Thank you!   

(laughing)
That’s my grand-dog you might hear in the background! 

Barbara:
All grand-dogs welcome here. 

(smiles)
If you could scavenge a skill, talent, or idea from anyone, what would you grab? 

Diazina:
There’s a joke among my collaborators: when someone’s brain is so good, we want to lick it. (laughing)
My co-partner, Colette, has that kind of brain. 

She’s so concise and masterful with words — where I’m flowy, she gets straight to the heart.
Sometimes I wish I could conjure that skill.
I love the way I express myself, but sometimes… it would be nice to land things a little quicker. 

Barbara:
Mm-hmm. Got it. 

Barbara:
Where in your life do you feel most creative? 

Diazina:
When I can open up a space for someone to dream into the possibilities of their life.
It’s when they say, “I’ve always wanted to…”
and I just lean all the way in. 

Especially when their dream includes joy and making a difference in the world.
That’s when my creative energy overflows. 

Barbara:
We’re coming in for a landing.
If you could leave a feather — or some other small, messy gift — for future creators, what would it be? 

Diazina:
(laughing)
I just pictured my vulture self missing a bunch of feathers because I was leaving so many behind! 

(smiling) 

But seriously:
Community came first. 

Being in a space where you can truly be yourself.
Where vulnerability is safe — not performative.
Where you don’t have to pretend authenticity — you just are. 

Find your people.
And to find them, you have to show up authentically and vulnerably first. 

Barbara:
Lovely. 

Diazina:
I guess that was one feather… or maybe the whole bird. (laughing) 

Barbara:
Gonna need some new feathers! 

(smiling)
Last question:
What’s something delightfully unhinged about your creative process that you hope never changes? 

Diazina:
Oh, delightfully unhinged — I love that so much. 

How I get when I’m excited.
My arms flail, I stand up, I dance, I stomp, I shake my body, I shout.
When inspiration moves through me, it’s physical. 

If I’m ever in a space where I can’t create like that… count me out. 

Barbara:
Thank you. 

Diazina:
You are welcome. 

Barbara (closing):
Creation isn’t clean.
It’s a glorious scavenger hunt. 

And today, Diazina Mobley showed us just how much beauty there is to find.
Stay sharp. Stay weird. Keep circling. 

Until next time, I’m Barbara Evans — Brand Vulture —
and this has been the Vulture Chronicles. 

P.S. Want to Learn More About Diazina’s Work? 

Diazina Mobley is the founder of Gifted Ones, Inc. (affectionately called GO!) a nonprofit rooted in radical love, bold leadership, and the belief that healing is a communal act. GO! supports individuals and institutions ready to grow into more courageous, liberatory ways of being — offering coaching, consulting, and community-centered experiences for changemakers and truth-tellers alike. 

Learn more at gogiftedones.org or follow @gogiftedones for glimpses into the beauty, bravery, and community at the heart of this work.