A Memoir Born from Rupture, Rebuilt with Soul

For twenty years, I built systems for everyone else — healthcare organizations, nonprofits, consulting firms — until I was laid off twice in one year and left to face a deeper truth:

When life breaks your system, you can either chase the old one… or build a better one from the inside out.

Lotus in the Concrete™ is my midlife ignition story as a Gen X AAPI single mother in Queens, NY who lost everything that once defined her — job titles, financial safety, corporate identity — and rebuilt from the mud like a lotus and through the fire like a phoenix.

It is memoir as blueprint.
Faith as framework.
Collapse as catalyst.
Corporate burnout as spiritual rerouting.

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A Memoir in Three Movements — The Lotus, The Phoenix, The Rebuild

Part I: Lotus Roots — Grief, Generations & The Self I Inherited

Family fractures, early losses, a daughter raised through grit and ritual, Catholic prayers whispered with Buddhist breath. Silence as survival before voice became liberation.

Part II: Phoenix Rising — Career in Flight, Ego in Flames

Back-to-back layoffs. 810+ job applications. Digital gatekeepers. Ageism. Rejection as redirection. A Work Breakdown Structure of becoming. Financial fear. Divine disruption. Identity undone. Soulwork ignited.

Part III: The Comeback + The Calling — Rebuilding a Life That Fits the Spirit

Sensei Red Lotus™ is born. Circle Forward™  emerges from the ashes. Inner PMO™  becomes a personal governance system. Love returns in divine timing. Corporate pain becomes framework. Memoir becomes method. Survival becomes service.

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More Than Story — It Becomes a Method

From this memoir emerged:

• Inner PMO™ — life-governance as soul practice
• Circle Forward™ — a corporate culture-repair framework
• The Underbelly™ — naming the shadow ledger of unspoken friction
• The Kitchen Sink™ — surfacing every pain point without spin or apology
• Onus/Kuleana™ — ownership as responsibility, stewardship, and care
• MVP, Meet MoSCoW™ — prioritization for human systems
• Culture Compass™ — Hawaiian-rooted values as corporate GPS

Because my healing didn’t end in the book — it built a movement.

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For the Ones in the Mud Right Now…

This memoir is for:

• Midlife rebuilders
• Burned-out high performers
• Single parents breaking cycles
• Layoff survivors finding voice again
• Women of color rising beyond erasure
• Leaders healing from toxic cultures
• Anyone who has ever whispered, “I’m still here…what now?”

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Join the Waitlist: Bloom with Me

To be added to the early interest list, email contact@senseiredlotus.com with the subject line: BLOOM WITH ME.

As part of the waitlist, you will receive:

• Early chapter excerpts
• Behind-the-scenes author reflections
• Sneak previews from the memoir-to-method podcast series
• Launch updates for the January 2026 “New Year, New You” release

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About the Author

Stephanie Pitoy is a Corporate Culture Fixer, Certified Transformational Life Coach, and Founder of Sensei Red Lotus™ LLC. A former PMO Senior Director, she now architects paths for individuals and organizations to rise with governance, grace, and Onus/Kuleana™. She lives in Queens, NY, leads with aloha, and stands ten toes down in her truth.