Uploaded July 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Interview with Self-Made Media Mogul, Nely Galán, MFT, by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.
We’ve all heard the adage that success doesn’t always bring happiness, a concept Nely Galán knows well. As a Latina and a self-made media mogul who has produced hundreds of television shows, headed a TV network, and generated a significant amount of income, she felt an odd sense of relief when the economy crashed in 2008, bringing many of her projects to a halt. She realized the extent to which she felt like a hamster running around a wheel, and while she would never have tried to exit the industry if she had maintained her level of involvement in multiple projects, the economic downturn provided her a way out.
By that point in her life, she had been through psychotherapy and understood, from a personal perspective, how powerful it could be. Acknowledging that she had always wanted to go to school to study psychology, she took the plunge; first finishing a B.A., before applying to Pacifica, which had already been in her “mind and heart for a while,” as she reveals.
In hindsight, Nely believes she had been feeling incongruent in her career because she was in a field where much of the focus was on achieving success and was not “journey-oriented.” In other words, sometimes she would work on a TV show that was deemed successful, resulting in a directive that she go on to make 20 more of them even if making the series was a terrible experience for her. On the other hand, sometimes she created a program that felt very deep and profound for her, yet because it didn't attract enough viewers, it was immediately dropped and forgotten. For the human psyche, that process of rewarding efforts that aren’t fulfilling, which mandates more of the same unfulfilling work, can be very confusing. It’s a stereotypically American definition of success, Nely believes.
Once she went back to school, Nely realized that the values of success she grew up with, as a Latina, were different that those she had been experiencing in her career. Even though she made good money, she didn’t live a grandiose life, she points out. Rather, she saved her money and invested it wisely, which ultimately enabled her to take a break from work. These values, stemming from her Latino heritage, played a critical role in what unfolded next.
For Nely, depth psychology provides a powerful lens for introspection and for examining ideas about diversity—not only as it relates to herself, but also in how it’s viewed in a field that can be superficial, yet lucrative. “There’s a real revelation when you realize happiness and money don't go together, and sometimes things that you dream about, when you actually get to execute them, are not what you thought they would be,” Nely points out. However, this results in a shift when you comprehend what truly makes you happy.
In the United States, success is oriented around what, from a depth psychological perspective, is referred to as “masculine” or “patriarchal.” It’s linear, transactional, and goal oriented, valuing individuals “if you can do something for them, or if you're somebody, or if you've achieved something”—as Nely emphasizes. Further, in current societal definitions of success, taking time for one’s self is vastly undervalued. These values contrast greatly with those of people from traditional cultures. For multicultural people, and particularly for women, who are both journey-oriented and relation-oriented, it is difficult to find happiness solely in a transactional life, Nely contends.
Once she began studying depth psychology, Nely also noticed that the conversation about diversity and psychology was still in its infancy, including what psychology could mean for multicultural people. "How can psychologists around the world deal with these different cultures when there are so many gaps in how we deal with multicultural people psychologically?" she wondered.
To begin to ascertain the parameters of the problem, she studied the different psychological techniques already in use when working with and treating multicultural people and also where the process is lacking. A lot of multicultural women cannot or will not go to therapy because there is stigma attached, Nely reports. In their cultures, psychotherapy is not portrayed in a positive light. As she considered the situation, a number of questions began to arise for her, including how to address those limiting beliefs, how to reframe the concept of therapy, and how to create an environment that feels safe for people to seek therapy.
For more information, visit:
DepthInsights.com
OR
InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Interview with Self-Made Media Mogul, Nely Galán, MFT, by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.
We’ve all heard the adage that success doesn’t always bring happiness, a concept Nely Galán knows well. As a Latina and a self-made media mogul who has produced hundreds of television shows, headed a TV network, and generated a significant amount of income, she felt an odd sense of relief when the economy crashed in 2008, bringing many of her projects to a halt. She realized the extent to which she felt like a hamster running around a wheel, and while she would never have tried to exit the industry if she had maintained her level of involvement in multiple projects, the economic downturn provided her a way out.
By that point in her life, she had been through psychotherapy and understood, from a personal perspective, how powerful it could be. Acknowledging that she had always wanted to go to school to study psychology, she took the plunge; first finishing a B.A., before applying to Pacifica, which had already been in her “mind and heart for a while,” as she reveals.
In hindsight, Nely believes she had been feeling incongruent in her career because she was in a field where much of the focus was on achieving success and was not “journey-oriented.” In other words, sometimes she would work on a TV show that was deemed successful, resulting in a directive that she go on to make 20 more of them even if making the series was a terrible experience for her. On the other hand, sometimes she created a program that felt very deep and profound for her, yet because it didn't attract enough viewers, it was immediately dropped and forgotten. For the human psyche, that process of rewarding efforts that aren’t fulfilling, which mandates more of the same unfulfilling work, can be very confusing. It’s a stereotypically American definition of success, Nely believes.
Once she went back to school, Nely realized that the values of success she grew up with, as a Latina, were different that those she had been experiencing in her career. Even though she made good money, she didn’t live a grandiose life, she points out. Rather, she saved her money and invested it wisely, which ultimately enabled her to take a break from work. These values, stemming from her Latino heritage, played a critical role in what unfolded next.
For Nely, depth psychology provides a powerful lens for introspection and for examining ideas about diversity—not only as it relates to herself, but also in how it’s viewed in a field that can be superficial, yet lucrative. “There’s a real revelation when you realize happiness and money don't go together, and sometimes things that you dream about, when you actually get to execute them, are not what you thought they would be,” Nely points out. However, this results in a shift when you comprehend what truly makes you happy.
In the United States, success is oriented around what, from a depth psychological perspective, is referred to as “masculine” or “patriarchal.” It’s linear, transactional, and goal oriented, valuing individuals “if you can do something for them, or if you're somebody, or if you've achieved something”—as Nely emphasizes. Further, in current societal definitions of success, taking time for one’s self is vastly undervalued. These values contrast greatly with those of people from traditional cultures. For multicultural people, and particularly for women, who are both journey-oriented and relation-oriented, it is difficult to find happiness solely in a transactional life, Nely contends.
Once she began studying depth psychology, Nely also noticed that the conversation about diversity and psychology was still in its infancy, including what psychology could mean for multicultural people. "How can psychologists around the world deal with these different cultures when there are so many gaps in how we deal with multicultural people psychologically?" she wondered.
To begin to ascertain the parameters of the problem, she studied the different psychological techniques already in use when working with and treating multicultural people and also where the process is lacking. A lot of multicultural women cannot or will not go to therapy because there is stigma attached, Nely reports. In their cultures, psychotherapy is not portrayed in a positive light. As she considered the situation, a number of questions began to arise for her, including how to address those limiting beliefs, how to reframe the concept of therapy, and how to create an environment that feels safe for people to seek therapy.
For more information, visit:
DepthInsights.com
OR
InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
