1 Girl Revolution

Erica Owens is an entrepreneur, a blogger, a mom, and a philanthropist in the city of Detroit, Michigan. Erica started Frugal OnThe Fly as an event blog that would highlight and give access to free (or affordable) events and experiences throughout the city. Erica started the blog because she and her family had enjoyed so many free and affordable experiences throughout the city and she thought why not share what she knew with others, so they could enjoy these same experiences. 

And as the popular saying goes, “Money doesn’t buy happiness.” 

Erica enjoyed so many free and affordable experiences throughout the city with her family and now she’s sharing resources and opportunities - so every person and family can enjoy all that the great city of Detroit has to offer. 

But Erica’s story gets even better. As Frugal on the Fly has grown, Erica has used this platform to empower others to be the change that they want to see and to encourage parents, children, families and individuals to volunteer in the community. Erica believes that not only are we raising tiny humans, but we are raising members of a community - and even children can have a massive impact on the community and the world.

Erica has accomplished so much through Frugal on the Fly and their network and their incredible work just continues to grow and flourish. Listen to Erica's inspiring story.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Erica’s story about her life, her family and what drives her;
• The story how why Erica started Frugal on the Fly and how the platform has grown and evolved through the years;
• All about the incredible work that Frugal on the Fly has done to help others and be the change they want to see in the world; 
• How Frugal on the Fly is using it’s platform to do good and also to create opportunities for others to volunteer and make a difference in the world;
• About Erica’s mission to inspire others to be the change that they want to see and to empower families, individuals and children to be active community members and help those in need;
• And so much more.

For more on Erica and Frugal on the Fly, please visit: www.1GirlRevolution.com/EricaOwens

Kara Robinson Chamberlain was kidnapped by a serial killer at the age of 15, while standing in her friend’s front yard. She was held captive and assaulted for 18 hours, but then Kara made a courageous escape while her captor was asleep. Kara had memorized numerous things about her captor and the apartment that she was held captive in and was able to lead law enforcement straight to her captor. He committed suicide when police caught up to him, but the information that Kara provided - led police to solve at least three other unsolved homicides and identify him as the man responsible for the murders.

Following the identification and death of her captor, Kara went on to form relationships with law enforcement and she went on to work with the agency that investigated her case as a school resource officer, a sex crime and child abuse investigator and a victim's advocate until she got married and started having children. 

Kara now uses her own story and experiences, as well as her years of work in law enforcement to advocate for and empower others. Through the years, Kara realized that she survived what she went through for a very specific purpose: to spread hope and to help other survivors know that they can find healing, hope, and purpose. Kara reminds all survivors that “we are who we are because of what happened but we are not defined by it.”

Kara is involved in several organizations, initiatives, and advocacy groups. She speaks regularly across the country and is active on social media - as a way to share her story, answer questions, advocate for other survivors and educate the public. Kara’s story was recently featured on Oxygen (“Escaping Captivity: The Kara Robinson Story”) and in People magazine. Kara is working on a book and has so much more to come!

Kara joins The 1 Girl Revolution Podcast to share her inspiring story. Listen to this incredible episode of The 1 Girl Revolution Podcast!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Kara’s life story;
• The story of how Kara was kidnapped, held captive and assaulted for 18 hours, and how she bravely escaped;
• What Kara did to remember information about her captor that led law enforcement to track him down and led them to solve at least three other homicides;
• How Kara found healing and purpose - and how she’s using her story to advocate and empower other survivors;
• And so much more.

For more information, please visit: www.1GirlRevolution.com/KaraRobinsonChamberlain

Shannon Miller-Cox is a survivor, former law enforcement officer, and founder and Executive Director of Journey of Hope, Shannon joins the 1 Girl Revolution podcast to share her own incredible story of survival and how she founder her voice and her purpose, and to talk about the amazing work she does with Journey of Hope to help other survivors. 

Journey of Hope is a nonprofit that supports and empowers previously harmed women and girls. Journey of Hope works with woman and girls experiencing homelessness, others struggling with addiction, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, survivors of sexual abuse and trauma, survivors of human trafficking, and so many others. Shannon uses her own experiences in life and work in law enforcement to build a strong, supportive community for these women and girls - to help them find hope, healing, and purpose. 

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• Shannon’s powerful and inspiring life story;
• Why Shannon decided to get into law enforcement and how her work (and her own personal life) led her to what she’s doing now;
• How Shannon decided to start Journey of Hope and how they have been helping survivors of human trafficking, abuse, and trauma
• And so much more. 

For more information, please visit: www.1girlrevolution.com/shannonmillercox

Trinea Gonczar, survivor, advocate, and Director of Development at Avalon Healing Center, joins The 1 Girl Revolution Podcast to share her incredible story. Trinea is a former gymnast and a survivor of the disgraced doctor Larry Nassar. Trinea spoke during the Larry Nassar case and her victim impact statement went global within hours after she spoke. After that, Trinea explored options for other survivors in the Nassar case and began to realize that even in such a public spotlight, unfortunately there are very minimal resources out there for survivors. In her search, Trinea ended up getting connected to the Avalon Healing Center and seeing the incredible work and impact they are making, decided to join their staff and help other survivors. Trinea’s focus is to raise awareness and to elevate Avalon Healing Center’s business model nationally and globally so that people know of their services before any assault or trauma occurs. 

Trinea was also featured in the HBO documentary “At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal”. She speaks nationally about her experience and has received numerous accolades, including ESPN’s 2018 Arthur Ashe Courage Award, the Humanitarian Award from the Foundation for Global Sports Development, the Humura Award from the EDJA foundation, and was named one of Glamour Magazine’s 2018 Women of The Year. Trinea also serves on Michigan State University’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Advisory Board.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• Trinea’s life story;
• The story of how Trinea survived the disgraced doctor Larry Nassar and how she was a part of the army that brought him to justice;
• How she got connected to the Avalon Healing Center and about her work with this incredible organization;
• Trinea’s survivor story and the stories of other survivors she is working alongside it;
• And so much more. 

For more information, please visit: www.1girlrevolution.com/trinea

Rhonda Sciortino is a survivor, successful business woman, author, speaker, and founder of the Successful Survivors Foundation. Rhonda joins the 1 Girl Revolution Podcast this week to share her inspiring life story and how she turned her survivor story into a story of success and purpose - and now how she’s helping other survivors find their purpose. 

Rhonda was abandoned as a very young child and became a ward of the court until she emancipated at the age of 16. Except for a brief time with a great foster family, her first 16 years were spent with her abusive grandparents – her grandfather was mentally ill and her grandmother was an alcoholic and drug-addicted. 

At 15 years old, Rhonda decided to seek emancipation. One of the prerequisites was that Rhonda had to have a job, so she went to work for the first person who would hire her–an insurance agent. Rhonda worked hard and was finally emancipated at the age of 17 and that same year, she became California’s youngest licensed insurance agent.

Rhonda has had an incredibly successful career in insurance and throughout her career, she has dedicated her life to supporting people and organizations that protect children. In 2008, Rhonda left her career to serve as the chairperson of Successful Survivors Foundation, a non-profit organization she founded to help survivors of trauma find purpose, meaning, and happiness, what she calls, "your real success."

This episode of the podcast is so inspiring. In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Rhonda’s life story, including being abandoned as a baby and surviving abuse;
• How she fought to be emancipated at a young age and then found success;
• About her successful career in insurance and how she went from survival to having a multi-million dollar career;
• The story of why she decided to start Successful Survivors Foundation and how she’s now helping other survivors find their purpose and success;
• And so much more. 

For more information on Rhonda, please visit: www.1GirlRevolution.com/Rhonda

Halli Faulkner, survivor of sexual abuse and trauma and founder of Porchlight Wellness, joins The 1 Girl Revolution Podcast this week to share her story of finding healing and how she’s now helping others find healing after trauma as well. 

Halli is a survivor of childhood sexual assault and has memories of abuse beginning when she was three years old. Although she was able to compartmentalize this trauma and create a career for herself as a successful attorney, she knew deep down that there parts of her life that were unresolved and that needed healing and care.

In her 20s, Halli began to use yoga and meditation practices to support her in healing from the childhood trauma she experienced and the PTSD she was carrying as an adult. Now, as a trauma-informed yoga teacher and the Founder and Executive Director of Porchlight Wellness, she offers yoga workshops for fellow survivors and trains others in how to create safe and welcoming spaces for women who have experienced sexual assault and abuse.

This episode of the podcast is POWERFUL. In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Halli’s difficult, yet beautiful and inspiring life story;
• The story of how Halli found healing;
• Stories from Halli’s life and career;
• How Porchlight Wellness started and how they’re helping others find healing;
• About the healing power of community;
• And so much more. 

For more information on Porchlight Wellness, their trainings and resources, please visit: www.1girlrevolution.com/porchlightwellness

It's been a bit quiet here on the podcast for the past few weeks because our girl, Kate Bryan, got married! Kate takes the microphone this week to talk about her wedding, taking a much needed break and running away to Costa Rica, and tons of 1 Girl Revolution news. Over the past month, 1 Girl Revolution was featured on the cover of SEEN Magazine, The 1 Girl Revolution Podcast hit 150 episodes, and 1 Girl Revolution released its second short documentary, "In Tandem", which is now available on YouTube. Listen to this new episode to hear from Kate on all of this and so much more!

Caitlin Cullen is a chef, world-changer, and founder of The Tandem in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Caitlin now serves as the food center director at Kinship Community Food Center, but prior to that Caitlin dedicated numerous years of her life to The Tandem and the community in Lindsay Heights, Milwaukee. 

The Tandem is a restaurant, but they do more than just serve food. Located in a neighborhood that was once a thriving community and a stop on the Underground Railroad, is now a struggling community with an unemployment rate of more than 50%. Five times the national average. Caitlin opened The Tandem as a social project that built a community, a strong foundation, a support system - a family - in the community, that was much more than just a restaurant. No matter who you are or where you came from, what you’ve been through or what you’ve done in your past - there is a place and a spot for you at The Tandem. If someone needed a job, Caitlin would hire them - teach them the food industry, management skills, or whatever else they wanted or needed to learn and help them transition out into the community to other jobs. If someone needed a driver’s license, Caitlin or someone from The Tandem would be out doing driving lessons around the neighborhood, practicing with them until they passed, and cheering them on when they came back with a license. If someone needed a meal or a drink after work, they got you. A babysitter, Caitlin and her partner Anne would watch your kid. A kid needed tutoring or a hot meal after school, The Tandem would take care of that. There are so many instances, so many ways that Caitlin and The Tandem served the community, so many stories to share - but we’ll let Caitlin tell you herself. When Covid hit our world, The Tandem took their work a step further and stopped selling food and instead starting giving away meals to those in need. Throughout the pandemic, they fed over 115,000 people. Incredible! Above all, The Tandem is a family that looks out for one another and takes care of one another. And The Tandem should be an example to all of us.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Caitlin’s inspiring life story;
• Stories from Caitlin’s life and career and how she ended up in Milwaukee;
• The story of how The Tandem came to be and the community/family they created;
• Some of Caitlin’s favorite stories from The Tandem; 
• How Caitlin and Kate got connected and how “In Tandem” came to be;
• What The Tandem did during the Covid pandemic;
• And so much more. 

Watch “In Tandem”: https://youtu.be/wnqjmMN1xKg

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Trinita’s inspiring life story;
• The story of how Trinita lost both of her parents at a young age and how that led to her interest in health and wellness;
• The powerful conversation that led to Trinita deciding to do something to support and empower young girls, and found Ladybug for Girls;
• About the work that Ladybug for Girls does to empower girls through health, wellness, community, education, and support; 
• And so much more.

For more information on Trinita and Ladybug for Girls, please visit: www.1girlrevolution.com/ladybugforgirls

Melissa Bernstein, co-founder of Melissa & Doug toy company and LifeLifes, joins the 1 Girl Revolution Podcast this week to share her inspiring life story and to talk about her incredible work with Melissa & Doug and LifeLines

Melissa is an entrepreneur, creative, author, wife and mother of 6 children. Melissa is the co-founder of the wildly successful toy company Melissa & Doug, through which Melissa has spent the last 30 years helping children discover themselves, their passions, and their purpose through open-ended play. In 2020, after her own personal journey of self-discovery and acceptance, Melissa founded Lifelines, an online community that helps individuals find purpose, meaning, and self-acceptance. 

Through Melissa & Doug toys, Melissa has used creativity to help children find their passions, purpose, and discover their gifts and talents. Through Lifelines, Melissa is utilizing the same creativity and passion to reinvent well-being products and experiences to help adults strengthen their resilience, find their purpose and passions, and unlock their full potential. 

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Melissa’s inspiring journey through life;
• How Melissa and Doug met, fell in love and started a life together;
• The story behind Melissa & Doug, how Melissa and Doug came up with the idea for the innovative toy company, and more about their incredibly successful business;
• About Melissa’s journey with depression and her journey to self-discovery and acceptance; 
• How Melissa channeled her own life experiences to help others now through LifeLines;
• And so much more. 

For more information, please visit: www.1GirlRevolution.com/MelissaBernstein