Today I am talking with the sensational Shira Gill about her  gorgeous new book, Lifestyled: Your Guide to a More Organized and Intentional Life.

Shira Gill is a globally recognized home organizing expert and bestselling author with a minimalist philosophy. She has inspired thousands of people to clear clutter from their homes and lives, and developed a process and toolkit that anyone can employ, regardless of budget, space, or lifestyle. In addition to LifeStyled, Shira is the author of Minimalista and Organized Living, and has been featured in 100+ print and media outlets including Good Morning America, Architectural Digest, Vogue, Real Simple, and The New York Times. 

For her latest book, Shira interviewed some of the most intentional, organized people on the planet and found there were three KEY themes running through each of their lives. Fascinated, and inspired by what she had learned, she began to apply these same themes in her own life, and watched the subsequent transformation.

Lifestyled gives us access to these themes, along with the systems and habits that will unlock a more intentional life.

Here’s how to find Shira:

Links:

www.shiragill.com 

@shiragill

Newsletter + Community

Books:

Organized Living

Minimalista

LifeStyled

This conversation with Shira was so clarifying, I’ve decided to wind down Season 5  in order to regroup and recharge on the podcast front. I will pick it up again in early 2025. 

So grateful for your time and your presence.

Shine on, my friend. We need your light!B

DR. MARTHA BECK IS ON MY SHOW THIS WEEK!!!!!!

Sorry. I have ZERO chill about this episode.

If it were a Friends episode, it would be called:

The One Where Bronwyn Meets Her Hero and Learns to Stop Being So Anxious.

Or maybe

The One When Dr. Martha Beck Changes All of Our Lives and Cures Our Anxieties.

But, because I am trying to act like a grown up and not a teenage fangirl, the episode is actually called Beyond Anxiety: My Conversation with Dr. Martha Beck.

Every few years, Martha Beck publishes a book that melts my face off with its insight and warmth (ahem The Way of Integrity, The Joy Diet, Steering by Starlight), and I am THRILLED to share that she is about to do it again. 

This time, Dr. Beck is tackling the issue of our modern age with her new book Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life's Purpose, which will drop January 7, 2025.

This conversation was everything I hoped it would be and has profoundly impacted the way I move through my life. My hope is that it does the same for you.

In case you’ve been living under a rock and you’re not familiar with her work, let me break it down …

Dr. Martha Beck, PhD, is a New York Times bestselling author, coach, and speaker. She holds THREE Harvard degrees in social science, and Oprah Winfrey has called her “one of the smartest women I know.” Martha is a passionate and engaging teacher, known for her unique combination of science, humor, and spirituality. Her recent book, The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self, was an instant New York Times Best Seller and an Oprah’s Book Club selection.

Here’s where you can find her on the Interwebs … (and I can personally recommend her online courses. I’m still using the skills I learned from a writing course I took years ago):

Dr. Beck's Website:  https://marthabeck.com

Dr. Beck's upcoming book: Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life's Purpose

IG: https://www.instagram.com/themarthabeck/

Shine on, my friend. We need your light.

VERY few people have appeared on my podcast as many times as my guest this week, Dr. Adam Dorsay. We’ve talked about men and their emotions … we’ve talked about the power of adult friendship … Adam helped guide us during the early days of the pandemic … and NOW he is here to help us become SUPER PSYCHED, which also happens to be the title of his new book.

Adam wrote this book in an effort to help us solve the great crisis of our time—disconnection. He makes an incredibly compelling argument that if you look at what ails us the most, it can be traced back to disconnection. But rather than simply worship the problem, Adam has written us a roadmap describing the 4 types of connection, allowing us to find our way back to each other and to ourselves so that we can live lives we love.

This conversation will inspire you and unlock a whole new level of joy in your life.

In case you’re new around here, let me give you some background on Adam. Dr. Adam Dorsay is a licensed psychologist and executive coach in Silicon Valley where he serves high-achieving adults (including professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, and professional athletes). Adam is the host of SuperPsyched, an award-winning podcast, and he’s given two highly regarded TEDx Talks: one about men and their emotions and the other about friendship in adulthood. His book on the topic of the four ways people connect will be available later this year.

Beyond his private practice, Adam is a resiliency expert who co-created an international program for Facebook’s Online Safety employees for several years. He now serves as the resiliency consultant to DigitalOcean and has frequent requests from the media for interviews and corporations to provide keynotes and training.

Resources Mentioned✨

Adamdorsay,com

Super Psyched Podcast

Super Psyched Book

"Friendships in Adulthood: 5 Things to Know"

"Emotions: The Data Men Miss"

Dr. Adam Dorsay’s Instagram

I love having conversations with smart, powerful women about money. 

This time, I turn my focus to funding and fundraising. And I am delighted to have Jessie Gabriel as my wingwoman. Jessie Gabriel is founder and CEO of All Places, a first-of-its-kind, mission-driven law firm working to close the gender equity gap in capital markets.

Jessie and I covered a lot of ground, including:

• Her “money story” and how this story affected her.

What I loved most about this conversation was learning how Jessie was raised by a single working mother in Southern California, a woman who struggled economically to provide for her family. In other words, Jessie's success comes with a deep appreciation of how gender norms and unequal access to capital contribute to a systemic lack of opportunities for women-identifying entrepreneurs and executives. Jessie has worked at some of the country’s most prestigious firms, including Cravath, Swaine & Moore and BakerHostetler, where she was the youngest woman to lead her own team and launched the firm’s first Investment Funds practice. Her wisdom and words are solid gold, and I can’t wait to share them with you.

Resources ✨

Jessie's LinkedIn

All Places Website

All Places Instagram

The Outset Branding Firm

Shine on, my friend! ✨

I am thrilled to bring you a conversation I’ve been dying to have.

Ophira Edut is one of the most sought-after astrologers and intuitive advisors of our times. As the longtime resident astrologers for ELLE Magazine and the authors of over 20 books, Ophira and her twin sister Tali are advisors to a roster of CEOs, celebrities, global leaders and successful entrepreneurs including Beyoncé, Dua Lipa, and Emma Roberts.

Ophi and Tali have a NEW new book coming out that has been described as “Atomic Habits meets the Wisdom of the Enneagram” and let me tell ya … it delivers on that promise. The book is called The Astrology Advantage: Use Your Horoscope for Personal & Professional Success and it drops NEXT WEEK!

I’ve always loved the Enneagram, Meyers Briggs and DISC for understanding our collective differences, but it’s overwhelming to try and remember all of the permutations and personality types as you navigate difficult conversations and situations. 

Ophi is here to teach us The I*AM System, a simple, easy to remember framework that distills the energy of your full birth chart into a single archetype, unlocking personal productivity, and team harmony. It's simple (just THREE archetypes to remember), *deep* and shockingly accurate.

And if you’re clutching your pearls, wondering what a "serious" business person like me is doing dabbling in astrology … unclutch and give this a listen. 

Resources Mentioned ✨

Astrostyle.com

The Astrology Advantage

Live Events with the Astrotwins

Follow Ophi on Instagram

Follow the Astrotwins on Instagram

Shine on, my friend.

I’ve got another banger from the archives … The topic of adult friendship is one we don’t talk about nearly enough, especially given that loneliness is actually as dangerous as smoking. This conversation was deep, real, and vulnerable as Adam and I spoke plainly about our own struggles and wins in the friendship sphere.

In case you don’t know him, Dr. Adam Dorsay is a licensed psychologist and executive coach in Silicon Valley where he serves high-achieving adults (including professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, and professional athletes). Adam is the host of SuperPsyched, an award-winning podcast, and he’s given two highly regarded TEDx Talks: one about men and their emotions and the other about friendship in adulthood. His book on the topic of the four ways people connect will be available later this year.

Beyond his private practice, Adam is a resiliency expert who co-created an international program for Facebook’s Online Safety employees for several years. He now serves as the resiliency consultant to DigitalOcean and has frequent requests from the media for interviews and corporations to provide keynotes and training.

Resources Mentioned✨

Adamdorsay,com

Super Psyched Podcast

Super Psyched Book

"Friendships in Adulthood: 5 Things to Know"

"Emotions: The Data Men Miss"

Dr. Adam Dorsay’s Instagram

The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm

Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

Authentic Happiness - University of Pennsylvania

Enjoy, and shine on, my friend. We need your light.

Given the intense amount of travel I am doing this month (both for work and for fun), I’m giving myself a little breathing room and offering you some greatest hits—two of my most popular episodes of all time.

Occupying the number one spot on 20 Minutes with Bronwyn is none other than the magnificent Corey Rosen. Corey’s book, Your Story Well Told: Creative Strategies to Develop and Perform Stories that Wow an Audience, is one I recommend to anyone looking to enhance their storytelling skills. Corey hosts The Moth Story Slam and Grand Slams, has been featured on The Moth Radio Hour, and is a company performer in BATS Improv.

It’s no wonder this episode was so popular … Corey offers powerful, practical, and (dare I say) fun advice and strategies for telling better stories.

Resources Mentioned✨

Coreyrosen.com

Follow Corey on Facebook

Follow Corey on Instagram

BATS Improv

Your Story, Well Told: Creative Strategies to Develop and Perform Stories that Wow an Audience

The Moth StorySLAM

Ken Adams’ The Story Spine

Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks

Ira Glass on Creativity

Enjoy, my friends and may your summer be full of great stories in the making! ✨ 

This week’s podcast episode* is focused on something that has literally been keeping me up at night— getting my kids into college. My firstborn child is headed to Boston University in the Fall. But I’m not gonna lie … the process was excruciating. 

Someone who has been ringing the alarm bells on what has become a “toxic achievement culture” in the U.S. is the amazing Denise Pope, Ph.D.

Dr. Denise Pope is a senior lecturer at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, and co-founder/strategic advisor at Challenge Success. She is the author of, “Doing School”: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students (Yale University Press, 2001), which was awarded Notable Book in Education by the American School Board Journal, 2001, and co-author of Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids (Jossey-Bass, 2015).

Denise and I get VERY real on why even the most well-resourced kids are suffering, crashing, and burning in this insane drive to get into the “right” schools.

Gems:

✨How to help your kids define “success” in terms that contribute to actual satisfaction and well being. [4:16]

✨The game changing, life changing magic of sleep … and why most teenagers aren’t getting enough of it. [9:30]

✨The one thing you can do as a parent to cultivate authentic resilience in your teen. [24:11]

✨What the college ratings system does and does not reveal about “top” universities in the U.S. [30:02]

Resources:

Connect with Denise Pope:

https://www.facebook.com/ChallengeSuccess

Books / articles:

• Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker, Ph.D.

• A “Fit” Over Rankings: Why College Engagement Matters More Than Selectivity

• “P.D.F. Tips” Challenge Success

*(Note: If you do not have kids, or don’t yet feel any kind of low-grade panic about the College Industrial Complex, this might not be the episode for you. On the other hand, this is affecting so many young people, it is an issue that will eventually touch us all.)

Every so often, an interview literally changes the way I see my life.

This is one of those interviews.

Whatever you’ve got going on in your life, I can almost guarantee this conversation will be a blessing to you.

But I’m getting ahead of myself!

My guest this week is the incomparable Shelley Paxton, making her second appearance on my show.

Shelley is the former CMO of Harley-Davidson and is a 26-year advertising and marketing veteran whose legacy is imprinted on iconic brands like McDonald's, Visa, and Harley-Davidson. At the pinnacle of her career as CMO of Harley-Davidson, Shelley was shocked to find herself feeling success empty instead of successful. And that awakening led her on a profound journey that became her mission, business, and bestselling book, Soulbbatical, A Corporate Rebel's Guide to Finding Your Best Life. Now Chief Soul Officer of her own life, Shelley works with leaders and teams to advocate for redefining success in ways that celebrate humanity, well-being, and soul. 

Just when I think Shelley can’t get any wiser, she blows me away in a new way. 

Gems 💎

• How a life threatening and totally misdiagnosed illness forced her to confront the one thing she was “pretending not to know” about her own life.

Resources

• Read Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel's Guide to Finding Your Best Life by Shelley Paxton here!

Follow Shelley on Instagram @theshelleypaxton and check out her updates on LinkedIn!

Ah, therapy.

The one place we can go to let it allllll spill out. The good, the bad, the ugly.

But there seems to be one topic of conversation that doesn’t always feel welcome.

God.

While the therapist’s office is the ideal spot for excavating the darkest reaches of the mind and the heart, it doesn’t always feel like the best place to explore the divine. The uncanny. The unseen.

In this conversation, I speak with the brilliant Dr. Leslie Carr about this very issue. 

Leslie and I talk about why there seems to be little room for the spiritual/religious in a therapeutic context, and how we might work to expand the conversation both as the therapist and as the patient (or, depending on the setting, “client”) ).

Leslie is a psychologist and an expert in how trauma, stress, culture, and digital technology impact the mind. She's been active in mental health advocacy and public psychoeducation for almost 15 years, and her work in this space has been featured in the LA Times, ABC News, and Ask Dr. Drew, among many other places. She's the host of a podcast, The Nature of Nurture, which explores how people respond to their environments in complicated ways. Learn more about her podcast here, thenatureofnurture.com, or check her out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheNatureofNurture

I’m hoping this conversation sparks a much broader conversation about how we can collectively cultivate a more active relationship with something bigger than ourselves.

The Gems ✨

How do you differentiate between organized religion and spirituality, in terms of personal experience of the divine? [00:17:45]

How can we protect our energy from draining people or negative influences in a work environment? [00:21:30]

What are some easy ways to begin to explore our spiritual inclinations without feeling weird about it?? [00:26:03]

Resources Mentioned ✨

Learn more about Carl Jung and his theory system.

Check out Letters From Love with Elizabeth Gilbert.

Want to work with me? 

Head over to https://www.bronwyncommunications.com/work-with-me/ to learn more. 

As always, thank you for the gift of your time and attention, and SHINE ON. We need your light.