A Balanced Pursuit Podcast with Michele Boyer

The magical journey of creating space for a prosperous life ~ a conversation with Dana Claudat

Today's conversation on ABP podcast is perfect for this time of year. As we get ready to turn the calendar page from 2016 to 2017 we naturally think about fresh starts, setting intentions [no more "resolutions"], and what we are keeping vs. what we are clearing out or changing: physically, mentally and spiritually. Today's guest is a personal curator of all of the aforementioned - Feng Shui expert, Dana Claudat of the Tao of Dana.

On this podcast episode, we talk about themes near and dear to our hearts, such as extremes in life; struggle [and when to give up rather than struggle]; letting go with love; forgiveness and re-writing your internal narratives. We also document Dana's journey from New Jersey to California and Stanford University to New York City and LA. We talk about how feng shui entered into her life and the creation of the Tao of Dana and so much more!

Dana is a firm believer that we are absolute creators of our own world and what we believe becomes our reality [so true!] and what our internal story is determines how our life is played out.

Through Dana's teachings and guides we can:

• understand our own energy
• realize everything is within us - we just need to unfold it
• clear out to welcome in
• avoid comparison for a happier reality
• embracing experiences vs things to create community
• let go with love [and create a miracle - like what happened with me and a pair of jeans....get that story on the episode!]

Quote: "There is always opportunity - in dark times and light - part of the darkness in life is to get us to more light. Some of the greatest peacemakers, heroes and thought leaders rise up through times of darkness."

Links

The Tao of Dana

Catalyst Camp Video Sign-Up

Dana's original Tumblr

MindBodyGreen

Tara Stiles and Strala Yoga

 

Follow Dana [and follow the magic daily]

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The Sound of Gravel ~ the Woman Behind the Book: A Conversation with New York Times Best-Selling Author Ruth Wariner

Details: Ruth Wariner is an all-around amazing woman. Author; friend; survivor; speaker; teacher - I am so incredibly blessed to be able to call her my friend. I can't wait for you to meet her and share our very heart-felt conversation.

This conversation focuses on Ruth, the woman. We talk some about her harrowing, and heroic, story which you can discover and enjoy by getting her amazing book The Sound of Gravel but during our time together we dive into how that story has informed her life.

You will discover the truly inspirational spirit of this strong and generous woman, who realized she had choices in who she could ultimately be, and the actions she took for herself, and for her siblings.

We talk about the 7-year process of writing this book, how you work through memories and the pain they can bring, and what was the most difficult part of the process. I can't wait for you to meet Ruth.

Quote: "I realized, in learning about other people's [religious] beliefs, that I had a choice in how to live my life. And, for me, that was incredibly freeing."

Links:

The Sound of Gravel

People Magazine Feature

Good Housekeeping

Entertainment Weekly Review and Feature

The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls

Follow Ruth:

Website

Instagram

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On this episode, with your host, Michele Boyer: tales from...my bathtub? Yep. Join me in the bathtub, as I escape a blazingly hot summer day in the pacific northwest with an ages-old remedy of giant tub of epsom salts, while lamenting on the topics of joint pain; body changes as we grow older; holistic remedies; supplements; exercise as medicine; my 10-day detox plan and my game-changing visit to Lululemon and the importance of looking good to feel good for YOU.   juicy links: Pharmaca Lululemon Dr. Mark Hyman 10-Day Detox PIYO Walking your way to healthy body-healthy mind   follow ABP and Michele on instagram   Positive Action Creates A Positive Re-Action. Start Today. Go to A Balanced Pursuit. com   Join in the conversation~leave a review, question and comment! Subscribe in itunes  

 

Details: No Apologies. No Excuses. No Bullshit.

That's how I describe my conversation with Madeline Puckette of Wine Folly.

Starting out at 6 years old, when her mom told her it would be cool if she played the saxophone, Madeline started pursuing a career as a musician [starting with the flute, THEN sax, then guitar] and then morphed into a rock star by fronting several bands, in Oregon, where she grew up.

Fearlessness in her blood, Madeline also had a practical side. When she began attending Cal Arts, studying music technology, she also decided to learn graphic design [in case the rock star/musician thing didn't work out] and she worked in both fields until she moved to Seattle in 2010-ish.

Where does wine come in? Well, it was a move to RENO, NEVEDA [with her partner], from L.A., where her serious interest in wine and her cultivation of wine knowledge started. Now, one would not think that Reno, NV would be the natural birthplace of a serious, and very substantial wine career that includes exploring the best wine regions in the world, writing a New York Times Best Selling Book and being the head of an award-winning wine site, Wine Folly. But indeed it was. It was the intersection of living in Reno, NV and a casual conversation with a wine bar owner that led to wine being Madeline's obsession and how that obsession led to her taking big chances by entering a serious wine competition, to her pursuing certifications from the Court of Master Sommeliers, choosing Seattle over New York City, chucking the idea of being a traditional sommelier and creating her own thing – Wine Folly – with the intention of making wine more accessible to people.

It's quite the journey that now includes a New York Times Bestseller [it actually made the list the day we met to record the podcast] that is being published in over a dozen countries and being featured in the kickass movie [one of my favorites!] Somm 2: Into the Bottle, among many other initiatives in the world of wine.

Plug in and give a listen to a very lively conversation with Madeline Puckette.

Quote: "If you really want to be successful, it's learning how to deal with your own bullshit, and owning your weaknesses while turning them into your advantages"

Topics Covered:

• Origin story – when you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
• Music, bands, Cal Arts and graphic design
• Moving from LA to Reno, NV with her boyfriend, Justin Hammack [and now biz partner], and how wine was their shared passion
• The birth of a wine obsession – working in a wine bar in Reno and starting to learn everything she could about wine
• Entering a San Francisco wine competition, taking first runner up, and beginning taken to dinner by key members of the Ruinart Champagne House.
• Key words of encouragement from Ruinart winemaker, Frederick Panaiotis: "I can see where you may have a future in wine professionally
• The Court of Master Sommeliers certifications, preparing to move to NYC to "take wine seriously" and the pivot of deciding to move to Seattle instead
• Taking the entry and intermediate tests for the Court of Master Sommeliers at the same time [and passing], pursuing the Masters Program [literally one of the hardest tests in the world – check out the movie Somm for more on that. It's fantastic and fun to watch!] and then ditching it as she decided this wasn't the path for her
• Hating her job, being miserable in her life and her work, and in turn alienating the people around her – getting real with her bullshit and ego – figuring it out
• The idea for Wine Folly and the blending of Justin and Madeline's passions and expertise
• How Seth Godin personally influenced Justin and Madeline's direction
• Failure, no excuses, back to the drawing board and making it all work with the core question "Who is Wine Folly FOR?"
• What inspires Madeline personally and what inspires her and Justin daily to move the business forward
• Madeline's transparent perspective on business in general, her business in particular, and how she operates

 

SHOWNOTES:

Cal Arts

The Court of Master Sommeliers

Wine Folly [the site]

Wine Folly [the book!]

Ruinart Champagne

Somm

Somm 2: Into the Bottle [check out Madeline in the trailer!]

Seth Godin

 

FOLLOW MADELINE:

 

INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

 

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Have you ever had a dream that you would go live in Paris and embrace all that the romantic City of Light has to offer and get swept away in the culture, the beauty, the food? Have you ever thought about making that dream a reality? Have you got stuck on the how? Well, today I am talking to the curator of her own Paris adventure, Amy Feezor. As usual, my girl crush on Amy begins with Instagram! I discovered Amy in late 2014, through her instagram feed, and was immediately drawn into her “Paris Plan” story, on her personal blog called M-Dashing, where she went to Paris and lived for 3 months and gave herself a list of numbered items, rules if you will, for this adventure, to fully immerse herself in the Paris lifestyle. I felt a kinship with her through my own, ever-expanding wanderlust and she was one of the first people I reached out to when I was ready to launch this podcast. I couldn’t wait to sit down with her, get to know her and ask her a million questions!

A little bit more notable background here: Amy is a successful creative director & writer, by trade and worked for Time, Inc on such notable publications as Teen People, Time Kids and US News & Report Amy also worked as copy director for Real Simple [one of my favorite magazines!] for 5 years. Amy is the co-author, with Lara Spencer, of the New York Times Best Seller: Flea Market Fabulous

In this conversation, we dig into a lot of goodness about writing, travel, career choices, giving up attachment to “things” in exchange for experiences and saying yes to opportunities and not letting fear, or conventional thinking, hold you back from stepping onto your path. Oh yeah, and “don’t forget the men”.

Let’s go meet Amy.

Powerful, Vulnerable, Transformational – A Conversation with Personal Chef Kirsten Helle of Sammamish, WA

Details: My one word for today’s episode is POWERFUL. I am so honored and delighted to sit down with Personal Chef Kirsten Helle. This conversation has many, many important layers. Kirsten is extremely open and let’s herself be very transparent and vulnerable while sharing her journey from being 100+ pounds overweight and pre-diabetic before the age of 25 to making the decision to be healthy, and researching what being healthy means, and focusing on creating a healthy lifestyle for both her and her family. But that wasn’t the only challenge in Kirsten’s life. She made the important, and tough, decision to remove herself and her children from an abusive home environment and seek assistance at a local shelter so that they could have a better life and future. We go into how she taught herself to cook, and master, different cuisines and make them healthier and her dream of being of personal chef and struggling with following that dream and still providing for her family as a single mother. We dive into the conversation that had her jumping feet first into her dream career, how she came very close to giving it up when it wasn’t succeeding and the one thing she did that resulted in her first appropriate client and she’s never looked back. Now Kirsten is happily married, with two great kids AND is the personal chef for several of the Seattle Seahawks….there is SO much more, so let’s go meet Kirsten.

Quote: “Living a long, vibrant life should be the definition of healthy living rather than a pants size or looking a certain way”

Topics Covered:

• Being overweight and trying to lose weight with “diet food”
• Being uncomfortable and insecure in your body
• Being pre-diabetic and unable to play with her baby girl led Kirsten to make a vow to be “healthy”
• Kirsten’s research into the longest living human beings and their diets and how she took her cues from them
• How focusing on getting her family healthy, rather than “dieting”, led to her 100+ pound weight loss
• Kirsten’s tough and brave decision to remove herself and her children from an abusive home environment, finding support at a local shelter
• Working two jobs and supporting her family, while the seed of her personal chef career dream was percolating
• Succeeding with her making her dream a reality
• Finding love again
• Being transparent on her blog and having the Food Network come calling
• Her top goal of providing healthy meals to clients, including some of the Seattle Seahawks
• Her commitment to giving back

SHOWNOTES: Chef Kirsten Helle Guy’s Grocery Games Seattle Seahawks 425 Magazine Hope Link

Follow Kirsten:

Chef Kirsten Helle Instagram

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IF YOU LIKED THIS EPISODE, YOU MIGHT ENJOY: Personal Vegan Chef Stacey Ellis

Get the Goods: Kirsten's Award-Winning Bahn Mi Recipe ~ make it this weekend!

Details: Gather your girl squad now because after listening to this conversation you are going to be booking your trip to spend time with the joyous, fun and rocking Alex Mazerolle. This young woman is a BOSS. I started my girl crush by following Alex on instagram [my obsession] and it was instantaneous that I knew that I wanted to learn more about her and have her on the podcast. This conversation flew by for me because there was so much goodness shared. We dig right in to Alex’s past, her focus and dedication to her dance career, her move to LA and the success she found and the moment when she thought “Is this what I’ve been working for my whole life?” We go deep into the journey to discovering what is your calling, showing up for yourself first before you can show up for others and be successful, and how releasing attachment to the outcome is the doorway to world opening up to you. Alex not only showed up for herself but she is creating true, positive and lasting change in the lives of our next generation of young girls that I can only describe as true magic. This conversation had me desperately wishing for a time machine so that my 15-year old self could experience all that we talk about it….

Let’s go meet Alex.

Quote: “I am so passionate about our next generation of women and what that looks like and [them] stepping onto their path and into themselves in a heart-based way”

Topics Covered:

• Alex’s origin story –dancing her whole life, the move to LA, going to Vancouver and how yoga became such an important part of her life
• Showing up for yourself first and stepping onto your path
• Releasing attachment to your outcome creates opportunities you might not have had or been able to recognize
• Alex’s focus on working with teenage girls body image through yoga
• Breaking out of the “traditional” yoga studio mold and bringing yoga into local schools
• The birth of Girlvana yoga retreats [squash the “mean girl” mentality forever!]
• The importance of relatable mentors
• The creation of Ladyvana retreats [girlvana…with wine…I’m so ALL about this!]

SHOWNOTES:

The Distrikt

Girlvana Yoga Retreats

Ladyvana Retreats

Wanderlust

Follow Alex, Girlvana and Ladyvana on Instagram

Ally Maz

Girlvana Yoga

Ladyvana Retreats

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Details: I am so incredibly delighted to introduce you to one of the hardest working women I know in the wine business: Kristin Marchesi of Montinore Estate Winery located in the Willamette Valley in Oregon – the home of fabulous Pinot Noir. I had a blast having this conversation because Kristin is a dear friend and I learned so much about her family history, in farming and winemaking and their origin story in New Jersey, that I didn’t know before! For almost a decade now, Kristin has been working with her father, Rudy, running Montinore Winery and helping to get their lovely wines produced and out to the public. However, it wasn’t exactly an “easy” road.

We talk about working with family, acquiring an already staffed winery [and dealing with perceptions of nepotism], overcoming a not so stellar reputation that the former owners left behind, creating community, and balancing a very busy job with a husband, little son and another baby on the way [at the time of recording]…Kristin is pretty much a wonder [ful] woman in my book…I can’t wait for you to meet her.

Quote: “When my Dad asked me to come on board the winery and take over sales & marketing, I said no because I actually like my Dad and wanted to continue to like him”

Topics Covered:

• The Marchesi family origin story
• Everything revolves around food [and wine]. Celebrations, arguments, births, deaths – the extended family always gathered around large tables with and shared incredible meals while marking milestones
• Kristin’s earliest memories, from her diaper days, are of stomping grapes, pruning vines, participating in the running of the family farm
• About Kristin’s Dad, Rudy, and his history in the wine biz
• The family trip to Reed College in Portland, Oregon and how that led to the purchase of Montinore Winery
• Kristin’s resistance to joining the winery exec team because she “likes” her Dad and was wary of mixing family and business
• Changing impressions and earning respect: both in the Willamette Valley and with the winery’s existing staff
• Debunking winery ownership and winemaking “myths” [it’s not as romantic as it’s cracked up to be]
• Hustling, juggling demands, and giving equal time to a busy career and a growing family

SHOWNOTES:

Montinore Estate Winery

Willamette Valley Wineries

Frizzante Wines

Follow Montinore Estate:

Twitter SHARE: Please share with your friends, loved ones, co-workers for inspiration, exploration and actionable tips and lessons for YOUR balanced pursuit.

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Details: Are you ready for a fun [F-U-N] conversation that will, no doubt, make you laugh, inspire action and light you up?

Because that’s exactly what I did and felt while talking to this weeks podcast guest, Melissa Cassera.

I’ve been “obsessed” with Melissa for a good part of 2015, after being turned onto her incredible content and implementing some of her inspired FREE lessons, and signing up for her newsletter [and it is one that I always open]. Melissa is a media master and self-described “reluctant entrepreneur”, who left her career in PR, working with and for major corporations, to help people pursuing their own brand and businesses, fall in love with generating publicity and getting more sales [and have a blast doing it!]. Melissa is also passionately pursuing her love of writing screenplays and we get into the juicy details of when she started writing [and what..it’s pretty hilarious] as young girl and why she suddenly stopped and didn’t pick up writing again until the age of 35…it’s shocking!

Our lively, fun, insightful and oft-times hilarious conversation covers books, business, how where you begin isn’t where you end up, losing 20K [and bouncing back], influences, travel and why I think you should definitely get “Obsessed”. Let’s go dig in with Melissa.

Quote: “I’m a big fan of stepping away from what you do for a living to find inspiration in your other interests – it creates a beautiful balance.”

Topics Covered:

• Starting with “when you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?”
• Melissa’s foray, in 5th grade, into steamy soap-opera writing [and not writing again for years. and why.]
• How an authority figure [such as a teacher] giving critical and harsh feedback to you at a young age can affect your choices in life for years
• Our shared interests: Books, movies, scary stuff = active imagination!
• Melissa’s decision to get “a real job” and education, at the urging of her mom, escaping from her small town and becoming a PR professional for international corporations
• How there is no “job security” in our current culture – the playing field has completely changed
• Asking yourself if you want your bosses job. And what to do if you realize you don’t
• Melissa being “the ultimate reluctant entrepreneur” and losing $20K her first year!
• How she shifted her focus and found her sweet spot
• Her uber-cool and focused course “Obsessed” [now open for 2016 enrollment]
• Being multi-talented and her passion for screenwriting [and hints of what’s next!]

SHOWNOTES:

Melissa Cassera

Obsessed

The Swirl Effect

Follow Melissa

Instagram

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Details: Happy podcast day! Today’s conversation combines so many things that I’m absolutely ga-ga about: whole foods and greens as medicine [as in FARM-ACY!], DOGS, doing what you love and making a successful living out of it, and how where you start, and think you want to go, is often not where you end up.

I discovered Green JuJu Kitchen [and Kelley] through Instagram. I’m always drawn to dog accounts but this one was a bit different. In January 2015, Kelley started posting these cool infographics [under Green JuJu’s account] about superfoods for dogs and what the benefits are. It was absolute perfect timing for me because I was at my wits end with my poor dog, Baloo, and his terrible skin allergies and the round-robin of antibiotics his vet kept prescribing. Baloo’s skin was terrible and his gut was a wreck…I was pretty desperate to get him not only better but thriving again. Enter Kelley and Green JuJu and the infographics. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of this before, using superfoods and greens to help him, but I immediately started implementing her recommendations in his diet, daily, and 3 months later he was completely cured – both skin and improved gut! I was over the moon! I dug more into the story of Green JuJu and knew that I had to sit down with Kelley and share her unique story with a convo on the podcast.

Let’s go meet Kelley…

QUOTE: “I wasn’t ready. I’m not sure when I would have been ready but it certainly wasn’t when Green JuJu launched”

Topics Covered:

• Kelley’s origin story and how where you you think you want to be doesn’t always turn out to be where you want to go, in business and life • How a casual, friendly encounter led to a real opportunity to focus on what would be Kelley’s true love and future business • The forever present role of dogs in Kelley’s life, her love and enjoyment of dogs and how that led to her first [very successful] entrepreneurial venture • How Kelley’s beloved dog, Bailey’s illness and poor condition, led to her treating her holistically, her research into juicing and whole foods for dogs and the happy results • Working with behavior, nutrition & training specialist, Pattie Howard, BS, CCS, she started perfecting her blends of green supplements • How the story of Kelley’s regime and its success spread organically resulting in requests [demand] of her specially developed blend • Kelley’s relationship with her farmer [her best friend], Seattle Urban Farm Company, and how she now has her own garden plot that produces her seasonally driven, fresh dog supplements • All the good stuff about creating a business and life you love

SHOWNOTES:

Green JuJu Kitchen Your Canine Resource: Patti Howard Seattle Urban Farm Co.

Follow Kelley, Bailey and Bam on Instagram

Green JuJu Instagram

SHARE: Please share with your friends, loved ones, co-workers for inspiration, exploration and actionable tips and lessons for YOUR balanced pursuit.

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