All Personal

This is a very special episode. It’s the first time this podcast has had an award-winning author as a guest! I'm talking to none other than my fellow Romanian-born, Canadian-settled, Gabriela Casineanu. 

She is an international award-winning author and professional coach, and she considers life a self-discovery journey worth exploring. These are not just words, here me out and you’ll see what I mean. Her professional path started in the technical field (engineering, IT, quality assurance), and was followed by an MBA. 

You’d say, we’re pretty clear about the career path she’s chosen. Well, guess again. She had a slight career change to… coaching, after which the burnout she experienced a few years ago came as a strong wake-up call, revealing a new path to explore: an author journey! 

What she enjoys the most is tapping into her broad background to combine concepts and techniques from different fields with a touch of creative spark. Whether she's coaching 1-on-1 or a team, leading an association, unfolding her entrepreneurial path, writing self-coaching books or letting her creativity thrive through artistic expressions ... she believes there's always a way when there’s a will! 

Ready to take this journey with us today? Hop-on and let’s get going. 

Book mentioned by Gabriela: 'Quiet - The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking' by Susan Cain 

Find Gabriela on any and all of the links below: www.GabrielaCasineanu.com; Amazon.com/author/gabrielacasineanu 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielacasineanu/ 

Twitter: twitter.com/thoughtdesigner 

Instagram: instagram.com/thoughtsdesigner/ 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/gabriela.casineanu 

How to reach your potential 

For me, this conversation reinforced the idea that yes, our skills and talents are there, inside each and everyone of us. And they find their way to the surface, one way or another, and then they take us places. And all that happens when we listen to ourselves, when we learn to see ourselves and work with who we are, rather than who others think we should be. 

And, as Gabriela said, ‘‘Life is a self discovery journey – would you like to enjoy it?” I’d say, hey, don’t mind if I do. So I’ll just go now and make my life discovery, how else but, All Personal. Wishing you the same, until next time.

My guest today is Jennifer Trask, who is an  entrepreneur, mindset coach, and who since 2012 has been helping driven  entrepreneurs build powerhouse mindsets that enable them to take massive  action built on incredible courage, confidence and clarity that gets  big results. 

After her first business failed, Jennifer overcame her own  limiting beliefs and was able to successfully create a full-time digital coaching and advising practice. 

With clients on 5 continents, Jennifer is passionate about helping entrepreneurs who are creating positive  change for our people and planet. As an international speaker, she has  spoken in Canada, The U.S. and Australia. Jennifer has a Bachelor of  Commerce in Marketing and an MBA in International Business. She has been  featured in the Huffington Post, the award-winning book, 'Living  College Life In The Front Row' by celebrated coach Jon Vroman, in the  ‘Inspired Coach Magazine’ and the ‘Upwork Digital Nomad’ series. When  she is not traveling the globe (she’s been to 27 countries and  counting), Jennifer calls Toronto, Canada home.

Resources Jennifer mentions:

To find Jennifer, check out her website: jennifer-trask.com/

This  conversation today reassured me that yes, when we have our mind set, we  can create that habit that we need to push us forward in our journey.  We can go beyond the usual excuses, ‘yes, but I’m just not good at that’  without even trying. 

Or without trying more than just once before  giving up. I’ve learned that entrepreneurship is a skill that can be  learned, same as any other, yes, even if you’re not born into a family  of entrepreneurs. 

That even intuition is a skill that we can work on.  That the results we’re getting are very much up to us. And that, well,  failure is not only human, but also relative and a powerful teacher. 

So I leave you with Jennifer’s inspirational quote: ‘A bad quarter doesn’t make a bad entrepreneur’. I’d add: A bad day doesn’t make a bad person,  for that matter. 

Until next time, good bye and, of course, please make it All Personal.

My guest today is Ronan Leonard and I have so many things to say about him, I’m not sure what to start with.

The  first thing I was impressed with is that he was just 23 when he helped  rescue passengers and fellow staff when the cruise ship he worked on  sank off the wild coast of South Africa. For 9 years he continued to  work on cruise ships, sailing the world as a casino manager. His 1st business (a casino party company) grew from just 2 casino tables to over 50 and the largest gaming events company in Australia. With his casino background, he understands risk and reward and where the true value lies  in what you put your time and money into (and to give you a hint: it’s  not gambling!).

Now, Ronan connects small business owners to  support groups through the innovative concept of virtual Masterminds. He  loves seeing the benefits that Mastermind groups have on each person  who participates and has helped 100’s of business owners increase  clarity, confidence and productivity by creating the support network for  them to achieve their true potential.

Ronan believes we’ve lost  our connection to a “tribe“ A community that will help us solve our  problems and accelerate our learning. He believes that there is more  value in making real peer-to-peer connections than paying external  contractors who have no vested interest in our success.

Passionate  about helping others, he is committed to giving away 1 in 6 spots on  the platform, to social enterprises and entrepreneurs from developing  countries, to create a truly global community.

Now, words such as  tribe, community, learning and global spark my curiosity and enthusiasm  about the conversation we’re about to have.

What I’m taking with  me today is the fact that, yes, usually, a near-death experience will  make us fast-forward our learning journey. What I also realized talking  to Ronan, is that everyday is equally important. That we can decide to  make it important, to make it a day that counts for us and everyone  around us. A day when we decide to stop putting off our happiness until  sometime in the future. And this is, of course, All Personal.

Resources Ronan mentioned:

Where to find Ronan:

Emma Sue Prince is a qualified teacher AND a management development trainer, author and business consultant. 

Her  expertise lies in soft skills, trainer training, materials design,  qualification development and management development. 

She provides employability, soft skills and education consultancy in emerging  economies all over the world working on large-scale projects in India,  Malaysia, Tanzania and in Bangladesh in partnership with the Department  of International Development and the British Council. 

Emma Sue developed Unimenta, an organization that makes it easier for teachers and practitioners to deliver soft skills and personal development.

The Advantage redefines soft skills as  personal competences we can all develop and nurture: adaptability,  empathy, critical thinking, integrity, optimism, being proactive and  resilience.

For me, this conversation today re-iterated the idea that  soft skills are not soft at all, they are essential. Because when we  really start to work on our skills, we are, in fact, working on  ourselves, so we transform – and we bring self-awareness in our life.  And it’s self-awareness that leads to mindfulness, in any way we might  want to define it for ourselves.

Because, after all, our lives don’t run by general recipes. We run them in moments and quiet thoughts which  make for our reality. So I leave you with Emma-Sue’s inspirational  quote: ‘Never be afraid to let go of the good in order to go for the  great’. 

Until next time, good bye and, of course, please make it All  Personal.

Where to find Emma-Sue:

If you think you're not the creative type, listen in and  think again! 

In this episode, for the first time ever, we also have homework! Which, in good old creative fashion, is great, because homework just became a game! And one that helps us build our creativity skills muscles! 

Tune in to find out more from my conversation with Bob  Sager, who is the founder of SpearPoint Solutions, LLC. 

Bob’s  professional background includes experience in financial planning and residential real estate. 

He is a Consultant and Trainer on Personal Achievement and Practical Innovative Thinking. 

Among other accomplishments, Bob is the inventor of the innovative / creative ideas  game 'What's the BIG Idea?™', creator of the inspirational poster  'Impossible is an Opinion', author of the personal achievement book,  'Discovering Your Greatness: A Higher Level Thinking and Action Guide'  and curator of content for and contributing author to the book 'Living a  Wealthy Life: Stories of Gaining an Abundance in All Five Forms of  Wealth'.

The buzz word for me? Creativity. So, let’s get creative today!

Resources Bob recommended:

You can connect with Bob here:

YouTube Show 'What's the Big Idea?': https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbAAdYfyOMq7r3qVVdVn3JQ 

- www.LinkedIn.com/in/bobsager

Barbara Giamanco was CEO of Social Centered Selling. She was globally recognized as a leader in Sales. 

She was also the co-author of The New Handshake: Sales Meets Social Media, a keynote speaker, sales and social  media coach, corporate webcast host to top technology companies and the host of the popular Conversations with Women in Sales podcast. 

Barb was consistently a Top 25 Influential Leader in Sales, one of Top Sales World’s Top 50 Sales and Marketing Influencers, and recognized by Tenfold as one of the world's Top 65 Women Business Influencers alongside leaders like Arianna Huffington, Sheryl Sandberg, and Melinda Gates.  Visit www.scs-connect.com or follow Barb’s blog at www.barbaragiamanco.com.

Some of the resources Barb talked about in this episode:

I feel blessed to have interviewed Barb for the All Personal Podcast. Sadly, she passed in 2020, leaving us with her incredibly rich legacy! 

To  me, this talk was such a great lesson on what good selling is and also on what it isn’t anymore. 

And it also got me thinking that, well, we are  all natural born something, be it sellers, presenters, speakers,  marketers, singers, etc., which is what makes us great at it. 

And then,  even if we don’t have that natural born ability, we can still become good at it. Maybe not great, maybe not perfect (and hey, nobody’s  perfect), but still good. 

Because you don’t have to be a professional dancer to be able to dance at your own wedding, right? So, I leave you with a question: what is your natural born skill? My guess is, you will need to make it all personal to answer this. Till next time.

Carolyn Kiel is based in New Jersey, where she designs and delivers  learning and development programs. She has helped people at several large companies develop their talents, navigate change and achieve their business goals. 

In 2018, Carolyn started a podcast called Beyond 6  Seconds. It features the extraordinary stories of everyday people who overcome challenges and make a positive impact on the world. You can find the podcast at www.beyond6seconds.com.

For me, it certainly was a wonderful talk about my favourite topic: learning. 

And what I’m taking with me is that yes, it may take six seconds for us to create first impressions, but that only means we can  choose to use the rest of the time to create long lasting impressions. Because slowing down to discover each other may also hold the key to re-discovering bits of ourselves. Until next time, good bye and again, please make it All Personal.

My second guest in the All Personal podcast series is  Jo-Ann Hamilton, and she’s a Rare Bird – both figuratively and literally  – as Jo-Ann is the Founder of Rare Birds Magazine, formerly  SecretBirds.

And I think I have an explanation for this – she sent  me her short description for this podcast and I found myself suddenly  taken into a journey of rare places and amazing cross-cultural  experiences! Hear me out, I’m sure you’ll agree with me! 

Jo-Ann was born  and raised in St. Croix, Virgin Islands to parents from St. Kitts and  Nevis. She is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C.,  Cass Business School in London and Kingston University also in London.  

It gets better: her professional and cultural experiences span  continents, having worked in North America, the Caribbean, Europe and  Asia. Prior to starting Rare Birds, she worked in the corporate world in  the property and construction industry for a decade. 

Alongside having a  full-time corporate career, she worked as a freelance writer and later  as an independent consultant to social enterprises. Jo-Ann is currently  teaching and guest lecturing at various academic institutions around the  globe and she is now in China! So there, was that a journey around the  world or what?

Enjoy this rare talk and let me know what it left  you with. As for me, it was clear that distance is in the heart, not in  the miles, and there's no stopping us in creating meaningful connections  once we've decided to. Until next time, good bye and, again, please  take it All Personal.

You can find Jo-Ann on secretbirdshq.com, at [email protected], or on LinkedIn, IG and Twitter (Jo-Ann Alexandra Hamilton).

My first guest in the All Personal podcast series is Diviya Lewis! And  what better way to celebrate this first episode than by discussing  gratitude and the role it plays, or could be playing, in our daily  lives. 

Before giving you her short bio, I have to say this. Diviya mentioned she made her website, www.choosegratitude.ca,  a bit more personal, which is just the phrase I needed to hear! And there, if you read the Founder’s Story, you find out many things about  her. What I found there was an answer to a question I had without realizing I did: where does her name come from. And I found the answer:  ‘My name, Diviya, is derived from diya, which is a lamp typically used in India and Nepal. They are lit during special occasions, such as the  Hindu Festival of Lights - Diwali - and the symbolic meaning encompasses  being a light in the darkness, or to illuminate.’ 

So let’s shed some light on where she comes from, before tuning in to what she has to say.

Previously, she worked at a  research firm (as a Project Manager and Research Associate), with a  wide range of industries (e.g. transportation, financial,  telecommunications, public affairs, and what we coin Custom - clients  range from universities, tourism organizations, to realty advisors). She  then transitioned to the wellness sector, but her work is heavily  informed by research, and she strives to take an evidence-based approach  to her work. 

She has completed a Master of Arts in Counselling  Psychology, currently working at York University as an intern  counsellor, and is training with Dr. Diana Brecher at Ryerson University  on her Five Factor Model of Resilience.

Listen in to a thoughtful, illuminating and warm conversation which, I’m sure,  will leave you with thoughts, questions and choices. For me, it was a  question: if gratitude is a choice, who would I be once I’ve made it my  choice?