Ambitious Women

In this episode I interview Biljana Vishnagara and we get down and dirty talking about what's possible when we shift from fearing and resisting change to fully embracing it. We talk about how reinvention is normal, and to be expected, and how decision-making is one of the most critical practices to enable us to transform into who we are truly meant to become. Biljana shares how she's welcomed and embraced change from immigrating to the US, motherhood in two different decades, huge shifts in education and career, and claiming what's possible as a woman in her 40s. If you struggle with decision-making or are on the precipice of transition, you won't want to miss this episode. 

ABOUT BILJANA

Biljana Vishnagara is a licensed clinical social worker and life coach for women after 40. Her name might be complicated but her philosophy on life is simple: 40s are the age to own your power, speak your truth, and show up for your the life you want. She guides you through this process with a combination of mindset work, emotional regulation, mindfulness, and ungodly amount of humor and expletives.   Biljana grew up in Kosovo, Serbia and has lived in the US since 2002. She is remarried and a mom of an 18 year old and a 7 month old.   You can find her on Instagram where she shares all the coaching tools and knowledge to help you boost confidence and live your best life.

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In this episode I interview Aysin Karaduman and we get down and dirty talking about what it means to live a life bursting with intention. She shares her journey through life as an expat and entrance into motherhood, which helped her question assumptions and expectations that we rarely pause to consider, let alone discard. Aysin decided that the "rat race of modern life" is not for her - and she sees how her clients are awakening to the same truth. We explore what it means to redefine a good life - and why this practice is so critical to our wellbeing. We also geek out on the concept, practice and embodiment of ambition.     

ABOUT AYSIN: 

Aysin Karaduman is a Life Coach and Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner who helps driven people get out of their own way and finally create the life of their dreams. She does this using her signature blend of mindset tools, ancestral nutrition and deep inquiry into just what it means to be human today. Aysin grew up in Turkey, went to the US for college where she lived for fifteen years and has been in Europe since 2007. And after almost a lifetime as a city-dweller, she moved her family to the SW coast of France 3 years ago. She is the host of the podcast, Redefining the Good Life where she invites us to escape the rat race of modern life and build a life aligned with our deepest values.

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In this episode we’re talking all about the rules…and not the ones we are conscious of (like laws, restrictions, etc). It’s the rules that society has conditioned into us, the rules that dictate how we feel, act, create, and live.

These rules operate at a subconscious level and drive everything. They serve as shortcuts did the brain… and they’re often the #1 culprit behind self-sabotage.

We’re deep-diving into how the brain uses them, how to access them, and how to finally break up with the disempowering rules that hold us back.

Once you learn how to rewrite the rules EVERYTHING changes and NOTHING is impossible.

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In this episode I interview Pamella Arnold and we get down and dirty talking about her commitment to doing whatever it takes to live life by her own terms. Through her story of moving from Brazil to the US to the UK all in her early 20s, we cover the difference between courage and fearlessness (which people often confuse), the power created from deciding what you want and committing to it, and the possibility that's created in resourcefulness and being unwilling to quit. Pam shares the beliefs that helped her do so many things that other people are unwilling to do or could never dream of  doing. She also shares the number one practice that helped her (and her clients) to stop emotionally overeating. 

ABOUT PAMELLA

Pamella Arnold is The Emotional Eating Coach, Qualified Nutritional Therapist and host of the podcast Overcome Emotional Eating. She helps women overcome emotional eating and lose weight for good. After her first heartbreak at age 19, she became an emotional eater. Only 4 years later she was diagnosed with insulin resistance and borderline diabetes, suffered with anxiety and panic attacks at age 25, and yo-yo dieted until age 32. Pamella tried all the diets out there and that resulted in getting stuck in a yo-yo body and self-loathing. She successfully reverted her diagnosis with good nutrition, lost weight and overcame emotional eating with coaching. Now her passion and mission is to help women to stop dieting and start living their lives using the coaching tools she has been using so you can achieve mind, body and life freedom.

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In this episode I share my vision of a YES life: what it is, how I came up with this idea, and what gets in the way of having it. I talk about my own journey - how achieving my way away from trauma, my relentless drive, and my desire to give resulted in burnout, chronic illness and feeling lost. I made the decision to heal, and in that space I decided I wanted a YES life and took action to create a life and business that enables that. I offer the 3 pillars of a YES Life and how to begin intentionally living and expanding the possibility and meaning we experience.

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We've been conditioned to try and outrun and outperform our humanity, and it's killing us and our results. So many of my clients come to me with "problems" to solve that really are just a denial and rejection of our needs and emotional experience. Self-development is great...but you can get to the point where you’re trying to deny basic parts of your humanity. You won't heal away your humanity, not matter how hard you try. In this episode I break down how this happens, what it looks like, and offer a framework for allowing for and embracing ALL of your humanity...which ultimately makes the results your desire a much more accomplishable task than trying to operate like a robot. 

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Our experiences, as we know them, are created in our big, beautiful brains. Everything we know and think we know, everything that we'll think, feel, do and create first starts in our brains. Yet most of us have very little understanding of what's going on under the hood. Learning about the brain helped me to better understand myself and changed what I believed were problems to be solved. In this episode I share four processes occurring in our brains - at both subconscious and conscious levels - and how they shape who we are and how we operate. It's these processes that create our emotional experience, drive our behavior, and dictate our results in life. Understanding the brain leads to greater levels of self-awareness, which is the foundation for all sustainable and lasting change and growth. 

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In this episode I interview Chéla Breckon and we get down and dirty talking about her rebellious path to success, and her efforts to disrupt the stereotypes and strategies of rural communities. We talk about her research in the economic development of women and how that's shaped her current business strategy, and why building feminism into the core of her business was non-negotiable for her. She shares her number one practice that's brought her back from burnout, and how we can use our privilege to lift up women and communities.

Chéla Breckon is a Disruptive Leadership Strategist and Founder of With Chéla Inc, a Strategy Firm devoted to teaching small town women and rural communities how to think strategically to achieve meaningful change. With Chéla Inc. develops and leads the best practices in small town strategic development for change-making initiatives. We contribute to disrupting the rural stereotype so that more women and girls living in smaller communities can see their value and opportunities no matter where they choose to live.

Chéla believes in a changemaking ecosystem. She knows that when women rise, communities rise, and when communities rise, women rise. Changemaking women are integral to the changemaking potential of a community. A community’s ability to create an environment for women to thrive becomes essential to women’s capacity to be changemakers.  Because of this belief, Chéla, supported by Team Radiance, (her kick-ass team of six amazing women) has built programs, training, and strategy development that serves both the community and organizational side of that ecosystem, and the individual women who will undoubtedly rise, disrupt, and lead.

All of the offerings follow the With Chéla Inc. signature, changemaker’s formula. They believe that informed intention and strategic thinking elevate leadership. They use the formula in their education and development products, offered in two distinct segments: 1.) private and public programs for women and 2.) community organization strategies and training for change.

Chéla is on a mission to expose and optimize the greatness of rural women so that more women and girls can see it to believe it’s possible no matter where they live.

In this episode I interview Ashley Wolthuis and we get down and dirty talking about creating success through the power of connectedness. She shares how success is not created in a vacuum - and how she attributes her success to working within and for the betterment of her community. Ashley believes that having high standards, committing to excellence, and sharing her knowledge have helped her continue to grow her multiple businesses and loyal customer base. 

ABOUT ASHLEY:

Upon graduating from Weber State University, Ashley Wolthuis attended the Universitat Juame I in Castellon, Spain where she obtained her Master’s Degree in Development Studies. Today Ashley is a second-generation Certified Residential appraiser and owner of Element Appraisal, as well as an author for national real estate publications. She is an award-winning real estate agent with RE/MAX Associates, and was the recipient of the Ogden Connection 2021 "Ogden's Favorite Realtor" award, the NWAOR Top 250 Realtor Award, the RE/MAX Platinum Club award, and a three-time winner of Indie Ogden's "Ogden's Best Realtor" award.  Ashley is currently the co-Chair for the  Board of Governors for the National Association of Appraisers and is the former President of the Utah Coalition of Appraisal Professionals (UTCAP).

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Toxic positivity is a trap that I - and many of my clients - have fallen into unintentionally. It's really a denial of our true emotional experience in an attempt to be happy, positive, and optimistic...and it's doing more harm than good. In this episode I explain what toxic positivity is, how we fall into this pattern, and how it impacts us and the people around us. I also share how and why it's detrimental to our mental and emotional health, our relationships, and our goal achievement. I offer five ways to avoid toxic positivity and six alternatives for supporting ourselves and others when they're having a hard time / feeling big feels.

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