Lael Couper Jepson as she dives into another conversation this season that centers on this one central question: What's on her mind?

Episode 4 features a conversation between Lael and Jen Dean and it's rollicking good ride covering loads of topics that rarely reach the light of day between women—so you're welcome to overhear it. In the spirit of braiding three strands together to create some creative tension and play at the intersections of things, Jen brings in these three topics that are on her mind these days:

SEEING (ourselves and each other)

FREEDOM (breaking from convention, unschooling ourselves)

COLLECTIVE WISDOM (tapping into the vegas nerve of humanity)

—We talk about moving into the crone phase of our lives and how that has sharpened and deepened our vision.

—We talk about those moments we have a foot in this world and a foot out of it—as we access our wisdom, play with our power, hone our intuition, and honor our instincts.

—We talk about time—bending it, moving through it, our old/new stories about it, the experiences we've had, what we've been playing with recently and how to use it more powerfully.

—We talk about religion and spirituality—from cults and conventional training to being a witch and reclaiming our divinity on our own terms.

—We talk about how words have power and imagine what might be possible for the world if we talk about these things more openly—and why we don't.

-We talk about the need to "unschool" ourselves—our children and our world—as a means to remember what we have forgotten and the call for leaders (women in particular) to "do power differently"

—We talk about how storytelling, art and communities are the tools that will support us most because they are where we can be most free and feel safe to express our truth.

—We talk about change being an "inside job" and the need to be true to ourselves, in integrity and aligned with our beliefs——because the way we treat ourselves is the way we treat others.

It's thoughtful, emotional, insightful, and inspiring.

Welcome to our conversation. We're happy to have you overhear it.

Learn more about Lael at SheChanges https://shechanges.com/

Learn more about Jen Dean at https://jendeanphoto.com/ or her Instagram at @jendeanportrait

Show Notes: resources referenced

Witch: Unleashed, Untamed, Unapologetic by Lisa Lister

Cassandra Speaks: When Women are the Storytellers, The Human Story Changes by Elizabeth Lesser

Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Word by Akilah Richards

Your Elusive Creative Genius—TED talk by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Artist Way by Julia Cameron

Mother Night and Dangerous Old Woman by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Lael Couper Jepson as she dives into another conversation this season that centers on this one central question: What's on her mind?

More than an interview, this offers listeners the chance to "overhear" a conversation between two women as we look at the world through our eyes. Each episode features a different woman who brings three "threads" (or topics) her brain keeps braiding over and over again to make meaning in our world. We look at intersections, contradictions, and the frictions between them.

Episode 3 features a conversation between Lael and Michelle (who elected to reveal that she is a 1:1 coaching client of Lael's). Michelle's 3 threads she brings are Education, Money, and Energy, and we weave these in conversation.

—We talk about these three threads as the main tracks that run across our entire country right now, and how everything we're experiencing can be connected to them in some way.

—We talk about the need to expand the definition of "education" to include how kids feel about themselves and how we show them they matter and are worthy.

—We call out the incongruence between what we SAY we value (children) and what we ACTUALLY value (guns) in the United States and reflect on the money-making that keeps that a reality and gets in the way of change.

—We give voice to what others are saying about living and traveling to the United States that we don't like to admit or acknowledge in this country.

—We talk about what leadership from the place of love might look like in the corporate world, and what gets in the way of something so central to our humanity entering the workplace.

-We talk about the power we hold as consumers and how to use it to affect change by choosing how and where to invest our time and money.

—We talk about the need to invest more time, dollars and energy in future—which means investing in our children...their safety, their mental and physical well-being, their teachers and their education.

—We reflect on change happening at the grassroots level as well as top down, especially as it relates to organizations.

It's thoughtful, emotional, insightful, and inspiring.

Welcome to our conversation. We're happy to have you overhear it.

Learn more about Lael at SheChanges https://shechanges.com/

Show Notes: resources referenced

The Nordic Theory of Everything by Anu Partanen

Women + Power article in O Magazine

Here's your chance to hear what's on her mind.

Join Lael Couper Jepson on this season on An Unscripted Woman as she dives into thirteen intimate conversations with fascinating women centered on the one question: What's on her mind?

More than an interview, this offers listeners the chance to "overhear" a conversation between two women as we look at the world through our eyes. Each episode features a different woman who brings three "threads" (or topics) her brain keeps braiding over and over again to make meaning in our world. We look at intersections, contradictions, and the frictions between them.

Episode 2 features a conversation between Lael and May (who elected to maintain her privacy for this, using a different name). May’s 3 threads she brings are Loneliness, Service, and Mattering, and we weave these in conversation.

—We talk about the raw capacity we have as humans to take what feels broken, disconnected, and fractured, and make something beautiful and strong from it—like that Japanese art form, Kintsugi.

—This conversation was recorded right after Mother’s Day, and we reflect on the emotion (rage, grief, despair) of being “celebrated” in this moment in our history when women have lost our reproductive rights this past year.

—We explore that fine line between feeling deeply of service and feeling consumed—how to know when you're there and what the difference is.

—We talk a lot about community—why it matters, what it looks like, and how to get it—and also play with ideas we have to harness the power of it that we've not yet tried as a society.

—We talk about what gives us hope and what keeps us sane in these weird and wild times we find ourselves in.

It's thoughtful, emotional, insightful, and inspiring.

Welcome to our conversation. We're happy to have you overhear it.

Learn more about Lael at SheChanges shechanges.com/

Show Notes: resources referenced

Valarie Kaur's book See No Stranger and TED talk

Dalia Lithwick's book: Lady Justice

The Japanese art form: Kintugi

On Being Podcast with Vivek Murthy

Tricia Hersey's book Rest as Resistance

Here's your chance to hear what's on her mind.

Join Lael Couper Jepson on this season on An Unscripted Woman as she dives into thirteen intimate conversations with fascinating women centered on that one question: What's on her mind?

More than an interview, this offers listeners the chance to "overhear" a conversation between two women as we look at the world through our eyes. Each episode features a different woman who brings three "threads" (or topics) her brain keeps braiding over and over again to make meaning in our world. We look at intersections, contradictions, and the frictions between them.

Episode 1 features Megan Hellstedt, and she brings the threads of Economy, Nature, and Community to weave in conversation.

—We talk about the lead story that's being buried among these three, the "externalities" to our economy that are anything but, how to stay sane when inertia is all around us

—We discuss the ways in which leadership is happening at the margins, and the indigenous wisdom we can learn from

—We explore the need to increase our capacity to be with complexity

—We call out the reframe that "less is more", the conversations we're not having (by design), how our fear is misplaced, and how being a woman makes a difference in these conversations.

Welcome to the inside of our heads—we’re happy to have you overhear this and hope it serves you in some way.

Learn more about Lael at SheChanges https://shechanges.com/

Learn more about Megan at NewEcoConsulting https://newecoconsulting.com/

Show Notes: resources referenced

Kate Raworth's book Donut Economics and TED talk

Earth Overshoot Day

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet

Johann Hari and his book Stolen Focus

Isabel Wilkerson's book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

Wabanaki Reach

Lael Couper Jepson shares a story on stage at SheSpeaks in December 2019 at One Longfellow Square, Portland, Maine. This live storytelling evening, hosted annually by Lael of SheChanges, features the stories of five women. The theme for this year is "Wellspring". In this story, Lael explores the question of how you get somewhere when you don't know where you're going. She shines a light on the power of getting lost, going rogue, and getting off the beaten path as a means to find and follow our own inner GPS system. "Proceed to the route", indeed.

www.SheChanges.com

Photo Credit: Kelley Drew Photography

Kayla Lewis shares a story on stage at SheSpeaks in December 2019 at One Longfellow Square, Portland, Maine. In this live storytelling evening, hosted by Lael Couper Jepson of SheChanges, the stories of five women were featured speaking to the theme of "Wellspring". Kayla's deeply personal story considers the greater levels of power that can be found in the most unlikely of places. She explores how we might find our way forward by digging down into the depths of who we are. Kayla's story will reveal how serendipity and the world around us ask us to look deeper down inside ourselves for clues and answers—connecting us with not only ourselves, but with each other as a result. Her story is entitled: Dropping the Bucket

www.SheChanges.com

Photo Credit: Kelley Drew Photography

Lael Couper Jepson shares a story on stage at SheSpeaks in December 2019 at One Longfellow Square, Portland, Maine. The theme of this live annual storytelling evening, hosted by Lael of SheChanges and featuring the stories of women, is "Wellspring". This story of Lael's explores what it means to be naked—literally and figuratively—and how we can usher ourselves into the unknown, even as we're deeply uncomfortable.

www.SheChanges.com

Photo Credit: Kelley Drew Photography

Gemma shares a story on stage at SheSpeaks in December 2019 at One Longfellow Square, Portland, Maine. In this live storytelling evening hosted by Lael Couper Jepson of SheChanges and featuring the stories of women, Gemma's deeply personal story on stage explores what it looks like to call on the Motherline and tap into the ancient, sacred lineage of the feminine. She imagines what would happen if women had the ability to awaken to our divinity and bring forth a magical power that could be used for the highest good. Gemma's story unearths what has been buried for too long—in ourselves and in our world—but is now undeniably here. Her story is entitled: The Red Thread.

www.SheChanges.com

Photo Credit: Kelley Drew Photography

Lael Couper Jepson shares a story on stage at SheSpeaks in December 2019 at One Longfellow Square, Portland, Maine. This live storytelling evening featuring the stories of five women is hosted by Lael who is the emcee of the event. The theme for this SheSpeaks is "Wellspring" and in this story, Lael talks about the wisdom that lives deep down inside us that we often forget about—and can tap into to access and ignite our power.

www.SheChanges.com

Photo Credit: Kelley Drew Photography

Benedita Zalabantu shares a story on stage at SheSpeaks in December 2019 at One Longfellow Square, Portland, Maine. In this live storytelling evening featuring the stories of women, Benedita's deeply personal story explores what it means to love yourself—truly and fully. She shines a light on the possibility of feeling comfortable in our own skin when we live in a world so filled with noise, judgement and hatred when it comes to women's bodies. Benedita's story shows how our inner struggles can help to shape our outer compassion, connecting us to ourselves and to others, even as we stand out, look different, and feel alone. Her story is entitled: And Then There Was Me.

www.SheChanges.com

Photo Credit: Kelley Drew Photography