Becoming Your Best Version

Terry Repak shares the lessons she learned in her expat life in a beautiful way. When Terry and her husband moved to West Africa with two small children at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1990s, she seized the opportunity to connect with people of other cultures and bear witness to the ravages of the horrible disease, the finding of a cure and education about prevention methods. Circling Home: What I Learned from Living Elsewhere (She Writes Press, 2023) chronicles the adventures and challenges of raising children to be global citizens and trying to find home in countries as diverse as Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Switzerland. Her memoir spotlights the complexity, struggles and profound lessons at the heart of the expat journey.

In this episode, Terry describes her rich relationships with local people in Ivory Coast and Tanzania, and how her deep connections abroad changed her. Her favorite quote by essayist, Pico Iyer, captures the tenor of her book and her experience abroad: "Home is not just the place where you happen to be born; It is the place where you become yourself."

Dr. Helene Gayle, President of Spelman College and former Director of the Centers for Disease Control’s National Center says: “Terry Repak writes about her family’s experiences as American expats in very personal ways, without being afraid of sharing some of the unvarnished realities. With candor and humility, she demonstrates how living overseas can be a rich and fulfilling experience. For Americans, she shows the value of opening ourselves to global perspectives and viewing the rest of the world differently while being more analytical of our own actions. Thank you for this warm, insightful contribution to global understanding and particularly to a more textured understanding of the beauty and the complexities of Africa.”

Says New York Times bestselling author, Melissa Fay Greene: "Her honest book captures not only the beautiful people and landscapes and wildlife they encountered at every turn, but the moments of stark loneliness and confusion. She quickly learned to make friends and seek out local women and expats who became mentors and confidantes. This is how she found 'home' wherever she landed.”

Kirkus provided the following review:

Terry worked as a reporter for several years before going to graduate school at the London School of Economics and earning a PhD at Emory University. She and her partner lived in East and West Africa and in Europe, where he directed AIDS projects and she wrote and raised their children. She has published two other non-fiction books, numerous travel articles for newspapers and magazines, and her research in academic journals. She lives in Seattle where she continues to write and to teach English to foreign language learners and to garden, hike and swim.

To learn more:

TerryRepak.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/terry-repak-ba47041b/

https://www.instagram.com/repakterry/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063607771451

Sarah Dale's love of nature and experiences in the wilds of Montana are what started her wish to get other corporate women to build their own badassery and confidence by learning outdoor skills. She moved from New York City to Montana after a solo vacation to Big Sky. Sarah started Project 1490 to provide the opportunity not only for women to have a unique, outdoor experience that helps them go beyond who they think they are, but they can also build their corporate networks and confidence and have a ton of fun in the process. Project 1490 is "an experience-based women's leadership community designed to accelerate the rise of female leaders--with grace and grit."

Project 1490 is a membership community for high-performance women from manager to C-level that nurtures all sides of women and accelerates their rise to the top. It is a community of ambitious, open-minded, kick-ass women who support and encourage badassery in themselves and each other "and become the renaissance women they wish to be." She calls her work bringing city women to Montana a combination of "Outward Bound" meets "Oprah" type retreats. Women who attend "go beyond themselves, reconnect with nature and return to their lives with a new sense of who they were and what they were capable of."

Project 1490 has an upcoming retreat in the Berkshires that will include leadership content, and expert negotiation skill speaker, wilderness survival skill training and, of course, a party. Project 1490 also hosts "Days of Badassery," some of which are open to nonmembers. You can learn more about their offerings at Project1490.com.

Sarah has had an impressive career. After a 30-year career in advertising, Sarah created Project 1490 by combining her years in leadership with her experiences living in Montana. She's been fortunate to work at great brands like The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and Nativo where she led big teams and drove hundreds of millions in revenue. She's been awarded a Cannes Lions, two D&AD Pencils, Folio's Top Women in Media and the Stevies' Gold Maverick Award. She also has a company that does mobile glamping, called thecanvasexperience.com!

As Sarah says, "We ride at dawn!"

Learn more:

Website: ⁠https://www.project1490.com/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-dale/⁠

Instagram: @Project_1490

Glenda "GG" Goodrich, 72, has been questing in the Lakota tradition for 25 years. Questing, a form of going out on the land for self-discovery, has been used for eons. It involves separating from one's regular life, spending time alone and incorporating what the lessons learned can mean in your life. "Nature becomes a mirror that reflects what is going on inside you," Glenda says.

"Over a number of years, I undertook a series of wilderness quests in Oregon, Washington and California in a search to discover what I can learn about life, death, happiness, spirituality and forgiveness through the healing and restorative powers of the natural world," says Glenda. "From a grandmother to my grandkids, from one nature lover to another, I aim to leave readers empowered, at peace with the past, accepting of themselves, and, most importantly, convinced in the indispensability of nature and all the gifts it has to offer."

Her book, Solo Passage: 13 Quests, 13 Questions, Glenda chronicles the sacred ceremonies that connected her to the land, wove her into nature’s web, and transformed her from a woman who worked to please others into a woman who forged her own path. The book is a brilliant collection of adventures—the touch of coyote fur, a snake’s kiss, a ceremonial blood offering—and a profound reflection on the healing and restorative power of nature. Among the questions she explores in the book are: "How can I become my own spiritual authority?" and "How can I reignite the wildness in me?"

Glenda's book was released last September and was a BookLife Editor’s Pick -- “As Goodrich finds solace in her quests, she successfully depicts a symbiotic relationship between nature, solitude and artistic expression. This contemplative journey provides a powerful metaphor for the multifaceted nature of the human experience, emphasizing the importance of self-discovery and reconnecting with nature in finding our truest selves, no matter what age or stage in life. Readers who are curious about the inner workings of the spirit, lovers of nature, or seekers of self-discovery will be enthralled—and likely inspired to embark on their own quests.”

Says Rebecca Jamieson, the author of The Body of All Things: "[Solo Passage: 13 Quests, 13 Questions is a] book for everyone who loves wild places and longs to live an examined life, Solo Passage is a wise, stunningly beautiful page-turner that will leave you moved, inspired and ready to connect more deeply with nature—and yourself." 

In this episode, Glenda shares her experience as a "nature nymph" in Death Valley and learning from her life's teachers how to speak her truth without blame or judgment, among other pearls. She guides others to learn how they can be their truest and most honest selves in this life.

As an artist, art doula, SoulCollage® facilitator, writer and convener of ceremony, Glenda brings together earth-based rituals, community gatherings and creative workshops in a search for new ways to explore creative potential and love for the Earth. She feels most alive exploring wild places and spending time with her two children, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

GG lives in a cottage in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. She humbly acknowledges that she lives on the land of the Kalapuya.

Learn more: 

Facebook: @glenda.goodrich.1

Instagram: @glendagoodrich

Website: glendagoodrich.com

Christine Fruehwirth almost died twice from stress-related health crises. She shares her hard-fought experience in her new book, Surviving Life's Storms and Thriving in the Aftermath, as well as in her life coaching and career counseling business to help people reach their full potential.

Surviving Life's Storms and Thriving in the Aftermath discusses the four stages of living that she developed and identifies as Surviving, Stabilizing, Emerging and Thriving. She explores the distinct stages of the "survive to thrive" journey and how to apply this framework to careers, marriage, relationships and parenting. She includes what it takes to be able to move through these stages by addressing what is holding people back and the need to heal inner wounds.

Christine was inspired to write Surviving Life's Storms and Thriving in the Aftermath because of her youngest son's incredible life journey the last five years, as well as wanting to share her own story in facing one challenge after another during the past decade, including losing her grandparents during the pandemic, family estrangement, significant health issues and divorce. This book includes stories and insights from individuals she has been blessed to know who can not only relate to but, in many cases, have moved through the four stages of living. "Stagnation is a risk and a choice," Christine says.

Christine has had more than 20 years of career counseling and life coaching experience through her successful business, FlexCareers Consulting. Her passion has been helping stay-at-home parents return to the workplace and working parents who are looking for more balance in their lives, though she helps clients of all ages start or reinvent their careers.

From 2009 to 2019, Christine worked as a Career Consultant and Instructor of a Career Management Strategy course at George Washington University, and most recently at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. During her years working in higher education, she developed an expertise in helping undergraduates of all majors recruit for and successfully obtain internships and full-time positions in the Financial Services industry. She spent a decade in that industry focused on consumer and later investment banking, working for major financial institutions including Bank of America, Capital One and Wells Fargo. Her last few years in the industry were spent at Lending Tree on the senior leadership team.​

Her perspective is unique because of her 23 years of parenting, 20 years of career and life coaching experience, and 10 years of teaching college students. Her hope for her book is to help readers achieve their full potential no matter what stage of life they are in, be in a sustainable thriving state going forward, and then directly help or motivate others on their "survive to thrive" journeys.

Christine earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Villanova University in 1991 and an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia in 1996. Christine has earned her life and career coaching certification through the Life Purpose Institute and has taken life coaching classes through the Coaches Training Institute.​

Christine understands the joys and challenges of all types of work/family balance issues, as well as what employers are looking for both those starting their career and those re-entering the workforce. Christine resides in Potomac, Maryland and enjoys spending time with her three adult children. Those who visit her website can schedule a free consultation!

Learn more and follow Christine:

flexcareersconsulting.com

www.linkedin.com/in/christine-fruehwirth-0307092/www.facebook.com/christine.fruehwirth.92

Instagram: @christine.fruehwirth

Deb Johnstone helps people discover who they are now to determine what they want to do next. She is a professional speaker, transformational life, business and career coach, personal stylist, midlife transition mentor, neurolinguistic practitioner, EDISC profiler (profiles energetic types) and yoga teacher. She is the founder of Transformational Pathways Australia and Women Reinventing MidLife. She also is the creator of her signature program, HER Rediscovery (another group is forming this month) and her signature product, Your Success Planner.

Deb is the creator and host of the Women Reinventing MidLife Summit Series and has a global vision to build a connected community for women in middle life and beyond to transition their lives feeling confident, visible, vibrant and free to be their true selves. She does this by providing them with support, tools and resources to access their own wisdom, rediscover who they are and create the purposeful life they want and deserve.

After initiating the summits in 2020 she saw a great need to develop even more resources for women in midlife. This prompted the launch of The Women Reinventing MidLife Club that meets monthly and, more recently, the YouTube channel Women Reinventing MidLife TV.

Deb is mum to two adult sons and grandmother to five gorgeous baby grandchildren. She is a lover of spirituality and nature and lives at the beach in the far northern tropics of Australia, where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef.

Learn more (and take advantage of some of her free offerings):

https://womenreinventingmidlife.com/

Follow her at these links: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheEmpoweredMidLifeWoman

https://www.youtube.com/c/debjohnstonewomenreinventingmidlife

https://www.linkedin.com/in/deb-johnstone/

https://www.instagram.com/johnstone.deb/

https://twitter.com/johnstone_deb

Contact: [email protected]

La’Vista Jones was raised with messaging that her voice did not matter. She grew to realize that simply was not true. She became an award-winning podcaster and systems strategist who has helped some of the world's top thought leaders amplify their impact through podcasting. She is a certified coach, six-time author, host of the BOSS Talk podcast and professional speaker with a message that challenges others to shift the way they engage with their work and care for themselves in the process. Her latest book, The BOSS Shift: Doing What You Love Without Sacrificing Yourself To Do It, is a literary blueprint for implementing her signature framework that fuses systemization and self-care into practical self-preserving strategies to balance success and wellbeing. She helps others cease from glorifying busy-ness. BOSS, for La'Vista's work, is an acronym for Battling Overwhelm through Systems and Self-Care.

As a corporate dropout and burnout survivor turned entrepreneur La’Vista is the founder and CEO of 31 Marketplace, an agency passionate about providing solutions for ambitious visionaries to amplify their impact, without sacrificing themselves to do it. Her team provides a holistic, done-for-you approach, freeing their clients' time to focus on being the talent behind the microphone. Through her company’s initiative, The Amplify Effect, La’Vista and her team are on a mission to help change agents bridge the gap between innovation and influence through sustainable podcasting. 31 Marketplace helps its clients create assets and build infrastructure to ensure the success of their podcasts and provide ongoing support for podcasters. She is a student of podcasting who assists coaches, consultants, speakers, authors and founders amplify their voices and offers free periodic "ask me anything" sessions for those interested in launching a podcast.

La'Vista says, "Your voice has the power to change the world. Give yourself permission to use it." According to her research, an average of 47% of podcast listeners do so to learn something, "so your audience is waiting for you."

Although she is a proud native of Ohio, La’Vista currently resides in Arizona with her husband Stewart, their son publicly known as "The Cub," and bull mastiff puppy, Atlas.

Learn more at https://www.thirtyonemarketplace.com/

Fran Bailey had a near death experience at age 12 that served as the impetus for her spiritual awareness. She became a renowned energy healer and founded the transformative SHEVA Method. Her energy work also helped her beat stage four cervical cancer that she believes was connected to the death of her father. "We all have cancer cells," Fran says. "I learned how to run energy into the cells and clear it."

Fran's journey began with a passion for dance, which seamlessly melded with her innate understanding of energy healing. Her dance training helped her understand anatomy and move into healing work. "It is always the body that responds," says Fran.

Fran's unique approach, the SHEVA Method, stands for Seeking Harmony in Energy, Voice and Action. This powerful system offers a holistic path to spiritual growth, emotional well-being, and a deeper connection to your true self.

Since 2002, Fran has dedicated herself to sharing the SHEVA Method with the world. Through her years of client consultations, she has witnessed countless individuals experience profound transformation, achieving greater clarity, emotional balance, and a sense of inner peace.

Fran's expertise extends beyond her practice. She is also the author of the acclaimed book, EMERGENCE: Reveal Your Essence, which provides readers with a roadmap for uncovering their full potential and embracing their authentic selves.

In 2024, Fran is excited to launch her official training program for the SHEVA Method, empowering others to become practitioners and share this life-changing work with the world. Fran typically offers her remote clients three intense Zoom sessions, followed up by tune ups.

In this episode, we receive guidance from an expert in the field of energy healing and discuss:

--Practical techniques from the SHEVA Method to enhance emotional well-being and spiritual growth.

--How to unlock inner potential and live more authentically.

--How to reduce chaos in our lives and work with our own personal energy.

Fran believes that in our 40s and 50s we begin to open up after years of giving and giving. We can learn how to clear our energy and be present, to become whatever we want to create at this stage of our lives.

Learn more at: https://franbaileyhealer.com/

Follow her on Facebook and Instagram @theshevamethod and on LinkedIn @fran-bailey-23aab110

Divorce lawyer Pat Barbarito, the co-managing partner of Einhorn Barbarito in New Jersey, thought she knew all about complex relationships and the laws that govern them – until her own marriage of 17 years ended and she determined to get to the heart of love, marriage, and human connection. Her journey spanned the entire scope of relationships – from the science of attraction to the financial impact of separation, to old myths that society still touts as true to new laws that outline how to navigate both uniting and uncoupling.

Pat believes that you cannot help others unless you go through the journey yourself. She discusses in this episode how she had no role models for healthy relationships during her childhood, so she was attracted to chaos. On the surface, her husband seemed to come from a nice family and her own marriage seemed good. She quickly learned, however, that although she had superficially good things, below the surface, there was dysfunction that eventually caused the demise of her marriage.

She created a podcast, Heartbreak & Hope with Pat Barbarito, which offers insights, anecdotes, and guidance from a variety of experts and includes her own perspective on how best to thrive through any stage of relationship building.

Pat believes that every healthy person can find their person if they really want to, if they stop making excuses for people, are honest, and practice self-respect. Pat found her partner at age 64. Happy, fulfilled and confident at age 67, Pat embraces change, humility and vulnerability, and encourages others also to seek a partner who practices kindness and respect, and honors shared core values.

Learn more:

Website:

https://www.einhornlawyers.com/podcasts/welcome-to-heartbreak-and-hope-with-pat-barbarito/

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/einhorn-barbarito/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/EinhornBarbarito

Marina DelVecchio, PhD, launched her memoir, Unsexed: Memoirs of a Prostitute’s Daughter after ten years of being unsexed in her marriage and getting divorced, because of trauma and mixed messages she received about sex for women. In this episode, Marina talks about writing her book to understand why she was so touch-averse, patriarchal effects on sexuality, and how trauma trickles into how we parent our children. "I clear tables when I talk about women's issues," Marina says, of her frankness on such subjects.

Unsexed examines the role that sex plays in the life of one woman with two mothers who introduce her to polarized frameworks of female sexuality. Born in Greece to a violent prostitute and then adopted at age 8 by a cold and unloving virgin from New York, Marina inherits a sexual identity steeped in fear and shame—one that, as she grows older and becomes a wife and mother, trickles into her marriage and the parenting of her children. Without the tools needed to understand her complex mothers or to unpack the lessons they taught her, Marina relies on self-erasure to survive relationships that silence and define her—until she finally becomes fed up with those old patterns and begins to stand in her own power.

A memoir that unearths the layered emotional and sexual lives of women and exemplifies the satisfaction that comes when they assert their voices and power, Unsexed speaks to millions of women who have different narratives but face similar struggles in reclaiming their voices, bodies and sexuality.

Marina is a former high school English teacher with 20 years’ teaching experience in literature, creative and academic writing and research. She has acquired an MS in English and Secondary Education from Queens College in New York, thirty credits towards her Doctorate at St. John’s University in New York, specializing in Gender Studies, 19th and 20th Century American Literature, and Feminist Criticism, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Queens University in Charlotte. She has also completed a Certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth and teaches writing, women’s studies, and literature as a full-time Professor at a community college in North Carolina.

She has received several awards for her writing from The Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition (2011-2015), and her work has been published by The Huffington Post, The New Agenda, WE Magazine for Women and BlogHer. She has worked as a contributing book reviewer of women’s literature for Her Circle Ezine and as Assistant Editor of Poetry and Non-Fiction for QU Literary Magazine (2014-15). In print, her work has been published by Cengage Learning’s anthology on Media and Violence Against Women (2013) and She Writes’ collection of essays titled Three Minus One (2014). She was a finalist in the 2015 Tiferet Writing Contest, and her craft essay on writing immersion memoirs was published by The Tishman Review in June 2016. Her other book publications include Dear Jane (2019), The Professor’s Wife (2021) and The Virgin Chronicles (2022). Currently represented by the Keller Media Literary Agency for a nonfiction project related to music and female sexuality, Marina has established a strong online presence via her writing on empowering girls and women through education, positive female role models and writing as an act of resistance.

Marina teaches college students women’s studies and literature through the lens of bibliotherapy, guiding her students to connect with literary heroes who write for power and self-assertion. She lives in North Carolina with her children and three feral cats. 

Learn more about Marina and follow her:

https://marinadelvecchio.com

https://www.facebook.com/marinadelvecchio727

https://www.instagram.com/marina.delvecchio/

Christine Fallert Kessides became a first-time novelist at age 70, when her young adult book, Magda, Standing, was published and received significant acclaim. Christine was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was interested in the fact that all her ancestors (those she could identify) were from Germany. After reviewing her family genealogy and reflecting on some of her relatives’ experiences, she was inspired to write Magda’s story. 

About the novel Magda, Standing: When her father pulls her out of high school to care for her invalid mother and little brother, sixteen-year-old Magda is devastated—but the greater challenge is saving her family in the face of a war and pandemic. 

Magda, Standing -- a YA (Young Adult) historical novel released June 2023 from Bold Story Press -- concerns a girl in a German immigrant family in Pittsburgh in 1916-19, confronting the impacts on her family of World War One and the Spanish flu.    

The novel speaks to many themes that young people confront today: Balancing the demands of family and tradition with their own ambitions; seeking education despite financial obstacles; dealing with mental illness in a family member; feeling public resentment of immigrants; facing first-time independence from home; and confronting violence and death. Awards include:

In this episode, we discuss themes in her book that touch on immigration to the U.S., the effect of pandemics and how the devastation of the Spanish Flu outsized the Covid-19 pandemic in fatalities, the critical importance of nurses, World War I, family and the challenges attendant to coming of age. Takeaways from Magda, Standing, include driving hard to pursue one's dreams and how we can survive almost anything with support, particularly from family.

Christine attended college and graduate school at Northwestern University and Princeton University, respectively. She had a career writing policy reports for the World Bank on international development. In her spare time, she volunteers with nonprofits that support women and families and especially enjoys reading, travel, yoga and sharing books with friends. She lives outside Washington DC, in suburban Maryland with her husband, and sees their four children, two grandchildren, and four grand-dogs as often as possible.

Christine currently is writing the sequel to Magda, Standing, as well as working on a children's picture book. She spoke about Magda, Standng at the historic Chautauqua Institution (live and on Zoom) in August.

Learn more and follow Christine:

⁠www.magda-standing.com⁠            

Facebook:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/magdastandingnovel/