Becoming Your Best Version

Judy Arazoza is a mother, grandmother and wife of her prom date from 38 years ago.  When she became an empty nester, she decided to take on fitness as a project to pay it forward.  She started out as a personal trainer and then became certified in nutrition.  In her early years as a young adult, she was a respiratory therapy adjunct instructor and always had a huge interest in health.  Judy found that physical fitness could not really happen without mental fitness. So she took it a step further and focused on mental fitness before physical fitness with my clients.  She also considers a third aspect to overall wellness--spiritual fitness--which is often overlooked in the big picture of living well.  Judy's goal is to help others improve their lives. Gratitude as a conscious practice is a cornerstone of her approach with midlife women.  Judy's website is www.gratefulfitnessny.com and she hosts the "Air Hug Community" podcast.

Diana Dunbar Place is the founder of Third Act Quest, which helps people design their “third act” life plans or to work through specific challenges and important transitions in life or work.  Her 35-year professional career includes: a decade in Boston with a leading international marketing & ad agency; ten years with America Online (AOL-Time Warner) in the exciting early days of the internet that culminated in a role as senior vice president.  She has also started three entirely different entrepreneurial ventures.  She co-founded Dunbar-Hunter & Associates, a cause-marketing firm (bridging corporations and nonprofits around a range of issues from aids, to homelessness, domestic violence and breast cancer),  launched WonderBlink Photography, a dream she'd had since she was fourteen, and The Global Design Post, an online platform for designers.

Michela di Carlo is a Manchester-based, former feature writer for the most influential Italian national newspaper La Republica. She holds an MA in Communication Studies from the University of Rome and is a senior member of the Italian Professional Journalists Society. Michela is a speaker and creator of "Salotto Italiano" (Individual Restaurants Production), a series of charity events in support of the Prince's Trust. She has also hosted several "road-shows" around the UK promoting the Italian way of life. As a late bloomers’ advocate and founder of the illustrated indie magazine CrunchyTales.com, dedicated to discerning and sassy women over 40, she is now on a mission to reset the meaning of midlife, focusing her work on inspirational content to empower women feeling stuck in the second act of their lives.

CrunchyTales.com is the first illustrated online magazine on a mission to reset the meaning of middle age. It aims to empower those who don’t let age define them, women over 40 and beyond who need to be seen, heard, and celebrated.  The news and features on lifestyle, food & wine, travel and wellbeing are specially tailored for the late bloomers--those women who are evolving rather than disappearing, open to change, and confident to start a positive revolution at any stage of their life. Check it out at https://www.crunchytales.com/.

Karen Cleary Alderman retired in 2020 after a 49-year professional career. That career was diverse, improbable, and broke glass ceilings. It started in academia (6 years) researching and co-authoring three public policy books on veterans, women in the workforce and the transition to the all-volunteer force. She transitioned to federal service (27 years of which 23 years were in the Senior Executive Service (SES)), and finished at Deloitte, the world’s largest private sector consulting firm (15 years). Throughout, it was not just work. She married Kim Alderman in 1973 and raised four children. She joined, supported, and held leadership roles in professional associations including the American Society of Military Comptrollers and the Association of Government Accountants. She is committed to health and fitness, including competitive spring board diving.  Karen currently is a USA Masters 1-meter spring board champion.

Sometimes life turns you upside down, dumps you on the floor, and asks “so what are you going to do about it?” Today’s guest, Michelle Fishburne, believes those are the moments in life that have led her to become her best version. The most recent dump-on-the-floor moment happened in 2020. At the beginning of January 2020, Michelle had a job she loved, she lived in a house she adored, and her youngest was in her senior year of high school. By August 1, Michelle did not have a job or a house and her youngest went off to college. Instead of being afraid, Michelle leaned into the moment and created a version of herself that had been lying dormant for years.

Michelle moved into her motorhome in September 2020 and traveled 12,000 miles all over America, interviewing people about their lives during the pandemic. Her project, called Who We Are Now, will be published by UNC Press in 2022. After she submits the manuscript this summer, she’ll be headed off again, all over America, for her next book. Michelle found the best version of herself.

Prior to launching this project, Michelle has been a public relations and partnership director for national nonprofits, a homeschool teacher, a newspaper columnist, and an international corporate attorney.  Learn more at www.whowearenow.us.

Psychotherapist, author and healer, Lisa Tahir is passionately committed to working with people to help them heal through all of the senses of the body by utilizing intuition, therapy, energy healing, meditation, Reiki healing, crystal healing, nutrition, sound frequencies, yoga, exercise, podcasting, writing and teaching.  She hosts the popular weekly podcast All Things Therapy, dedicated to promoting personal growth and advancing the conversation on emotional, psychological and spiritual development in a way that’s accessible to people all over the world.  At nolatherapy.com you can connect with Lisa and learn more about her work including her nonprofit, “The Yes Foundation, INC,” which uses tax-deductible donations to teach children and adults with disabilities to blow and cast glass art utilizing her ADA-compliant and the patented workbench, “The CHAIR-iot.”  Lisa authored the book, The Chiron Effect - Healing Our Core Wounds through Astrology, Empathy, and Self-Forgiveness.  Learn more at www.NolaTherapy.com.  Follow her on social media at @nolatherapy.

Amber Keyes is a multi-faceted, complex, and dynamic force for good in this world, with offerings that include parenting by design and helping women find their spark. She is the Chief Empowerment Officer of Keyes to the Kingdom and has dedicated her life's work to the revolution of human consciousness.  She integrates her background in psychology, social justice advocacy, and Human Design to help people live their truth and love their lives. She believes that once you can see and accept yourself exactly as you are, the floodgates of opportunity and prosperity open to help you create a life beyond your wildest dreams. When she isn't transforming Human Consciousness through her work with clients, Amber can be found playing ball with her dog, or venturing outdoors with her family.  Learn more at https://www.amberkeyes.com/.

Right to Know (RTK) educates the public on the complex intersection of genetic information, identity and family dynamics. They advocate for Misattributed Parental Experiences (MPE, NPE), anyone who discovers the person who raised them is not their genetic parent. Their advocacy includes increasing awareness of misattributed parentage experiences (MPEs), promoting access to trained mental health professionals, and changes in the law to reflect the right to know one’s own genetic identity. http://www.RightToKnow.us/.  RTK has a hotline for people who need help:  (323) TALK-MPE.

Alesia Cohen Weiss is RTK’s CXO, Chief Experience Officer. Alesia is a retired RN, Army Veteran, and blog writer. She is a leader in networking for positive emotional support, genealogical research, and education for those impacted by a surprise in their DNA. Due to her own experience from an over-the-counter DNA kit in 2014, she was shocked to her core to find the man who had raised her was not her genetic father. It took Alesia four years of sleuthing to discover the identity of her biological father. Unfortunately, he'd passed years before. After connecting with her genetic family, she discovered four members had brain tumors just like she'd experienced. Had she known she had a genetic predisposition, her doctors could’ve diagnosed her tumor much sooner.

Kara Rubinstein Deyerin is RTK's Chief Executive Officer. She is a non-practicing attorney with an LLM in Taxation and a master's in Trade & Investment Policy. Two years ago, Kara wanted to see where in Africa her father's family came from. Her over-the-counter DNA test revealed she was 50% something but it wasn't African. This meant the man on her birth certificate couldn't possibly be her genetic father. She lost her bi-racial identity with the click of a mouse. Kara discovered she was 50% Ashkenazi Jew. The DNA Pandora's box she opened led to an identity crisis. She's a passionate advocate for genetic identity rights. Read her blog about being Unexpectedly Jewish in Seattle.