Boldly Spoken

This is a quick episode to thank everyone for listening in on Season Two.  I loved hearing everyone’s stories and am excited for the promise of 2021. I just wanted to let everyone know we’ll be taking a hiatus from November 2 until February of next year.  I’ve loved every minute of this show and hope to continue it in one form or the other but I’m taking a few months off to focus on my family and friends and to re-configure my personal activism at a more grassroots level.  I’m recording this prior to the US election and no matter what happens I promise to keep fighting the good fight, sharing women’s stories that need to be told, and celebrating the bold, brave and badass women all around me. 

I’m dedicating this season to my friend Lydia, who in the last few months has been braver and stronger than I could ever imagine. And since we both love  another bold brave and badass woman, Madonna, here’s a favorite video of ours : Take A Bow from the album, Bedtime Stories.

Madonna - Take A Bow (Official Music Video)

Until next time, GO BOLDLY!

Our last special episode on philanthropy is in honor of Veterans Day. Over 2 million  American Veterans suffer from PTSD and we lose over 20 A DAY from suicide.  That number is staggering and so I’m willing to do whatever I can to help those who have given so much for our freedoms.   And that’s why I wanted to interview today’s guest Deb Jeanette. Deb is the President of the Board of Directors of Veterans Yoga Project (VYP) and mom of a marine helicopter pilot.  Deb took a leap of faith and left the comfort of corporate life to teach yoga for veterans full time, and so we talk about her path to helping our underserved veterans in the mental health space, providing them tools for mindful resilience, overcoming PTSD and integrating back into civilian life. We also talk about how important it is to have peer to peer support in the veteran community, how VYP works with the VA and individual donors, and how they have helped thousands of veterans to undo the underlying nervous system dysfunctions that underlie most stress-related conditions. We also get into the unique needs of creating a safe space to serve the unique brotherhood of the military community and where she is seeing a tremendous positive with veterans teaching veterans and showing how trauma-informed yoga has changed their lives.  We also talk about the five self-regulation tools that VYP teaches that can be utilized by anyone who has experienced trauma in their lives, and their specific VYP methodology for training trauma informed yoga teachers and healthcare workers. Lastly, Deb shares some powerful experiences of veterans who have participated in the program.

Please check out the links below for more information and ways you can help.

Additional Resources:

The 7th Annual Veterans Yoga Project Gratitude Week November 6-16th

How to Get Involved: VYP Gratitude Week — Veterans Yoga Project

Special Free Workshops Nov 15-16th in support of Gratitude Week:

VGW 2020 Wellness Series — Veterans Yoga Project

Streaming Online Live Class Schedule:  Live streaming online yoga classes for veterans

Free VYP Practice Library Practice Library

How to Contact Deb : [email protected]

Guest Bio:

Deb is honored to serve as President of the Board of Directors of Veterans Yoga Project & the Regional Director for New York. Her focus is to develop partnerships and cultivate community outreach as an integral part of her work to support veterans, their families and our communities.

Charity Highlight: Veterans Yoga Project

Veterans Yoga Project

Veterans Yoga Project is an educational and advocacy organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of military veterans. Working in partnership with veterans, active-duty military personnel, student veterans’ organizations, and other non-profit organizations, VYP-trained instructors teach over 100 free yoga classes each week for veterans and their families. By providing support to all veterans, whether they are currently struggling with severe symptoms, or they are focused on increasing resilience and giving back to others, Veterans Yoga Project is doing its part to serve those who have served.

Sindee Lee, SL for short, is a self-described farm girl from Canada turned serial entrepreneur. We talked about how she got her entrepreneurial spirit from her grandfather growing up on the farm, and how she discovered her passion for business building at a very early age with her first lemonade stand.  Then we talked about how you discern the difference between failing and pivoting as feedback versus failure, as well as defining who you are by experiencing people who you are not, including her experiences bumping against the status quo in the oil and gas industry. After that we get into her big pivot and how she used her “can-do” spirit and experiences as a pet foster mom, as well as her passion for animals, to inspire her to create Profits For Pets, a platform that allows animal charities to focus on helping animals versus fundraising.  And lastly, she shared her five rules for living her life out loud. As SL puts it, “it never occurred to me that I couldn’t do it” and I hope this episode inspires you to feel the same way.

Guest Bio:
SL (Sindee Lee) Gillespie got her first taste of entrepreneurial success when she set up a lemonade stand right next to the Tourist Information booth on the major highway that ran through the rural community where she lived. By the second day she was offering homemade lemonade, a bowl of sugar for those with a super sweet tooth to make their drink the same and baked goods.  From a very young age she recognized – literally – that even the lemons in life can turn into something good!

She has had success as a restaurateur, selling transmission line hardware to Provincial Power Utilities in Canada and introducing a new technology to the oil and gas industry in the US.  She is now living 'happily ever after' with the love of her life business, Profits for Pets, that she recently launched which allows her to channel all her years of business building, mentoring and passion for helping animals into one place.

Additional Resources:
Profits for Pets – Putting the Fun in Fundraising!

Insta: Profitsforpets

Charity Highlight:
The Humane Society of The United States | The Humane Society of the United States

We fight the big fights to end suffering for all animals.Together with millions of supporters, we take on puppy mills, factory farms, the fur trade, trophy hunting, animal cosmetics testing and other cruel industries. We rescue and care for thousands of animals every year through our Animal Rescue Team’s work and other hands-on animal care services. We fight all forms of animal cruelty to achieve the vision behind our name: A humane society. 

Our rescue and direct care work responds to today’s cruelties; our education, legislative and policy work prevents tomorrow’s.

We are starting off our Philanthropy month with Lucy Wallace, The Founder of Dance to Be Free.  As a life-long dancer and student of psychology, Lucy got the idea to start teaching dance to the women’s prison population in Denver in  the Spring of 2015 and was teaching inside by July 2015.  We talked about the genesis of her idea and how, when she began, we was the only non-faith based volunteer group in the women’s prison system and how her experiences led her to expand her program after only 6 months to not only teach, but to teach inmates to become teachers themselves under the guise of offender-led programming.  We talked about remembering the humanity in the women behind bars and her mission to help women heal from trauma through body-based healing.  We also got into some personal and poignant examples of some of the women she has helped heal from both personal and ancestral trauma, finding their worthiness and innate leadership skills and empowering them to pay it forward in the prison community and beyond. As Lucy puts so well, “ It’s about catharsis and regaining control, not calories.”

We also talk about the challenges of starting and running a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization, the collective encouragement she has received both inside and outside the prison system, and how her self care is “coming back to the magic” of working with the women inside.

Lastly we touch upon how she is attempting to expand her focus into jails such as the infamous Rikers Island facility in New York City.

Additional Resources:
“Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free.”- RUMI

Sia - Never Give Up (from the Lion Soundtrack) [Lyric Video]

Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter A. Levine, Ph.D.: 9781556432330

Dance To Be Free was on CNN!

Lord of The Dance by The Dubliners https://youtu.be/OjPGSFDy8wo

Time: The Kalief Browder Story on Netflix https://g.co/kgs/jCTtdB

“6 in 10 women are in federal prison for nonviolent drug crimes. For every woman who has committed murder, there are 99 drug offenders.” – Amos Irwin Chief of Staff at the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation

Guest Bio:
Since Lucy was 8 years old, she has been dancing. In 2010 she bought a Boulder based dance studio after receiving her master’s degree in Psychology. Her psychology background led to the birth of Dance To Be Free due to the therapeutic and cathartic quality of her teaching style.

As one student shared: “Wallace is a gifted and compassionate teacher whose style is vocal and impassioned, raunchy and raw, while simultaneously elegant and fluid. To be in one of her classes (I have attended classes at the studio) is to be both vulnerable and strong, to have fun and push oneself physically, to feel what one feels, and to move about it. Imagine how powerful that could be for incarcerated women.” Jane Perle

Lucy has been invited to speak at several speaking engagements including Emerging Women and the first ever live streamed Tedx Talk at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women. Her work is spreading and catching on throughout the prison industrial complex.

Charity Highlight:  Dance to Be Free

Dance To Be Free: Home

Our mission is to radically improve the lives of incarcerated women through the healing power of dance. We use “Cathartic Choreography” to train our students to teach each other – allowing them to sustain the program themselves. We have seen this technique help our students deal with physical and mental illness, including PTSD and complex trauma.  Our “Offender led ” programming gives our students confidence. That sense of accomplishment flourishes as our students learn to not only express themselves through dance, but to free others to do the same.

Throughout this transformative experience, we teach the nuts and bolts of choreography, timing and flow, and just as importantly we facilitate journaling and sharing exercises that nurture introspection and self-awareness that inmates often need.

Hi everyone! I wanted to share this special anniversary episode where I talk about what the podcast has meant for my life this year, some lessons learned and more.  I also wanted to share some of my thoughts on mental health, especially in 2020, removing the stigma of asking for help and a call to action for everyone to check on their “ strong friends” as the first week in October is mental health awareness week.   And as always, we remember to shout out our charity highlight of the week,  The Save the Children Coronavirus  Response Fund.

Additional Resources:
Get Involved  Mental Health Awareness Week
Mental Illness Awareness Week
Finding Help

Charity Highlight:  
Coronavirus Response Fund - Save the Children

From the beginning, Save the Children has been on the ground protecting children and families from COVID-19. Our teams are working around the clock to ensure the health, safety and psychological well-being of children in the U.S. and around the world are protected.

More than 1 billion children are now out of school. Child poverty is rising. Refugees living in over-crowded camps and those living in conflict will be hit the hardest. We desperately need your help to address the immediate and long-term threats of COVID-19. We must act now to protect a generation.

I hope you are as excited for Season 2 as I am and am looking forward to connecting with each and every one of you, so follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mountolympusgrp/, and send me your ideas and feedback and if you like the podcast, please share it with your friends and subscribe.

And stay tuned for our #20BoldWomen campaign coming out in January!

*Note, this was recorded in February prior to COVID-19 becoming a  pandemic*

Marina is a badass breast cancer survivor, turned health coach, turned technology disruptor and wellness squad developer, wife, mom and founder of the platform YourCoach.Health.  We start off with the discussion of how her intuition led her to discovering she had breast cancer at 37 and how after treatment her physical body was healed but she was broken mentally and emotionally.  Then we talk about her path  to “ hack her body” and figuring out what she truly needed to get back to the person she was before,  and regaining a sense of  control of something when everything else was spinning out of control.   We also talk about re-learning to listen to our intuition, and how we sometimes, with good intentions, train it out of children who grow into adults that use what I call, “The 4 Fs” to mask, self-medicate  and numb what is really going on inside.

Lastly we talk about how all of this brought her to her journey to not only become a health and wellness coach,  but also to create a practice management solution for coaches where they can better serve their clients holistically, and connect with other coaches of complementing niche specialties when the need arises.   In her own words,  Marina is “starting her own f*cking revolution”, working on growing the platform globally,  and making it accessible to all socio-economic groups around the world.

Guest Bio:
Marina is the Chief Executive Officer at YourCoach Health. Marina started her career as a developer at Lockheed Martin, followed by several entrepreneurial ventures. After moving to Amsterdam, being diagnosed with cancer and battling the disease, her passion turned to helping other women feel in control and beautiful through the process by starting the Future of Health Foundation.

Carrying that forward she has been hacking her body and became a health coach realizing that holistic approach to lasting lifestyle changes and human behavior modification are key to feeling healthy & happy.  

Additional Resources:
Your Coach.Health Health coach practice management solution

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/fightinginstyle/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OiTlh4o13M

Charity Highlight: The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – Research, Patient Support, Resources

Founded in 1999, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) is dedicated to fighting the world’s toughest cancer. In our urgent mission to save lives, we attack pancreatic cancer on all fronts: research, clinical initiatives, patient services and advocacy.

This is a lovely and soothing conversation with Ali, as one can expect from a natural-born healer. But, as you’ll learn, her life has been a series of rebirths, growth and changes as she transitioned from corporate work as an architect to coming into her true calling. As she puts it, she traveled through the underworld to figure out her values, purpose and true self to reclaim the person she was meant to be. Now she guides women to do the same;  specifically around the transitions of pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. We get into how the illness of the loved one was a catalyst to her calling, and why now, so many women have the space, safety and freedom to come into their big, bold, and brave selves because we’ve stopped asking for permission. And lastly, we get into how she teaches people to tap into their inner physician and facilitate trauma-informed healing.

Guest Bio:
Alison Yanni, LMT is a Healer, Speaker, and Writer dedicated to illuminating full expression so that others honor their Divinity. Her private practice, Wisdom of the Body, combines Craniosacral Therapy, Spiritual Coaching, Education, and Medical Intuitive practices to create breakthroughs in health and healing with a focus on major life transitions, fertility, obstetrics, postpartum, and pediatrics.

She is currently writing a book on Womb Wisdom which is a collection of knowledge gathered from over a decade in women’s health and channeling from the Divine about lineage release and the deeper wisdom and connection that lies in the womb space.

- Website: www.WisdomoftheBody.org

- Social Media: IG @wisdom_of_the_body

Charity Highlight: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The LLS mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.LLS is at the forefront of the fight to cure cancer. Compared to other blood cancer nonprofits, LLS is the largest funder of cutting-edge research to advance cures. We have invested nearly $1.3 billion in research. We are leaders in advancing breakthroughs in immunotherapy, genomics and personalized medicine. This research saves lives. These revolutionary new treatments originally discovered through blood cancer research are now being tested in clinical trials for other cancers. 

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society | Donate Today!

In this episode I was so excited to connect with Jenn and  hear her story about how she started Old Chicks Know Shit at the age of 50 after coming to a major crossroad in life with when she was hit with a quadruple whammy of a divorce, an empty nest, losing her lucrative job as a corporate executive and a stress related illness that literally knocked her to the ground. We talk about how she re-started her life from scratch, and how it inspired her to start helping women to do the same and remember that life is still amazing at 50 and that finding your soul’s satisfaction happens one step at a time. Her work inspires women to remember that they have so much knowledge and wisdom that the world needs, encourages them to step into their power and reclaim their maven status and show themselves and the generations behind them what is possible.

Additional Resources:
Old Chicks Know Sh*t: ABOUT

Jennifer Arthurton (@oldchicksknowshit) • Instagram photos and videos

Old Chicks Know Sh*t with Jennifer Arthurton

Guest Bio:
Jennifer Arthurton is a writer podcaster, coach and leader of a community called Old Chicks Know Sh*t which provides inspiration and support to women navigating the often-confusing chapter of mid-life. Having made her own significant midlife course corrections, Jennifer is a passionate advocate of the inherent power and knowledge that women possess at a time when they often feel overlooked and doubt themselves most. Jennifer regularly appears as a guest on blogs and podcasts targeted to the mid-life segment and as a motivational speaker for women’s conferences and events. Also, with a background as a marketing strategist Jennifer educates brands and helps them tap into the influential and lucrative midlife demographic. Her work can be seen at www.oldchicksknowshit.com as well as Instagram and facebook by the same name.

Charity Highlight: 
Join Kiva's Global COVID-19 Response | Kiva

We envision a financially inclusive world where all people hold the power to improve their lives.  More than 1.7 billion people around the world are unbanked and can’t access the financial services they need. Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 in San Francisco, with a mission to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive.

We do this by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access around the world. Through Kiva's work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment and families can afford needed emergency care.  100% of every dollar you lend on Kiva goes to funding loans.

Hi everyone! I wanted to share this special episode where I talk about why philanthropy is such a big part of this podcast and why it’s my mission to bring as much time, talent and treasure to people and places doing good in the world. We talk about the ripple effect of giving, and even the tenets of positive psychology which prove that giving truly is better than receiving.  And as always, we remember to shout out our charity highlight of the week,  The Save the Children Coronavirus  Response Fund.

Coronavirus Response Fund - Save the Children

From the beginning, Save the Children has been on the ground protecting children and families from COVID-19. Our teams are working around the clock to ensure the health, safety and psychological well-being of children in the U.S. and around the world are protected.

More than 1 billion children are now out of school. Child poverty is rising. Refugees living in over-crowded camps and those living in conflict will be hit the hardest. We desperately need your help to address the immediate and long-term threats of COVID-19. We must act now to protect a generation.

Hi everyone! I wanted to share this special episode where I talk about some of my experiences traveling around the US on a solo road trip this Summer.   I go into specifics on some of my how-tos from booking travel flexibly and mandatory supplies to eating clean and staying safe on the road.  And I go into my observations on the people, places and experiences traveling from Florida to Montana to New Jersey and back. This episode is short and sweet and I hope you enjoy my mini-travelog!

I hope you are as excited for Season 2 as I am and am looking forward to connecting with each and every one of you, so follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mountolympusgrp/, and send me your ideas and feedback and if you like the podcast, please share it with your friends and subscribe.

And stay tuned for our #20BoldWomen campaign coming out in October!