Called to Create: An LDSPMA Podcast

Be prepared to be stirred by two authors, Ka Hancock and Spencer Hyde. They both share how they portrayed the delicate subject of mental health by drawing on their up-close and personal perspectives. Ka Hancock, the author of Dancing on Broken Glass, is a former psychiatric nurse, and Spencer Hyde, professor at BYU and author of Waiting For Fitz and What the other Three Don’t Know uses his experience with severe OCD to speak through his characters. This subject is real and plucks at the deepest heartstrings.

As mentioned in the Podcast: Kay Redfield Jamison

This week’s podcast features Heidi Tucker, a grandmother of 10 whose irrepressible happiness and deep-rooted hope have inspired many to take heart and rise to their opportunities. She is an award-winning speaker and writer who has been awarded Book of the Year, Best Inspirational, and Best Cover awards for her first two books Finding Hope in the Journey and Servie’s Song. Her latest release, The Secret Keepers is catching traction with readers around the world. Heidi is a mesmerizing storyteller with a nose to detect the gospel lesson in the most common events in life. The secret to abundant living, she will say, is to look a little closer to find God’s hand governing the little details in your life.  As a mother of four who has bandaged her share of knees and risen to her own challenges, Heidi has much to say and an engaging way to say it.
Check out her web page at: https://www.thepickledsunflower.com/my-story

Jason F. Wright is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author. He is also a popular speaker about the miracle of opening doors, faith, failure, the Christmas Jars movement, the lost art of letter writing, and many other topics. Each year Jason visits schools across the country and presents assemblies and writing workshops to students at all ages. 

Jason grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia, but has also lived in Germany, Illinois, Brazil, Oregon and Utah. In 2007, while researching Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley for his novel The Wednesday Letters, Jason fell so in love with the area that he moved his family westward from northern Virginia to Woodstock.

Jason is married to Kodi Erekson Wright. They have two girls and two boys.

In 2017, President Clark G. Gilbert became the first president of BYU-Pathway Worldwide, a global online organization serving over 50,000 students in over 150 countries. President Gilbert previously served as the president of BYU-Idaho, the CEO of the Deseret News and Deseret Digital Media, and on the faculty of the Harvard Business School. President Gilbert currently serves as an area seventy, assigned to the Utah area. He and his wife Christine are the parents of 8 children.

Abigayl Finch is a writer, baking expert, theatre aficionado, and might be a little obsessed with musicals. She is currently a public policy major at BYU-Idaho. On our journey to become voices of light, we don’t travel alone. Sometimes you are the hero. Other times you might be the mentor or an ally. You might even be all of these roles at the same time across several different life stories. In today’s interview Abigayl and I  talk about how you can be a mentor or ally to the creatives in your life. We will share how I have supported her as her father and how she has supported me as my daughter – allowing both of us to become stronger sources of light.

Rob Eaton has authored or co-authored multiple books for an LDS audience, including President Eyring’s biography, I Will Lead You Along. He is currently a professor of religious education and a Learning and Teaching Fellow at BYU-Idaho, and he serves as a stake president. Rob has worked as an attorney, institute director, seminary teacher, and other leadership positions at BYU-Idaho. 

Al Carraway is a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ, writer, multi-award-winning international speaker, and author of the best-selling books, “Wildly Optimistic,” “More Than the Tattooed Mormon,” and “Cheers to Eternity!” After a decade spent in Arizona & Utah, she is now living with her husband, Ben, and her three kids back where she was raised, in New York, She has spent the last 10 years traveling worldwide inspiring others of her conversion and faith through difficult times. Her passion is to tell everyone that happiness exists, and it comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. That He’s real. And how to find and love Him in the hard, in the unwanted, and the unexpected. Because through it all, with God, we have every reason to be wildly optimistic. In this episode, Al talks about how she has shared her voice of light and gives ideas for how others can share theirs. 

Steven Piersanti is one of the founding members of the Latter-day Saint Publishing and Media Association. He currently serves as the director of conferences and programs. Steve is also the president and publisher of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., a leading independent publisher of books on current affairs, personal growth, and business and management.