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Carrie Connects™ | Sameerah Jones Show Recap | May 23, 2026

If you missed today’s episode of Carrie Connects™ with Sameerah Jones, the replay is live and it is one of the most personal conversations this show has ever had.

Sameerah is the founder of Island Rose Essentials LLC, a handmade natural body care line built on one standard: she only sells what she would put on her own skin. She is also my childhood friend. Our mothers were close. We grew up close. And today she brought all of that history, all of that honesty, and all of that heart to this stage.

The Four Chambers of Her Heart

When I asked Sameerah about her family she said something that stopped the room.

She called her four children the four chambers of her heart.

A wife of nearly 30 years. A mother of four. And now a grandmother to baby Legend, a grandson she is raising full time because she refuses to let him spend his early years in daycare. At almost 52 she is chasing a toddler every day and loving every exhausting minute of it.

That is who Sameerah Jones is before you ever get to the business.

The Products Her Kids Test First

Sameerah’s children are not just her inspiration. They are her quality control team.

Every new formula goes to them first. If a soap dries the skin they tell her. If a scent does not work they say so. They are her biggest supporters and her most honest critics, which is exactly the kind of feedback that builds a product line worth trusting.

Her full range includes handmade soaps, body butters, candles, castile soap, and bath soaps, all formulated with organic and natural ingredients she personally researches and vets before they ever touch a product. Simple formulations. Transparent ingredients. Made by hand with intention.

Breaking the Generational Cycle for Legend

One of the most powerful moments of today’s conversation came at the very end when Sameerah talked about what she wants for her grandson.

Legend already has a life insurance policy. His bank account is coming. Stocks and bonds are on the way. By the time Legend is old enough to need that money Sameerah wants it waiting for him, a down payment, a foundation, a head start that her own children had to build without.

Her children got it out of the mud. Legend will not have to.

That is not just a financial goal. That is a grandmother’s love expressed as a generational decision.

What Is Coming From Island Rose Essentials

Sameerah is building and she is not slowing down. Here is what is on the horizon:

Her website islandroseessential.com is launching within the next 30 days. Shop, click, and she ships it out.

Candle making classes and shirt making classes are coming, developed in partnership with her craft collaborator Itisha Felder. And the next class already in promotion is a perfume making class featuring handmade roll-on perfumes. Date and time are being finalized now so stay connected.

Go Watch the Replay and Support Sameerah

The replay is live now. Watch it, share it, and then go find Sameerah on Facebook at Sameerah Jones and on her business page Island Rose Essentials LLC.

Shop her products. Watch for the website launch. And sign up for a class when the dates drop.

She is building something real and she deserves a community behind her.

Coming Up Tomorrow on Carrie Connects™

Tomorrow Sunday May 24th at 6:30 PM CST and 7:30 PM EST Carrie Connects™ presents a special Blue and White Edition in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. My guest is photographer, community builder, and member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Antoinne Duane Jones. As a Zeta I cannot wait for this one. Come be in the room.

Carrie Connects™ airs every Saturday at 2:00 PM CST | 3:00 PM EST Hosted by Coach Carrie Willis | A Clarity From The Heart™ Production Real Conversations. Real Connections. 💗

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

If you missed today’s episode of Carrie Connects™ with Leah Garcia, the replay is live and it is worth every minute.

Leah is a financial strategist, life insurance & health professional, and third degree black belt in Shotokan Karate whose conversation today went far deeper than any LinkedIn profile could have prepared us for. What started as a conversation about authentic engagement turned into one of the most honest hours we have had on this show.

The Black Belt Story Nobody Saw Coming

Leah started training karate at 35 years old. Not because she wanted a black belt. Not because she was athletic. Because she had been in a car accident, was carrying 220 pounds, could not sit or walk for any length of time without excruciating pain, and had already tried everything else.

A girlfriend suggested karate. She showed up. She saw the mirrors. She almost left.

But the white belts trained on the side without mirrors. So she stayed.

She never trained for the belt. She trained to heal, to strengthen, to refine herself in mind, body, and spirit. Nearly three years later the black belt came as a byproduct of all of that work.

That is not just a fitness story. That is a blueprint for how Leah Garcia approaches everything she does.

Closed Mouths Do Not Get Fed

The heart of today’s conversation was authentic engagement and what it actually costs people to keep showing up generously in online communities without expecting anything in return.

Leah made a point that landed hard: the no pitch coffee chat is one of the most controversial things she talks about. Not her financial strategies. Not her investment philosophy. The idea that you can sit down with someone, give generously, and walk away without asking for anything.

People resist it because of scarcity. They worry about giving too much. They calculate their time against the return. And in doing so they close the very doors they are trying to open.

Her challenge to every professional in the audience was direct: it is 2026, get in the mix. Leave a comment. Share someone’s content. Have the coffee chat. Because closed mouths do not get fed and it is not that things are too expensive, it is that most people are not making enough money to make the expense irrelevant.

The way to change that is not to hoard what you know. It is to show up so generously that the right doors cannot help but open.

What She Wants You to Do Starting This Week

Leah’s closing message was simple and specific. If you watched the show and did not leave a comment, did not share it with someone, did not give someone a shout out, that is your starting point. Do that. This week. Not someday.

Connection is the currency. Engagement is how you spend it wisely.

Go Watch the Replay and Connect With Leah

The replay is available now across all platforms. Watch it, share it, and then go find her. She also hosts Wealthy Wednesdays on YouTube at Dynasty Builder 93940 every Wednesday at 10:00 AM Pacific.

Go show up for someone who showed up for all of us today.

Connect with Leah Garcia:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahgarciaceo/

📹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDynastyBuilder93940

Coming Up Next on Carrie Connects™

Next Saturday’s show is moving to Sunday May 24th at 6:30 PM CST and 7:30 PM EST for a very special Blue and White Edition in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. My guest is photographer, community builder, and member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Antoinne Duane Jones. As a Zeta, I cannot wait for this one.

Stay tuned.

Carrie Connects™ airs every Saturday at 2:00 PM CST | 3:00 PM EST Hosted by Coach Carrie Willis | A Clarity From The Heart™ Production Real Conversations. Real Connections. 💗

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

If you missed this Saturday’s episode of Carrie Connects™ with Mark Brezzell the replay is waiting for you and you need to go watch it.

Mark is a Johns Hopkins trained cardiovascular perfusionist, health and wellness strategist, Type 1 Diabetes advocate, and author who spent over 30 years inside operating rooms and medical affairs before leaving it all to build something the medical system was missing: a focus on the whole human being, not just the body part in crisis.

What he brought to this conversation was not theory. It was 30 years of watching what chronic stress does to the human body from the inside out. And he did not hold back.

What He Said That Stopped the Room

Mark made one thing crystal clear before the hour was up:

Your health is your greatest asset. Every goal, every dream, every aspiration you are working toward will be jeopardized if your health is not where it needs to be. You can pour time, effort, and energy into everything around you, but if you are not capable of showing up for the milestones you set for yourself, all of it goes up in smoke.

That is not a wellness platitude. That is a clinical observation from a man who has seen what happens when people ignore the warning signs long enough.

The Insight That Changed How I See the Body

One of the most powerful moments in the conversation came when Mark talked about what those 2,000 surgeries actually taught him.

Survival, he said, is more than biology. The body is not a collection of disconnected parts. Everything is interconnected. And chronic stress combined with lifestyle patterns is shaping people’s trajectories in ways they cannot yet see but will absolutely feel later.

Internal aging happens before the external signs appear. By the time most people notice something is wrong, the body has been sending signals for years.

The Work He Is Doing Right Now

Mark left his clinical career eight months ago to build a wellness platform serving lawyers, executives, and high stress professionals, the people who are burning both ends of the candle and calling it success.

He shared that the American Bar Association now has a wellness pledge that law firms are actively signing onto. Law schools are beginning to weave wellness into their curriculum. The conversation is shifting and Mark is already in those rooms helping lead it.

His message for every high performer in our audience: take care of yourself first. Everything else depends on it.

Go Watch the Replay

This conversation is one you will want to watch more than once. Mark has a way of making clinical knowledge feel personal and urgent without ever being alarmist.

The replay is available now across all platforms. Find it, watch it, and share it with every high achiever in your network who is performing at the top of their game while quietly running on empty.

Connect with Mark Brezzell at linktr.ee/mdbliveconnextllc

Carrie Connects™ airs every Saturday at 2:00 PM CST | 3:00 PM EST Hosted by Coach Carrie Willis | A Clarity From The Heart™ Production Real Conversations. Real Connections. 💗

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

There is a moment in every great conversation where everything gets quiet inside you because someone just said the thing you did not know you needed to hear.

For me, that moment came near the end of my conversation with LaChelle Adkins, America’s SuperMom, when she looked into the camera and said this:

You already are enough. Where you are today is the product of the journey and the things you have overcome.

The room felt it. The comments said so. And I am still sitting with it now.

The Woman Behind the Title

LaChelle Adkins is the mother of 15 children. She is a confidence coach, mental health strategist, TV producer, podcast host, speaker and founder of the Reel Connections Mastermind. She carries the title America’s SuperMom not as a brand gimmick but as a lived reality earned through some of the hardest years a person can walk through.

She spent 13 years navigating depression including three hospitalizations. She kept showing up for her family through all of it. And when she came out the other side she did not just move on. She built something from it.

That is who sat across from me on Carrie Connects™ this Saturday. And that is who the audience showed up for.

What She Said About Enough

One of the most powerful threads running through our entire conversation was the idea of enoughness. Not the motivational poster version. The real version.

LaChelle talked about how high-achieving women often look completely fine on the outside while running on empty on the inside. They are performing. They are producing. They are showing up for everyone around them. And underneath all of it they are quietly asking whether any of it is actually working.

Her answer to that question is the same answer she had to find for herself: you do not need to be more. You need to recognize what you already are.

That recognition became the foundation of her F.R.E.S.H Start coaching program, built in 2016 from her own lived experience and designed to help women move from burnout back into clarity and purpose.

The Television Door

One of the things that surprised our audience most was learning about LaChelle’s work as a TV producer on the Zondra TV Network. She was among the first twelve producers selected for Zondra’s incubator program and she helps content creators move their work from YouTube and Facebook to television, reaching audiences on Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV.

She manages up to 12 show hosts and 24 episodes at a time. She opens doors to sponsorships and monetization that most creators never reach.

She mentioned two upcoming projects during the show. A new podcast called Glow Your Influence recorded with a collaborator out of Pennsylvania that is set to air soon. And a show called Meet Me in the Boardroom launching in August built around honest conversations at the table where business and values meet.

She is also running a May coaching series through F.R.E.S.H Start, doing the work even in the middle of one of the busiest months of her personal life. A college graduate. A high school graduate. An eighth grade graduate. All in the same month.

That is America’s SuperMom.

What She Left the Audience With

As we wrapped up I asked LaChelle what she wanted every person in the audience to walk away believing about themselves and their own story.

She said: remember the person who you were yesterday, or last week, or last year. Share your story for them. Because many people get stuck where you were and they believe they cannot get past it. If we do not share about our ability to move through hard things no one will even think it is possible.

Then she said something that landed quietly and stayed loud.

We have so many gifts we do not even realize.

She is right. And she is proof.

Connect With LaChelle Adkins

💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/americassupermom 📝 Substack: americassupermom.substack.com 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/lachelle.adkins 🎙️ Podcast: America’s SuperMom Podcast ▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@americassupermom

This feature is part of my ongoing Coffee Chat Chronicles, spotlighting the incredible humans in my network. Just a real conversation, pure story, pure connection. People doing meaningful work who deserve to be seen.

A Carrie Connects™ Feature | Clarity From The Heart™ Productions

Coach Carrie 💗

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Thanks for reading Clarity from the Heart™ ! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Who is your bestie beyond borders?

The friend who became family. The person across an ocean who gets you. Tell me in the comments.

Episode 3 of Besties Beyond Borders is live.

I am the oldest of six. Our mother passed at 39, and I got the call while volunteering at a community center. By the time I made it to the hospital, she was already gone.

There was no dress rehearsal for any of it.

The obituary landed in my lap. So did the mortgage on the house we were living in. I bought it so my dad and my five younger siblings would still have a place to call home. The homeowner was a family friend and they gave me the rent money that was paid to help with the down payment. The community center moved me from volunteer to employee so I could have an income.

That is what showing up for your family looked like at 19.

I sat down with Dr. Marquita on Emerging With Grace and told the rest of the story.

We covered:

* The phone call that changed every plan I had for my life

* Why I record weekly videos for my 16-year-old son, and what binge watching an old TV show had to do with it

* The mentor who sent me a list of books and told me to do book reports as a grown woman

* Color personalities and which one is running the show in your money decisions

* Why I left a 20-year teaching career to partner with school districts

* Why every one of my financial coaching sessions is free

Money Matters Are Mindset Matters. Confusion is expensive. Clarity pays for life.

What you do at the age of 19 with no script in front of you is the same muscle you use at the age of 49+ to build real wealth. You bring the decision. I’ll bring the clarity.

Press play. Share it with someone who needs the reminder.

Coach Carrie

Thanks for reading Clarity from the Heart™ ! This post is public so feel free to share it.

My mother passed away at 39 years old with the wrong type of life insurance. Our family received a check for less than $300.

Years later, I was married. We had and the same cycle repeated itself. Because I was living in worry and not making the best financial decisions, the pattern that I spent years trying to avoid showed up unapologetically in my own life. When my son’s father passed away, we got $0.

That is what worry does. It feels like responsibility. It feels like you are being thorough. It feels productive. And while you are sitting there evaluating, researching, preparing for scenarios that may never arrive, the cost of not starting keeps running.

Worry doesn’t have a license. It doesn’t have an SIE. It doesn’t have a Series 6, a Series 63, or a Series 65. Worry is unlicensed and uneducated. And we let it drive our financial decisions anyway.

I also told the room tonight that I canceled my own life insurance policy because I was worried about the premium. The thing I was afraid of never happened. But later I needed surgery. Three body parts removed. I got the policy back in time. That was not a guarantee. That was grace.

The cure for worry is Commitment. Not certainty, you don’t have to be sure. Commitment comes first. Certainty is what grows on the other side of it.

Are you a worrier or are you a warrior? Because worry doesn’t get to sit in the driver’s seat of your financial life.

Commitment inside a financial plan looks like calling your licensed financial professional before you move money during a market dip. Keeping the policy in place even when the premium feels slightly overwhelming. Starting the plan before you feel 100% ready. And both of you showing up to the session together because a half-committed plan is a half-built plan.

Commitment is the first of the 3 Cs framework. Everything we build in the back half of this season starts with this one decision.

Next Sunday is Episode 5: Over-Caution. May 3 at 5 PM CST/ 6 PM EST. The cure is Combination. We are going to show you what financial over-caution is actually costing you and what happens when the right financial vehicles work together the way they were designed to.

If you missed tonight the replay is available on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, and right here on Substack.

A Confidential Financial Clarity Session is where your financial GPS gets built. Both spouses or financial partners must be present.

Confusion is expensive. Clarity pays for life.

Coach Carrie Willis

Licensed Financial Coach · Certified Clarity Coach@gr8finances · gr8finances.comClarity From The Heart™ is a Gr8Finances production.

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Coach Carrie Willis · April 25, 2026 · Gr8Finances

Here is something I said in Episode 3.

“Eighty dollars is better than zero. Don’t that sound smart? But when it comes to financial clarity, that’s not always the best decision.”

That is what doubt sounds like. Reasonable. Responsible. Like you are protecting yourself. And that is exactly what makes it the most expensive symptom of the fear of poverty because by the time you realize it was doubt and not wisdom, the cost is usually to expensive to recover.

Episode 3 of Clarity From The Heart™ went deep into doubt. What it looks like. What it has been costing. And the only cure that actually works.

Four moments from this episode that you need to hear for yourself.

Moment 1

I talked about a client who called me after getting a diagnosis. They wanted to know if I could help them get life insurance. I had to tell them the truth. The window had closed. That conversation is in the recording and it is not easy to hear. It is not supposed to be. Sometimes the truth hurts.

Moment 2

I shared something personal. A spouse sitting across from me after a partner passed, trying to find the accounts. Trying to find the policies. Not knowing where anything was. I have been in that room. That story is in the episode and it changes how you think about a financial plan being a two-person conversation.

Moment 3

I asked the room one question and then allowed time to process. “What has doubt talked you out of in the last 12 months?” Press pause and sit with it. The answer most people will come up with will not be small. Watch the episode and sit with it for yourself.

Moment 4

I re-introduced the financial GPS. If you cannot see your financial future you cannot have faith in it. The GPS is how we make the future visible. That section of the episode is where the Real Talk Moment lands and it is worth staying for.

The cure for doubt is Consistency. Many people mistakenly think it is confidence. Consistency comes first. You show up for the plan during the uncertainty. You stay in the account regardless of the market ups and downs. Confidence grows from doing those things over and over again.

Three episodes in. Over three hundred combined comments from people who showed up knowing their financial life deserves to be improved. Episode 4 will be recorded LIVE on all platforms.

Watch the full Episode 3 recording now. Then come back for Episode 4: Worry.

Ready to find out what your financial picture actually looks like?

Both spouses or financial partners must be present.

Episode 4: Worry

Confusion is expensive. Clarity pays for life.

Coach Carrie Willis

Licensed Financial Coach · Certified Clarity CoachGr8Finances · @gr8finances · gr8finances.comClarity From The Heart™ is a Gr8Finances production.

We just wrapped Carrie Connects™ with Jackie Hallberg, LMSW of Just Jax and the room was on fire across every platform. 200+ comments. Real talk. No filters. Purpose and passion showing up exactly the way they always do. Full episode attached.

#TeamLive thank you for being there. #TeamReplay come tell us what resonated.

💗Connect with Jackie:

💼 linkedin.com/in/jackiehallberglmsw

🌐 justjaxadvising.com

▶️ youtube.com/@JackieHallbergLMSW

🎵 tiktok.com/@trippingwithjax

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

She was homeless at 18 with a 6 week old baby.

By 21 she was running a school. By 23 she was leading sales teams. And today she stood in front of this community and delivered every single thing I knew she would.

Dr. Donna Smith Bellinger joined me live on Carrie Connects™ today and the room showed up. 200+ comments and growing. That is this community doing what it does best.

We talked about the difference between being herded and being led. We talked about what a process problem actually looks like inside a business that keeps wondering why the revenue is not matching the effort. We talked about the teams that threatened to quit when she left because nobody else would ever do for them what she had done.

And she said something I have not stopped thinking about since the moment it left her mouth.

Information gathered but not acted upon is just a souvenir.

Full episode is up now. #TeamLive you were incredible. #TeamReplay come join us in the comments and tell us what resonated.

Then go find Dr. Donna Smith Bellinger at askdsb.com and tell her Coach Carrie sent you.

Real Conversations. Real Connections.

Coach Carrie 💗

Connect with Dr. Donna Smith Bellinger: 🌐 askdsb.com 💼 linkedin.com/in/donnasmithbellinger 📘 facebook.com/donna.s.bellinger 📸 instagram.com/donna.smithbellinger ▶️ youtube.com/@DonnaBellinger 📚 BellingerBooks.com

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.