I'm back to having guests after two solo episodes! In this week's episode, multipassionate Renaissance Woman, Marika Luneau joined in the fun.
Marika is a fellow solopreneur dedicated to supporting purpose-drive professionals. Like me, she hosts LinkedIn Sprints and is a community builder. Our conversation ranged across numerous topics including LinkedIn strategy (focused on authenticity and community building), the importance of finding our people, neurospicy tendencies amongst Renaissance People, finding the right balance when telling your story and so much more. Speaking of stories, Marika shared a number for her life that even many of her friends and frequent collaborators don't know! So sit back, grab a drink of your choice, and enjoy the show!
Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):
- Sign up for updates on my podcast and what's happening in the Renaissance People Community and find our latest activities on my website.
- Jenni Gritters: Website, LinkedIn, Instagram
- Research on ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) diagnosis differences between girls and boys
- Research on the overlap between diagnosis of PMDD (premenstrual dysmorphic disorder) and ADHD
- Sandy (Sandra) Bean: LinkedIn
- Jamie Cox: Website
- Andrea Reeves: Website
- Alex Alcon: Website
- Maggie Blackburn: Website
- Jamie Hamre: LinkedIn
- Michelle Obama says 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' is the worst question you can ask a kid Business Insider article
- Patrick Meaney’s LinkedIn post about shaping your career like a bramble
- Marika’s website
- Videos of Marika performing basketball tricks as a child: spinning a basketball in a show at 1-year-old, doing tricks at 6, spinning 5 balls simultaneously, and dribbling 3 basketballs in a show at 7
Follow Marika on Social Media:
LinkedIn | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
A few things Marika and I discuss:
1:52 Finding your people
2:53 Jenni Gritters Lovefest
6:28 Repressed women’s voices in STEM and business
10:17 Perfectionism vs good enough
13:35 Repelling people who aren’t right for you
15:38 Fear of visibility while craving community
17:04 LinkedIn strategy
22:14 Secret Life of Marika pt 1 and 2 (end-of-life doula and wedding venue owner)
23:53 Focused messaging using umbrella terms
27:34 Uniting business and non-profit people
28:29 Venn diagram lovefest
30:38 Toxic bureaucratic slowdowns
33:46 Neurospicy tendencies in Renaissance People (and how ChatGPT helped Marika realize she had ADHD)
39:09 Resources for women and non-binary Renaissance People who are entrepreneurs
42:17 Small talk struggles as Renaissance Women
43:17 Embracing our many iterations
48:04 Improv Game
50:00 Rapidish Fire Questions, Secret Life of Marika pt 3 (basketball trick performer)
Quotes from the episode:
Honestly, I think in community with other Renaissance, multi-passionate people, one of the biggest things I've learned about having this personality type and this type of brain is we cannot take advice from people who don't have this type of brain. We cannot take advice from people who are like in the traditional mold, one path, niche down, value prop…all of those really strict guardrails that come with traditional business practices...not good advice for us. (Marika)
(Marika interacting with Chat GPT) I was like, just randomly, do you think I have ADHD or even autism? Like could I be on the spectrum? Just so randomly said it. And it was like, “You might wanna sit down for this…” No joke. That was the line. (Marika)
You've got a saucy ChatGPT there! (Sara)
Yes. She reflects me. She reflects my voice. So she is very sassy and girly for sure. (Marika)
I never wanna be like, 'No Marika, focus. Don't make an archetypes quiz right now. You have bigger fish to fry.' It's like, no, make the types quiz if it feeds your soul. Because your soul is what generates all of this work to begin with. As soon as we lose our buzz and our spark and our motivation, the whole thing kind of fizzles out. (Marika)
It's so funny. Because I'm talking about all these things that I'm like, don't tell anyone you're doing this. But that's what I'm doing! I'll give an example. Like full transparency... (Marika)
This is the space for it, though. (Sara)
Exactly! (Marika)
We're all Renaissance nerds here! (Sara)
Sometimes I've misread the room and I think we're about to go so deep. I'm like, “Yeah, let's talk about…death! Let's talk about the experience of it. What was the most beautiful death you ever witnessed?” And everyone's like, “Uh... uh... What do you do for a living?” (Marika)
“I just came here for the wine and free hors d'oeuvres...” (Sara)
Yeah, I don't know. But again, I think with this type of brain we don't necessarily have an off switch. (Marika)
Follow me on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy and Facebook.
If you're extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do.
And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I'd love it if you'd buy me an oat milk cappuccino, the caffeinated beverage of my choice.
This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.
Theme music is by Brian Skellenger
Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particular Media