Courtney: Beyond the Cake

She’s known for her delicious Swiss Meringue buttercream, creative cakes like her London Fog Cake, and two cookbooks full of decadent desserts and easy to follow how-to’s. But Tessa Huff wasn’t always a lover of cakes. In fact, she didn’t even like baking when she was growing up. She was too busy dancing!
It wasn’t until she was nearing the end of college and took a job in the school’s bakery that she started to fall in love with making sweets treats. From there, she taught herself the ins and outs of cake making, opened up her very own bakery, became a widely popular blogger, an author of two cookbooks, and a mother of two.
Today on Courtney Beyond the Cake we hear how this Southern California dancer became the well-known baker she is today.

He was the face behind the mask - the mask of the most popular college mascot in 2017 thanks to a dance he performed as Cosmo the Cougar with his school’s dance team that went viral getting over 7.5 million views. It was an unforgettable moment and one that Charlie Bird said made him feel invincible. 

But behind the mask, Charlie always wondered, “If they knew who I really was, would they hate me?” because charlie wasn’t just wearing the mask of a mascot, he was also masking another part of his life, a part of who he is.

Charlie spent years feeling ashamed and embarrassed for his sexual orientation, but knew deep down, that coming out as a a gay, active member of a Christian religion would be a vital lifeline for so many who struggle in silence and feel alone, much like he did for so many years. 

Today on “Courtney, Beyond the Cake,” Charlie talks all things cake, dancing, Cosmo, and tells us about his new book, Without the Mask, and why it’s the book he wished he would have had growing up.

Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=855p-EbHfig

It's a question I get asked nearly every day: what do you do with all of that cake? Today I'm answering your question and getting a little more personal as I share how I balance all the cake with a healthy lifestyle.

This week on "Courtney, Beyond the Cake," I'm excited to welcome back Jasmine Bradshaw from the First Name Basis Podcast. We're following up last week's episode, "Creating Communities to Value Inclusion and Diversity," with a Q&A session based on questions submitted from listeners after last week's episode. 
 
Growing up in a biracial home, in a predominately white suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, Jasmine Bradshaw had conversations with her parents at a very early age about what it means to be Black. To her, those conversations didn’t seem out of the ordinary or uncomfortable. It wasn’t until years later that Jasmine learned how uncommon those conversations were for people outside of the Black community. As she had more and more discussions with her friends and church congregation, Jasmine discovered that while they may not have had the same conversations as she did growing up… they wanted to learn now how to have them with their families.
 
Jasmine and her husband Carter started speaking at church events about how to be more inclusive about other races, religions and cultures, but they wanted to do more… and just last year they started the First Name Basis podcast to create a community of families who are committed to teaching their children how to truly love the people around them and to value inclusion and diversity. 
 
Each week, Jasmine shares with listeners tools, knowledge, and practical strategies for talking to your children about race, religion and culture. With a background in education, Jasmine teaches in such an honest, thoughtful and loving way - and today I’m thrilled to have Jasmine on the podcast sharing her journey and giving us the tools for talking to our kids about race, what it means to be anti-racist, and how to be more inclusive.

Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K5fbQ1-zps&t=47s

Growing up in a biracial home, in a predominately white suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, Jasmine Bradshaw had conversations with her parents at a very early age about what it means to be Black. To her, those conversations didn’t seem out of the ordinary or uncomfortable. It wasn’t until years later that Jasmine learned how uncommon those conversations were for people outside of the Black community. As she had more and more discussions with her friends and church congregation, Jasmine discovered that while they may not have had the same conversations as she did growing up... they wanted to learn now how to have them with their families.

Jasmine and her husband Carter started speaking at church events about how to be more inclusive about other races, religions and cultures, but they wanted to do more... and just last year they started the First Name Basis podcast to create a community of families who are committed to teaching their children how to truly love the people around them and to value inclusion and diversity.

Each week, Jasmine shares with listeners tools, knowledge, and practical strategies for talking to your children about race, religion and culture. With a background in education, Jasmine teaches in such an honest, thoughtful and loving way - and today I’m thrilled to have Jasmine on the podcast sharing her journey and giving us the tools for talking to our kids about race, what it means to be anti-racist, and how to be more
inclusive.

Jennifer Stagg spent over a decade as a news anchor and reporter. She was twice awarded best reporter in Utah, has won three Edward R. Murrow awards and two Emmy’s. Jen was living her dream in front of the camera, but after giving birth to her first daughter she knew it was time for a change. She ended up leaving the world of broadcast for the world of design. 

And she was quickly recognized by Better Homes and Gardens and was awarded blog of the year within 6 months of starting her blog, With Heart. What was once her side hustle has since turned into a full service design firm, a product line, and recognition in dozens of design magazines.

In today’s episode we talk to Jen about navigating unexpected career changes, how her somewhat unconventional childhood impacted her creativity and love of design, and how she’s shifted her story-telling from the newsroom to the home.

From a young age, Katie Cheesman had a great love for the elderly. As a newlywed, she and her husband had the opportunity to live with and take care of her grandpa as he battled dementia. After he passed away, Katie went on to continue to care for a generation she says often foes unnoticed and unappreciated… and during those years as an in-home care giver, she realized each and every person she cared for had a story to share. And not just a story… but value! Value still to add to their families, their peers and their communities.
It didn’t take long for Katie to find her true passion in her field – listening to and telling the stories of the older generation.
In today’s episode, Katie tells us about The Listening Ear project, how it’s changed her life and how making connections with the older generation will greatly bless each and every one of us.

Links:
Website: https://www.thelisteningearproject.com/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/thelisteningearproject

During 13 years of infertility, Melissa Kleiner found herself spiraling into what she calls the dark depths of despair, a time that made her question her worth, her faith and the path she thought her Heavenly Father wanted for her.
In an effort to climb out of the darkness, she started to serve in her community and fell in love with serving the older generation in her church congregation. The more she served, the better she felt about herself, her path and her relationship with God… despite the trials she continued to face.
In today’s episode, we follow Melissa’s journey as she learned to heal a broken heart with service.
Melissa is a mother of 3, an ultra marathon runner, a record holder and coach in Olympic weight lifting, a lover of ice cream and one of my grandma’s best friend.

Charity Lighten had her life planned, or so she thought. Not long after getting married and graduating in accounting, Charity made a huge course correction and dove head first into food and nutrition, thanks to a simple prompting she felt. What started out as a desire to help others, turned into a life long journey that ended up helping her own family when her husband was diagnosed with colon cancer.

While Charity’s journey has had its fair share of grief and sadness, its also been full of hope and happiness. In today’s episode, Charity shares with us how she learned to navigate her trials with gratitude, trust and a hope for a brighter tomorrow.

At the age of 10, Catherine Ferguson started losing her hair due to a condition called alopecia. With no way of stopping her loss or getting it to grow back, she found herself with two options: accept what she was going through, choose to be happy and live the best life she knew how or feel bad for herself and push her loved ones away. She chose the former. She chose to be happy. She chose to be brave.

In today's episode, we follow Catherine's journey of self-love and bravery as she learned to navigate her life's trial at a very early age.