Wishing all those celebrating Diwali a happy festival!

Diwali or Deepavali is a Hindu festival of lights celebrated every year in autumn in the northern hemisphere (spring in southern hemisphere). One of the most popular festivals of Hinduism, it spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. Its celebration includes millions of lights shining on housetops, and outside doors.

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Mental Wellness is a topic that can never be discussed enough! 

As a veteran corporate ladder climber, new co-founder of a tech startup, mom, and wife, the one thing I have learned is that I am never the best version of myself when I neglect my mental wellness. In the darkest moments of my life and career, I look back and see where I struggled or ignored the things I needed to do to care for my mental health.

So today we talk to my dear friend, Dr. Tara Pasha!  A cum laude graduate in Psychology from Spelman College, Dr. Tara Pasha continued her education at Loyola College where she earned her M.S. in Clinical Psychology, then earned her Psy.D. from the University of Hartford, Graduate Institute of Professional Psychology. 

Dr. Pasha has worked with clients presenting various life challenges ranging from adjustment and relationship issues to trauma and more severe forms of mental illness. She has trained in a variety of interventions, with a primary focus on interpersonal, problem-solving, cognitive-behavioral and supportive approaches. Additionally, as an African American psychologist, she works to support increasing the utilization of mental health services by members of the Black community. It is Dr. Pasha’s belief that the clinical approach should be tailored to the unique needs of each client. Her career supports and is testimony to this belief and her intense desire to provide the highest quality of care that empowers clients to become their best selves and lead their best lives.

Dr. Pasha (Tara as I call her) and I talk about the power of acknowledging where we are struggling, finding the words to put around, and work through our thoughts and emotions. We discuss the power of starting with self-care, and how the people and the things we do or surround ourselves with, all play a role in our mental wellness. She also brings us sage advice on the 3 things we need to do to start taking care of ourselves better.

I hope you enjoy our conversation! We will have her back in the future!

Don't forget to like or subscribe to the podcast, or please leave me a rating or a review. 

If you want to find out more about how to begin to change your mental wellness journey so that you can accelerate more of your career, I encourage you to reach out to Dr. Pasha's practice! 

Click on this link : www.https://conciergepsychology.com/drpasha/

"Resistance to change does not reflect opposition, nor is it merely a result of inertia...what looks like resistance but is in fact a kind of personal immunity to change." as stated by a Havard Business Review article by Robert Kagan and Lisa LaHey. 

In a recent group coaching session I was in we took on this topic of making change happen/aka doing something different in our work and lives. In this peer-led session my dear coaching team member, Sarah Mclean brought to us a framework based on the 2001 HBR article by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey called “ The Real Reason People Won’t Change” . Here is the Link to the article! 

There are times as a leader we are able to see how to rally the team together to the common goal and work through the competing commitments and at other times we cannot. So as a leader and owner, we must ask ourselves what is our competing commitment!

There are 3 questions in the framework that are really compelling questions to consider as a leader and manager, and for your own personal journey of growth:

I hope you enjoy the article and this Monday Moment!

Thanks for listening, please don't forget to leave a rating and review! Or follow me on instagram @traciekambies

In startups, small and medium-sized businesses, the BEST and most successful are always focused first and foremost on solving a customer need and staying connected with their customers or client. Consumers are no longer ok with being seen or thought of as one or two-dimensional. The pandemic proved that several factors impact life. Hence, as we think about a business becoming consumer-centric - we need to consider how our products and services offer the consumers where they are in their life.

A recent Accenture study Called The Human Paradox surveyed consumers, and a few exciting insights popped out to me:

Here are a few tactics you could try. They do require some focused efforts in your business to try out and engage with the consumer, but they can support you to move from product-centric to customer life centric:

 The Human Paradox by Accenture Song

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College Days! It is application season for current High School Seniors, and man, what a process! 

The rising cost of college tuition and the ever-big question of the value of university education based on the school's pedigree adds pressure to students' decision-making process. According to data from ProPublica, the average cost of in-state tuition and fees for public college increased by 80% from 2000 to 2014, and additional analysis shows that for private four-year schools that average tuition and fees in looking back from 2021 to 2011, there was a 19% increase. There is a lot of pressure on high school and early college students to find a school and pick a major or a direction, yet their experiences and exposure to date have been limited.

So I thought I would share the 5 steps for making choices and choosing the path for you. Use this process to think through your options and process the emotions that accompany them.

This process works for many choices in our lives, but in this Monday Moment, I encourage all students to take a small notebook and begin writing. Many super successful people write down their passions, ideas, and goals and keep writing and changing them, so try this process out.

If there are others out there in the orbit of some seniors and college students that need help, I hope you consider being a listening ear and sounding board for them. These young people are our future, and it is up to us to invest in them now! 

Wishing all seniors love and support, and if you are looking for coaching & support, I have a few resources to share of professionals who can help you.  

Reach out and connect at https://www.traciekambies.com/connect, and I will share those contacts.

Thanks for listening, don’t forget to share this podcast or leave a rating or a review. Have a great week!

Two topics today: 1) Hurricane Ian, and  2) Voice Messages over Text Messages what is your preference!

Hurricane Ian:

Help support the relief effort for victims of Hurricane Ian. It was a prolific hurricane and left a huge path of destruction. Below are two links of organizations that are helping that you can support.

https://www.redcross.org/about-us/our-work/disaster-relief.html

https://www.wck.org

If you cannot help with a financial donation then consider donating blood:

https://www.redcross.org/give-blood.html

Voice over Text Messages What's Your Preference?

Have you tried voice messages versus just text messages, yet? Check out the article from the Wall Street Journal “The year of the voice message: A modern guide to phone etiquette” by Magdalene J. Taylor

https://www.wsj.com/articles/voice-messages-phone-etiquette-guide-11664388240?mod=tech_lista_pos2

Don't forget to leave a rating or a review! Its always appreciated!

We are exceptional ordinary beings! 

In this vast universe and earth of countless of organisms. We are in this experience of living and growing on a planet where we are constantly changing, and everything we do has an effect on ourselves, our people, and our world.

How can we be two things at once, exceptional and ordinary?

Are we digging into our more interpersonal side to find and extract insights from our exceptional and ordinary selves to fuel actions and take steps to achieve our goals?

Your experiences, training, education, ambition, drive, passion, and needs are unique to you! You have something to offer the world; your work, parenting, and daily things appear ordinary to you, but are they really? Ask yourself a few key questions and go deeper to uncover what it is and where you are at this time in your work and life.

Check out these resources free career journey tool and my exceptionally ordinary worksheet:

https://www.traciekambies.com/connect

https://www.instagram.com/johngreenewritesbooks 

Welcome to Exponential Everyday - Monday Moments (delivered to you this week on Friday)

This week was a little different as my kids were on their fall break this week. So I am a little delayed in releasing the Monday Moment…

My daily moments outside this week left me feeling renewed.

I recently picked up an article in my news reading …

A new study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry offers evidence that a simple walk through nature can lower activity in stress-related brain regions. The experiment revealed that participants who walked for an hour in a forest showed decreased amygdala activity during a stress task, while those who walked for an hour in the city did not.

Check out the article below:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/experiment-reveals-that-a-one-hour-walk-in-nature-reduces-amygdala-activity-which-may-protect-mental-health/ar-AA12lVeB?li=BBnba9O

Go get out into nature and reep all the benefits!

If you have an idea and want to launch your own business, this is the episode for you! 

Today, I am talking with Meghan Herman, Founder & CEO of Harper Sage! Meghan is a true badass! She has built this fashion brand from the ground up in less than three years and during a pandemic. Made with a women-centered business model, ethical manufacturing, and a brand message that says, "all women have duality, we are more than just one thing, and labels do not define us." Meghan's story will inspire and challenge you to start now with your idea, and she drops some great advice and lessons learned over the last three years of growing Harper Sage to where it is today..., and she is just getting started.

Harper Sage draws upon all aspects of modern-day female identity for inspiration. With a must live unapologetically & authentically beauty and utility. All apparel is made using female majority-owned manufacturing companies, each using ethical practices & leading manufacturing technology, all for the modern woman or non-binary individual. 

I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did!

You Change More Than Your Clothes! 

So go check out Harper Sage; you can find them at https://www.harpersage.com or on Instagram @shopharpersage. 

You can also find Harper Sage on Madewell ( https://www.madewell.com/) and Neighborhood Goods Stores (https://neighborhoodgoods.com/).