From Rock Bottom to Rockin' It

Zane Novak, from Calgary Alberta, Canada, is the President of the Kerby Centre, a charitable organization that has a mission to assist older people to live as well as possible, for as long as possible, as residents in the community. His love for Calgary has led him to become very involved in the charitable side of the community. He is also the President of the ZKO Oilfield Industries, which introduces unique and innovative products and services into today's industry.  

Zane has experienced two tragic events that took the life of his mother and his son. These rock-bottom moments have made a big impact on his life and molded him to become the person he is today. 

*** For Show Notes, Key Points, Contact Info, Resources Mentioned, & More on this episode please visit my website: EricGilbertWilliams.com. ***

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Contact me at us via: Email ([email protected]), LinkedIn (@ericgilbertwilliams), Twitter (@ericgilbertw), or Instagram (@ericgilbertwilliams).

EP Tags: civic, leadership, family, tragedy, canadian, support, mother, son, death, pillar, hope, ambition, leader

At the age of 2, Kelly Falardeau was severely burned over 75% of her body in her childhood home. Her life was forever changed in that moment. It led to numerous surgeries throughout her life. Because her scars are so visible it led to a life of being highly visible, to being bullied, to being shunned, to being avoided because they were uncomfortable knowing how to talk to her, and to her not feeling wanted, needed or even loved.

But she has a beautiful story of discovering for herself that she wanted herself, she needed herself and most of that she loved herself. She became herself and she owned who she was. She was not defined by what happened to her, not by any event that happened to her.

Kelly found a way to go from near-death to success; from the ugly scar-faced girl to the Top 10 Most Powerful and Influential Speaker, Fierce Woman of the Year, Best-Selling Author (4 times), recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and most recently a YWCA Woman of Distinction 2013.

*** For Show Notes, Key Points, Contact Info, Resources Mentioned, & More on this episode please visit my website: EricGilbertWilliams.com. ***

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Contact me at us via: Email ([email protected]), LinkedIn (@ericgilbertwilliams), Twitter (@ericgilbertw), or Instagram (@ericgilbertwilliams).

EP Tags: burns, adversity, speaker, survivor, discovery, female, voice, survival, true, beauty

Drugs, gangs, and violence represent the dark side of society and have taken many young lives on a destructive path.  Back in the early 80’s one of those lives was Joe Calendino.  Drug use started at age 14, involvement in gangs a year later, and by the time he left high school, Joe had a record of over 300 fights, according to his famed drama teacher.  

Joe’s adult life became marked with time as a full patch Hell’s Angel and a full-blown drug addict, an addiction that almost led to his death in 2006.  Fortunately, from that day forward, events would transpire to transform Joe’s life for the better. 

Through his lived experiences, Joe has the unique ability to connect with youth to educate, inspire, and mentor them to avoid the same path he took.  It is the reason why the Yo Bro Yo Girl Youth Initiative exists, and why its programs are so essential in today’s urban society, riddled by the perils of drugs, gangs and violence.

*** For Show Notes, Key Points, Contact Info, Resources Mentioned, & More on this episode please visit my website: EricGilbertWilliams.com. ***

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Contact me at us via: Email ([email protected]), LinkedIn (@ericgilbertwilliams), Twitter (@ericgilbertw), or Instagram (@ericgilbertwilliams).

EP Tags: gangs, violence, youth, drug, school, help, fighting, dark, side, voices, justice, aid, dependency, fixation, tribal, support, bikers

Gigi Stetler is an entrepreneur, life coach, CEO, author, designer, equestrian, mother, and survivor. She has made a very successful career in the RV industry. Her decades in the business of buying, selling and servicing RVs, trailers, and campers have given her unprecedented firsthand knowledge and experience to become one of the nation’s top RV experts.  

Gigi’s walls are lined with plaques and certificates of achievement for outstanding sales and service for every year dating back to 1988. In 2004, Gigi helped set up and run a 170 RV camp in a remote region of Guatemala for the hit show Survivor on CBS. In 2005. Gigi set up a 200 RV camp for first responders and victims of Hurricane Katrina.  

*** For Show Notes, Key Points, Contact Info, Resources Mentioned, & More on this episode please visit my website: EricGilbertWilliams.com. ***

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Contact me at us via: Email ([email protected]), LinkedIn (@ericgilbertwilliams), Twitter (@ericgilbertw), or Instagram (@ericgilbertwilliams).

EP Tags: solved, murder, recreational, vehicles, entrepreneur, mother, unsolved, survivor, equestrian, lover, crime, park, predators, life, rebound

Jessica Cox is best known for becoming the first armless pilot in aviation history. Her achievement earned her a Guinness World Record medal, invitations from six continents, and featured on tv programs like Ellen, Inside Edition, Fox and Friends, Oprah Winfrey Network, CNN, CBS Evening News, and the BBC.

Jessica continues to travel the globe motivating people to overcome their perceived limitations with her inspirational speeches. With Jessica's experience speaking to audiences in 23 countries, she codified her message into Possible Thinking and the Achieve Model.

*** For Show Notes, Key Points, Contact Info, Resources Mentioned, & More on this episode please visit my website: EricGilbertWilliams.com. ***

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Contact me at us via: Email ([email protected]), LinkedIn (@ericgilbertwilliams), Twitter (@ericgilbertw), or Instagram (@ericgilbertwilliams).

EP Tags: flying, pilot, missing, arms, armless, worldwide, traveler, aviation, history, filipino, guinness, world, record, countdown

Dr. Erika Hamden is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Arizona. Her observational focus is on measuring and mapping diffuse hydrogen around galaxies and within star forming regions in our own galaxy. Her current projects include FIREBall, a UV balloon-borne telescope; KCRM, a spectrograph for the Keck telescope; and Hyperion, a UV space telescope she is currently developing. Her work is driven by a desire to know and understand more about the universe around us. 

Hamden received a bachelor's from Harvard in 2006 and a PhD from Columbia in 2014, both in astrophysics. She has held an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow and the R.A. and G.B. Millikan Prize Postdoctoral Fellow in Experimental Physics at the Caltech. She was awarded a Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship for her detector work in 2016. She worked as a chef for a year before beginning grad school and has a serious yoga practice.

*** For Show Notes, Key Points, Contact Info, Resources Mentioned, & More on this episode please visit my website: EricGilbertWilliams.com. ***

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Contact me at us via: Email ([email protected]), LinkedIn (@ericgilbertwilliams), Twitter (@ericgilbertw), or Instagram (@ericgilbertwilliams).

EP Tags: mental, health, doctor, nasa, colombia, caltech, university, astrophysics, space, leader, dropout, galaxies, hydrogen

Clint Malarchuk, who was born in Grand Prairie, Alberta, played junior hockey in the Western Hockey League. He went on to play professionally in the NHL for the Quebec Nordiques, the Washington Capitals, and the Buffalo Sabres, and in the IHL for the Las Vegas Thunder. When his throat was slashed during a collision in the crease, Malarchuk nearly died on the ice. Forever changed, he struggled deeply with depression and a dependence on alcohol, which nearly cost him his life and left a bullet in his head. Both Clint and his wife Joanie are on the Board of Visitors with Mclean University. They are part of the Outreach Ambassador Group IOCD.

*** For Show Notes, Key Points, Contact Info, Resources Mentioned, & More on this episode please visit my website: EricGilbertWilliams.com. ***

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Contact me at us via: Email ([email protected]), LinkedIn (@ericgilbertwilliams), Twitter (@ericgilbertw), or Instagram (@ericgilbertwilliams).

EP Tags: nhl, hockey, suicide, survivor, gruesome, injury, pro, player, mclean, university, missing, alaska, washington, capitals, buffalo, sabres

Motorsport and TV fans know her as the first (and remains the only) woman to compete in a World Rally Car. Penny Mallory knows how to compete and beat the odds, but she also knows top performance requires even more than sacrifice and maximum commitment. It also takes heart, insight and the courage to keep going and the refusal to quit.

Her life is a continuing series of doing what conventional thinking says she simply can’t. From competing in three marathons on three consecutive days to hell runners and triathlons, finding the courage to enter the boxing ring, and the physical resolve to conquer two of the world’s highest mountains. Penny is the author of ‘World Class Thinking, World Class Behaviour’.

*** For Show Notes, Key Points, Contact Info, Resources Mentioned, & More on this episode please visit my website: EricGilbertWilliams.com. ***

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Contact me at us via: Email ([email protected]), LinkedIn (@ericgilbertwilliams), Twitter (@ericgilbertw), or Instagram (@ericgilbertwilliams).

EP Tags: champion, racer, alcoholism, mental, illness, marathon, triathlon, runner, world, class, thinking, motor, sports, female, morbid, true, crime

Magnus Walker, nicknamed the Urban Outlaw, is a British custom car builder, fashion designer and car collector. After emigrating to the United States in 1986, he established the Serious Clothing Brand, which was worn by the likes of Madonna, Alice Cooper, and Bruce Willis. Having been fascinated with Porsche since childhood, he started collecting and customizing vintage Porsches, mostly of the 911 model.  After the documentary Urban Outlaw about his life and fascination with Porsche was shown at the 2012 Raindance Film Festival, he became one of the world's most visible faces of the Porsche and car collecting scene, and has since been featured in a multitude of media, such as The Joe Rogan Experience (2015), and Jay Leno's Garage (2017), and the 2015 video game Need for Speed.

*** For Show Notes, Key Points, Contact Info, Resources Mentioned, & More on this episode please visit my website: EricGilbertWilliams.com. ***

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Contact me at us via: Email ([email protected]), LinkedIn (@ericgilbertwilliams), Twitter (@ericgilbertw), or Instagram (@ericgilbertwilliams).

EP Tags: raindance, film, festival, car, collector, builder, outlaw, jayleno, joerogan, podcast, city, angels, urban, outcast

Samra Zafar is an award-winning international speaker, bestselling author, consultant, educator, and social entrepreneur who advocates for equity, inclusion, and human rights. Her book, A Good Wife: Escaping the Life I Never Chose, became an instant bestseller and was named as a 2019 Book of the Year for Canadian Nonfiction by the CBC. It is now being published internationally and adapted to a TV series.

Samra has spoken on dozens of stages, including at TEDx, Yale University, UNICEF, Amnesty International, Art of Leadership, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, as well as for many corporations, universities, and nonprofits. In 2019, Samra was recognized as one of Canada’s “Top 100 Most Powerful Women '' and as a “Top 25 Canadian Immigrant”.

*** For Show Notes, Key Points, Contact Info, Resources Mentioned, & More on this episode please visit my website: EricGilbertWilliams.com. ***

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Contact me at us via: Email ([email protected]), LinkedIn (@ericgilbertwilliams), Twitter (@ericgilbertw), or Instagram (@ericgilbertwilliams).

EP Tags: business, entrepreneurship, motivation, women, author, leadership, tedtalk, yale, university, crime, countdown, good, wives, unicef, true, crime