We're back with another Checking In With the Doctor episode. Today, my conversation with Dr. Aubun Ellis picks up wit more racially motivated violence and we discuss "equal justice under the law" (whatever that means!) https://seraphiend.com

Welcome! We’re talking to Sally Ries-Wacht today. Sally is joining us because she is Seraphine’s friend and she has had a very interesting life. She used to be a singer for the R and B group, Oscar, and in today’s podcast, she talks about her life, her career, and what things have been like for her since her husband got diagnosed with FTD (Frontotemporal dementia).

Seraphine and Sally met while she was teaching a barre class at a local health club. Seraphine loves music and curating playlists, and Sally was fascinated with her collection of songs. She particularly loves George Michael’s songs. 

Some of Sally’s background

Sally came from Wisconsin to Kansas City, and she went to college at Mizzou for a year. After leaving Mizzou, she went to New York University for a few months, but she left after she got cast in an off-Broadway musical show.

LOOM

The first show Sally did was for a company called Light Opera of Manhattan (LOOM) when she was nineteen years old, and she got cast as a replacement for someone.

Star Search

Sally was on Star Search when she was about twenty-four, and she found Ed McMahon to be awesome! She won the first show and even though she felt she did a lot better in the second show, someone else won it.

Oscar

One of the girls in the group, Kia, invited Sally to join her when she was getting the group Oscar together. After a while, they got the opportunity to sing at the Apollo Theatre on a non-televised night. Sally was the only white girl in the group, and people were yelling and throwing things to get her off the stage.

Getting signed by Epic

Getting signed up by Epic was a lot of fun for Sally, and they did some shows with big acts like Boys To Men.

A great song

A great song is all about production. And a song can get done in many different ways if it’s a great song.

Writing songs

When she writes songs, Sally usually writes the melody first, and the lyrics come after that.

How Oscar broke up

The band was going to get resigned after their first single, which did okay but not brilliantly. Sally and some of the other girls were unhappy with the producers. So Sally decided not to do another record unless the girls in the band got more writing credit, they got to write more, and there was a better financial split between the band members and the production team. The producers refused their requests, so Sally decided to leave, and the rest of the band disbanded soon after that.

Back-up singing

After leaving the band, Sally went into back-up singing. She sang background with artists like Daryl Hall and Enya, and she had a lot of fun doing that.

Sally’s relationship with Carlos Leon

Sally had a relationship with Carlos Leon for about five years. He is the father of Madonna’s daughter, Lourdes.

Adam

Sally met Adam when she was about thirty-two. Adam was a producer, so they decided to work together, and eventually ended up getting married. 

Becoming a mother

Sally had her first child when she was thirty-seven and her second child when she was forty-two. She stopped making music for a while after her children were born because she wanted to be there for them.

Frontotemporal dementia

When Adam was fifty-three, he got diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. It started with subtle little things and got more and more intense as time went on.

Confusion

In the beginning, frontotemporal dementia and early-onset dementia have similar symptoms. Sally mostly remembers the confusion that her husband went through when he got diagnosed. His condition deteriorated pretty quickly, and it soon got to the point where he had to give up driving.

Extremely hard

It is hard for Sally to cope with her husband’s illness, and it tries every ounce of her patience. She describes his behavior as being similar to that of a toddler. He does strange things, but people are usually very gracious with what he does. It is also hard for Sally because his behavior changes all the time, it keeps on getting worse, and there is almost nothing that doctors can do to help.

Sally’s daughters

It was hard for Sally to explain to her daughters what was going on with their dad and no rule book exists that could help her. She consoles them but she has never hidden anything from them.

The disease progressed

Adam’s disease finally progressed to the point where Sally could no longer take care of Adam. So she decided to put him into a home.

Support

Care-giving is tough, and Sally truly appreciates her friends showing up with support and understanding for what she is going through. Letting go of her guilt and realizing that she did not cause her husband’s illness has helped her to move on with her life.

Links and resources:

Sally on Instagram - Sally Ries-Wacht

In this episode, Seraphine talks to Terran Smith. Terran is a Kansas City native and she's also a yoga teacher and personal trainer.

Terran's background includes emotional and sexual trauma and PTSD from the abuse she has suffered.

One thing she has learned through it all is that her mental wellness must be her priority, and everything else comes after that.

Join Seraphine and Terran as they work to open minds to the broader conversation we all need to have about mental health.

https://seraphiend.com

We have a very special guest for today’s show! The one and only Landon Patterson is joining us today, and she has something big to celebrate! About two weeks ago, Landon went to the courthouse and had her name changed. She also had her gender-marker changed from male to female because she is a transwoman.

Transgender is a hot discussion topic right now, and Landon is on the show with us today to talk about her life and her experience and to raise awareness and shed some light on the trans experience in general.

About Landon

Landon is 22 years old. She was born and raised in Kanas City, Missouri, and Kansas City is still her home. Her grandmother was Japanese, and her grandfather was in the Navy. She lost her dad when she was three, so she was raised predominantly by women in a close-knit family where she always felt loved and supported.

A cultural difference

While growing up, Landon spent a lot of time with her Japanese grandmother, and that was a very different cultural experience from the American norm.

A hard year

Landon’s grandmother passed away in 2015, so it was a hard year for her. And that was also the year that she came out, as trans. 

Coming out

Landon came out as trans in the second semester of her junior year. She told her counselor and teachers that she was going to transition, and asked them to change her gender in Powerschool so that she could figure out how she could wear the girl’s cheerleading uniform and use the girl’s restroom.

Landon’s grandmother was intuitive

Landon’s grandmother was always very supportive of her, and even before Landon came out, her grandmother used to refer to her as “she”. It was as if her grandmother just knew the truth.

Early on

Early on, everyone knew Landon as the gay kid in makeup who did cheerleading. She had a following on Facebook and YouTube, so she decided to post a video online to see what would happen because she wanted to be known as a woman. 

It’s about gender

Landon explains that her sexuality never bothered her. She was only ever upset about her gender.

A fortunate experience

Landon feels very fortunate about her experience of coming out. At first, things were a little scary for her mother and sister, and they had some difficulties with the idea of her coming out, but only because they wanted her to be safe and they didn’t want things to get any more difficult for her. And they also understood that she was in for a long journey.

In a good place

Eventually, however, everyone, including the people at her school, came around. And even though there were some hard and dark moments, Landon found herself in a good place.

Homecoming Queen

Landon ended up being nominated for Homecoming Queen, and winning! It was huge, and she ended up being interviewed and making history as a result.

No longer needing to be validated

Initially, Landon felt that she needed to be perfect to be seen, validated, and respected as a woman. As she has grown, however, her motivation has changed, and now she only does things like having surgery because she wants to have them done for herself. 

Different ways to be trans

Landon’s journey since coming out has taught her a lot. She now understands that there’s not just one way to be trans, just like there’s no one way to be white, black, or Asian. And all she wants is to be seen and respected for who she is.

American society

American society does not like change or difference. Landon believes that is because most people are intrinsically selfish and closed-minded to new things, and they need to have rules to live by.

Landon’s existence is a reality

Landon points out that her existence is a reality, and no matter what other people choose to believe, she’s here! 

A performer and public personality

Landon is a performer, and she’s a public personality. And even though she accepts her role as Kansas City’s token transgirl and Homecoming Queen, she never thought she would end up working as a performer in a gay bar with drag queens.

Transwomen have always been around

Men have been dressing as women for a very long time, and transwomen have always been around. Drag artists are performers, and drag is an art form that allows men to escape into their womanhood. 

A showgirl

Even though Landon does drag and works in a drag bar, she knows that she is, in reality, a showgirl.

A class act

Landon’s online presence is classy. And she does her tutorials in an educational way that allows her audience to understand that it’s about how things make you feel, and not about torturing yourself to look a certain way. 

Links and resources:

Recommended documentary: Disclosure (on Netflix)

Landon on Instagram 

Landon on TikTok - @Landon Patterson 16

We have Christian Noni joining us today to talk about his unique and captivating journey. Christian has so many beautiful and interwoven stories to share with us today, and they are sure to remind us all that we’re not alone. 

Christian had an unusual upbringing. He was born in Upstate New York, in a small town called Chautauqua, on a Native American reservation very close to the Canadian border. Christian, his mom, and his dad were the only Caucasian people living there. His parents moved around a lot, and they moved to Huntington Beach, California, when Christian was about thirteen or fourteen years old. He has continued living there until recently.

Although his roots developed through Native American Indians, his social structure, his personality, and his hobbies and interests come from living in a beach town.

Christian’s parents

Christian’s parents were both hard workers. They worked as janitors for the same corporation, and they also had second jobs at a Baptist Christian Church in Chautauqua, in return for Christian’s elementary schooling. 

Christian’s first teacher

Christian’s elementary school teacher was Mrs. Forbes. She was also the principal of the school, and she taught him all his subjects. There were only between eight and twelve kids in the classroom for the entire day.

Private school

Later, after moving to the west coast, his parents separated and Christian got sent to a private school in Southern California, which was very different from what he was used to. 

Diversity

Christian preferred going to a public school because he enjoys diversity. There was none of that at the private school.

Hate Crime

Christian never had the opportunity to come out as a gay man because he was the victim of hate crime and got brutally gay-bashed by some guys from his school who used to be his friends. In the six months following the incident, he came to realize how strong he was as a person.

House arrest

After having been beaten up, Christian was put under house arrest for three months, “for his protection”.

Feeling comfortable

Christian feels comfortable with where his life is right now because he feels confident, and he knows who he is and who he is not. He has no issues with discussing that he is gay or telling people that he has a fiancée who is about to become his husband.

Gaining weight

Between the ages of sixteen and seventeen, Christian put on a lot of weight. He moved to Colorado a few years later, still very overweight. He started going out to bars to meet people, and he found that men in gay bars would judge him for how he looked. 

Fitness training

He joined a gym and started working with an excellent trainer. She charged a lot, so Christian got two credit cards and maxed both of them out so that he could fulfill his commitment to getting himself in shape.

School

He went to school, and after two years, he became a surgical technologist and started working in operating rooms assisting surgeons.

Loving life

Christian became obsessed with life and living it to the full. He started taking pictures of people and going away on trips to south-east Asia. He was still studying at the time, and he loved taking photos of the people of indigenous tribes.

National Geographic 

A friend saw a National Geographic photographic contest online and suggested that Christian should submit some of his pictures. He won the competition, and National Geographic employed him. He ended up working for National Geographic for the next six or seven years.

Healing

Working in the medical field and traveling helped Christian to heal from the mental and emotional effects of the brutal attack on him that happened when he was in high school.

Health and fitness 

After walking away from photography, Christian dived head-first into health and fitness because as he lost weight, he wanted to connect with other people and hear their stories about how they managed to lose weight.

Tribal antiquities

Christian collects tribal antiquities, and his home is full of tribal relics. He used to live with different tribes for months at a time, and he really bonded with the people, so they would often give him things. Indigenous people are vanishing

Indigenous people are disappearing. It is important to Christian that people get to know their stories. He is active in preserving their land so that they and their traditions can continue to live. 

The Embody Museum

Christian has a collection of ancient tribal jewelry. It is to teach people about human history, where we come from, and where we are going. Some of the proceeds will go to Survival International.org, which fights for the survival of tribal people. You can go to the Embody Museum to find out more or to make a donation.

Book

Christian is currently writing a book. It is called Embody, and it will have photographs of the tribes and some of their pieces.

Links and resources:

Embody Museum

Christian on Instagram

Seraphiend on Instagram

Seraphiend Website

Today, we have Justin Betancourt joining us. Justin is an incredible human being. He is a bad-ass twenty-seven-year-old Mexican-American in corporate finance, and he is on the show with us today to talk about his life, his love, and what it was like growing up in his tight-knit immigrant family. 

Justin comes from a humble background. When he was in his twenties, he was in college doing a sociology criminal justice degree, minoring in dance and Spanish. He was also killing it in the restaurant industry at the time. Then, he decided to make a big jump, from being an artistic and creative soul in the food industry, straight into the world of corporate finance. 

Why Justin decided to make the leap

Justin and his brothers and sisters all share the same goal. Their goal is to be successful and give their mom and dad what they couldn’t afford to give their kids while they were growing up with all six of them living cramped up together in a studio apartment. 

Their home was always full of joy

Justin’s parents did a great job of never letting their kids feel poor. Although they shared small living space, and they didn’t have much money, their home was always full of love and laughter. So Justin and his siblings wanted to be successful so that they could be in a position to give their parents a home of their own, a car, and whatever else their hearts desired.  

Success

While he was growing up, Justin wanted to become a lawyer because he always thought that being a lawyer would help him to help his parents out.

Most people don’t understand

Generally, people tend to think that parents should be taking care of the kids and not the other way around. So, most people don’t understand what it means to go off to college and send money back to your parents. And they don’t understand why one would even want to do that. 

Social security

Justin and his sisters grew up quickly. At the age of ten, Justin already knew what social security was and what it did. 

The social security law

In 2008, the social security law kicked in. That meant that anyone who hired anyone who was not a US citizen would get fined. So Justin’s father, who was overqualified for what he was doing, lost his job straight away because he was not a US citizen. 

Learning responsibility at a young age

Money was always a problem in his family while Justin was growing up. His parents often used to argue about money, and he and his siblings could hear everything they were saying. The upside of that is that Justin and his sister matured very quickly, and they learned how to be responsible, work with numbers, keep their cool, and stretch things if they needed to.

A dominant human being

Justin is a dominant person, and he is also a gay male. Interestingly, he takes on the role of the protector in his relationship with his partner, Christian, who also has a strong presence.

An advocate for preventing bullying

Justin got bullied at school, and now he has become an advocate for preventing bullying.

Coming out

Justin didn’t come out. He got outed by the bullies at his high school. And he came out to his family when he was twenty-one. His parents were more understanding about it than he thought they would be. 

Moving away 

Justin is very close to his family, and they have always been a big part of his life, so it was distressing for him to move away from California, where his family lives, to Kansas City. 

What makes you happy?

Justin’s partner, Christian, found it difficult to understand his strong attachment to his family early on in their relationship. He took some time to get to understand that being of service to them makes Justin happiest. 

George Floyd

George Floyd’s passing has had more impact on Justin recently than COVID ever has because, as a result of it, he got to learn about everything that got withheld for the past 400 years.

The Maasai Tribe

Justin and Christian, his partner, love to travel, and Christian used to work for National Geographic. On one of their trips, they went to Kenya to visit the indigenous Maasai tribe. 

Giving back

Justin’s perfect job would be where he was allowed to run with his ideas, within banking, a dance concert, or a fashion show. For him, it’s all about giving back, and giving back is about talking, interacting, and learning from one another. He loves to show people that things, like traveling, are often a lot easier and more affordable than they thought.

Links and resources:

Justin on Instagram  

 Seraphiend on Instagram

Seraphiend Website

In our very first episode of the Seraphiend podcast, we interviewed Dr. Auburn Ellis, who is an online teacher and educator. Lately, Seraphine has been going to Dr. Auburn for help because she has come to realize that she has an illness in her called systemic racism, and Dr. Auburn has been helping her to dismantle it.

Dr. Auburn joins us on the show today and will be back again each month to help us understand how to continue with the journey of dismantling systemic racism. She will also help us in accepting that there is a whole lot more to it than just the short-term shame spiral that many of us experienced.  

Holding space and listening

Seraphine has been learning that holding the space and listening is the very first step in dismantling racism. And Dr. Auburn has noticed that a lot of people do not like to listen.

Continuing the dialogue  

Continuing the dialogue is pivotal in helping us evolve as people.

Listen and learn

Seraphine has been looking up some keywords and phrases, and she has been listening to audiobooks and podcasts to educate herself and learn how to overcome racism. 

Micro-aggression

When people want to guess who you are, culturally, they are microaggressive, and it hurts. And that is part of the reason that Dr. Auburn tells people to call her Dr. Auburn, rather than Dr. Ellis. 

A dehumanizing process

Black people's ancestors got brought to America as slaves, and one of the many things that got taken away from them was their names. It was to dehumanize them and strip them of any memory of their lineage and of who they were. 

Taking on names of slave-masters

When slaves got given their “freedom” many of them took on the names of their slave-masters. That is where many of their current names were derived. 

Separating herself from her harsh history

For Dr. Auburn, reclaiming the title of Doctor, forcing people to use it, and reclaiming her name as an elevated human, was part of the process of separating herself from the harsh history of the removal of her name. 

The process of dehumanization

In the book, The Willie Lynch Letter And The Making of a Slave, he goes through the process of what to do to dehumanize people and bring them to submission.

Brave New World

In his book, Brave New World, Aldous Huxley wrote about hierarchy, education, the different levels of humanity, and even savages. His book can help people understand what is going on in our world today.

Dr. Auburn’s anti-racism work

Dr. Auburn teaches anti-racism, and people have described her training as going back to school because what she teaches is very different from people simply proclaiming that they are not racist. She explains that 400 years of oppression has tipped the scale, and so anti-racism work is defined by people seeing that the balance is so far off that their actions have to promote anti-racism, to become better.

Becoming equal

To become equal, you have to take action, and this podcast is an example of what you can do.

Finding new things in your feed

To move forward in overcoming systemic racism, you will need to find new things in your feed and follow new people.

Who to follow  

You will need to follow people of color, BIPOC voices, organizations that are doing the work, and anything else that will help you to stay in tune with the movement and change your everyday mindset. 

Educating yourself and opening your eyes to change

You can get education from workshops, and you can learn a lot by tuning into other forms of news, like MPR, which has discussions about people of color on the other side of the world having the same struggle with police brutality.

Issuing challenges

Another way to inspire people to move forward in overcoming racism is to issue challenges to all the people you know or people with whom you connect. 

At the end of every training

At the end of her training sessions, Dr. Auburn always gives three tips:

1. Remember that there is a difference between anti-racism and not being a racist.
2. Issue the challenges.
3. Honor the conversations.

Dr. Auburn’s website 

Follow Dr. Auburn on Instagram – dr_auburn

Dr. Auburn on Facebook – Studio 5400 or Auburn Aesthetic

Good Ancestor Podcast – Layla F. Saad

The Thomas Jennings Open Learning Village

Books mentioned: 

The Willie Lynch Letter and The Making of a Slave by Willie Lynch

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Today, we invite you to join us in entering the world of two authentic and uniquely creative individuals, Peregrine Honig and Calvin Arsenia. 

Peregrine is an artist and curator, and she is known to many people in Kansas City as the Senior Artistic Director for the West 18th Street Fashion Show. She has a permanent collection in the Whitney Museum of Art, and you can also experience her art at the Chicago Art Institute, the New York public library, and Blue Gallery on the Boulevard.

Calvin sings, and he plays the harp. He is a whole lot more than just a musician and a performance artist, and he has built a reputation for creating shows that are turning the art world on its head.

Peregrine and Calvin make Kansas City the coolest place to live! Right now, they are shooting a film called Summer in Hindsight, which is to be presented by the Kansas City Film Society on October 16th, at the Boulevard Drive-in.

They are joining us on the podcast today to talk about the West 18th Street Fashion Show and the movie that they’re making. They also discuss what they hope to achieve as artists, the real value of art, and what their art truly means to them.

Creating in the COVID box

For Calvin, creating in the COVID box is about perspective and pivoting. He has spent a lot of time during the pandemic studying his instruments, his voice, his family history, and the racial revolution that we are currently witnessing.  

A time for introspection

For Peregrine, this is the time for introspection, and going back in time to revisit the formal nature of what she makes because things are simplified. She has found that there are fewer distractions right now if you can put your phone down and more distractions if you see what’s going on politically.

The 20th year of the West 18th Street Fashion Show

This year is the 20th year of the West 18th Street Fashion Show, and Peregrine has a great board of intelligent and intuitive people, including Calvin. 

Everything is amplified right now

Art is everything! And everything is amplified right now, so Peregrine and Calvin are taking pride in giving people something to look forward to. 

A different kind of impact

We all know that money comes, and money goes. But the influencers of the world need to understand that cultural capital, emotional capital, and spiritual capital are just as important as money because they have a lasting impact. 

Human connection

Peregrine and Calvin are creating an experience for everyone to watch. And an opportunity for the participants to create an experience for people, to bring them together, and to remind them of the importance of the human connection. 

Everything is global with the internet

When you have the internet, everything you do is global. So Calvin and Peregrine have been able to be part of international conversations. That has helped them in creating work that lifts them and places them amongst their peers, who are people who are doing what they love to do in Hollywood, New York City, and Paris. Those people are not better than they are, so Peregrine and Calvin’s work should not be any less than theirs. 

What they hope to accomplish

Providing the worthy frame for the garments and the designers is what they hope to achieve with the fashion show and with their movie.

COVID-safe, Mid-Western style

This year, they have a product to offer, and the fact that it is starting in a legit drive-in could not be more Mid-Western. It will also be COVID-safe because there will be an empty parking spot between each car.

Tickets

The tickets are available from Eventbrite, and they range in price from free (if you get there early) up to $500.

A different art experience

With both Peregrine and Calvin’s art, you think you’re about to experience one thing, and then you find yourself experiencing something very different.

The theme of accessibility  

They created the West 18th Street Fashion Show with the idea of beautiful and necessary things being accessible to everyone, so they started it with accessibility as the theme.

It’s not about the money

Art is not all about money. It’s more about an exchange of energy.

The movie

Calvin is the main character in their movie. There are also two international musicians in it and eleven amazing designers. And they have the best makeup artists and hairdressers because nobody is having weddings or getting their hair done right now.

The feelings of this time

The movie talks directly about the feelings of this time, without using a lot of words. And Peregrine and Calvin hope to make it accessible all over the world.

Risk

They have taken a risk with the way they have gone about creating the movie, but it feels appropriate for where they are both at in their careers. 

A better world

Calvin and Peregrine are on a mission to make a better world. You can connect with them and support them by finding them by their names, Peregrine Honig and Calvin Arsenia, on social media.

Links and resources:

West 18th Street Fashion Show

West 18th Street Fashion Show on Instagram

West 18th Street Fashion Show on Facebook

Connect with Seraphiend.com

Follow Seraphiend on Instagram

We are happy to welcome Ashley Stanley as our guest for today’s podcast! 

Ashley is the Humane Education Manager at Wayside Waifs, a no-kill animal shelter in Kansas City, Missouri. 

She is joining us today to share her story and explain what she does in the classroom. She also describes the reality behind what it's like, working in an animal shelter, and she shares how she is navigating her journey right now as a white woman educator.

About Ashley

Ashley is a Certified Humane Education Specialist. She has given presentations locally and also across the United States, on topics that include using animals to support character development, using humane education to stop the cycle of violence, unlocking empathy, and understanding the similarities between pets and people.

Ashley has been with the Wayside Waifs organization for the last five years, and she oversees the development and implementation of their Humane Education Program, which includes No More Bullying, and reaches more than 16 000 students each year. 

About the Humane Education Program

The Humane Education Program at Wayside Waifs is a curriculum with an innovative approach to ending the cycle of violence towards people and animals.

About the Humane Education Program curriculum

The Humane Education Program is being taught in 25 schools locally in Kansas City, as well as in other schools across the country. They developed the curriculum as a way to teach children in Kansas City, and it can also be purchased to be used anywhere else in the country.

Not cut out for the public school environment

Growing up, Ashley always wanted to get into education. She studied at college to become a music teacher but later realized that she was not cut out for the public school environment. So, she began looking for alternative avenues for education and started doing before and after school programs and summer camps at the YMCA.

Getting burned out

After spending several years working for the YMCA, she got burned out and developed compassion fatigue. So she left her job without having anything else lined up.

Compassion fatigue

She explains that it’s quite common for people working in non-profits to develop compassion fatigue because they are trying so hard to give back, and non-profits require a lot of hard work for very little pay. 

Being a humane educator was more than she thought it would be

When Ashley saw the position for a humane educator posted at Wayside Waifs, she decided to check it out, even though she had no idea of what it entailed. She went into it with the idea that she would get to work with kids and around cute animals, and she loved that. However, it turned out to be way more than she ever thought it would be.

The reality of working at an animal shelter    

Working at an animal shelter, you see a lot more than cute, furry animals. You also see lots of neglected animals and animals in pain, so it’s hard not to allow it to affect you, no matter how strong or stoic you are.

She learned a lot, very quickly 

Ashley went into the animal welfare world with no professional experience of ever having worked with animals. She learned a lot, very quickly, and she became very good at compartmentalizing the terrible things she was seeing. 

Finding a balance between the best and the worst of things

Now, five years in, Ashley is still learning a lot. She explains that with animal welfare, you see the worst things in the world, but you also get to see the best things. She finds that being part of the magical things that happen there tends to balance the terrible things out, and it makes them a little easier for her to swallow.

Incredible training for dog walkers

At Wayside, they do some excellent training. They make sure that all their dog walkers are confident and feel comfortable with the dogs.

Walking into the lion’s den

Ashley is more confident with the dogs now than ever before, and she has learned a lot about energy management, but even so, she still feels like she’s walking into the lion’s den sometimes when she walks into the kennels.

Learning about communication 

Ashley learned more about communicating with people, and more about herself and how to be a better communicator with the world around her, just by working in an animal shelter. One part of what she learned has come from working with the animals, and another part has come from being in the classroom with students.

Five core values

The program that Ashley teaches has five core values. They are responsibility, compassion, being humane, self-control, and integrity. 

Learning to think differently

Ashley wants to teach children to think differently about people and animals, to have more compassion for them, and to understand why they do the things they do. And she wants to help students and adults to have a better understanding of the world around them so that they can take better care of it.

Getting involved and giving back

If you want to get involved and help out in some way, you need to start by thinking about what motivates you and where your passion lies. Then, you will need to find organizations that you can support locally who are doing that work and get involved as a volunteer, spread the word, or contribute financially.

Links and resources:

Wayside Waifs website

No More Bullying Curriculum on Facebook

Seraphiend on Instagram

Serphiend on Facebook

Serphiend Website

We’re very happy to have Chloe Elise as our guest for today’s podcast! 

Chloe is a Money Coach, she’s the CEO of the financial literacy company, Deeper Than Money, and she also has a podcast to assist millennials in taking their finances into their own hands, saving, and becoming debt-free. 

Chloe has it all together! She made her first six figures at the age of twenty-three, and she joins us on the show today to share her inspiring story and talk about the things that matter to her.

About Chloe

Chloe is a Money Coach with a mission to show millennials how easy and fun finances can be. She helps her clients get ahead with their money, pay off their debt, and save for their future investments. 

Chloe paid off her debt of more than $36 000 in less than eighteen months. That transformed her life, and after seeing that happen, she became driven to help others achieve the same kind of freedom. 

Chloe’s mission at Deeper Than Money is to show you that you are capable of creating massive wealth and that managing your finances is easy and fun to do!

Achieving our goals

Chloe thinks that most of us tend to overcomplicate what we think we need to do to achieve our goals.

How it all started for Chloe

It all started for Chloe because she had a big dream and a naïve little vision that she could make six figures. 

It began with a struggle

Chloe was nineteen years old, in college, and broke. She knew that something needed to change, so she went on a journey to figure out her finances. It was a struggle to find the best advice for a nineteen-year-old and to know which advice to follow. She finally managed to figure things out, however, and at the age of twenty-one, she paid off her entire debt of $36 000.

A transformational realization

After Chloe figured out how to pay off her debt in just eighteen months, she realized that what she had accomplished would be transformational for the entire trajectory of her life. From that moment, she got inspired to show other people how to do it. And even though she didn’t know much about business or finances at the time, she felt confident that she could figure it all out.

Failing is part of the journey

In the beginning, Chloe used to Google things, look things up on YouTube, and ask people lots of questions. She kept on failing in many different ways until things finally worked, and then she would keep on going until something else failed. Then, she would sort that out and keep on moving forward.

Keeping focused and authentic

Chloe always creates more than she consumes. And she always creates first, so, if she intends to spend an hour indulging in something like social media, she keeps things balanced by spending at least two hours, before that, on creating content for her website. Doing that also allows her to make sure that everything that she creates is authentic to herself and her business.

Being vision-focused

Chloe is very vision-focused, and maintaining a laser-focus on her big vision is very important to her. But she has a bit of a problem in that she has several visions for the future, so she practices self-discipline, and always focuses on just one thing at a time. And she will only move on to the next thing when the first thing is completely done and dusted.

Remixing

Remixing is using your own, authentic energy to create an elevated version of something that you have seen somewhere else, and then reintroducing it in such a way that it becomes an honest and real reflection of who you are. Unfortunately, many of us tend to feel like an impostor when we do that. 

Impostor Syndrome

Chloe felt like an impostor for most of her life, so she was surprised to discover that other people also feel that way. 

Believing in your dreams

Now, Chloe understands that you have to believe in your dream more than anyone else does, so she encourages everyone to do whatever they want to do. 

Going all-in for your dream

She explains that if you truly want to do something, then you’re meant to be doing it because God does not put anything on your heart that you are not supposed to do. And when you have a dream and a vision, you have to be all-in for it, even if the people around you are not.

Links and resources:

Deeper Than Money

Deeper Than Money Podcast

You can search for Deeper Than Money on any social media platform to connect with Chloe.

Recommended book: Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg