By Adonica Shaw
The podcast currently has 19 episodes available.
In this episode of I Surrender, Adonica speaks with Venus Morris Griffin about how she and her children overcame a public scandal when it was revealed that her husband of 20+ years had an affair with a prostitute leaving the stay at home mother of 6, with nothing but the willpower to live, and a dream of one day becoming a self-sufficient realtor.
Venus Morris Griffin is an award-winning Meybohm real estate agent who had to overcome adversities to be where she is today. Coming from an abusive childhood where not many had her best interests in mind, she grew up to be stuck in another abusive relationship with a man who she later found out to be violent and manipulative. After a surprising call in the middle of the night from a prostitute revealed most of her husband's dirty doings--including giving away their entire savings--the formerly stay-at-home-mom Venus had to quickly adapt to her circumstances so that she can provide for her 6 kids.
Within 10 years of getting her real estate license at the height of the 2008 economic crisis, Venus was named the #1 producer in her company for multiple years while her former husband was sentenced to 45 years in jail. She works hard to bring herself and all her kids out of the toxic environment while healing the deep wounds of their dad deep and making sure they grew up in a home different from her childhood. You can hear more about her story from Venus herself in this video. She is also the author of an upcoming book, slated for release in April 2021.
Despite having her right leg amputated at age five, Bonnie St. John became the first African-American ever to win medals in Winter Olympic competition, taking home a silver and two bronze medals at the 1984 Winter Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria. She graduated Magna Coom Lauday from Harvard, earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, and has also served in the White House as a Director of the National Economic Council during the Clinton administration.
Today, Bonnie travels the globe as a highly acclaimed keynote speaker, expert, business owner, and the author of seven books including her latest work, MICRO-RESILIENCE: Minor Shifts for Major Boosts in Focus, Drive, & Energy.
She has been featured extensively in both national and international media including: The Today Show, GMA, CNN, CBS Morning News, PBS, NPR, and The New York Times.
In this episode, I chat with her about how her mindset helped thrust her forward despite the odds and learn more about the shifts she says each of us can make to hone in on our ability to be resilient. This episode of I Surrender is bought to you by Wingspan Health. Wingspan is the fastest, easiest way to get all of your medical information in one place.
When Gary's near-fatal cancer struck in the summer of 2015 there were few options available to him. His entire reality was uprooted and tossed into yet another more perplexing and mystifying one. Due to his firm resilience and ability to follow his heart, he slowly emerged from cancer into a world far greater than the one he had previously known. Now a former Opera singer, Gary teaches people around the world about how the power of surrendering allowed him to transform his mind and create peace in the face of a storm.
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This podcast takes a deep dive into the behaviors, beliefs, and paradigms that hold us back, but more importantly how to overcome them by surrendering to a different way of doing things.
This weekly conversation features the stories of people who’ve overcome great trials as well as experts who’ve successfully helped people navigate their darkness and life-altering experiences.
Season 2 features interviews from former Paralympic skier, and White House Official Bonnie St. John, and Renowned Psychotherapist and NYT bestselling author Barry Michels, transformational therapist Kristan Sargeant and many more.
This week on the I Surrender podcast, Adonica talks to Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin about her relationship to self care and personal advocacy in the workplace and how it shaped her career.
Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin is a licensed psychologist and executive coach, with a focus on career advancement and leadership development. She is a co-founder and partner of Dynamic Transitions Psychological Consulting, a career and executive coaching consultancy, where she works mostly with high potential managers and executives. She earned her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University.
Her views about career advancement, job transitions, leadership, and diversity & inclusion are regularly sought by the media and she has appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, NBC News, Forbes, The Huffington Post, Refinery29, Business Insider, and Insight Into Diversity. She has also been honored as a Top Voice on LinkedIn in the area of Job Search and Careers.
Dr. Orbé-Austin has been an invited speaker at various national conferences. She recently gave a TEDx talk entitled "The Impostor Syndrome Paradox." She regularly consults with organizations in the private sector, non-profits, and educational institutions in supporting their employees and senior leadership teams to address gender bias, diversity, equity, & inclusion concerns, leadership development, effective communication, team cohesion, and managing conflict management.
Her book, Own Your Greatness: Overcome Impostor Syndrome, Beat Self-Doubt, and Succeed in Life (Ulysses Press, 2020) co-authored with her partner, Dr. Richard Orbé-Austin, was released in April 2020.
For more information, please visit her online at www.dynamictransitionsllp.com
This week Adonica talks to Dr. Aimée Derbes DACM, LAc, about how she transformed her life with Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture.
Aimée Derbes, DACM, LAc, is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, licensed acupuncturist, breathwork healer, and writer based in New York City. In addition to being a Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, she is a nationally certified Chinese herbalist, a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner, and a Certified Breathwork Healer. Dr. Derbes helps people reconnect with their innate vibrancy and wholeness, so they can navigate being human with more ease.
Her healing arts practice, Align Acupuncture, is a refuge for people who are ready to be deeply supported as they let go of living in chronic stress, refill their wells, and heal in a sustainable, lasting way. Approaching each of her patients as a beautifully complex individual, she draws upon the richness of both East Asian medicine and energy medicine to craft personalized treatments that support each individual exactly where they are. She offers acupuncture and Chinese medicine sessions to New Yorkers, and works with people all over the country through virtual breathwork and reiki sessions and virtual breathwork groups.
To learn more about Aimée, visit her online at https://alignnewyork.com/ You can purchase her book here: https://alignnewyork.com/shop/seed-heal-now
In this special episode of the, I Surrender Podcast Adonica talks to Cyrell Roberson about the impact of mental health on Black celebrities and public figures as well as the uptick in reported suicides in the African American community.
Cyrell Roberson provides psycho-educational assessments, neuropsychological evaluations and therapy at Summit Center for children, adolescents, and adults. Cyrell is a doctoral candidate in School Psychology at UC Berkeley where his research focuses on the psychosocial development of underserved gifted students. His work has been published in several journals including the Journal of Advanced Academics, the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy, and the American Psychological Association. Cyrell has a wide range of experience in private practice settings, as well as K – 12th grade public, independent, and charter schools in the Bay Area.
His previous professional experience also includes working at Educational Testing Service (ETS) on the Fairness Review, teaching education and psychology courses at UC Berkeley, and interning at The White House where he worked on education policy and advocacy initiatives of the Executive Office of the President. He earned a B.S. in psychology from Xavier University of Louisiana and an M.A. in education from UC Berkeley.
For more information about Cyrell Roberson, visit him online at https://summitcenter.us/about/team/cyrellroberson/
In this special episode of the "I Surrender," podcast Adonica interviews Diversity Educator Jane Elliott on the Impact of Racism and Police Brutality on the Mental Health of American Americans.
This interview is one of several special episodes for Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, in which Ms. Shaw has interviewed various mental health professionals on issues like the Strong Black Woman Schema, Racial Microaggressions and PTSD amongst Veterans impact the black community.
Jane Elliott is an internationally known teacher, lecturer and diversity educator. Elliott is considered to be the forerunner of diversity training, with the controversial ["Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes"](Blue Eye Brown Eye Exercise) exercise that was used in a third-grade classroom the day after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior in 1968. Her now-famous exercise label participants as inferior or superior based upon the color of their eyes and exposes them to the experience of being a minority.
For more information on Jane, please visit her online at https://janeelliott.com/
In this special episode of the, I Surrender Podcast Adonica talks to Dr. Lisa Battle-Gwathney about beating burnout by living more intentionally.
Dr. Lisa is the founder and owner of Enhancing Wellness Counseling & Consulting, LLC, and Beyond Grand Coaching, LLC, and has been active in the mental health arena for 11 years. In private practice work, she focuses on relationships and trauma. In the past few years, Lisa has become aware of the need to address burnout. As a result, Lisa has become the Intentional Coach & Strategist to support women in living intentionally.
Dr. Lisa Battle-Gwathney is certified in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and has training in Play and Expressive Arts Therapy.
For more information about Dr. Lisa Battle-Gwathney, visit her online at https://www.enhancingwellnessllc.com/about.
In this special episode of the, I Surrender Podcast Adonica talks to Dr. Akilah Reynolds about how the strong black woman identity can help or hurt us.
Dr. Reynolds is a psychologist in Los Angeles where she works at an academic medical center, a private practice, and researches the strong Black woman schema. Dr. Reynolds believes psychology has the power to transform lives. To that end, she is passionate about empowering people to live the life of their dreams by encouraging mental health and wellness.
For more information about Dr. Reynolds, visit her online at https://www.linkedin.com/in/akilahreynolds/ .
And on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dr.akilah/
The podcast currently has 19 episodes available.