in between

I’m so excited to have two of my dearest friends and clients, Fiona Byarugaba and Siham Omer, join me for a special joint conversation on this week’s episode. In this episode, Fiona and Siham discuss the meaning of home and cultural identity, and how they stay connected to their roots while expanding their worldview. They share their honest thoughts on what they wish people would understand about their experiences as women of color, and discuss how they felt about the year that was 2020. I’m honored to feature the stories and voices of these two brave, strong women on the podcast.

Connect with Fiona & Siham in the show notes at heatherashleybaker.com/podcast/fionasiham

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Learn more about my one day intensive, from dreaming to doing: heatherashleybaker.com/intensive

Today I'm talking to Katie Meyler, founder of non-profit organization, More Than Me, the first tuition-free private school for girls in Monrovia, Liberia. During the 2014 Ebola epidemic, Katie resolved to remain by her students and staff instead of heading back to the United States. For her efforts, she was named 2014 TIME Person of the Year. Katie was named among People Magazine's 25 Women Changing the World next to Sheryl Sandberg and Oprah. Katie resigned from her organization in 2018 after negative press over a sexual abuse scandal by a local staff member who she put behind bars. In this episode, Katie and I unpack her journey of healing. We discuss how she moves through grief and change, one day at a time, and what she’s learning about accepting what you can't change, self-love, and courage. SENSITIVITY WARNING: Katie and I discuss experiences of sexual abuse in this episode.

Connect with Katie on Instagram: @katiemeyler

See the show notes: heatherashleybaker.com/podcast/katie

Connect with me on Instagram: @helloheatherashley

Learn more about how you can go from dreaming to doing: heatherashleybaker.com/intensive

My guest this week is Pearly Tasker, cake artist, featured on the 2nd season of Zumbo's Just Desserts, toy inventor, and anxiety and mental health advocate. In 2017, Pearly’s struggle with depression and anxiety led her to make big changes in her life. She practiced mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy and learned to reroute the pathways in her brain. Pearly decided to transition out of her career as a flight attendant into full-time creative work; pursuing her passion for baking and cake decorating. Pearly uses this creative passion to share her story and normalise conversations about mental health and anxiety. In this episode, Pearly and I talk about she manages her anxiety and continues to create, the habit she practiced to retrain her neural pathways, and how she melded her authentic experiences, passions, and skills together to live her creatively fulfilled life.

Pearly's website: pearlysprinkles.com.au

Connect with Pearly on Instagram: @pearly.justdessertsau

Learn more about Pearly: heatherashleybaker.com/podcast/pearly

Connect with Heather on Instagram: @helloheatherashley

With me today is Annie Gichuru, a mindset coach for migrant women of color and the producer and host of Uplifting Studios TV. Annie’s beautiful and inspirational work focuses on positive storytelling and sharing the voices of overcomers and migrant women. She’s just released a third season of Uplifting Studios TV. In this episode, Annie and I discuss discovering your purpose, following the pull in your heart toward your calling, how motherhood prompted her to seek out meaningful, aligned work for her life, and how to deal with limiting beliefs that arise as you live out your purpose.

Annie's website: upliftingstudios.com.au

Connect with Annie on Instagram: @upliftingstudiostv

Uplifting Studios TV: youtube.com/c/UpliftingStudiosTV

Learn more about Annie in the show notes: heatherashleybaker.com/podcast/annie

Connect with me on Instagram: @helloheatherashley

I’m thrilled to have Latinx author, designer, and women’s leadership expert Majo Molfino on the podcast this week. Majo writes and shares about breaking the myths that we’re conditioned to live by — and how when we break those myths, we open ourselves to our creative purpose.

In this episode Majo and I talk about — 

• how we become conditioned to follow cultural, religious, social, and familial rules and systems throughout childhood
• the process of breaking free from this conditioning to step into your creative purpose
• the question to ask yourself when making the choice to commit to a creative project
• pushing your vulnerability edge and putting your creative work out into the world
• how to build creative confidence

Connect with Majo on Instagram: @majomolfino

Majo's website: majomolfino.com

Read Majo's book, Break the Good Girl Myth: goodgirlmyth.com

Learn more about Majo in the show notes: heatherashleybaker.com/podcast/majo

Connect with me on Instagram: @helloheatherashley

To kick off the new year, this mini-sode shares my reflections coming out of 2020. I talk about the important choice I made last year during COVID lockdown in Melbourne and how that choice empowered me to keep moving forward. I share about how I felt burnt out after surviving lockdown, and the way I’m practicing mindfulness to start off 2021. I’ve also realised — that I’m in yet another in between season, a waiting season. Waiting to see the fruit of the seeds I’ve been planting. In this episode I share encouragement for you, if you feel like you’re in a waiting season, too.

Check out the show notes at heatherashleybaker.com/podcast

Connect with me on Instagram: @helloheatherashley

This week I talk to one of the kindest, most compassionate creative hearts I know: Nicola Newman. Nicola is an award-winning artist, creative mentor and business coach, writer, retreat host and founder of Flourish: The Art of Creative Living, a year-long creativity school. She supports creative hearts to build a loving relationship with themselves through mindfulness and creative expression. In this episode, Nicola and I talk about loving yourself, following your heart and your curiosity, and giving yourself permission to change course. It’s the perfect episode as we head into the holidays and the end of 2020.

Grab a cup of your favorite holiday drink, and get cozy.

Nicola's website: nicolanewman.com

Connect with Nicola on Instagram: @nicolanewman_

Visit the show notes to learn more about Nicola: heatherashleybaker.com/podcast/nicola

Connect with Heather on Instagram: @helloheatherashley

This week I talk to my friend and coaching client, Haruka Aoki. Haruka is the founder of Snoring Snail, a snail mail stationery company that encourages slowness, contemplation, and self-expression. While working as an art director and illustrator in New York City, Haruka is planting the seeds to build an artist residency and guesthouse in Portugal. In this episode, Haruka and I discuss the long lost artform of letter writing, learning how to trust yourself, how any action can be a form of meditation, and the value of investing in yourself and your creative work.

Snoring Snail website: snoringsnail.com and Instagram: @snoringsnail

Connect with Haruka on Instagram: @harukaaoki

Check out the show notes at: heatherashleybaker.com/podcast/haruka

Let's have a chat about how you can go from dreaming to doing in 2021: heatherashleybaker.com/coaching

Connect with Heather on Instagram: @helloheatherashley

My guest this week, Jessie McCall, has over 10 years experience as a professional photographer, getting her start working in the music industry alongside some of the greats. Through a series of curious inquiries Jessie was led to the world of underwater and nude portraiture. This newfound love prompted her toward melding both coaching and the power of the underwater sessions. In this episode, Jessie and I talk about improvising when things don’t go as you expected, pursuing new relationships in a new country against the backdrop of the pandemic, and trying new, uncomfortable things that stretch your comfort zone and your creativity.

Jessie's website: jessiemccall.com and littlegreeneyesmedia.com (Jessie's photography)

Naked Conversations card deck: jessiemccall.com/store/p/carddeck

Connect with Jessie on Instagram: @littlegreeneyes

Learn more about Jessie in the show notes: heatherashleybaker.com/podcast/jessie

Let's have a chat about how you can go from dreaming to doing in 2021: heatherashleybaker.com/coaching 

My guest this week is my own personal therapist, Merie Burton. Merie is a psychotherapist and counselor with a passion for living life with purpose and connecting with people in an empathetic way. She holds a degree in Social Science (Counselling) and a Master of Counselling, and she's a wife, mum to four, and foster carer. In this episode Merie and I unpack what liminal space is, how we as humans find ourselves in these uncomfortable, often painful spaces, and the choice we all have when it comes to remaining in a comfortable space that we know or moving into the unknown. You’ll learn about embracing paradox, and how the ability to sit in liminal space is the key to experiencing a deep, meaningful life.

Connect with Merie on Facebook: facebook.com/merieburtonpsychotherapy

Merie's website: merieburton.com.au

To learn more about Merie, visit the show notes at heatherashleybaker.com/podcast/merie

Connect with me on Instagram: @helloheatherashley

Download my free creative living audio guide: heatherashleybaker.com/start-here