This weeks guest is DeShanta Hairston, a black bookstore owner in Martinsville Virginia, and mother of two wonderful children. She shares struggles and triumphs of being black woman and being an entrepreneur not only during the pandemic, but also in a small town. She’s online so you can still support her from afar! Booksandcranniesva.com Books and Crannies was listed on the Oprah Daily last year! To find a local Black owned bookstore go to:

125 Black-Owned, Independent Bookstores By State. To watch the Hometown Hustle YouTube series mentioned in this episode go to: https://youtu.be/C0acT-Y0DRE. Follow Shanta’s bookstore at Books and Crannies on Facebook, @BooksNcrannies_ on Twitter, or @booksncrannies_on Instagram.

Today’s guest is Esmeralda Galindo, an entrepreneur with Younique, mom of three boys, military spouse, and faithful Catholic. Esme shared about how having a business from home supported her family, transformed lives of customers, and how she remains firm in sharing her faith even when others say not to. Younique has a wonderful product line of skincare and makeup products and also 10% goes to an organization helping women heal from sexual assaults before they were 18. Join us for a wonderful conversation!

Her website is: https://www.youniqueproducts.com/EsmeraldaGalindo#.YMjD36JOLDt.

Follow her on Facebook: Makeup by Esme - https://m.facebook.com/esmegalindo1988/ or her personal page: https://www.facebook.com/esmeralda.galindo.142892. You can follow her on Instagram: https://instagram.com/esme_galindo_1?utm_medium=copy_link (esme_galindo_1).

Follow me on lovefiercely_fightdiligently on Instagram https://instagram.com/lovefiercely_fightdiligently?utm_medium=copy_link. And leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Trigger warning, this episode contains discussion about suicide and sexual assault. Today’s guest is Ben Woodward - husband to Kim, father of eight, entrepreneur, strategist, speaker, coach, and the author of #1 Amazon Best Seller The Empowerment Paradox. His book covers the Seven Vital Virtues to Turn Struggles Into Strength and many moments from his life where he either learned or had to apply these 7 virtues. Whether you read or prefer audiobooks, I highly recommend you take the time to learn from his life with this book! In this episode, we mostly discuss topics covered in his book. Whether you’re looking to learn how to better deal with mental health, bipolar disorder, marriage, working for companies, personal growth, or finding joy through struggles - he has a wealth of knowledge.

His website is: ben-woodward.com. Watch the video intro to his book here: https://youtu.be/L47vQ_bFDyo.

If you or a friend need a number for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline it is: 800.273.8255 in the US. If you need a Warmline in the US, go to https://screening.mhanational.org/content/need-talk-someone-warmlines/ to find the phone number for your state.

For UK hotlines visit: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/crisis-services/helplines-listening-services/

Today’s guest is Whit Aadland who is a musician hailing from SoCal. He plays guitar, bass, drums, and sings, but his primary passion is teaching. We had a rich discussion about church music and variety of musical genres, and diversity of scalable physics, musical predecessors, practice, performance, professional musicianship, and stories. While he is excited for our digital age, he is a musical preservationist and keeps older music and music styles alive. He performed his song No Beds for us, and I added a recording I took from a gig he did at the JazzyWishbone in O’side. To keep up to date with where he’s playing in Oceanside and Carlsbad, check out @whitoutadoubt on Instragram. His soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/whit-aadland/sets/triplethreat/. Check him out in person if you can!

Follow my Instagram at lovefiercely_fightdiligently to see photos. Visit my store for merch! https://love-fiercely-fight-diligently.myshopify.com/

If you want to know about a jewel in California - San Luis Obispo, listen to find out why I love visiting there repeatedly! Visit slocreekfarms.com, topdogcoffeebar.com, paddlemorrobay.com to learn more a few of the many locations I love in the SLO area.

For hikers, to learn more about the famous SLO Tritip Challenge visit: https://www.actionhub.com/stories/2020/05/05/tri-tip-challenge-series-hikes/.

Follow lovefiercely_fightdiligently on Instagram for pictures from my SLO trips. For merch go to: https://love-fiercely-fight-diligently.myshopify.com/

Seize Opportunities! In today’s episode I spoke about my first time in Paris (for only a day), my visiting a French Bunker in Djibouti, a French-English Discussion Group, and the only official Evangelical Christian French church in the country of Djibouti. All opportunities were presented to me as optional, but I said yes and will be forever grateful I did! As a new world traveler, I made some mistakes and still will, just hopefully less often in the future. Perhaps something I shared will be insightful for other wishing to travel to Paris or Djibouti.

Here is the link to the music video I mentioned with Evynne Hollens: https://youtu.be/E5iJIVVKS8Y Here is a link to the church in Djibouti if you would like to learn more or support them: https://sites.google.com/site/hiyawkal/djiboutithebodyofchrist

For pictures of my adventures, please follow my Instagram at: lovefiercely_fightdiligently.

Today’s episode is to introduce people to the idea of ambiverts. I also spoke about introverts and omniverts.

To learn more check out these articles:

https://www.today.com/health/winning-personality-advantages-being-ambivert-t70236

https://www.liveboldandbloom.com/10/personality-types/ambivert-vs-omnivert

Announcing the exciting news that has been in the works for several weeks - my Shopify website!! Check it out. More merch and collections coming soon. My suggested Mother’s Day and Father’s Day collections are already available for you.

https://love-fiercely-fight-diligently.myshopify.com/

In this episode I talk about fear, how it holds us back and will likely always be there. When you have ideas and have to break through the barrier of a comfort zone, do not let fear be the limiting factor! I am where I am today because I left over 70-80% of my comfort zones and sought the life I dreamed of. I also spoke about my faith in Jesus Christ and my view of religion vs. spirituality. To keep up with reminders, news, and updates follow my Instagram at: lovefiercely_fightdiligently. Peace be with you!

In this episode I discuss 5 tips for taking breaks from thewellbeingthesis.org.uk/foundations-for-success/importance-of-taking-breaks-and-having-other-interests. I talk about lessons I have learned and patterns I have noticed about people. At some point every human needs a break! Whether you follow the Sabbath or take Sunday off or don’t follow a religion that suggests you take a day of rest - it is still important to rejuvenate and recuperate. To tie all the dynamic parts of life together, I read from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8(ESV). Follow my Instagram page: lovefiercely_fightdiligently. If you genuinely need to pause, please do. Many rely on you and look to you for support... you must take care of your well being even if you feel lazy taking a pause. Bright blessings!

This episode is for all parents, music teachers, choir directors, and supporters of the arts. Tracee Prillaman and her husband Jeff, are professional musicians, have four children, and have made community and collaboration through music a lifestyle. While DaCapo was started in Virginia, please note this organization can be located anywhere and should be everywhere! There are choirs for four age groups, VIVO is for special needs children, and INSPIRE is the newest part that integrates arts and music into the Martinsville Henry County School System. I included an audio clip from a quartet I was in with the Prillaman’s, and audio clips from the Da Capo Virginia and Da Capo Inspire Facebook page.

DaCapo Guiding Principles:

D.evelop the whole person through opportunities for self-expression, discipline, creativity, and teamwork.

A.chieve excellence through challenging experiences.

C.reate, build, and strengthen new and existing communities through the common language of music.

A.ppreciate all types of music.

P.rovide an opportunity for everyone, where all are valued as individuals.

O.utfit individuals with the power to share music and impact their world.

I hope you will take the time to look up videos and more on:

- DaCapo Virginia and DaCapo Inspire on Facebook

- DaCapoVa on YouTube

- www.dacapova.org

- www.dcinspire.org

Let’s spread the word about DaCapo beyond Richmond and Martinsville VA!

Love it! Learn it! Live it!

Follow my Instagram page at: lovefiercely_fightdiligently for photos and updates about the Prillaman Family and other future guests.