Episode 13: Alison Tedford

Alison Tedford is a mom & … writer, marketer, indigenous (Kwakiutl First Nation) activist based in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and author of the soon to be released, Chronic Profit – Building My Business While Managing Persistent Pain, which is filled with career solutions for people dealing with chronic health & life issues.

Alison takes us through her journey of working through chronic health issues to build a successful business, including the struggle to get diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. As a highly driven person, Alison is able to assess challenges in her health, her businesses, and her personal life, and create successful solutions. One of the big lessons we took away was to know – and remember – our value. Women often downplay their worth, and even negotiate down when they should stand firm in their worth.

We talked about times we’ve felt stuck, and how we moved past that feeling. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to do things differently than you used to. Alison challenged the people in her life, and challenged us, to not question betting on ourselves. Big changes can look scary, but why wouldn’t we bet on ourselves?

Somehow, Alison manages to have free time, and we talked about using that time to refresh and rejuvenate. Whether it’s a favorite bath bomb or a silly photo session, we all need a reset sometimes. We also touch on successful co-parenting, and how Alison and her (not quite) ex make it work for their family. 

Alison is an advocate for Indigenous Canadians, and has some amazing stories about her own family. Related: she’s working on launching a charitable coffee company called Subversive Sips. It’s early days yet, but the plans are in place, and it is such a cool concept! Speaking of businesses, Alison and her sister are launching an inclusive clothing line, too. Are you tired yet? Alison may be superhuman. Or just a super, super human. 

She comes from a long line of good rebels and highly creative people. It’s no wonder she became the incredible human she is! Fun fact: Alison once taught pole dancing lessons, but lucky for you there is no video of us getting some pointers from her!

Topics, People, Etc. That Come Up

* Bath bombs Alison loves

* Alison’s Covid photo shenanigans

Our LLLs

Susanne 

* Night on Earth nature doc* Tom Brown’s Body, true crime podcast

Alison

* Ooh, Child (song)* Smoky Top, The Art and Times of Willie Seaweed (a book about Alison’s Great, Great Grandpa)* Murder Among the Mormons doc

Missy

* Tana French’s The Searcher*

Episode 12: Kelly Rippon, Mom &… Leading by Example

Kelly Rippon, started her consulting company, Authentic Change, in 2006, with the mission of changing the world one conversation at a time. Those conversations, combined with her work as a college instructor, corporate trainer, and single mother of six incredible children, including her oldest son, Olympic medalist, Adam, prompted her to write Parent Up. The book strives to empower readers by helping them develop an effective leadership perspective that encompasses resiliency, empathy, and optimism.

While Kelly’s book is titled Parent Up, it applies to all areas of life, from professional settings to personal challenges. We talk about how we tend to limit ourselves and lock ourselves into a particular role. Having a specific career, or specializing in a certain field, should not be limiting. You have options, and are never “just a mom” or “just a lawyer” or “just” anything.

Life has seasons, and sometimes we take on a different role completely, or add another layer. Maybe we cut way back and focus on one thing only, whether that is parenting, or writing a book, or going back to school. In any of these scenarios, we can use the principles laid out in Parent Up.

We talk some about raising exceptional children, too. We’d like to point out that ALL children are exceptional. Sometimes, however, the needs of a child place unique demands on our family life. Kelly talks about how she managed that as a single parent. Once again, the lessons she learned can be applied to managing complicated work situations or any personal situation where you may need to do some juggling. 

We also talk a bit about being allies for the LGBTQ community, and what that looks like for all of us. Kelly is the parent of a now famously-out son, and Susanne runs Informed Parents of Austin, a group that advocates for LGBTQ students in her school district. 

Our LLLs

Missy:

I Care A Lot on Netflix

Kelly: 

Firefly Lane on Netflix

Susanne: 

Nomadland (in theaters and streaming on Hulu)

Where to find Kelly!

Her website is kellyrippon.com, where you can find all of her social channels.

(Quick links to Twitter and Instagram)

Buy the book: Parent Up

Kelly’s Good Morning America letter to Adam.

How to chat with us, or follow us, and support us!

We want to hear from you (and we are excited about talking to som...

It’s Spring Break here in Austin so today’s episode was taped during a Facebook Live on our Mom & … Facebook Page last week. You can watch the full video at our Facebook Page or over at our YouTube Channel.

This week marks a full year of Covid lock down for the Stevens and Kerns families. As strange and difficult as this past year has been for us, we know there are others who are marking ‘anniversaries’ that are much more painful – we are thinking of you and your families.

We also wanted to take this opportunity to thank the business and organizations that have helped bring a sense of normalcy and have helped fill our hearts (and stomachs) this past year. You can hear the full shout-outs during the episode, but here are links to just some of our favorites.

Yummy food

Crema Bakery – Amazing food, amazing owners. They’ve helped the community through covid and through our recent Texas Freeze.

Round Rock Express (yummy food at their games, but also became a make-shift grocery outlet early in the lockdown)

Hardies Direct – Groceries

Antonelli’s Cheese Shop – Virtual cheese tastings are an awesome date night!

Pint House Pizza – Come for the pizza, stay for Susanne’s favorite Bearded Seal beer!

Local Slice Pizza – Pizza so good Missy can even enjoy it cheese-free!

Kerby Lane – Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes. Need we say more?!

Jack Allen’s / Salt Traders

HEB Grocery Stores

Non-Profits Helping Us Help Others

CASA – CASA speaks up for children who’ve been abused or neglected by empowering our community to volunteer as advocates for their best interests.

Episode 10: Nancy Davis KhoNancy Davis Kho is a speaker, author, and podcaster whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and NPR affiliate KQED. Nancy’s book THE THANK-YOU PROJECT: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time was published by Running Press in December 2019. Nancy covers “the years between being hip and breaking one” at MidlifeMixtape.com and on the Midlife Mixtape Podcast, available on all major podcast platforms.Our conversation traverses from play, to grief, to work and activism, to gratitude. Believe it or not there’s a clear connection from one to the other. Nancy tells us how her career has evolved from international business and technology to the creative work she does now, as well as how she continues to be active in both. We talk about having the freedom to switch things up. You don’t have to be this or that. You can be both or neither.Activism is important to Nancy, and to us, leading to a discussion about making activism a priority, whether it’s your career or something you do in addition to your career. In fact, there are options to get involved in as little as one hour a week.In talking about Nancy’s book, The Thank You Project, we were incredibly moved by how it came to be. Writing the book changed her in a deep and meaningful way; talking about it forever changed how we look at the concept of gratitude. We hope our listeners feel the same, and together we can make gratitude part of our growth journeys.Topics, People, Etc. That Come UpAesha AshShowing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)Caste by Isabel WilkersonAustin Channing BrownPersona on HBOOur LLLsNancyWarrior on HBOStrange Boy, an album from Kate DavisWaking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debbie IrvingMissyIn & Of Itself on HuluSusanne Come As You Are and Burnout, both by Emily Nagoski, Ph. D. and Amelia Nagoski, DMAConnect with Nancy:Go to www.daviskho.com where you can find links to her book and social media accounts. You can also download Midlife Mixtape wherever you get your podcasts.How to chat with us, or follow us, and support us!We want to hear from you (and we are excited about talking to someone other than ourselves.)Please subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts! If you’re so inclined to give us a 5-star rating, we’ll love you forever. And who couldn’t use a little extra love?Leave us a message – via voicemail or use our form – with your questions for experts, or suggestions for future episodes.Check out our website, where you can find links to all the things!Sign up for our

Episode 1.9: Jenny Remington, Habits

This week is the second part of our conversation with Jenny Remington. Basically, we had a blast talking to her about StrengthsFinder and got carried away. The next thing we knew, we were talking about habits and realized we had a second episode on our hands.

The topic of habits is something that comes up a lot when we chat. We both have responsibilities to our families, our friends, the non-profits we passionately support, the boards we sit on, our jobs, our hobbies-turned-passion projects, and… ourselves. 

It’s a lot to fit in a day. Sometimes it’s a lot to fit in many, many days. 

Good habits go a long way in making it all work.

We both struggle to give up the bad habits and make the good ones stick. Missy fesses up to some of the things she is personally struggling with (good times, admitting all of that).

This episode is sort of a habits primer, and we’re building a future, longer episode around the topic. We’d love feedback from our community, so leave us a message on the What’s Your Question page or on any of our socials with answers to:

* What is your greatest struggle when it comes to building good habits?* Do you have bad habits that you don’t feel fully ready to give up?* Or, bad habits that you are OVER, but can’t seem to kick?* If you’ve read Atomic Habits, what concepts from the book helped you?* What do you want to ask a future habits-guru guest on our show?

Our LLLs

Susanne:

WandaVision

The Truman Show

Missy:

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes, host of Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast

Jenny:

Hidden Brain podcast

Connect with Jenny:

Website:  jennyremington.com

Instagram: @coachjennyrem 

LinkedIn:  linkedin.com/in/jennyremington/

FaceBook:  facebook.com/jennyremingtoncoaching  

How to chat with us, or follow us, and support us!

We want to hear from you (and we are excited about talking to someone other than ourselves.)

* Please subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts! If you’re so inclined to give us a 5-star rating, we’ll love you forever. And who couldn’t use a little extra love?* Leave us a message – via voicemail or use our form – with your questions for experts, or suggestions for future episodes.