Some of you might know that I worked at a school in The Bahamas for a few years. Most of my family and friends thought I was just teaching SCUBA diving to kids. When in reality, teaching diving was about 10% of my job, the other 90% was teaching human ecology, designing curriculum, coaching, advising, and generally keeping students alive on a remote island.

In all seriousness though this unique experience had a profound effect on the trajectory of my career. I was working in a place surrounded by people who loved the ocean and who were passionate about environmental issues and got to teach hundreds of students that came through each semester. 

In this episode I spoke with Chris Maxey, the co-founder of The Island School on Eleuthera, who went from being a navy seal to a conservation focused teacher. Chris talks about how he came up with the original idea for the school and then explained about why student-leadership is vital for the future of us dealing with environmental issues.

To learn more about The Island School: http://www.islandschool.org/

To learn more about the coaching programs I offer you can check out https://www.free-to-flourish.com/ and sign-up for my monthly newsletter to hear about upcoming trainings, workshops, and get tools on all topics related to leadership development and career pivots. 

Yewande is a professional football player where she started her career playing at the University of Maryland as a goalkeeper.

Yewande came on the podcast last November to talk about her journey with pursuing football professionally. She left the sport after finishing in college and went on to pursue other career endeavors. Yewande talks about what made her decide to go back and play professionally even though she had doubts that it was 'too late'.

She shared that her dream was to be called up to the Nigerian Women's National team for the 2023 World Cup. Fast forward to now and her dream is being fulfilled and she is out in Australia representing the Nigerian Super Falcons on the field.

You can follow Yewande here: https://www.instagram.com/yewandeful/

To learn more about the coaching programs I offer you can check out https://www.free-to-flourish.com/ and sign-up for my monthly newsletter to hear about upcoming trainings, workshops, and get tools on all topics related to leadership development and career pivots. 

Thinking of making a big career move into more meaningful work, but aren't sure where to start, or if it even might be possible? Tune into this episode to hear how a former military employee left her military career and became a life coach.


Shikina Tellis is a Life Coach and founder of TWS Coaching and Consulting Group LLC. She helps professional women over 35 who are frustrated and attempting to do it all, find harmony in their personal and professional lives.

In this episode, Shikina talks about her journey from switching out of her 25 year career in the military to becoming a life coach. She talks about when the idea first came to her to want to make a change in a completely different industry and what helped her take the leap and shift gears into a new professional path. Shikina also shares the skills and experience she gained working in the military and how many of those skills have been transferrable to her work as a coach.

To connect with Shikina and learn more about her work:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shikina-tellis/


Are you wanting to make a career transition into work you really care about, that feels more purposeful, and aligns with your skills? Or have a business venture you want to launch around one of your passions? Consider checking out the Passion and Purpose program which is designed to get you clear on what you want to do next and has develop actionable steps to get you into your next career move: https://www.free-to-flourish.com/passionandpurpose

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If we stop and think about where the gender gap and gender inequity starts, it really starts with how we are treating young girls in our society. Do we give them the same opportunities as men? Do they have the same support? In the U.S., since the 1970's, we have had Title IX in place to ensure that girls are given the same opportunities as boys at the youth level. However, not all countries have these same laws in place, and Girl Up is looking to address gender inequity across the world.

In most countries, there is still a very obvious gender gap and one that continues to oppress women. I always like to say look at the disparity in level of play with women's soccer across different nations and you will see a trend with gender equality and the soccer performance. It's not coincidence that the U.S. Women's team is one of the best in the world. We have Title IX to thank for ensuring that girls are given opportunities in sports at the youth level.

Maren is a Program Associate at Girl Up, with the United Nations Foundation as a Program Associate. Girl Up helps deliver tools, training, and community to girl identifying youth all over the world to encourage new youth leadership and accelerate the social change needed to close the gender gap. Maren focuses on the STEM and sports programs for young girls.

Maren talks about how she was working in a different field right after graduating college and quickly realized she was not in aligned with where she wanted to be professionally. Maren talks about what helped her make that career transition into another field, one that she has always been passionate about: gender inequality and female empowerment.

Tune in to hear about Maren's professional journey and what she is focusing on now with Girl Up.


To learn more about Girl Up and if you are a girl identifying youth who is looking for leadership training and community: https://girlup.org


Are you wanting to make a career transition into work you really care about, that feels more purposeful, and aligns with your skills? Or have a business venture you want to launch around one of your passions? Consider checking out the Passion and Purpose program which is designed to get you clear on what you want to do next and has develop actionable steps to get you into your next career move: https://www.free-to-flourish.com/passionandpurpose

To book a call to learn more about the program:
https://calendly.com/rachel-freetoflourish/q-a?month=2022-08

Stay in the loop and receive tips, tools, and stories around positive psychology! Sign up for the: Free To Flourish E-Letter

Feini Yin talks about their work with Fishadelphia, a community based program in Philadelphia that brings high quality local seafood to the city.  Feini also works with the North American Marine Alliance as a media coordinator.

Feini talks about their Chinese roots and how eating seafood was a big part of their childhood and their feeling of 'home'.  Feini also talks about how they have navigated their career in the seafood industry and how community led advocacy work has been successful in developing programs.

They talk about the importance of working with local fishermen to source seafood and how those same fishermen ultimately become advocates for the environment.  Buying fish and seafood from big corporations has many drawbacks environmentally as many do not have the intimate relationship with their coastline.

Fishadelphia: https://www.fishadelphia.com

NAMA: https://www.namanet.org

Feini Yin: http://www.feiniyin.com

Consider checking out the Passion and Purpose program if you are looking to make a career transition into more purposeful work or have been sitting on a business idea that you want to launch: https://www.free-to-flourish.com/passionandpurpose

To book a call to learn more about the program:
https://calendly.com/rachel-freetoflourish/q-a?month=2022-08

Stay in the loop and receive tips, tools, and stories around positive psychology! Sign up for the: Free To Flourish E-Letter

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Mo Payette, Founder of Momo's CBD company, came on the podcast and talked about her long career in the natural products industry and how she transitioned into having her own chocolate cbd company. She talks about the benefits of her ethically sourced cacao and combining it with cbd and what continues to motivate her to do this work.

You can check out MOMOs CBD range of products including, cbd chocolate, gummies, dog treats, and more!


Consider checking out the Passion and Purpose program if you are looking to make a career transition into more purposeful work or have been sitting on a business idea that you want to launch: https://www.free-to-flourish.com/passionandpurpose


To book a call to learn more about the program:
https://calendly.com/rachel-freetoflourish/q-a?month=2022-08



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Adrian is a Film Editor based in Mexico City, Mexico who has worked on various documentaries and worked on films for networks like Netflix and Amazon Studios.

In this episode he talks about how and what helped him make a career pivot early on to shift into the film industry. He touches on what helped him believe he could pursue this path, what obstacles he had to overcome, and offers advice for those who are looking to break into a new career path around one of your deeper passions.

Consider checking out the Passion and Purpose program if you are looking to make a career transition into more purposeful work or have been sitting on a business idea that you want to launch: https://www.free-to-flourish.com/passionandpurpose

To book a call to learn more about the program:
https://calendly.com/rachel-freetoflourish/q-a?month=2022-08




Stay in the loop and receive tips, tools, and stories around positive psychology! Sign up for the: Free To Flourish E-Letter

Terria is a Trauma Informed Care Hair Mentor where she teaches and helps transracial adoptive and foster parents how to take care of their black child's hair. In this episode Terria talks about how she left her corporate job when she knew she wanted to pivot into something she was passionate about: working with hair. And then how she took it one step further and brought purpose and meaning into the business she has now, transforming lives with parents who would otherwise be disconnected from their child's black culture and missing out on an opportunity to bond with their child through hair.


For more information on Terria's business and the work she does:
www.hairessentialscompany.com

If you are wanting to be a part of a safe, supportive, and informative community as a transracial adoptive or foster parent, head over to Terria's community on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/adoptiveandfosterparentsofkinkycurlyhairedkids

Consider checking out the Passion and Purpose program if you are looking to make a career transition into more purposeful work or have been sitting on a business idea that you want to launch: https://www.free-to-flourish.com/passionandpurpose

To book a call to learn more about the program:
https://calendly.com/rachel-freetoflourish/q-a?month=2022-08




Stay in the loop and receive tips, tools, and stories around positive psychology! Sign up for the: Free To Flourish E-Letter


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Nonny is an Attorney and Social Justice Strategist in New York, NY.

She currently works as the Director of Criminal Justice at The National Urban League and is and developing their public safety and police reform plan, 21 Pillars for Redefining Public Safety and Restoring Community Trust, throughout the nation by conducting comprehensive review evidence-based police reforms.

But Nonny wasn't always doing the civil rights work she is passionate about.

She talks about her transition from a big firm to an organization focused on civil rights advocacy.

Nonny talks about what helped her make the leap into civil rights work and how she is able to use her strengths in her position now.

One of the things Nonny recommends for others when they know they want to make a transition is to just start talking to people. Reach out to people in positions or even fields you are interested in and have a conversation. Ask them questions, find out more information about what they do and how they got there so you are better informed about what moves you might want to make. Nonny said talking to people and listening to podcasts about others doing similar work helped her take steps toward making the transition from her former big firm to her current role doing civil rights advocacy.  Conversations are one of the first steps and will help with answer many of the unknown questions that you will inevitably have.


Consider checking out the Passion and Purpose program if you are looking to make a career transition into more purposeful work or have been sitting on a business idea that you want to launch: https://www.free-to-flourish.com/passionandpurpose

To book a call to learn more about the program:
https://calendly.com/rachel-freetoflourish/q-a?month=2022-08

Stay in the loop and receive tips, tools, and stories around positive psychology! Sign up for the: Free To Flourish E-Letter

The first episode of Season 2 of the Passion Stories Podcast!

In this episode I talk with Writer and Brand Coach, Gabrielle Gweneth about the importance of stories. Gabrielle is originally from The Bahamas and currently lives in Scotland. For her business, @gabriellegweneth  helps business owners uncover and share their core stories in their content to attract their ideal clients.

I wanted to start off the first podcast episode of the New Year talking about stories and how they can help us. One of the reasons I started this podcast is because I am fascinated with other peoples' life journeys. I find inspiration for my own life by listening to what other people have done. Gabrielle and I talk about how listening to others stories can help us create more empathy for others.

Gabrielle also talks about how she loves helping people who think they might not have a unique or interesting story and pull that out for them. She believes we all have unique stories and sometimes we just need help with owning and sharing them.

She also talks about her journey as an entrepreneur and how she hasn't always had the confidence to go after her goals before she tries them. Instead Gabrielle has grown accustomed to taking the leap and then discovering that her confidence came after she took action. For those of you who are nervous to make transitions in your own life: the confidence will follow after you take an action step.


Consider checking out the Passion and Purpose program if you are looking to make a career transition into more purposeful work or have been sitting on a business idea that you want to launch: https://www.free-to-flourish.com/passionandpurpose

To book a call to learn more about the program:
https://calendly.com/rachel-freetoflourish/q-a?month=2022-08

Stay in the loop and receive tips, tools, and stories around positive psychology! Sign up for the: Free To Flourish E-Letter