She's Bold with Beth Whitman

Musician Laura Love is best known as a singer/songwriter whose sound has been called Afro-Celtic. She was one of the first musicians to be signed with the Putamayo record label. Though she hasn't recorded for the past decade or so, she has recently begun writing again after experiencing some very dramatic struggles.

This conversation is both heart-breaking and heart-warming as Laura shares her tragic origin story. Somehow through it all, she still sees the world as a place filled with love and kindness.

You might know Dr. Pepper Schwartz from any one of many places. She’s a professor of Sociology at the University of Washington. But she’s also the author of 25 books, the former Sex and Relationship Expert with AARP and she is now on her sixth season of Lifetime TVs Married at First Sight.

In this conversation, we talk about the influence that the times have on us. In Pepper’s case, as a child of the 60’s, she was surrounded by a culture of sex, drugs and rock and roll and she learned how to push the boundaries at a very early age.

A Yale graduate, she’s had a successful career at the University of Washington as one of the first professors hired for a tenured position (she’s now been there for 40 years).

She continues to change with the times and her teachings reflect her own interests and path including, now, sex in the aging population.

Nicole Antoinette is the host of the wildly popular podcast, Real Talk Radio with Nicole Antoinette. She knows how to get to the heart of a matter and, in the process, she’s going to have a really strong opinion about a topic.

In this conversation, we covered a wide range of topics including what she observes as the reason many people are afraid to commit to a decision and also her ongoing search for figuring out how to close the gap between saying what we want and actually doing it.

I take time out this week to provide some perspective (and tips) on how to make healthy food choices over the holidays. With so much pressure to eat (often unhealthy) comfort foods with family and friends, it takes Being Bold to say "no" to food (and drink) that aren't good for you.

These tips can easily be used for travel as well!

Shannon Huffman Polson is a former Apache helicopter pilot. She estimates that there’s probably fewer than 100 women trained as Apache pilots, putting her in rare company.

But she's also a wife, mom of two boys, public speaker and the author of North of Hope which chronicles her grief after losing her dad and stepmom in a rare grizzly attack in the Arctic. Shannon's discovered the importance of owning her own story and narrative and, through storytelling, encourages others to do just that.

Mona Das is running for Congress in the 8th District of Washington State. This is no ordinary candidate. Mona challenged my perception of Indian women as well as politicians.

At 5'1", Mona is a powerhouse of strength, motivation and opinions. AND, she has a heart of gold. We covered a wide range of topics far outside typical political conversation. It's her ability to be honest with herself and others that I believe will appeal to her voters (and listeners of this episode)!

Meg Noble Peterson is an author and lifelong traveler. At 89, she hasn't stopped traveling abroad. As a matter of fact, she had just returned from Mongolia when we recorded this episode.

Meg's enthusiasm for travel continues, even after nearly 70 years of globetrotting. She still loves airplanes and watching the clouds out the window and is motivated by getting to know other cultures.

She's got a few tips to share after visiting so many countries that she's lost count.

Ashley Fullenwider is a co-founder of Nuu Muu, the makers of exercise apparel for women.

But her skills and time are spent well beyond Nuu Muu. Ashley also works at Argonne National Laboratories as a political scientist and linguist and travels extensively to work against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

She’s also a National Collegiate Champion of Ultimate Frisbee and is on the Board of Bellingham Youth Ultimate where she gets to coach young people in Ultimate Frisbee.

Michele Westmorland is best known for her underwater photography. But she has just released a new documentary film called Headhunt Revisited that follows the story of an American woman who, in the 1920s traveled to the Solomons and Papua New Guinea to document the tribes in oil and canvas.

We talk about this passion project of Michele's and how it took her 15 years to complete this film about a woman who was as tenacious in the 1920s as Michele is today.

Carol Odera is a 2017 Mandela Washington Fellow. This program, started by Nelson Mandela and former president Barack Obama recognizes, young African leaders for their outstanding work in a variety of fields.

Carol holds an MBA in Strategic Management and a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration.

But these accomplishments barely scratch the surface of what she’s trying to accomplish in Kenya. There she’s trying to change a culture. In her community near Lake Victoria in Kenya, she’s educating the women and encouraging them to find sustainable ways of living through a variety of innovative resources.