She's Bold with Beth Whitman

Sally Bergeson is the founder of Oiselle, a by women, for women running and athletic clothing company based in Seattle.

Sally founded the business more than 10 years ago when she became dismayed by the lack of availability of running shorts designed for women that were also well-made, comfortable and actually looked good. Oiselle’s first product (those running shorts that Sally had dreamed of) came to market in 2007 and the line expanded from there.

But Oiselle and Sally are about more than just the clothes. They’re about getting more women comfortable (and confident) in sports and also bringing that sisterhood together around the country and around the world.

In 1987, Rita Golden Gelman divorced, sold her possessions and left behind what many would have considered to be a glamorous life in Los Angeles. She hasn’t had a permanent address since.

Rita is the author of Tales of a Female Nomad in which she chronicles her first 15 or so years of travel.

She’s also the author of Female Nomad and Friends, the profits of which go directly to help children living in a slum in Delhi. Rita is also the author of more than 70 children’s books, some of which are still in print and sold through Scholastic.

At 80, Rita is still traveling, still connecting (which is her big message) and she’s still inspiring others to do the same.

Naomi Wachira is a Kenya-born singer/songwriter who followed her heart and passion right into a path as a full-time musician.

She accomplished this by living life on her own terms despite going against cultural norms in many instances.

Among other things, Naomi talks about the catalyst that caused her to change the direction of her life and pursue music. She also discusses her life philosophy about the importance of being yourself and to not resist who you are which ultimately leads to a joyful life.

Katie Mackey is a professional mid-distance runner who runs for the Brooks Beasts Track Club.

Katie attempted to qualify for RIO at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, last year but missed it by one spot. After that experience she spent a couple of months not quite feeling settled and wondered about continuing with her running career. But she picked herself up and found new purpose. Earlier this year she won a national title in a road mile race in Iowa and now she’s looking ahead to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

We covered a wide range of topics including how her performance improved once her husband started coaching her. We also talked about the specifics of her training as a Brooks Beast professional athlete and what her training days look like and that means weeks where she’s running as many as 80 miles.

We talked about the importance of recovery and what it is that makes a person a great runner.

We talk about how she handled those Olympic trials and also how she got back on track and is now looking forward to Tokyo.

And given her travel schedule, we also talk about how she finds places to run like in Morocco and Monaco and how she’s learned to be more flexible with her food and nutrition when she’s on the road.

Sapana Chandra is a certified health coach, a healthy food and lifestyle blogger at Real + Vibrant and a popular Instagrammer with over 99,000 follower.

Her focus is plant-based nutrition and holistic wellness.

Her work has been featured in Thrive Magazine and Clean Eating Magazine. Her photos have been featured on major social media accounts including Whole Foods, William Sonoma, Cooking Light, SELF, West Elm, MindBodyGreen and the Huffington Post.

In this conversation, Sapana provides tips on choosing the best blender for making smoothies, where to buy the most affordable veggies and why she now chooses smoothies over juices.

Betsy Napper is the co-director of the Tibetan Nuns Project. She is a scholar of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism and, among other works, is the co-editor of Kindness, Clarity and Insight, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Though she now spends most of her time in Seattle, she does spend quite a bit of time in Dharamsala, India.

The Tibetan Nun’s Project works with over 800 refugee nuns from Tibet who have relocated to India.

In this episode we talk about her background as a Buddhist scholar, what led her to her involvement with the Tibetan Nuns Project and the work that the Project does to help nuns receive an education.

Today's conversation is with Chef Mica Chavez (also known as Chef Michelle) of Santa Fe. Mica has a pretty big personality and if you’ve met her, you know that. But she’s also got a big smile and a big laugh and an this amazing aura and you can’t help but just feel lifted up in her presence. If you ever have a chance to take a cooking class with her, you’ll see what I mean. In our conversation, she’s pretty honest when talking about her dark times and also how she finally got herself into recovery for drinking. But we start with her early years working in restaurants (and how those were not healthy experiences for her) but also how she made a transition into sobriety after moving from Texas to Santa Fe where the lifestyle was so different (in a good way) than what she had been used to. And at 48 ½ she believes there’s so much more ahead of her than is behind her.

* About Beth Whitman Beth is known as a women's travel expert with nearly 30 years of travel behind her. She's a public speaker, the founder of WanderlustAndLipstick.com and regularly leads tours to off-the-beaten path destinations around the globe through her company, WanderTours.

In this episode, I take some time to talk about my experience qualifying for the Boston Marathon when I ran on July 4th at the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon on Sauvie Island, near Portland, Oregon.

I get asked a lot about my training and how I stay motivated and wanted to address those topics and others.

I talk about how I got started running just a handful of years ago and how I ran 5 marathons in my 50th year, my first marathon ever being just a couple of weeks after I turned 50.

* About Beth Whitman Beth is known as a women's travel expert with nearly 30 years of travel behind her. She's a public speaker, the founder of WanderlustAndLipstick.com and regularly leads tours to off-the-beaten path destinations around the globe through her company, WanderTours.

Lois Ellen Frank is a chef, author, Native foods historian, photographer and James Beard Award winner for her book Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations. Lois lives in Santa Fe and works with the Native community by focusing on the importance of traditional foods in their culture. Through her company, Red Mesa Cuisine, Lois offers spectacular dinners and cooking classes but also lessons in food history, particularly as it relates to the Native Americans. Lois is really quite grounded and a very wise person and it becomes obvious that she puts a lot of love, thoughtfulness and wisdom into her cooking. In this conversation, we talk about her childhood growing up on the east coast and how, at an early age, she was able to make money through her love of food and how her mother was so influential in fostering the idea that if Lois could dream it up, she could accomplish it. We talk about how she was temporarily dissuaded in pursuing the culinary arts (because she was female and there was no such thing as "Native" food) so she went on to become an accomplished food photographer. But she found herself surrounded by foods that she was ethically opposed to until a comment by a mentor changed the trajectory of her life.

* About Beth Whitman Beth is known as a women's travel expert with nearly 30 years of travel behind her. She's a public speaker, the founder of WanderlustAndLipstick.com and regularly leads tours to off-the-beaten path destinations around the globe through her company, WanderTours.

Erin Seidemann is a pilot and author. With only 5% of pilots being female, this makes her quite special.

In this episode, we talk about the logistics of getting a pilot's license, the beauty of flying, the logistics of buying a plane and how few women, going back to Amelia Earhart’s time, are pilots. We also talk about sexism in the industry and how she uses it to motivate herself and doesn’t get angry by comments from male pilots. This conversation was a topic I knew so little about but Erin makes it seem so attainable. And while getting a pilot’s license and buying a plane are not available to everyone, you can apply her passion for flying to most any hobby and interest and realize that with unwavering determination, it’s possible to pursue your love.

* About Beth Whitman Beth is known as a women's travel expert with nearly 30 years of travel behind her. She's a public speaker, the founder of WanderlustAndLipstick.com and regularly leads tours to off-the-beaten path destinations around the globe through her company, WanderTours.