StephUp Podcast

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Welcome to the StephUp Podcast!

On this episode, join Steph as she speaks with award-winning publicist and owner of Lamourie Media, Tracy Lamourie. As a well-known advocate on a myriad off important world-wide issues and an international publicist who works across industries from major entertainment projects to small business, Tracy is someone who is authentically herself. 

Join Steph and Tracy as they discuss Tracy's path to becoming publicist. Thanks to her and her husband, Dave Parkinson's, long-time work in freeing an innocent man from death row, (Jimmy Dennis), Tracy found her calling as someone who can find a voice for others. This led to her starting her own business as a publicist.

Whether she walks into a corporate business meeting, a political convention or a party in Hollywood, Tracy shines brightly and attracts people to her and her cause.  With bright red hair and lipstick, she brings her own style and voice that makes people stand up and pay attention.

In this discussion, Steph asks Tracy how we can be authentically ourselves and how we can find the confidence to do that. They discuss how society just longs for truly authentic people and how that attracts more people to you.

Follow Tracy on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and check out her website.

Read more on Tracy:

The Media Mogul Who Founded Her Empire On Kindness

Inspirational Women of Hollywood

Rockstar Publicist: Be Real, Be Authentic, Don't Be Cookie Cutter

Thrive Global - Don't Let Anyone Intimidate You

How To Be A Go Getter

Follow StephUp Podcast on Instagram and Facebook and check out her website!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode features special guest, Benson Fox, who is a transformation coach, certified crisis counselor and psychology doctoral student.

Benson shares his story of why he loves studying psychology. He sees it is a way to  help people to live their best lives. His love of reading Stephen Covey, Dale Carnegie and others helped him overcome his own challenges and how he processes different things. He is able to take what he learns and use that to help others.  Benson says that our own situations in life can be a lesson for others as well.

Stephanie and Benson discuss self-awareness and Benson explains it as something that is going on inside of you, driving you and motivating you; it is a way of observing your thoughts and noticing how your emotions and thoughts are speaking to you. It is exciting to grow and learn as things start to come together when that light goes off in your head. As Benson explains, "You enjoy the clarity of knowing yourself and that clarity has the potential to guide you to make wiser decisions."

Benson explains that all therapy is not equal. There are many modalities of psychology that work differently and some of them are contradictory with each other. Coaches help guide your own wisdom to get the answers to come out of you. They take "off the covers" of what you already know is there. 

Stephanie thought self-care was just doing things she found relaxing but Benson explains that self-care is actually rooted in what self-love looks like. If you don't know what self-love looks like, it becomes self-indulgence. The short-term feeling of what we enjoy doesn't mean it will help us in the long run. Self-care is learning how to truly love and care for yourself. 

The law of attraction is a part of psychology. Benson and Stephanie discuss this and how psychology is connected to pretty much everything in life. "The energies that we exude in this world  will attract people who are of the same ilk and will attract people who are hungry for that".  We will attract people who are starving for that energy and those who are also similar. Psychology connects to everything in life; it is the why of human nature.

Benson explains that the difficulties  of our lives are actually symptoms. (eg. suffering from depression is our way of coping from not feeling loved.) It is therefore a way of handling our emotions. Coming from a religious perspective, Benson explains that these things are a gift from God.  

Benson and Steph talk about perspectives and how we view the things that happen to us. Difficulties can be turned into good.  And sometimes it's ok to not know all the answers. Maybe we will never know things beyond our understanding. Benson explains that people who can be very stuck on wanting to know the answers can come from a place of distrust of their unconscious. 

Stephanie and Benson spend the last part of the episode discussing how men and women differ on how they view emotion versus reason. As men have more of a tendency to overly rely on their conscious thought, women have more of a dependency to trust their unconscious. There can be both pros and cons to how men and women view and rely on these things.

Listen in to hear the rest of their conversation and please remember to subscribe, rate, review and share with your friends!

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Welcome to this week’s episode of the StephUp Podcast! Thank you for your support and for coming back each week to listen. This episode features special guest, Kimberly Love. Kimberly is an author, radio host of Crushing 40, and CEO of Viking Queens. She is also a survivor of emotional abuse. Today she talks to us about the challenging times she has been through and how she has now dedicated herself to helping others.

Kimberly’s website, Viking Queens, launched on January 1st and has been a labor of love for her. She wanted to have a membership site where experts talk about different things women go through, such as abuse, loss, and break-ups. Kimberly stresses resiliency and self-love as ways to cope. Kimberly wants women to feel they are part of a community that lifts them up and encourages them. She welcomes you to visit her site and learn more.

Stephane and Kimberly begin the episode by talking about Kimberly’s childhood. She first experienced abuse as a child when a much older sibling was tasked with caring for her when their mother was out of the home. This sibling had a deeply engrained dislike for Kimberly, stemming from dislike of Kimberly’s father, who was also abusive. As a result, this sibling did not view Kimberly as an equal family member and emotionally abused her for years, which fundamentally changed her as a person. Kimberly left home at 17 and was able to escape the abuse. At that point, she began dating a man who turned out to be a narcissist. Kimberly was already vulnerable and broken and ended up in a domestic abuse situation with this man. Since she had grown up in an abusive environment, this treatment seemed familiar, but deep-down Kimberly knew the way she was being treated was wrong.

“When you’ve been abused for so long, the abuse is a comfortable place for you. It’s all you know”

Rather than stay with this man, Kimberly decided to break the cycle of abuse. She now works with other women who are also victims of abuse, teaching them to recognize the “red flags” and fine-tune their intuition to recognize the situation they are in. When you feel that something isn’t right, don’t brush those feelings aside and ignore them. Listen to your body and reflect on how it feels when you are around someone who is abusive. 

Stephanie and Kimberly spend the last part of the episode discussing how women are taught to be nice and submissive and to not come off as too assertive or bossy. However, Kimberly encourages women to be strong and stand up against anyone who is abusive towards them, not only in romantic relationships but in the workplace or other environments as well.

Listen in to hear the rest of their conversation and please remember to rate, subscribe, and share with your friends!

Purchase Kimberly’s book, You Taste Like Whiskey and Sunshine

Listen to Kimberly’s radio show, Crushing 40

Visit the Viking Queens website

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Welcome to this week’s episode of the StephUp Podcast! Thank you for your support. This episode features special guest, Licensed Profession Clinical Counselor  Dr. Janet Birkey, as we continue our conversation about emotional abuse. 

Stephanie and Janet begin the episode by defining what emotional abuse is and what it may look like. Janet defines emotional abuse as when behaviors, words, and actions are used to control and manipulate someone so they will do what the abuser wants them to do. Gaslighting is also common, which is when the abuser will try to convince you that you are not perceiving or experiencing something accurately. Sometimes a person may just be abrasive and although that’s not good, it’s not necessarily abuse. This is just one of many reasons why emotional abuse can be hard to pinpoint at times. Another thing to consider is, what may be considered by one to be abusive, may not be abusive to someone else. 

What upsets me may not upset you, and what upsets you may not upset me. But that doesn’t change our personal experience. 

Janet discusses people who are HSP’s (highly sensitive persons), who are acutely aware of tone, body language, noise, light, and rhythm. If an HSP tells the abrasive person that they are hurting their feelings, and it’s a pattern of behavior, and the offending person continues on, that could be emotional abuse. You want the person you are in a relationship with to be sensitive to your feelings and care about how they make you feel.

Most women don’t always recognize that they are in an emotionally abusive relationship or see that there are patterns. Women who are in these kinds of relationships may have also witnessed their mothers or other women in their life treated the same way and think it’s normal. This can create a generational pattern of abuse. 

Emotional abuse can lead to damaging side effects such as anxiety, making excuses for the abuser’s behavior and trying to find where we were wrong in the scenario, lack of self-care, poor sleep and dietary habits, lack of exercise, and inability to concentrate and make sound decisions. 

Leaving is easier said than done when it comes to the victim. Janet states that people stay with abusers because they don’t know that it can be different, they are comfortable and unwilling to leave the situation even though it’s abusive, they might stay for the children, for financial support, for religious reasons, or they don’t think they have the strength to leave. You may be tempted to forgive or ignore the abuse for these reasons. Although you can extend grace many times to someone, eventually they need to take accountability for their actions.

Abusers can be cathartic and be sorry for their actions and promise to never do it again, but catharsis does not equal repentance. 

Stephanie and Janet also discuss emotional abuse within the church. When you approach emotional abuse from a religious perspective, it may not be viewed as reason enough to leave the relationship or divorce. Stephanie and Janet are hopeful that this view will eventually change within the church. The leadership within a church can be emotionally abusive as well. They can manipulate you into doing things you aren’t comfortable with under the guise that it is required from you by god.

Janet ends the episode with suggestions on how you can safely leave an abusive relationship.

Listen in to hear the rest of their conversation and please remember to rate, subscribe, and share with your friends!

Follow Janet on Twitter and FB

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Welcome to this week’s episode of the StephUp Podcast! Thank you for your support and for coming back each week to listen. This episode features special guest, children’s book author Rene Schultz, who has written the book “A Million More Kisses”.

Rene’s book is about loss and grief, as well as learning to say goodbye, and is written in a way that makes sense to children. This book also teaches how to properly grieve and be strong. The cover of “A Million More Kisses” features a dog name Geronimo, which is based off Rene’s own chihuahua. The main character Nonnie is based off Rene’s mother-in-law. Rene feels that writing these kinds of books is important because children experience loss and grief too, and it’s important that they identify and manage with their feelings.

Stephanie and Rene begin their discussion by talking about Rene’s childhood, which holds painful memories of child abuse and trauma. She discusses how she was affected throughout her childhood and into her adulthood, including her experiences within her church, and the different ways in which she coped and was able to finally heal. Rene states that she was dealing with grief and loss while writing and had to learn to move forward. With hope and faith, Rene got through her grief and was able to finish this book.

Stephanie and Rene also talk about a course that Rene has written based on faith. The concept is that faith and hope can help you to create boundaries within relationship, develop coping skills, and help with forgiveness. This course is for people who are stuck and wanting to move forward. There is more to life than what we are sitting and stewing in. It’s important to heal your inner child.

When it comes to advice for other writers who are trying to get published, Rene’s says to never give up on your dream. Keep pushing and you will get there.

“Bit by bit, row by row, that’s how we make our dreams grow”

Listen in to hear the rest of their conversation and please remember to rate, subscribe, and share with your friends!

Purchase Rene’s book, A Million More Kisses here and here.

Visit Rene’s website Woody Knoll Publishing

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Welcome to this week’s episode of the StephUp Podcast! Thank you for your support and for coming back each week to listen. This episode features special guest Hope Cunningham as she and Steph discuss why philosophy is important, why we study it, and what we get out of it. This is the perfect time to discuss philosophy with all that is happening in the world. It’s time to sit down and really think critically, which is one of the most important parts of philosophy

Steph and Hope begin the discussion talking about the importance of philosophy degrees and the reputation they have of being a useless degree. They think it’s important because it allows you to delve into different issues such as religion and evil. Philosophy also teaches you how to think critically. Philosophy is a love of truth and knowledge and gives you the tools and permission to learn whatever you want. What do you think?

Steph talks about when she first discovered Ravi Zacharias, Indian-born Canadian-American Christian apologist, who taught her that there is such a thing as having reasons for our faith and it was okay to question those reasons and think about them. This was a totally new concept for her and after studying his teachings further, she made the switch to being a philosophy major. Hope fell in love with Philosophy after being required to take a class as part of her course curriculum.

Hope and Steph talk about why we have so much distrust of our government. We used to trust them but after hearing so many lies, we no longer do. Where do we go if we can’t trust? Hope explains that it is important to realize that politicians are people and while we may not be able trust them, we need to give them grace and assume they are trying. This will ultimately make the world an easier place to live in.

Steph and Hope also discuss the concept of Cancel Culture and how prevalent it has become. When it comes to the Cancel Culture, if someone has a pattern of consistently lying to others or causing harm, do they deserve to be cancelled? People make mistakes and are flawed, but at what point do they deserve to be cancelled? 

Listen in to hear the rest of their great conversation and please remember to rate, subscribe, and share with your friends!

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