Stories in Our Roots

Anika shares her experiences as a second-generation immigrant and how she realized she didn’t need to choose between the cultures that made her who she is.  Through learning the stories of her parents’ and ancestors she gained a deeper understanding of herself and sees the opportunity we have to celebrate ancestral greatness built out of hard experiences.  Anika also adds some great tips about having conversations to preserve your own family heritage.

 About Anika:

Anika Chabra is co-founder of the platform Root & Seed which helps others claim, honour, document and celebrate their unique family stories, traditions and culture and includes a mobile based web app that help inspire conversations with our elders. She is also the host of a podcast of the same name, The Root & Seed podcast.

Website: rootandseed.com
Facebook: @rootandseedco
Instagram: @rootandseedco
Twitter:  @rootandseedco
LinkedIn: @rootandseedco

Connect with Heather:
heathercmurphy.com or Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook @msheathermurphy

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Two World Wars and famine affected  Andrea’s ancestors in Romania, but Andrea herself also experienced the effects from those events.  One of the most apparent effects came through beliefs about wealth.  One family branch says buy land so you always have a way to provide for your family.  Another branch says saving is pointless, enjoy your money while you have it.  Andrea shares how awareness and curiosity helped her identify those beliefs and choose what beliefs she would make part of her future.

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Mitch Lomazov is a first-generation American with Russian Jewish roots.  He shares how hearing his family stories gave him a different understanding of history than textbooks and how things that seem ordinary in our families in truth make us unique.  We also discussed how learning about his heritage helps him be more purposeful and grateful for his present and how he strives to consciously choose what he makes part of his, and his family's, future.

More about Mitch:

Mitch is the Executive Director of Finance at EXCELLence Performance, a world-class business coaching and leadership seminar company. He is certified through a two-year coaching program specializing in young adult coaching and a trained public speaker sought after for topics including communication, behavioral finance, and personal development. Mitch also provides Fractional CFO work where he excels in creating financial vision and develops strategies to make businesses more efficient and profitable factoring in people and behavior and not just the balance sheet.

You can connect with him through LinkedIn or his website, epcoaching.com.

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Jill Phillips is a family storyteller with a passion to inspire families to connect through the telling of their past. She started life on Lamlash Street in London, emigrated to Canada, where she obtained her master’s degree, and spent 30 years working as an Occupational Therapist and Hospital Manager. Motivated by her family’s experiences in 1960’s London, Jill shares their stories to celebrate a time of close family connections in difficult life situations and a way of life which is fondly remembered.

Learn more at www.jmphillipsauthor.com.

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Born in Berlin, Gabrielle grew up in Germany and Austria. After a PhD from the University of London, she taught Literature and Writing at US universities and abroad. She is the author of seven nonfiction books.  Our discussion for this episode focuses on her most recent book,  Api's Berlin Diaries: My Quest to Understand My Grandfather's Nazi Past.

Gabrielle loves to tell stories about people in their social and historical context and loves to help others tell their stories.  She encourages you to reach out to her with any questions or comments you may have through her website, www.gabriellerobinson.com.

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In this episode Tova shares:

• How a wedding seating chart helped uncover a family name change
• Why she feels it is time for her generation to start talking about her family’s past
• Why it is important to focus on the lives of ancestors instead of their deaths

About Tova:

Tova Levi is a family history researcher who specializes in Jewish genealogy. She holds a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University and is a member of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Her particular areas of interest are the former Austro-Hungarian Empire as well as German and Holocaust research. She is the owner of My Family Lines and creates customized family tree wall décor.

Contact Tova and My Family Lines through Instagram to get started with your family tree wall decor.

Instagram       @myfamilylines
Twitter            @myfamilylines

Episode Sponsor:

Episode sponsored by Heather Murphy's personalized coaching service, Resilience in Your Roots.

Get a free workbook, "Release Limiting Beliefs by Understanding Your Family History " to help identify your beliefs, where they come from, and how to choose your beliefs moving forward.

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

In this episode Lucy shares:

• What burning paper money on Chinese New Year has to do with honoring ancestors
• Why she is grateful for her grandmother
• The tradition of praying to, or for, ancestors

About Lucy:

Lucy Liu is a business and life coach helping women in life transitions unstuck, kiss overwhelm bye, cultivate rockstar confidence, see clarity, reach new goals, and live a joyful fulfilling life! She is an unshakable optimist, wife, mother, easy-going entrepreneur, women empowerment workshop facilitator, motivational speaker, author and inspires as the host of her weekly podcast The Lucy Liu Show, She has been featured in Medium, VoyageLA, Elephant Journal, ThriveGlobal, FOX, CBS, NBC and dozens of podcasts.

Website          www.lucyliucoaching.com
Facebook        @mslucyliu
Instagram       @mslucyliu
Twitter            @mslucyliu
LinkedIn          @mslucyliu
 
 

Episode Sponsor:

 Episode sponsored by Heather Murphy's personalized coaching service, Resilience in Your Roots.

Get a free workbook, "Release Limiting Beliefs by Understanding Your Family History " to help identify your beliefs, where they come from, and how to choose your beliefs moving forward.

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

#53.  In this episode Andrea shares:

• The challenge her grandfather faced within the first weeks, and years, of purchasing a home heating business
• The moments the business almost didn’t stay in the family
• How her son’s school project led her to ask deeper questions about the history of her family

About Andrea:

Andrea currently lives in Mercer Island, Washington—about a mile from the house she grew up in—with her husband, and youngest son (two older sons are in college out of state).
 She is the author of Twentieth Century Boys: How One Family Business Survived and Thrived, which published on October 26, 2021. The book is a narrative non-fiction which covers over 100 years and spans four generations. It's about a family business and how it was passed down through the generations given the cultural and economic trends and hardships that required the company to change in order to survive.

Connect with Andrea:

Website          andreawatson.net     
Facebook        @andreaclarkwatson
Instagram       @nanwat93
LinkedIn         Andrea Watson
 
 

Episode Sponsor:

 Episode sponsored by Heather Murphy's personalized coaching service, Resilience in Your Roots.

Get a free workbook, "Release Limiting Beliefs by Understanding Your Family History " to help identify your beliefs, where they come from, and how to choose your beliefs moving forward.

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

#52. In this episode Victoria shares:

• How an inherited cameo piqued her interest in her great-grandmother
• Why moving across the world connected her to the women in her family
• How sharing pictures has drawn her extended family closer together

About Victoria:

From family research, to family tree presentation, to sharing with family, Victoria’s journey with ancestry has been a creative outlet for a frustrated detective/artist. She dabbled with the idea of getting into family tree research for over 30 years. In the late 1980s her mother gave her a copy of a detailed family tree recording her father’s side of the family.  Victoria was struck by the fact that no one had followed the women. So that is what she decided to do... follow the women.

Connect with Victoria:

Website          www.victoriaspress.com
Facebook        @victoriaspress
Instagram       @victoriaspress

Also mentioned in this episode: Ponga, Canva

Episode sponsored by Heather Murphy's personalized coaching service, Resilience in Your Roots.

Get a free workbook, "Release Limiting Beliefs by Understanding Your Family History " to help identify your beliefs, where they come from, and how to choose your beliefs moving forward.

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

#51.  Gratitude helps us acknowledge the good in our lives and often that good comes from sources outside of ourselves.

Looking for the good that has come from the lives of our ancestors helps us see the good things in our own lives and recognize hardships that were overcome, generosity that was given, and so much more.

In this episode you will hear:

• How gratitude, optimism, and family are connected
• Two simple ways to show gratitude to your ancestors
• Why it is important to find the 1% positive that can be found in a situation that seems all negative

Get the free workbook, 30 Days of Gratitude for 30 Ancestors!

About Heather:

Heather Murphy is a mindset coach, genealogist, and host of the Stories in Our Roots podcast.  With an academic background in family history and twenty years experience helping people discover the stories of their ancestors, Heather knows the clarity and strength that comes from spending time in the branches of your family tree.

Her mission is to help women become empowered to create more peace in their lives, because most are struggling with the weight of the past, the stress of the present, and the uncertainty of the future. So she helps them understand today’s circumstances and struggles by learning the stories of their ancestors, empowering them to create an incredible future filled with clarity, connection and perspective.  

When Heather is not exploring family trees, she’s knitting lace shawls, taking care of her three Welch Harlequin ducks, or trying to understand her teenage son as he discusses quantum mechanics.

Website: heathermurphygenealogy.com
Facebook: @MsHeatherMurphy
Instagram: @msheathermurphy
LinkedIn: Heather Murphy

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy