Stranger Connections

"Dying is like falling asleep. You don't realize it until you wake up." Jordon Schroeter

Speaker, Advocate, Comic, Pastor (with a Masters), and Award-Winning Film Maker Jordan Schroeter wasn't supposed to live past the age of 2 years old. 

Here is in, in his third decade - from an electric wheelchair with all the spunk of anyone's new best pal. Schroeter has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Type 1. He transparently shares what it means to continue to lose muscle mass and usage and the choice of finding moments to celebrate.

He says his severe disability is not the source of issues. Listen to our chat to learn what is the source, and maybe you'll resonate with much of what he has to say.  I know I did. 

You'll laugh as hard as I did when he answers my infamous question: Do you have a prank or dare story to share?

If you want a speaker who truly can inspire, motivate, affect the group, and evoke some laughter, seek Jordan Schroeter. 

Jordan can be found on most social media, and at Jordan River of Life Coaching & Speaking.

Search for his TEDxOshKosh talk, it was quite incredible and he shares his favorite pick up line, too!  (Of course it's also in this episode because it's a hoot). 

*Adult content, especially about two-thirds of the way in. 

"I love a rowdy bar show, but a packed comedy club is pretty awesome too. It does help to be funny."  Cheri Hardman

Cheri is an award-winning comic, a YouTube and podcast host, and does live shows too, for her Diary of an Ex Ho show!  You won't need to wonder what she's thinking. She is wonderfully direct, bawdy, sassy, and just dang fun. 

Hardman started her comedy career later in life. Learn why and how she took to the stage at age 54. This "menopausal plus-size babe" is a wife and mama who takes her show on the road, making friends along the miles. 

We talk about how to write jokes, casseroles, dirty dark secrets, normalizing being strange, tragedy to comedy, her lady parts, rotary phones, and her show Diary of an Ex Ho where people share it ALL, openly. 

CheriHardman.com
Diary of an Ex Ho on YouTube and wherever you catch your favorite podcasts.

"Food is us", according to food enthusiast Jared Gleaton.

Jared is an author, food critic, psychologist, blogger, and dog dad. This was such a fun episode. It was a blast going behind the scenes with a food critic psychologist who writes reviews you can practically taste. 

We go over the word Moist, what it means to eat with our eyes, and discuss 'does anxiety determine our perceived taste?'

Learn about Foodology, how often our taste buds renew, (It's not what I thought), and how change creates fear. 

Did you know the eye is first drawn to one item on a plate, before taking the whole entree in?

What's the deal with Jared's dad and his pie passion? How does Jared go out to eat all the time yet stay in shape?

Jared Gleaton's book is "A Feast For The Senses; the psychology of eating well."
Check out his fantastic YouTube Channel:  JaredGleatonEats
Follow him on Facebook, too. 

"If you do the things that make you happier, you also make your community better." Richard Kyte

Richard "Rick" Kyte is Director of the D.B. Reinhard Institute for Ethics in Leadership and Endowed Professor of Ethics at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He also teaches a variety of courses dealing with ethical issues in business, health care, law, politics, and the environment. 

His most recent book is "Finding Your Third Place; building happier communities and making great friends along the way".

We discuss this book that helps us explore the places that nurture our souls, and make up the bedrock of our communities. I hope, after listening to our conversation, you will consider if you truly have a Third Place. 

Eavesdrop on our chitty chat to discover more about: the correlation between the friends you'll have in your 60's compared to the friends you had in your 20's, your community and why you need to be part of it, how social media has taught us to laugh AT people instead of WITH people, the 13 year old who saved lives because he did not have a cell phone, and that humor is learned socially - meaning - there are younger generations who are humor deprived!

At a time when our nation is facing epic loneliness, are you ready to commit to your Third Place?

"There's so much you can use fragrance for!" ~ Georgia Vanderville is a petite firecracker who truly lights up a room. Whether it's from her energetic personality and giant smile, or from one of the candles made in her ever-growing warehouse, Shorties Candles.
Vanderville is also an author, speaker, and has been inside and outside the TEDx stage. She goes above and beyond with her candle company staff by way of being that approachable leader we all wish we had.

Tune in to hear about the one candle made for a boy she liked, to running a successful candle company.
Check out Lessons from the Ladder, The Fragrance Flip, Why we need to Just Ask, going beyond the product, the struggle of clutter, storytelling that matters, Pattern interrupt, and reframing the five senses.

shortiescandles.com

TEDx "The important silent secret to connect with a teen"

From bouncer to bricklayer to billionaire concierge - Steve Sims is no slacker, saying "For twenty-five years I was the go-to guy for the mega famous. And I learned, if you give it for free, they don't pay attention."

Check out this episode on my You Tube channel to see our pretty faces!

Sims is a digital creator, speaker, author, coach, creative disruptor, and harsh truth dropper. He was once called the Real Life Wizard of Oz, though that's not his favorite tag.

He talks about his accidental rise to hanging with the super stars and uber famous folks. He is the author of Bluefishing (the art of making things happen) and Go For Stupid (the art of achieving ridiculous goals). 
His podcast is The Art of Making Things Happen.

Listen in as I get to learn about how Sims took a submarine to see the actual Titanic (the details in his story left me awe-stuck and nearly speechless). Find out about how he closed a major museum to throw a dinner party for 6 at the feet of a famous sculpture featuring a world renowned singer. 

Steve Sims says he is perpetually curious, and doesn't align with those who tend to overcomplicate things. While we were talking, this formula emerged:  
Curiosity + Aggravation = Creation.    Damn, that's a goosebump giver right there. 

Learn why we should "go for the No" and even 'Ask Why three times".

The Speak Easy:  https://www.stevedsims.com/simsspeakeasy
The Distillery:  https://simsdistillery.com

Do you like to sing?
Talk? 
Breathe?
You can learn a LOT from this week's guest on Stranger Connections podcast. 

What if you were a professional singer who learned two decades into your career that you were singing in the wrong vocal range?
Heide Skok had this gain speed bump in her life.  Finding her true track, she teaches others how to sing 0 whether it's for fun, or on the stage. 
I enjoyed learning more about what Opera really is, why breathing exercises are more than for singing, ho NOT to feel shame as a singer, how self-love is a tool for you voice, and Skok's journey to find what was happening to her voice and vocal chords. 

Her new Opera album is out, and you have to check it out:
   "Mahler: Ruckert Lieder, Heidi Skok and John Simmons. 

Her school is Skokstudio Vocal Instruction (facebook). 
Skok is the founder of Resonance Opera and REST vocal technique!

"I'm not one to buy into the superficial parts of the pageant world." Zoe de Boer - the coolest queen in the midwest. 

Zoe de Boer is bringing stories of social justice, faith, friendship, art, inspiration, and all things in between on her podcast, Hello Good Humans.
She is a speaker, podcaster, supporter to everyone - and happens to be in a pop band with her Pop. (Gertrude and Co). 

Listen to the chit chat about The Beep Boop Queens, Winning Pageants, me getting awkward about Zoe's dad, fake tans, 99 cent gowns, body image, and the very cool story I remembered wrong about how we first met in 2017. 

Zoe is a peach, a keeper, a light, a sweetheart, a Good Human. 

Instagram: @gertrude.co.lax
Facebook: Gertrude & Co

If you're in the La Crosse WI area - check out show dates!

"I needed to do something to celebrate - I showed up."  Speaker, Energizer, Author, Interrupter, King of Cheers . . . . Cameron Hughes.

This Canadian crowd-pleaser has been the spark at otherwise ho-hum events for decades!

You've seen him on many JumboTron screens at sporting events, getting up to dance and making the crowd go wild. He generally has a very serious look on his face and it's hilarious and contagious. 

He has been around the world and back again, paid by sports teams to energize fans at over 1500 events and counting. He's danced on Tennis Courts, in conference rooms, and all places in between. 

Check out his TEDx "Who Are You Cheering For?"

His book is 'King of Cheer; stories of showing up'

Why did he have a large fruit upon his head?
Does he worry what other people think ?
What about the times his interrupting behavior fell short?
What does it mean to actively Show Up?

Website:  CameronHughes.tv

"There is no timeline to grieve, just as there is no timeline to love." Lauren Prior

Lauren is a Trauma Therapist who has a compelling story to share - about losing her husband while she was mere days away from giving birth to their child. 

Join the conversation to see what kind of friend you are when a loved one is grieving. What is the right thing to do? What about the wrong things? 

Lauren shares the story of what led to her husband's fatal accident that night and how she managed to keep going. Grabbing onto the benefit of the shock within grief, how did she handle coming out of the fog when the offers for help started to fade away?

"Be brave enough to ask" is the answer she gives when I enquire about the best way to help someone who is grieving a death. Be there. Show up. "I'm gonna sit here while you cry."

Luckily for all of us, Lauren Prior is working on a book and I have a giant notion it's going to help the masses with how to ask for help, be the right kind of friend, and know that it's ok to simply ask. 

Lauren Prior is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor / Owner at Walking Brave Counseling