The Fresh Fruit Project

Fact: this life path wasn’t meant to be linear.

Also true: we’re allowed to shift, pivot, explore, ask questions, change our minds and in the words of my friend my friend Elizabeth Cook , say yes and figure it out along the way.

Elizabeth is a cheerleader for women, especially those in business and an example of what happens when you BELIEVE in what’s possible and go for it.

But there's way more to her than what she's accomplished in the business world.

Our conversation is packed with so much--like the self awareness that comes from the unexpected career paths, engaging your community, working-parent life, how to put action behind our own dreams and more.

This show is all about giving you tools and offering a glimpse of what’s possible so you can go make your unique impact in the world. 

And after meeting Elizabeth, I believe you’re going to find your curiosity stirred up and ready to jump into YOUR next step.

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Connect with The Fresh Fruit Project

@thefreshfruitproject

thefreshfruitproject.com

This one is for the days when you want to quit...and why you absolutely must KEEP MOVING FORWARD.

If the director yelled cut tomorrow and the movie that is your life was over, would you be happy with how it ended?

…or is there more still to tell? More to still create?

What is that?

The time is now, friend.

No more holding back.

Evaluate what you want, evaluate why then decide what you’re going to do about it.

ALRIGHT…YOU RREADY? Let’s go...

Do you think there's ever been a people with more FOMO than our generation?

That’s why I’m so grateful for humans like the great Kirsten Watson, who we get to learn from in this episode.

Kirsten is the CEO of a family of nine, executive editor of MomLife Today plus co-founder of the One More foundation and Why or Why Not with the Watsons podcast, which she co-founded with her husband, retired NFL player Benjamin Watson-so she knows a thing or two about managing wild seasons.

And she’s just dropped a beautiful new book, “Sis, Take a Breath: Encouragement for the woman who wants to live and love well (but secretly just wants to take a nap).

If there was ever a manifesto for peace, this is it!

This is not one of those “do more to like yourself more” books. Instead it’s how to be encouraged where you are and flourish THERE first, because that place is sacred and it matters.

Kirsten really has dedicated her career to encouraging women and teaching them how to thrive in the midst of chaos.

And I can’t think of a better time to share this kind of message with you than right now-so jump in where you love to catch your favorite podcasts.

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Join The Fresh Fruit Project community on all the social channels at @thefreshfruitproject 

or thefreshfruitproject.com

Do you believe you’re creative?

Not artistic-creative.

The answer is YES!

In the height of the pandemic creative entrepreneurs Christina Jones and Joe Stitt, along with two friends and collaborative partners Des and Mark, saw the pressure on creative industries to pivot quickly within their businesses AND rise to the challenge of helping their clients do the same.

Their response: a community to support the wellbeing of their fellow creatives as well as encourage the creativity in all, Creatives are Essential. Because they truly believe in the power of creativity and how it can lift the world.

This episode we chat about why it’s vital we recognize the creativity in us all and give ourselves space to grow it, how to get going on your dream with what you have, the immediate momentum of deciding to start, the power of writing down our visions, cutting out distractions and even a little rif on NFTs.

This crew is too much fun and I can’t wait for you to listen.

Join in wherever you love to catch your favorite podcasts.

We're well acquainted with culture’s definition of winning: hustle + grind, steamroll others, burn the candle at both ends, always in a rush, so busy, more is always better...

But how has it been serving us? 

What if we decided we're writing our own script for success?

What if we started a movement?

The idea of Heart over Hustle is a BIG topic at The Fresh Fruit Project, one that's at the core of our mission to cultivate a well lived life of impact and purpose through joy, love, peace and FUN!

Because our culture of constant striving to keep up is playing games with our health, our quality of life is up for grabs and most of all, our next generation is watching and learning, we have to ask ourselves: what is driving us and WHY?

What if we started a movement that reimagined hustle culture into a wholehearted version that looked more something like this: 

ambition + love + service = freedom, peace + purpose

Isn’t that what we’re all ultimately after?

What if we flip the script on defining success? Celebrate serving others from our imperfections, learning from failures, living wholeheartedly and FULLY alive? 

Sometimes we get to our destination faster when we walk instead of run. So join me now for this conversation on the idea of HEART Over Hustle.

Ok fam-we unpack so much in this episode...we're diving into the gift of self awareness and knowing your worth with my friend and women's leadership expert, wife and mom, Crystal Warr.

As Crystal reminds us, when we've done the work of understanding who God created us to be and how much we're loved, we grow in our capacity to unconditionally love, serve others, build community over competition and ultimately step into the purpose we were created for.

We chat about everything from moving past comparison and finding good community to our favorite personality assessments, how to put our gifts to work and why therapy is the best gift we can give ourselves. 

So come hang out and after you do I hope you walk away feeling hopeful, seen and most of all loved. 

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Some examples of personality and gift assessments discussed in this episode:

Spark Types: https://sparketype.com

Enneagram: https://www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test

Spiritual Gifts Assessment: https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/women-leadership-spiritual-gifts-growth-service

We’re so quick to let imposter syndrome, comparison and self doubt stamp out our dreams.

But what about letting courage, confidence, self worth in?

Today's the day we finally do that!

We get to make the choice to move forward and in this episode you'll find 6 ways to stay focused against our negative self talk, what happens when we push past self doubt and what to do instead of FIGHTING AGAINST comparison. 

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Be sure to subscribe and review the show wherever you catch your favorite podcasts

and come hang with The Fresh Fruit community on all the social channels @thefreshfruitproject

Ok...this is one is PACKED with SO MUCH GOOD STUFF!

The Fresh Fruit Project is all about celebrating and spotlighting people using their gifts, talents AND experiences to make an impact in the world and today’s guest is definitely doing that…

Today we’re talking about the necessity of embracing our stories and challenges and how opening our arms to where we’ve been can actually propel us forward AND how we can use that to serve others.

So that’s why I’m so pumped to be hanging out with writer, speaker, community builder, wife + mom Alyssa Adkins, who is using her beautiful and honest story of sobriety to help women find freedom by embracing THEIR STORIES…

Many of us believe that if we’ve ever struggled with anything tough whether that’s addiction, health challenges, bad financial decisions…that our potential has passed.

It’s actually the opposite though. Our challenges make us fully human. Recognizing them sets us free from the weight and distraction of any shame, fear or doubt that we've carried around.

And it's in that FREEDOM we develop compassion and empathy, allowing us to become better parents, friends, more effective leaders. 

We’re chatting about the necessity that is self awareness, how to own our stories, ditch shame, find freedom by getting in community and more. 

When we honor where we've been, we can start to celebrate and own who we were called to become. 

Follow Alyssa Adkins:

https://www.thisthorn.com

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What does PURPOSE mean to you?

We all want to know we’re making our time here count, right?

So many of us are in search of the answers to these questions so I'm sharing a lightbulb moment I had this week about our purpose that often gets overlooked  

They say it's all about the journey and in this episode we're honoring and exploring where our purpose fits, remembering we can take some of the pressure off our need to have it all figured out and learn to walk more confidently at a pace of grace.

When your calling starts calling you, will make yourself available to answer? 

And just as importantly, are you willing to roll with what comes next?

I have the privilege of hanging out with Danielle Coke today, who you may know as Oh Happy Dani (IYKYK), to chat about just that. Her journey as a social justice illustrator and educator has helped spark a movement of encouraging equality and she’s on a mission of using her artwork to encourage faith, inspire justice, action and guide us through loving our neighbors well.

Danielle is also a podcast host of For the Ultimate Good, a social justice advocate, entrepreneur and an all around light in this world.

Her illustration business took off and evolved significantly in the summer of 2020 when our much needed social justice movement was heating up so today we’re talking about how your calling and business evolves and the importance of embracing that beautiful journey.

Get ready to have you heart and mind stirred 'cause this is a good-packed with so many of Danielle's nuggets of wisdom on everything from social equity, faith, Enneagram mashups to creativity, brand values and what to do when Target calls.