The HERE.together Podcast

How are you?  Are you doing ok?  If the reality is that you’re not doing awesome right now, we’re here to say that’s ok.  You’re not doing it wrong.

If you’re feeling great, that’s ok, too.  Hang out with this conversation anyway, because if you can show up for your loved ones who are struggling, that’s a good thing. #alwaysbebuildingempathy.

We just wanted to check in with you and spend some time today talking about anxiety and depression and the complex emotional landscape that we are all walking through right now.  It’s a big challenge, but we can help each other and maybe even wind up stronger on the other side.

We know a lot of podcast episodes (ours included) follow a certain format…. Here’s the problem… Here’s our expertise with this problem…. Here’s three simple steps you can take to solving that problem. Now a word from our sponsors.

But we’re choosing not to follow that formula and instead just have a rich, rambling, revealing conversation. Because that’s what life is. Because there IS no three step solution. Because healing and growth take place in the presence of a witness, not necessarily an expert or guru. Because we believe we, as pod hosts are part of a community. Because we believe that you are part of this community.

So… yeah… I have to say that some days I’m not OK. And that those days are more frequent these days. And that’s one of the reasons we’re recording and sharing this podcast. I’m not OK, Kelly’s not OK, maybe you’re not ok ... and that’s OK.

We are sharing an episode from another podcast we produce - The Prescott Woman Podcast. We think the themes in this interview: community, collaboration, and shared mission are a perfect fit for this channel. 

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What is NACOG?  We’ve all heard of it.  Most of us can’t seem to remember what it stands for.  But after this episode of the Prescott Woman Podcast, you will know and remember, thanks to Teri Drew, the smart and savvy director of the Economic/WorkForce wing of NACOG, the Northern Arizona Council of Governments.  They are doing the hard and important work of economic development, community support, early childhood education, and so much more.  They coordinate with local and county governments across Apache, Coconino, Navajo, and Yavapai counties here in Northern Arizona to make life better for all of us. Teri is with us today to talk about the work she has done for over 40 years to lift individuals out of poverty via career development and at the same time, support local businesses in building effective, sustainable workforces.

Guest Bio:

Teri Drew works with 24 communities across Northern Arizona to help both workers and businesses build success. She currently serves as Chair of the Arizona Workforce Association (AWA) and was recently appointed to the United States Workforce Association (USWA). She has served on just about every workforce-related board and committee at local, state, and national levels during her long career [see the show notes for the details].

Teri is a Promise Maker sponsor of Yavapai County Big Brothers Big Sisters. She was named Prescott Area Leadership’s Woman of the Year in 2012 and has been the recipient of numerous regional, state and federal innovation awards.

For full Show Notes go to: www.rocketfeather.com/pod

Come on a journey with us, in which our heroes grow up together in a safe but restrictive community, begin to question that community, fall down a slippery slope, crash their Jenga tower, lose everything, find their authentic selves - including their anger, gain everything, discover a new kind of joy, and then create a sanctuary where all are truly, deeply welcome. Turns out it was the sanctuary that they needed all along.

This successful heroes’ journey is a story that we hope will give you joy and hope for your own complicated journey.  We all fall down (or get kicked out), but our guests this week are here to remind us what’s on the other side.  This is the third episode in our bounce-back series and we hope you’ll get a lot of value from it.

Our guests this week are Kate and Colby Martin, co pastors of Sojourn Grace Collective, a progressive Christian church in San Diego, California.  Their church is a fully inclusive, open and affirming community that welcomes all and works for justice. How they got there is not easy.

Our guest this week is serial entrepreneur and problem-solver Laura Fitton.  A college chum from my Cornell days, Laura and I spent a lot of time together at Cornell Outdoor Education leading backpacking trips, teaching rock climbing and developing our communication and leadership skills.  Even back then, Laura stood out with her intelligence, drive and courage. Those characteristics showed up in the first thing she chose to do after college. She got a job cooking for an educational program on a tall ship sailing back and forth across the Atlantic. She took that job despite being prone to sea-sickness because she believed in the Sea Education Association and its mission.

Laura eventually took her smarts and passion and started her own internet start up called oneforty.com after the original character limit on then-nascent Twitter. She sold her company to a large inbound marketing company and got to host a major annual conference featuring some pretty amazing speakers. I’m not sure, but I think she was the one who booked Michele Obama.

Laura went on to start a company to address climate change (the Enough Company) and the pandemic (The PPE Index). The throughline in all her ventures was seeing a need and deciding to do something to meet it, with her trademark intelligence and empathy.

This episode started off talking about the nature of entrepreneurship but ended up diving into the nature of evil and how to avoid it. No, seriously… the nature of evil.

So be prepared to get inspired, enlightened, and frankly, a little challenged. There are some very clear calls to action in this episode.

What if you could reinvent yourself?  What if you did it again and again?  If you haven’t already done it yourself, can you even imagine where such a journey would take you and who you would become?

Our guest this week is Melanie Banayat, owner of Wing Space Co-working here in Prescott.  Her career has included graphic design, resort management, holistic health coaching, and fine art. Through each career, Melanie has been a typical entrepreneur, grabbing opportunities, working hard, and creating success so she has a ton of experience to share.

After having to reinvent herself a number of times, Melanie now helps others do the same.  Not just a place to rent a desk and make copies, Wing Space fosters budding entrepreneurs in all the areas they need to succeed.  In response to the Covid Crisis that is forcing so many of us to retool our business or turn our side-gig into an enterprise, Melanie and the folks at Wingspace have created Launch, an incredibly valuable class for folks going through the business start up process. It is a six-week, self-paced virtual class with dozens of video tutorials PLUS peer-to-peer coaching in an accountability group (Called a Mastermind group.) A class like this would normally cost thousands of dollars. Your jaw will drop when you hear how inexpensive Melanie had made it.

We recorded 3 episodes this week and the thread that ran through all of them was what happens when your life burns down.  All of our guests found the grit and tenacity to keep going when it looked like all was lost, and in that darkness, found gifts that helped them build new lives that turned out to be more authentic, more meaningful, and more powerful than those they left in the ashes.

If your relationship isn’t all bliss all the time, you’re doing it wrong.  Right?  That, of course, is nonsense.

We get taught a whole slew of behaviors and attitudes (packaged as strength or righteousness) that actually inhibit joyful, lasting relationships. It’s hard to unlearn those lies, but we here at Rocket Feather are working hard to help you have easier, more successful partnerships with the people who matter to you.  Listen to this episode as we lay out the three components of win/win relationship culture and how going for the win-win will revolutionize your experience of being in relationship.

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What if we decided to honor all the parts of ourselves and each other….the masculine, the feminine, the earthy and the gold? What would it look like if you could express the full spectrum of yourself?  What would the world look like if we all decided to break down and recycle the boxes we’ve been expected to live in?

Come with us as we explore not only the mundane but the sacred feminine and masculine and find out how diving into them can change the world for the better.

We had an enriching double date this week with our friends Doug Eagan and Dawn Delvecchio.

Dawn is a scholar, entrepreneur, martial artist, and priestess who is encouraging women to reclaim their feminine power  Just this year she interviewed 39 priestesses from around the world and multiple spiritual traditions. In this interview, she shares some of what she learned in that process. Dawn is offering a reduced-cost intensive online coaching program to help women cultivate inner strength and engage the mission of their souls.  Doug Eagen is a mens work leader, and mentor for boys who has been active in Boys to Men and the Mankind Project helping to craft a healthy masculinity.

Alejandro Magaña at https://mixkit.co/

How can we develop more ease and authenticity inside ourselves? How can we build more capacity and resilience to face current and future difficulties?

And what if, the same methods for adding to our lives created better relationships and more effective leadership?

How much would you pay for this? But wait, don’t answer…

This episode is full of just the sort of conversation and questions you’d hear if you were hanging out with us in the kitchen. Kelly and I regularly rassle with these ideas around healthy personal growth, uplifting relationships and inclusive, sustainable community. We get pretty agitated about the topic and the possibilities and sometimes Bill the Cat has to come in from the living room to yell at us to quiet down.

Or maybe he’s just agreeing loudly. It’s hard to tell

We offer up this conversation with both great passion and great humility. Our passion comes from all the years we’ve been working through these ideas personally and professionally. Our humility comes from the fact that we are very human and are working through all of this ourselves. We are doing our best not to preach or lecture [though it might sound like it sometimes - we do get excited], but we think there’s something good and powerful in facing these uncomfortable truths and we want to talk it through with you, together.

What if parenting, teaching, or just hanging out with teens could be easier and less stressful. What if we adults could adopt a few simple techniques to help kids make good decisions, free up their own authentic wisdom, AND build closer relationships. 

What’s it like for you when your beloved gets angry?  What about when it’s over something you did?  Do you panic?  Get defensive?  Throw blame?  Crumble?  Flee?

How can we handle these inevitable moments in our close relationships in a way that actually deepens our connection and reduces the stress and trauma of a fight?

Kelly and Charles have been working in and on their marriage together for nearly six years. Before earning that street cred, Kelly earned a Masters in Art Therapy, and grabbed all the wisdom available from Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, etc. Charles studied nonviolent relationships and teaching and has mentored over 1000 youth and adults in communication, self-awareness, and accountability skills.

On this week’s podcast, we share results from the lab that is our marriage, in hopes that you will find it useful in your own relationships.

Music Credits: Chill Out Records - No Copyright Music