The Illuminate Podcast

Today’s guest is our new host – Emmy Burch! We’re changing it up this week and I’m interviewing her so you can get to know her before she is on the other side of the microphone!

Emmy is a woman of many talents and hobbies. Emmy is a musician, a connector of people, conductor, music educator, singing pacer(!), runner, writer, podcast host, and just illuminates pure joy.

This episode is host by Kristin Srour.

Show Notes:

Mayor Johnson’s Inaugural Address

Praying for Sheetrock by Melissa Ray Greene

Deep Work

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Sara Fenton is on the podcast today to talk all about Girls Inc. of the Pacific Northwest! Sara is the Southwest Washington Programs Manager for Girls Inc. This is a nonprofit organization that is working to inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. They provide life-changing programs and experiences for youth ages 6-18 that help them grow up healthy, educated, and independent.

In this episode, Sara shares about Girls Inc. and the work that they do, advice for parents to prepare for the challenges that their young girls may face, how we can all inspire young girls in our lives to be leaders, and more!

This episode is hosted by Emma Benner.

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Today’s episode is extra special because our guest, Mariam, will actually be joining us as a new host for The Illuminate Podcast! We as a team are so excited for her to join us and I am so sure that you will be too after you listen to this episode!!

Mariam has worn so many hats in her professional career. She started out as a divorce lawyer for the super-rich in London and then went on to lead and grow a brand consultancy agency in NYC. She now is the Director of Customer Success at a performance marketing company. 

She is also currently working on a thriller novel and we get to hear all about that work in this episode!

In this episode, Mariam shares all about following your heart and switching career paths, leading a team and making sure everyone feels included, how living in other countries has impacted her day to day life, how giving back brings positivity into your own life, why she is excited to be joining The Illuminate podcast team, and so much more!

I am so excited to welcome Mariam to the podcast team and I hope you all enjoy learning more about her today!

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TinaMarie Hernandez is the Executive Director of Diveheart;  a non-profit organization that provides and supports educational SCUBA diving, surface supplies gas (SSG), snorkeling and related experience programs which are open to any child, adult and veteran with a disability; with the hope of providing both physical and psychological therapeutic value to that person, while building confidence, independence and self esteem … enriching their quality of life and human spirit.

Diveheart is such an incredible program and we get to learn all about it in this episode!

This episode is hosted by Lindsey Hein.

What we talked about:

3:15- TinaMarie’s backstory and how she got involved in Diveheart

9:45- Why Diveheart was founded

14:50- The power of being underwater for people with disabilities

20:00- Challenging your fears

23:50- How Diveheart trains people throughout the US and world to carry on their mission

27:00- The trips that they offer

28:30- The services that they offer to veterans

32:05- TinaMarie’s journey to learning how to dive and how we can all try it out

35:10- End of podcast questions

Show Notes: 

Learn more about Diveheart

Follow Diveheart:

Diveheart on Instagram

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The Illuminate Podcast

Recommended Book:

The Obstacle is the way – Ryan Holiday

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Susannah Wellford is the founder of Running Start, a nonprofit organization aimed to inspire young women and girls to pursue political leadership.  They host training programs that that are focused on educating young women about leadership campaign strategy, and teamwork, without a partisan lens. Susannah is also the cofounder of an organization called Women Under Forty Political Action Committee which Running Start is designed to further the work of. 

In this episode, Susannah shares about the work that she does with Running Start, how we can all encourage young girls and women to take up leadership and political positions, women in politics to be watching, her own female role models, and so much more!

This episode is hosted by Emma Benner.

Show notes:

Running Start

Running Start on Instagram

The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker

Homes on Wheels Alliance

Represent Women

Ignite

She Should Run

Vote Run Lead

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A first-generation American, the young Neli Vazquez Rowland, was a natural leader, becoming the first in her family to graduate from college. For 13 years, as an investment banker, Vazquez Rowland lead several firms across the nation. It was during her time as an investment banker, Neli had to rise up to the challenging and emotionally-draining task of overcoming an issue of alcoholism in her family.

This incident fueled a strong belief in Neli that no family should have to suffer through an already-tragic situation and in 1994, she established A Safe Haven with her husband, Brian Rowland. An organization determined to join forces with the private and public sector to ensure an efficient and sustainable approach to battle poverty and homelessness, A Safe Haven was welcomed instantly by business, academia and public policy leaders for its innovative and ground-breaking approach to an issue that has long plagued economies.

This episode is hosted by Lindsey Hein.

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Shantae Smith is the Systems Transformation Advisor at Community Solutions. Community Solutions is a nonprofit organization that is working to create a lasting end to homelessness. They are proving that homelessness is solvable with their movement of Built for Zero. Through that they are working with more than 80 cities and counties using data to change how they work and the impact that they can achieve, proving that it is possible to make homelessness rare and brief and achieving the milestone of functional zero, where homelessness is rare! 

Shantae has many years of experience in various roles in the homelessness response system. As you’ll hear in this episode, she is incredibly passionate about this work and making an impact in the world. In this episode, Shantae shares about her role at Community Solutions, the backstory on why she is passionate about this work, some stories of people that she has worked with and helped out of homelessness, things that we can all do to help people experiencing homelessness, and so much more!

Show notes:

Thriving as an Empath: 365 Days of Self-Care for Sensitive People

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Arizona Coalition for Change

Be Heard Clothing

Community Solutions Website

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Lia Valencia Key joins the show today! She is the founder of Valencia Key Jewelry where she creates beautiful wearable pieces of jewelry that are meant to inspire others to reach their full potential. She hand sketches each design with the intention to spread the message of empowering others to find their joy, love, dreams, and more! 

Lia has a story of humble beginnings where she grew up impoverished and homeless and experienced loss at a young age. In this episode, you’ll hear that story and how it inspired her to start Valencia Key and spread the message that her mother taught her – that your predicament does not determine your destiny.

Lia is such a light in this world and it was such a joy to get to talk to her! I hope that you enjoy my conversation with Lia and pull some inspiration from her.

This episode is hosted by Emma Benner.

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Jessica Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz are the authors of Fade Into the Bright, a Young Adult fiction book that was released in April. The novel is all about an 18 year old, Abby, who found out her estranged father is dying from a rare degenerative genetic disease called Huntington’s Disease. This gives Abby and her sister a 50% chance of testing positive for the gene. The book follows Abby after she flees to Catalina Island after testing positive. 

May is Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month and Jessica and Alyssa are hoping to raise awareness for Huntington’s Disease through this book. In this episode, they share about the book stacks that some of their readers have created to raise awareness and money for Huntington’s. 

Jessica and Alyssa have a great story about the inspiration behind writing Fade Into the Bright and you’ll hear about that in this episode. You’ll also hear about how they work together on all of their writing projects, pursuing their dreams of becoming authors, some of their favorite books to read, the writing process, and so much more!

This episode is hosted by Emma Benner.

What we talked about:

2:50- Introduction to Jessica and Alyssa

3:30- How Jessica and Alyssa met

5:20- Where their dreams for becoming authors came from

6:55- How they started working together on all of their writing projects and some of the projects that they have worked on

13:35- Their recently released book, Fade into the Bright

16:55- How writing this book has changed their perspective on life

20:05- The inspiration behind writing this book and their goal to bring awareness for Huntington’s Disease

24:00- The research that went into writing this book

24:55- The writing and publishing process

27:00- The process of writing a book together

29:30- The draw to writing young adult fiction

31:10- What’s next and the projects that they are working on

31:50- What a book release day looks like

33:35- The responses that they have gotten from the book and the Instagram challenge that is happening for Huntington’s Disease Awareness

36:15- How their writing process has changed since they have moved apart from each other

38:50- Where you can find Fade into the Bright

39:20- End of podcast questions

Show notes:

Book recommendations: These Women by Ivy Pochoda

Win by Harlan Coben

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Memorial by Bryan Washington

Missoula by Jon Krakauer

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Jessica and Alyssa’s Website

Jessica and Alyssa on Instagram

Jessica and Alyssa on Facebook

#StacksforHDAwareness

Huntington’s Disease Society for America

CASA

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Sasha Wolff is the founder of Still I Run. Still I Run is a community where people can share their experience of dealing with depression/anxiety etc. through running or any other type of physical activity. We encourage one another to take time out of our busy lives to run for our mental health. Through various programs we offer, we hope to educate others about running for mental health, raise mental health awareness, provide encouragement to others, and help people experiencing hardship get started in their running journey.

Still I Run was founded by Sasha in 2016, however the idea for the group came to her a few years earlier. In 2011, she was hospitalized for anxiety and depression and one of the coping mechanisms she learned while getting help was the concept of creating healthy routines and habits. One day, shortly after discharge from the hospital, Sasha put on a very neglected pair of running shoes and decided to go for a short walk. That walk felt so great, that she kept doing it on a regular basis and eventually started to go faster and longer. She hasn’t stopped running for her mental health since.

Once she discovered the benefits of running for mental health, Sasha wanted to connect with others who do the same thing. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find a group anywhere.

Sasha is the mother of two, with one on the way, works full time and runs Still I Run in her spare time. She is so passionate about the mission of Still I Run and you’ll sense that in this conversation!

This episode is hosted by Lindsey Hein.

Show Notes: 

Still I Run Website

Four Winds – Kristin Hannah

All Things Reconsidered – Knox McCoy

Let’s pretend this never happened – Jenny Lawson

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