The Uplifters

To not be of service and live my life to the fullest after receiving so much support would be spitting in the face of anyone who ever believed in me.

Sean Wachter

Sean Wachter is a business guy, a husband, and a father of two young girls. He also happens to be a former two-sport collegiate athlete and a former pro football player, and after battling and surviving a rare form of melanoma, he is using wrestling – of all things – to raise awareness and raise funding for cancer research (all while finishing his MBA and working with several major cancer organizations).

Sean’s story challenges us all to live large, make the most of every moment, and maybe even do big, crazy sh*t to make a difference. His story is so inspiring that he’s our very first male Uplifter Ambassador! 🌟

What you’ll hear in this episode

* How this video of Inky Johnson changed the course of Sean’s life

* How a rare cancer saved Sean’s life and gave him his family and a powerful purpose

* How Sean ended up in a wrestling ring at almost 40- winning titles and raising lots of money to fight cancer

Thanks to Janet Prete for nominating Sean. Follow Sean’s adventures inside and outside the ring on Instagram and LinkedIn.

After you listen, grab your ticket 🎟️ for Uplifters Live on May 17, where you’ll meet Sean and 26 of the other Uplifters Ambassadors that you’ve met on our podcast! Learn all about this one-day in-person gathering for creative growth and collaboration HERE.

You can always listen right here in your email, where you’ll also receive full transcripts (edited and condensed for clarity). But please also subscribe directly to The Uplifters on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack, or YouTube, or follow our TikTok for uplifting daily videos. Just click one of those links to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Sean Wachter is a business guy, a husband, and a father of two young girls. He also happens to be a former two-sport collegiate athlete and a former pro football player, and after battling and surviving a rare form of melanoma, he is using wrestling – of all things – to raise awareness and raise funding for cancer research (all while finishing his MBA and working with several major cancer organizations).

Sean’s story challenges us all to live large, make the most of every moment, and maybe even do big, crazy sh*t to make a difference. His story is so inspiring that he’s our very first male Uplifter Ambassador! 🌟

What you’ll hear in this episode

1. How this video of Inky Johnson changed the course of Sean’s life
2. How a rare cancer saved Sean’s life and gave him his family and a powerful purpose
3. How Sean ended up in a wrestling ring at almost 40- winning titles and raising lots of money to fight cancer

Thanks to Janet Prete for nominating Sean. Follow Sean’s adventures inside and outside the ring on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Find lots more from The Uplifters Podcast on our Substack www.theuplifterspodcast.com

After you listen, grab your ticket 🎟️ for Uplifters Live on May 17, where you’ll meet Sean and 26 of the other Uplifters Ambassadors that you’ve met on our podcast! Learn all about this one-day in-person gathering for creative growth and collaboration HERE.

We all have cringey moments when we say or do something that not only shows our humanity and our imperfectness, but it shows a little bit more of our authentic selves than we want to show. We don't like to put ourselves out there in a way that is different than the status quo because that might lead to rejection. When you embrace the cringe with art, it's giving you practice that will reflect in your everyday life.

-Caroline Scruggs

Uplifters, we are going on a magical musical adventure with this week's guest - world traveler, songwriter, and creativity coach Caroline Scruggs!

Caroline invites us into her radically courageous creative journey and shows us how embracing imperfection helped her find her authentic voice (and resulted in a song about roadkill).

Caroline shares the power of building safe spaces for creative growth and gives us the keys to unlock our vocal confidence - starting with something as simple as a hum - even if, like me, you have some deep insecurities about singing.

Caroline's infectious energy and musical manifesto will leave you ready to leap into creative truth and self-expression. So tune in and turn up the volume! Caroline's songful story will kindle your own creative spark. You never know what beautiful tones your unique voice might hold. (Bonus: you’ll also learn what a theremin is!)

After you listen, grab your ticket 🎟️ for Uplifters Live on May 17, where you’ll hear the live premiere of our season two theme song and meet songwriting expert Rachel Lipson and 26 other Uplifters Podcast guests from season one. Learn all about this one-day in-person gathering for creative growth and collaboration HERE.

You can always listen right here in your email, where you’ll also receive full transcripts (edited and condensed for clarity). But please also subscribe directly to The Uplifters on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack, or YouTube, or follow our TikTok for uplifting daily videos. Just click one of those links to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

💓Caroline💓

Caroline Scruggs is a world-traveling music artist, songwriter, and voice and creativity coach. She has taught 400 creatives around the world to own their voice and express themselves authentically through the tool of songwriting with her virtual programs Uke Camp and Raise Your Voice. She is currently best known, though, for playing the theremin, the world's first electronic instrument and one of the only instruments played without physical touch! Find her on Instagram & TikTok: @Caroline_scruggs_

Thank you to Julie Hartigan for nominating Caroline for The Uplifters!

Uplifters, we are going on a magical musical adventure with this week's guest - world traveler, songwriter, and creativity coach Caroline Scruggs!

Caroline invites us into her radically courageous creative journey and shows us how embracing imperfection helped her find her authentic voice (and resulted in a song about roadkill).

Caroline shares the power of building safe spaces for creative growth and gives us the keys to unlock our vocal confidence - starting with something as simple as a hum - even if like me, you have some deep insecurities about singing.

Caroline's infectious energy and musical manifesto will leave you ready to leap into creative truth and self-expression. So tune in and turn up the volume on inspiration! Allow Caroline's songful story to kindle your own creative spark. You never know what beautiful tones your unique voice might hold. (Bonus: you’ll also learn what a theramin is!)

After you listen, grab your ticket for Uplifters Live on May 17, where you’ll hear the live premiere of our season 2 theme song. You can learn all about this one-day in-person gathering for creative growth and collaboration with the Uplifters Podcast Ambassadors and Community HERE. 💓

You can always listen right here in your email, where you’ll also receive full transcripts (edited and condensed for clarity). But please also subscribe directly to The Uplifters on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack, or YouTube, or follow our TikTok for uplifting daily videos. Just click one of those links to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Caroline Scruggs is a world-traveling music artist, songwriter, and voice and creativity coach. She has taught 400 creatives around the world to own their voice and express themselves authentically through the tool of songwriting with her virtual programs Uke Camp and Raise Your Voice. She is currently best known, though, for playing the theremin, the world's first electronic instrument and one of the only instruments played without physical touch! https://www.carolinescruggs.com/

Thank you to Julie Hartigan for nominating Caroline for The Uplifters!

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*For more uplifting content, resources, and community support, visit...

Get full access to The Uplifters at www.theuplifterspodcast.com/subscribe

“Not only does it feel good to laugh, but when you find yourself laughing, whether you realize it or not, you're reminding yourself that you're still in there. It's like, ’ Oh wait, I'm still me.’”

Rebecca Soffer of Modern Loss , on grief

In the final episode of our Uplifting series on grief and loss, you’ll meet Rebecca Soffer, co-founder of Modern Loss , author of the bestselling “The Modern Loss Handbook: An Interactive Guide to Moving Through Grief and Building Your Resilience,” and co-author of the book "Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome."

«Check out other episodes from the series HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.»

In this conversation, Rebecca and I discuss:

* How her work at The Cobert Report primed her to use humor to navigate the long and messy arc of grief after losing both parents early in her adult life

* How shared grief can be a shortcut to intimacy and deep connection

* How humor reminds us that we’re still here when we’re losing so much of what makes us feel like ourselves

* That there’s no right or wrong way to grieve

* How to take care of ourselves and our boundaries during the many stages of loss

Rebecca

Rebecca Soffer is cofounder of Modern Loss, which offers creative, meaningful, and encouraging content and community addressing the long arc of grief. She is also the author of the bestselling “The Modern Loss Handbook: An Interactive Guide to Moving Through Grief and Building Your Resilience,” which Gayle King named a favorite book of 2022. Rebecca is also co-author of the book "Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome," Her writing has appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, TIME, Glamour, and NBC and she has spoken on loss and resilience around the world, including at Capital One, Amazon U.S. and UK, HBO, and SoFi. Rebecca is a Peabody Award-winning former producer for The Colbert Report and a Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumna.

Thank you to Susie Jaramillo for nominating Rebecca as an Uplifter.

Please join Susie, me, and a host of other Uplifters on May 17 for Uplifters Live. You can learn all about it HERE.

“Not only does it feel good to laugh, but when you find yourself laughing, whether you realize it or not, you're reminding yourself that you're still in there. It's like, ’ Oh wait, I'm still me.’”

In the final episode of our Uplifting series on grief and loss, you’ll meet Rebecca Soffer, co-founder of Modern Loss, author of the bestselling “The Modern Loss Handbook: An Interactive Guide to Moving Through Grief and Building Your Resilience,” and co-author of the book "Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome."

«Check out other episodes from the series HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.»

In this conversation, Rebecca and I discuss:

• How her work at The Cobert Report primed her to use humor to navigate the long and messy arc of grief after losing both parents early in her adult life
• How shared grief can be a shortcut to intimacy and deep connection
• How humor reminds us that we’re still here when we’re losing so much of what makes us feel like ourselves
• That there’s no right or wrong way to grieve
• How to take care of ourselves and our boundaries during the many stages of loss

Rebecca Soffer is cofounder of Modern Loss, which offers creative, meaningful, and encouraging content and community addressing the long arc of grief. She is also the author of the bestselling “The Modern Loss Handbook: An Interactive Guide to Moving Through Grief and Building Your Resilience,” which Gayle King named a favorite book of 2022. Rebecca is also co-author of the book "Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome," Her writing has appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, TIME, Glamour, and NBC and she has spoken on loss and resilience around the world, including at Capital One, Amazon U.S. and UK, HBO, and SoFi. Rebecca is a Peabody Award-winning former producer for The Colbert Report and a Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumna.

Thank you to Susie Jaramillo for nominating Rebecca as an Uplifter. Please join Susie, me, and a host of other Uplifters on May 17 for Uplifters Live. You can learn all about it

Get full access to The Uplifters at www.theuplifterspodcast.com/subscribe

My grandfather, Philip Dwight Baker, was born on February 7, 1929. He would’ve been 95 this week. Just as he thought he was done rearing children, he and my grandmother stepped in to raise me when my parents couldn’t. He couldn’t always live on his own terms, but he got to leave on them.

Alongside my grandmother, mother, and aunt, I had the privilege of sitting with him in hospice during his last days. It was a rowdy week of takeout, reminiscing, family reunions, online shoe shopping, laughter, and tears. It was one of the most meaningful weeks of my life and one of the greatest honors of my life to be in that room. 

Today, as part of our month-long series on grief, I am joined by Stefanie Elkins, Founder of Be Present Care and Death Over Drafts where she fosters candid and courageous conversations with individuals, families, and caregivers about end-of-life planning.

«Check out other episodes from the series HERE, HERE, and HERE.»

In this conversation, Stefanie and I discuss:

* How my multi-generational household normalizes death, dying, and last wishes

* What Stefanie learned about her father by playing a “lively party game” called The Death Deck

* How to meet people where they are when broaching sensitive topics like death and dying

* Why life and death are labors of love, and the types of support needed during these times

* How to navigate complex emotions when making end-of-life decisions

* How I’m training now to be the old lady that I want to become

If you’re a paid subscriber of this podcast, please join Stefanie and me for a conversation on Advanced Care Planning and end-of-life decisions on February 15 at noon ET. (Check your inbox for an invitation.)

The Uplifters is a listener-supported publication. To receive invites to intimate, virtual monthly conversations with our guests and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Stefanie

Stefanie Elkins has over 15 years of diverse non-profit experience in the eldercare field. “To meet individuals where they are,” Stefanie started, Be Present Care, where she facilitates and guides caregiving and end-of-life conversations and educates and develops care plans and programs for families, healthcare, and senior-focused professionals and organizations. Before starting her own company, Stefanie served as the Medical Outreach Manager, an integral part of the Compassion & Choices California Campaign team where she assisted in passing and then implementing the California End of Life Option Act that was authorized in 2015.Stefanie also founded Death over Drafts, a community event held at breweries to spark conversation, connection and conversation around death and dying. She is a compassionate, dedicated & resourceful connector who welcomes opportunities to support and navigate life transitions.

Thank you to Alyse Hart for nominating Stefanie as an Uplifter.

Please join Alyse, me, and a host of other Uplifters on May 17 for Uplifters Live. You can learn all about it HERE.

My grandfather, Philip Dwight Baker, was born on February 7, 1929. He would’ve been 95 this week. Just as he thought he was done rearing children, he and my grandmother stepped in to raise me when my parents couldn’t. He couldn’t always live on his own terms, but he got to leave on them.

Alongside my grandmother, mother, and aunt, I had the privilege of sitting with him in hospice during his last days. It was a rowdy week of takeout, reminiscing, family reunions, online shoe shopping, laughter, and tears. It was one of the most meaningful weeks of my life and one of the greatest honors of my life to be in that room. 

Today, as part of our month-long series on grief, I am joined by Stefanie Elkins, Founder of Be Present Care and Death Over Drafts, where she fosters candid and courageous conversations with individuals, families, and caregivers about end-of-life planning.

«Check out other episodes from the series HERE, HERE, and HERE.»

In this conversation, Stefanie and I discuss:

• How my multi-generational household normalizes death, dying, and last wishes
• What Stefanie learned about her father by playing a “lively party game” called The Death Deck
• How to meet people where they are when broaching sensitive topics like death and dying
• Why life and death are labors of love, and the types of support needed during these times
• How to navigate complex emotions when making end-of-life decisions
• How I’m training now to be the old lady that I want to become

If you’re a paid subscriber of this podcast, please join Stefanie and me for a conversation on Advanced Care Planning and end-of-life decisions on February 15 at noon ET. (Check your inbox for an invitation.)

The Uplifters is a listener-supported publication. To receive invites to intimate, virtual monthly conversations with our guests and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Stefanie Elkins has over 15 years of diverse non-profit experience in the eldercare field. “To meet individuals where they are,” Stefanie started Be Present Care, where she facilitates and guides caregiving and end-of-life conversations and educates and develops care plans and programs for families, healthcare, and senior-focused professionals and organizations. Before starting her own company, Stefanie served as the Medical Outreach Manager, an integral part of the Compassion & Choices California Campaign team, where she assisted in passing and then implementing the California End of Life Option Act that was authorized in 2015.

Stefanie also founded Death over Drafts, a community event held at breweries to spark conversation, connection, and conversation around death and dying. She is...

Get full access to The Uplifters at www.theuplifterspodcast.com/subscribe

At the end, almost everyone says, “I wish I had listened to other people less. I wish I had lived larger.” It makes me cry to think about it, to imagine myself at the end of my life, and to think I had the chance, but I didn't out of fear or out of self-imposed limitations. I want to go out knowing I tried everything and I did everything.

Today, as part of our month-long series on grief, we are joined by Sundari Malcolm, who has experienced way more than her fair share of grief (if there is such a thing).

Check out other episodes from the series HERE and HERE.

At 27 years old, and after seven years of being her Caregiver, Sundari lost her mother to Breast Cancer. Four years later, she lost her father. As a death doula and a BIPOC Grief Educator and Care Curator for The Dinner Party, she has immersed herself in life’s final moments and what comes afterward for those who grieve. Along the way, she’s learned how to live.

In this conversation we discuss

* Anticipatory grief during caregiving

* How Sundari found roots after losing both parents at an early age

* The importance of setting boundaries during intense periods of loss and caregiving

* How to find and create safe spaces for grieving

* The power of seasonal reflection and intention-setting

* How Sundari uses a "self-care bowl" to bring play to her self-care

Please join us on May 17 for Uplifters Live. You can learn all about it HERE.

Sundari

Sundari is a native New Yorker, born to Yogi parents, and raised with the teachings of Integral Yoga. Since losing her parents, Sundari has made it her mission to equip people with the tools they need to manage life’s greatest transitions. She sits as the BIPOC Grief Educator and Care Curator for The Dinner Party. Sundari is a Birth, Grief, and Death Doula. She is the founder of A Healing Doula. She is a Yoga and Meditation teacher and a recent publisher of the book Grief Gems.

Thank you to Lia De Feo for nominating Sundari as an Uplifter.

The Uplifters is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

At the end, almost everyone says, “I wish I had listened to other people less. I wish I had lived larger.” It makes me cry to think about it, to imagine myself at the end of my life, and to think I had the chance, but I didn't out of fear or out of self-imposed limitations. I want to go out knowing I tried everything and I did everything.

Today, as part of our month-long series on grief, we are joined by Sundari Malcolm, who has experienced way more than her fair share of grief (if there is such a thing).

Check out other episodes from the series HERE and HERE.

At 27 years old, and after seven years of being her Caregiver, Sundari lost her mother to Breast Cancer. Four years later, she lost her father. As a death doula and a BIPOC Grief Educator and Care Curator for The Dinner Party, she has immersed herself in life’s final moments and what comes afterward for those who grieve. Along the way, she’s learned how to live.

In this conversation we discuss

• Anticipatory grief during caregiving
• How Sundari found roots after losing both parents at an early age
• The importance of setting boundaries during intense periods of loss and caregiving
• How to find and create safe spaces for grieving
• The power of seasonal reflection and intention-setting
• How Sundari uses a "self-care bowl" to bring play to her self-care

Please join us on May 17 for Uplifters Live. You can learn all about it HERE.

Sundari is a native New Yorker, born to Yogi parents, and raised with the teachings of Integral Yoga. Since losing her parents, Sundari has made it her mission to equip people with the tools they need to manage life’s greatest transitions. She sits as the BIPOC Grief Educator and Care Curator for The Dinner Party. Sundari is a Birth, Grief, and Death Doula. She is the founder of A Healing Doula. She is a Yoga and Meditation teacher and a recent publisher of the book Grief Gems.

Thank you to Lia De Feo for nominating Sundari as an Uplifter.