This Epic Life

Mark Smucker is the President and CEO of The J.M. Smucker Company, and the sixth CEO in the Company’s 120+-year history— succeeding his father and uncle, in 2016.  

Smucker is a well-known manufacturer of jam, peanut butter, pet foods, coffee and other products. Founded in 1897, Smucker has expanded into a portfolio of brands, which grossed an estimated $7.84BB in sales in fiscal year 2019.

After his early career as a middle school science teacher, Mark reentered the business when Smucker was a growing, mid-sized company.

Mark’s path to leadership happened during a period of massive expansion and change.

In our conversation, Mark shares the inflection point and key insight which allowed the company to grow exponentially.

Brands which Smucker either acquired, or launched include JIF peanut butter,  Uncrustables, Folgers, Café Bustelo coffee, and in the pet category— Rachael Ray Nutrish pet food and snacks, and Milk-Bone dog biscuits.

Prior to being named President and CEO, Mark held many leadership roles, including President of the U.S. Consumer and Natural Foods divisions, and the Coffee division.  

He holds a bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary and an MBA from the Arizona State Thunderbird School of Global Management. He lives in Akron, Ohio with his awesome wife Katie, and their two children.

We cover so much great stuff in this conversation. What I love about Mark is how he shows up authentically in all areas of his life and business.  As you’ll hear, he’s incredibly passionate about people, workplace culture, and corporate responsibility. Under his leadership, the company continues to meet aggressive goals to reduce waste, and water use, while educating suppliers on more sustainable farming practices.

Mark also has an intense passion for music, and DJ’s house music regularly as DJ Mind.E.  We discuss the opportunity of bringing more of ourselves to work, and why it’s so important.

How Mark shows up to his many roles— as a family guy, CEO, and a House DJ— is a great example of Full-Life Integration. 

This Epic Life Presents Mark Smucker.

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In Costa Rica we’ll design a path forward for the next decade— and we’ll leave committed to the spiritual, physical, and relationship practices to get us there. 

Charlie Gilkey will co-lead on creating a powerful map to your decade ahead, and our community will coach and empower you to make it a reality.

Kristoffer Carter (“KC”) is a coach for founders and executives, and meditation teacher for organizations. He is also the founder of This Epic Life, and creator of the Full-Life Integration Framework. 

As a meditation teacher, KC has over 33,000 active students on Insight Timer. As a workplace culture consultant, he has designed, or is delivering conscious leadership programs for AT&T, Avery-Dennison, Good Life Project, Litera Microsystems, and more.

KC’s Mission + Values-centric programs have been featured in Business Insider, onstage at TEDx (“What if change was FUN?”) and Wisdom 2.0, and in countless conferences and podcast interviews. 

He lives in Akron, OH with his wife of 20 years, and their 3 children.

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How many of us are taking on some sort of cleanse, or swearing off alcohol for the month following the holidays?

A few listeners have reached out lately on how I quit drinking 8 years ago.

Today’s guest came on my radar in a big way recently, and brings a powerful voice to the argument for sober living. She’ll be the first to tell you it’s not for everyone, while her backstory makes an incredibly compelling case.

At the very least, her story makes me look at areas of my life where I may still be hiding, or playing small.

Laura McKowen had a long, successful career in public relations and the Mad Men–esque drinking culture of advertising. After getting sober, she quickly became recognized as a fresh voice in recovery, beloved for her soulful and irreverent writing online and in print.

She now leads sold out retreats and courses, teaching people to how to say yes to a bigger life. She lives outside Boston with her daughter.

Laura has been featured in WebMD, New York Post, Bravo, the TODAY show, and more. She also writes an award-winning blog on LauraMcKowen.com, and has hosted an iTunes Top 100 podcast called HOME, and most recently, Spiritualish.

Today we get into her brilliant first book which was just released on January 7th: We Are The Luckiest— The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life.

My teammate Troy who travels the world nomadically told me this morning he just read the book and loved it. If you’ve ever thought about reinventing your relationship with booze, or ever wondered what your bigger YES may be in life and work, this is for you.

This Epic Life podcast presents, Laura, McKowen.

A masterpiece. The truest, most generous, honest, and
helpful sobriety memoir I’ve read.
It’s going to save lives.

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About We Are The Luckiest

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Kristoffer Carter (“KC”) is a coach for founders and executives, and meditation teacher for organizations. He is also the founder of This Epic Life, and creator of the Full-Life Integration Framework. 

As a meditation teacher, KC has over 33,000 active students on Insight Timer. As a workplace culture consultant, he has designed, or is delivering conscious leadership programs for AT&T, Avery-Dennison, Good Life Project, Litera Microsystems, and more.

KC’s Mission + Values-centric programs have been featured in Business Insider, onstage at TEDx (“What if change was FUN?”) and Wisdom 2.0, and in countless conferences and podcast interviews. 

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Nobody we admire succeeds by only having a plan. 

At some point they must conquer all resistance and show up to deliver their work.

Our guest today embodies this ethos.

As a logistics officer during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Charlie Gilkey is an expert on having a tight plan, and finding the discipline to follow it.

However, as a grad student in philosophy, he also knows what typically stops us from delivering our best work, and how to remove those blocks.

Charlie is one of those teachers who dropped on my path at the perfect time. In 2012 he told me in front of a room of people that I was nowhere near prepared to leave my corporate job.

I was pissed.

But I knew he was right. He then created a punch-list of exactly what I needed to create to graduate from corporate. So that’s what I did.

Charlie Gilkey helps people start finishing what matters most.

He is making major waves with his latest book on Sounds True: Start Finishing— How to Go from Idea to Done, which made Seth Godin’s Fall Book List and has been racking up tons of praise.  He is also the author of The Small Business Lifecycle, co-host of the Productive Flourishing podcast, and the founder of Productive Flourishing, one of the world’s top websites for planning, prioritization, and productivity for creative people.

Charlie’s work is regularly featured in places like TIME, Inc.com, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Lifehacker, and the Huffington Post. Prior to starting Productive Flourishing, Charlie was an Army Joint Force Military Coordinator and pursuing a PhD in Philosophy.

I’m so excited to have one of my own mentors and coaches join us to co-lead our upcoming Costa Rica retreat.

In Costa Rica we’ll design a path forward for the next decade— and we’ll leave committed to the spiritual, physical, and relationship practices to get us there.

Connect with Charlie

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ProductiveFlourishing.com
>> Free Templates, Planners and…

Free Chapter of Start Finishing

Charlie on LinkedIn

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Kristoffer Carter (“KC”) is a coach for founders and executives, and meditation teacher for organizations. He is also the founder of This Epic Life, and creator of the Full-Life Integration Framework. 

​As a meditation teacher, KC has over 33,000 active students on Insight Timer. As a workplace culture consultant, he has designed, or is delivering conscious leadership programs for AT&T, Avery-Dennison, Good Life Project, Litera Microsystems, and more.

KC’s Mission + Values-centric programs have been featured in Business Insider, onstage at TEDx (“What if change was FUN?”) and Wisdom 2.0, and in countless conferences and podcast interviews. 

Access all of our episodes:
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As we prepare to enter a new decade, so many of us are grappling with how to create more fulfilling work.

That theme is the focus of our upcoming retreat in Costa Rica— where we’ll design the 2020s on our terms.

Why Costa Rica?

I can’t think of a better spokesman for this sanctuary of renewal and sustainability than Edward Zaydelman. Today Ed shares his transformative journey from a NYC club promoter, to launching a gorgeous retreat center called Vida in Costa Rica. Ed was recently hired by the resort hotel group Selina to create more properties like Vida across the globe. Forbes calls Selina the “digital nomad hotel of the future.”

Could your career be evolving toward more meaning, less complexity, and more authentic connection?

Enjoy this funny, heartfelt conversation with someone who’s navigated the career journey— the always entertaining Edward Zaydelman.

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Kristoffer Carter (“KC”) is a coach for founders and executives, and meditation teacher for organizations. He is also the founder of This Epic Life, and creator of the Full-Life Integration Framework. 

​As a meditation teacher, KC has over 33,000 active students on Insight Timer. As a workplace culture consultant, he has designed, or is delivering conscious leadership programs for AT&T, Avery-Dennison, Good Life Project, Litera Microsystems, and more.

KC’s Mission + Values-centric programs have been featured in Business Insider, onstage at TEDx (“What if change was FUN?”) and Wisdom 2.0, and in countless conferences and podcast interviews. 

Access all of our episodes:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

Have you had a goal to deliver a TED or TEDx talk, and it just hasn’t happened yet? It’s more work than I ever realized, but was also far more rewarding. 

My goal today is to get YOU in action to deliver yours. It’s easy to get the journey started, and my hope is you also get prepped on how to handle the process when it gets tough.

Since delivering my first talk, “What if change was FUN?”, my approach to coaching— and my business— is different. The whole process just took a massive amount of commitment, surrender, and receiving more support than I knew how to receive.

The organizers, the coaches, the TED organization, and the audience were all part of it. But the biggest miracle was how everyone who ever had a hand in mentoring, hiring, or working for me showed up like an army.

Nothing deserves more presence, and preparation than stepping into the fabled “Red Circle” and delivering a TED-quality presentation.

My personal experience was a pressure cooker. We had a tight production timeline, and I ended up in a battle between my brain (which wanted the perfect script) and my heart (which knew the truth of what I needed to say).

I even scrapped designing slides to back me up, and let the talk be the content— something I’ve coached countless executives on, but finally had to put my money where my mouth is.

This episode breaks down everything I’ve been asked about in designing and delivering a TED-level talk. 

You can view my final talk here on TED’s website.

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Kristoffer Carter (“KC”) is a coach for founders and executives, and meditation teacher for organizations. He is also the founder of This Epic Life, and creator of the Full-Life Integration Framework. 

As a meditation teacher, KC has over 33,000 active students on Insight Timer. As a workplace culture consultant, he has designed, or is delivering conscious leadership programs for AT&T, Avery-Dennison, Good Life Project, Litera Microsystems, and more.

KC’s Mission + Values-centric programs have been featured in Business Insider, onstage at TEDx (“What if change was FUN?”) and Wisdom 2.0, and in countless conferences and podcast interviews. 

Access all of our episodes:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

Today’s conversation is unique, because we interview, and coach each other. This will also air on Jenny’s “Pivot Podcast”.

What if this uncertainty is a gateway to something so much better?

Jenny lives by this quote: “If change is the only constant, let’s get better at it.”

Today’s episode is about designing powerful next steps. Our guest is Jenny Blake. I first learned about Jenny when I left my corporate career in 2016. I was trying to figure out where to focus, and someone recommended her excellent book Pivot.

What’s fascinating about Jenny is her ability to feel into the subtle layers of data her emotions, body, and energy are telling her. She’s a naturally joyous person, so when something is off, she can feel it.

And then, she applies everything she has written and spoken around the world about— how to Pivot, or embrace a completely new path based on what’s already working.

We’ve crossed paths speaking at different events, and I got the sense Jenny was so much more than her bio as a young, founder and CEO. She mentioned last Summer she was hitting pause on her successful business to attend seminary school.

That’s a pretty big leap, right? I had so many questions.

Ultimately, she found the seminary path wasn’t for her, and switched directions back toward her business in a big way.

At some point, all of us end up in the place where our next move feels unclear. We know something needs to change, and it’s becoming harder each day to show up.

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Jenny’s Signature Community-Based

Jenny Blake is the founder and CEO of The Pivot Method, a learning and development company that helps individuals and organizations map what’s next.

Her aforementioned, award-winning book is Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One, which won the Axiom Best Business Books award in the careers category. Jenny also hosts the popular Pivot Podcast, which CNBC listed among 6 podcasts to make you smarter about your career, and Entrepreneur selected as one of the top 20 female-hosted business podcasts.

After five years at Google in Training and Career Development, Jenny moved to New York City in 2011 where she founded her own consulting practice, The Pivot Method. Jenny works with companies like Google, Microsoft, and Chanel to integrate the Pivot Method into their global career development and manager training programs.

Today you can find Jenny at PivotMethod.com and on her Pivot Podcast.

As I mentioned, we interview each other and this will also be featured on Jenny’s podcast. Her quick intro of me follows.

This Epic Life presents a coaching conversation with Jenny Blake.

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/jennyblake

Twitter: @Jenny_Blake

Instagram: @JennyBlakeNYC and for more frequent posts, @pivotmomentum

Facebook: Facebook.com/JennyBlakeCA

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What would publishing your book represent for you, your ideas, and your creativity?

So far in my entrepreneurial journey, I’ve found writing to be THE core creative practice in designing and running my business. When we’re not writing marketing copy, we’re writing proposals, talks, or contracts.

Cynthia Morris has coached so many creative people over the last 20 years to get back to the hard, focused work of finishing. What I love about Cynthia’s journey is that she has also practiced everything she coaches on.

Every time I start resisting my writing practice, I return to Cynthia Morris and her website Original Impulse.

Whenever I’m taking on longterm creative projects, Cynthia is the first person I call. Her processes for getting back into relationship with your projects have been refined over decades, and they work. We workshop some of these in today’s conversation.

In 2012 Cynthia launched her novel Chasing Sylvia Beach— after writing it for 13 years, through 17 full drafts. Celebrating her huge achievement is something I’ll never forget. Since that time, I’ve watched her evolve into a highly-prolific visual artist, and hand-lettering master. Her hand drawn cards hang on the walls of our home, and she leads workshops in Paris teaching others how to “Capture The Wow.”

In our conversation we break down her 8th, and brand new book: “The Busy Woman’s Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book.” We also get into the impact of Cynthia’s deep yoga practice (she’s averaged 5 trips to the yoga studio per week over the last 23 years).

Are you ready to be inspired to finish?

Are you ready to celebrate publishing your next big creation? Cynthia Morris is going to coach us in getting there.

This Epic Life presents Author, Artist, Yogini, and Writing Coach Cynthia Morris.

Author and Certified Coach Cynthia Morris helps writers, artists and entrepreneurs focus, follow through, and finish their creative work.

In 1999, she founded Original Impulse to help people become the writers they’ve always wanted to be.

Cynthia has published seven non-fiction books and a Paris historical novel. She speaks globally on writing and the creative process and has presented in London, Antwerp, Paris and Italy, Costa Rica and Panama as well as the World Domination Summit, Rocky Mountain Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the Denver Woman’s Press Club and more.

In her online workshops and 1:1 coaching, she helps writers get their words out, stay committed to their projects, and cross the finish line with books in hand.

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Originalimpulse.com >> Create your writer’s life

The Devoted Writer >> Cynthia’s signature program to solidify your writing habit with the support of a highly-engaged community.

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Today I want to give you a peek behind the scenes into the journey of creating and launching This Epic Circle by sharing a special podcast interview with one of my clients-turned-teammates.

Philip Powis’s journey of personal transformation, like all of ours, is a work in progress. However, as you’ll soon realize this guy is built for speed.

I call Phil “The Wizard”. He’s a marketing genius, and his automation systems have powered massive launches. He also used his wife’s hearing practice (Phil’s wife Janice is a Dr. of audiology), as a testing ground— turning a struggling practice into a client-centric powerhouse. They’ve gone on to run retreats in Costa Rica for audiologists, and have recently moved toward a more nomadic life.

Phil’s journey over the last two years has been deeply interwoven with This Epic Life. He attended both of our Encinitas retreats, and hired me as his coach when he reached an incredible milestone in his solo consulting business– a six-figure month.

What I love about Phil is that he gets the connection between up-leveling his support as the demands on his time and focus expand. His investment in his personal and business growth inspires me.

Aside from being a client-turned-partner on our Epic Circle project, Phil and I have surfed together in Costa Rica, and chanted and meditated on both coasts.

In this conversation, I grilled Wizard Phil on his vision for the Circle, which has challenged me on so many levels to rethink my business and embrace expansion. Phil’s mastermind journey began with a Tim Ferriss event, and hasn’t slowed down since. He brings a ton of honesty, and objectivity to this conversation. We also dive deep in the spiritual, and community-side of entrepreneurship.

Philip Powis brings a balance of passion, drive, and soul to his consulting focused on digital marketing strategy, automation, and ethical selling.

He is the founder of Hearing Experts, a platform and community inspiring hearing professionals to dream bigger, while getting results in marketing, growth, sustainability, and mindset.

Philip is currently on a mission to provide the best educational and training experiences to mission-driven entrepreneurs, and it comes from a place of knee-deep experience. His approaches and teachings have all been tested, tried-and-true in his own businesses and supporting massive online launches.

This typically takes shape through helping them achieve 3 things:

Philip’s approach to business balances both results-driven mentality with a to-the-core strategy to make real shifts in his client’s mindsets and the people they serve.

He is also the co-founder of Quantum King Media, a publisher and personal growth platform launching later this year providing transformational education and immersive experiences that accelerate the evolution of men as powerful, awakened, and embodied creators.

Learn more at www.quantumking.co

Phil is currently taking up residence in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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Magnifythesolution.com >> Marketing Systems & Automation for Mission Driven Entrepreneurs

Quantum King >> Empowering 37,000 men a year to live richer, more vital, and fully expressed lives.

HearingExperts.io

Philip on LinkedIn

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Have you met any real-life superheroes? I know a handful.

Emiliya Zhivotovskaya is my Captain Marvel. She has a somewhat dark, powerful origin story that has created a literal juggernaut in the fields of Positive Psychology, Resilience, and Human Flourishing.

Her Being can be felt in any room she’s in, and she’s often at the center of the circle, or up on stage— radiating light, wisdom, possibility, and unshakable joy.

Emiliya’s family emigrated to the U.S. from the Ukraine when she was 5. She started working as a party entertainer not long after. During that time she lost her brother in a tragic drowning accident, which started the long decline of her mother’s health.

Emiliya came into the world well aware of her purpose— to learn, experiment, and be a conduit for human flourishing. She was at her Mom’s side through hundreds of doctors visits and treatments. She spoke to every physician, read everything she could, and as you’ll see in her formal bio— got trained and certified in every possible modality to support flourishing.

When I’m walking into a corporate training and need supporting research around resilience, and how it reduces workplace suffering, I call Emiliya. I wanted to offer our listeners a glimpse of how powerful her training and teaching can be in your day to day lives.

One of my executive clients is currently training in her Certification of Applied Positive Psychology programs— where she has certified over 1300 practitioners.  He and I both are equally obsessed with Emiliya’s MONSTER brains, and the most open heart you may come across in this lifetime. “EZ” gives everyone permission to be joyful.

Prepare to learn, prepare to Feel all the Feels. Prepare to go forth with more tools to navigate our confusing, limitless world. 

Emiliya Zhivotovskaya is the CEO and founder of The Flourishing Center, a New York City based, Benefit Corporation (B-Corp) that is dedicated to increasing the flourishing of individuals, organizations and communities.

Emiliya   is the creator of the wildly-successful Certification in Applied Positive Psychology (or CAPP) program, which is delivered in 12 cities across the U.S., Canada and online. CAPP has trained over 1300 practitioners to date. She is the creator the Bounce Back Better® Program, Positive Psychology Coaching Certification®, Flourishing Skills Group® Program, co-founder of the Positive Educator Certification Program, creator of the PERMA-V Model and the 5i Change Agent Model.  

Emiliya holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Positive Psychology and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Mind-Body Medicine from Saybrook University, where she is also an adjunct faculty member.  

Emiliya holds a Master Certified Coach (MCC) credential with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), as well as over a dozen certifications in modalities ranging from coaching to yoga, Reiki, intenSati, Thai massage, biofeedback, motivational interviewing and more. She holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology, from Long Island University, with Minors in Fine Art, Business and Philosophy.

Learn more about her many training programs and resources to thrive at www.theflourishingcenter.com.

Emiliya lives (and thrives) in New York City.

Connect with Emiliya :

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Emiliya.com >> Professional speaking, podcast, and teacher’s page

Emiliya on LinkedIn

The Flourishing Center

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First and foremost, Ani DiFranco is the kindest, funniest, and loving person you could ever meet. She brings that love into every song, or out on to any stage. She’s also the same person onstage, or off— whether playing with her kids, or eating breakfast with yours.

Professionally, Ani has released 20 albums, played countless sold-tours, and sold a staggering 5.5 million albums on her own Righteous Babe Records— creating full independence on her terms through her 30+ year career. But contrary to the legends and myths that surround her, she hasn’t done it entirely on her own. 

Her brand new, New York Times Best-selling memoir “No Walls and the Recurring Dream” documents her life up until the age of 30. It’s an epic collection of vignettes from the folksinger’s life from leaving home, to sleeping in bus stations as an emancipated minor, to building her empire brick by brick— and all the allies, fans, and musicians who helped along the way. 

There aren’t any long-form interviews Ani sat down for around the book, or the accompanying “No Walls Mixtape” she recorded this year. This podcast interview is our chance!  Beyond fans of our Ani’s music though, there is so much in this conversation that will be inspiring and helpful for parents juggling careers, artists making a living out of art, anyone obsessed with the creative process, and aspiring entrepreneurs.

We laugh, we cry a bit, and we poke around This Epic Life of Ani DiFranco.

In this conversation we cover:

Ani DiFranco is a Grammy-winning musical artist and feminist icon recognized for her poetry and songwriting which pierces social convention and challenges the status quo, as well as for her social activism and political engagement.

One of the first artists to create her own label in 1990, she is the mother of the DIY movement and has sold over 5.5 million albums on her own Righteous Babe Records, and recently released her twentieth studio album. While she has been known as the “Little Folksinger,” her music has embraced many genres and collaborators ranging from Pete Seeger to Chuck D to Prince.

Her NY Times Best-Selling memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, is available everywhere on Penguin Books.

She lives in New Orleans.

“Ani DiFranco has written a memoir as fierce, freewheeling, and passionate as her music. Like Patti Smith’s Just Kids and Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run, No Walls and the Recurring Dream charts the evolution of an artist whose voice couldn’t be suppressed by poverty, by misogyny, by record executives—and we hear it, loud and true.”
—O, the Oprah Magazine

“[DiFranco] manages to shed new light on how a young, talented woman created enough momentum to slingshot herself beyond her town’s suffocating gravitational pull and create an entirely new solar system, populated with an orbit of planets and moons of her own devising.” 
—Rolling Stone

“DiFranco’s memoir undoubtedly bubbles up from the same creative well as her music. . . . Pages that read like a diary’s confessional. . . . This is a story with a soul.” —Sarah Hass, Los Angeles Review of Books

Follow Ani Here

Official Website

Twitter

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Facebook

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