Emerging Women: Grace and Fire » Podcast

Today my guest is Shasta Nelson. Shasta Nelson is a life coach and CEO of GirlFriendCircles.com (the only online community that matches new friends offline by connecting women to other local women seeking friendship in 35 cities across the US). Shasta is the author of the book, Friendships Don’t Just Happen! The Guide to Creating a Meaningful Circle of GirlFriends. As a former preacher, she still brings her spirited and soulful voice to every presentation and anyplace else where people are seeking healthier and more meaningful relationships. In today’s episode, Shasta and I spoke about: How friendship can change the world Friendships as another outlet for intimacy The indicators of a strong friendship The advantages and challenges with distance friendships Friendships in business   Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes. Transcript Chantal Pierrat: Hello, and welcome, Shasta! Shasta Nelson: Thank you so much! Happy to be here. CP: I’m happy to have you. I’m just remembering the last time we were on a call. I think it was a couple of weeks ago. I felt like within five minutes that I was talking to somebody who was very soon going to become my best friend. I don’t know how you do it, but we just kept going. And even now, before the podcast, with our few minutes, I felt like I wanted to continue that conversation. SN: Oh, I would love it! CP: Yes, you just have a natural knack for friendship that I appreciate. SN: Well, thank you. I think highly of you, too, because it takes two to connect and be present and show up. CP: Right. Well, this is a subject that’s so important to me and near and dear to my heart. And when I was preparing for this, one of the things [I saw] on your website that really struck me was your tagline. It says, “I have a theory that friendship can save the world.” Maybe you can start and just tell us what you mean by that. SN: Yes. I look around at—well, I come from a very religious background. I used to be a pastor. And in that world, we seek a lot of spiritual practices and going to church and reading the Bible. And then, of course, being here in San Francisco, it’s a lot more ashrams and yoga and so many different spiritual traditions that are just so rich and beautiful. And one of the things I think about when I am every guiding anyone through anything or watching them do that is, “To what purpose are we doing that for?” In the Christian tradition, we always say that it is because we want to become more loving or more like God. In other traditions, we might use different words, but it’s really to become more enlightened and to become more at peace and to be more in love and to recognize our connections to each other. And so when you are doing all these practices, it’s really for the purpose of engaging with each other and seeing each other and the value of each other, and recognizing the spark of God and the image of God in each other. So in my opinion, the friendships are where—that’s the gymnasium, that’s where we actually practice, that’s where we actually get to practice doing what we’re trying to become. So for me, I challenge people. I don’t care if you’re praying all day; if it’s not making you a more loving person, I question what the point of that prayer is. And I question whether it’s working in your life. It’s really our friendships that we actually are—yes, I would call it the gymnasium. It’s the gymnasium for our soul. It’s the place where we get to practice forgiveness. It’s one thing to talk about it, [but] that’s where we get to practice doing it with people we’re in relationship with. That’s where I get to practice cheering for women. Even if I’m jealous of them and they have things I want,

Today my guest is Rha Goddess, founder of Move the Crowd.   Rha is a cultural innovator and social entrepreneur who brings over two decades of transformational “crowd rockin’” in the name of social change. As a world renowned performing artist and activist, her work has been internationally featured in several compilations, anthologies, forums and festivals. In her 30+ year tenure as a creative organizer Rha has shaped the face of racial justice and equality, electoral politics, offender aid and restoration, mental health and youth and young women’s empowerment. Rha Goddess was a featured presenter at the fantastic Emerging Women May 2014 Power Party in New York, NY. In today’s episode, Rha and I spoke about: Her work with Move The Crowd and how she is creating a league of extraordinary creative entrepreneurs What she means by culture, and how our culture is shifting to a more collective, creative and diverse expression Working with the ‘Global Diaspora’  Limiting beliefs common among entrepreneurs and her 6 steps for working with them And finally, her sage advice for the Emerging Women everywhere   Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes. Transcript Chantal Pierrat: You’re listening to Grace and Fire, brought to you by Emerging Women. Today my guest is Rha Goddess. Rha is a cultural innovator and social entrepreneur who brings over two decades of transformational “crowd rockin’” in the name of social change. As a world-renowned performing artist and activist, her work has been internationally featured in several compilations, anthologies, forums, and festivals. In her 30+ year tenure as a creative organizer, Rha has shaped the face of racial justice and equality, electoral politics, offender aid and restoration, mental health, and youth and young women’s empowerment. With Emerging Women, Rha Goddess was a featured presenter at the fantastic May 2014 Power Party in New York, NY. In today’s episode, Rha and I spoke about: her work with Move The Crowd and how she’s creating a league of extraordinary creative entrepreneurs; culture, what she means by culture, and how our culture is shifting to a more collective, creative, and diverse expression; working with the global diaspora; limiting beliefs common among entrepreneurs and her six steps for working with them; and finally, her sage advice for Emerging Women everywhere. Here’s my conversation, “Move the Crowd,” with the strong and powerful Rha Goddess. Hello, and welcome, Rha Goddess! How are you? Rha Goddess: I’m well, so well. Thank you so much for having me. CP: Every time I talk to you, I smile and laugh before we even say anything. Why is that? [Laughs] RG: I feel the same way! [Laughs] I feel the same way. I just think it’s the kindredness, you know? [Laughs] CP: Yes! I’m just always so inspired by your spirit, which is interesting because you are an amazing business woman. You have this business called Move The Crowd—which we’re going to talk a little bit more about, and your philosophy—but you’re also a poet, a writer, a performer—a slam poet, nonetheless. In fact I was talking to one of our speakers, Dominique Christina, who’s the Women [of the] World Slam Poetry Champion two years in a row, and she said you started this whole thing! That you actually created this women’s slam poetry genre. And I’ve heard a couple people say that. RG: I don’t know if I created it, Chantal, but I will say that I’ve had the privilege of being one of the early players in the field, and I’m so blown away to see the way that the movement has blossomed, certainly over the last 15+ years. And Dominique is world-class in every sense of the world. I’m so happy that you all are continuing to engage her through Emerging Women, and again, I adore her. Amazing,

Today my guest is Gabrielle Bernstein, the New York Times best-selling author of May Cause Miracles. Gabrielle Bernstein appears regularly as an expert on NBC’s Today Show, has been featured on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday as a next-generation thought leader, and was named “a new role model” by the New York Times. She is also the author of the books Add More ~ing to Your Life, Spirit Junkie and the new book Miracles Now (published in April 2014). Gabby is also the founder HerFuture.com, a social networking site for women to inspire, empower and connect – AND, she is a featured presenter at the 2014 Emerging Women Live Conference in New York City. In today’s episode, Gabrielle and I spoke about: What she means by: “Everything happens for a reason” Shining light on the darkness of fear with our sense of responsibility and purpose Working with affirmations and always showing up with presence Making forgiveness a practice Surrendering and letting the universe take over   Tune in and listen to “Leading with Purpose and Presence” with the powerful and fierce: Gabrielle Bernstein. Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes. Transcript: Hi, and welcome, Gabby! Gabrielle Bernstein: Well, I’m happy to be here! It’s so wonderful. CP: I’m so excited that we’re talking and that you’re part of the Emerging Women lineup this year. GB: I cannot wait for that. CP: It’s going to be great. You know, it’s funny, when I was looking at your stuff, I came across a video of yours. And I was like, “Who is this person?” I was just sort of getting to know you, virtually—stalking you—and I pulled up a video, and I don’t know if I shared this with you or not, but you were speaking into the video and you were kind of leaning in and you were talking about, “Everything happens for a reason.” And you were almost like—you were fierce. And I’m like, “Wow, this woman’s fierce,” and you were like, “A book falls off your library shelf, and it means something!” And I was like, “This girl has got to be part of Emerging Women.” GB: [Laughs] CP: But can you really explain that? Does that really mean something, if a book falls off your library shelf? What do you mean by that? GB: We’re always being guided. We’re always receiving a tremendous amount of guidance. And the moment that we can say words like, “There has to be a better way,” or, “I’m not happy, I need help,” we sign an invisible contract with the universe, with God, with Spirit, whatever you believe in, and we say, “Show me what you’ve got. Show me a better way.” And those moments when we sign that sacred contract and accept that invitation, we open an invisible door to receive all of this guidance. And a tremendous amount of guidance comes through in very unique ways. One of the ways is [that] the book falls off the shelf! Or we see numbers in sequence, or we hear exactly what we needed to hear from a friend who is just divinely placed to tell us that story we needed to receive. And so all of that guidance is coming to us and is always available to us. We just have to open up our awareness to receive it. CP: And every single thing is meant to be in this way. Everything that happens is communication from the universe? GB: Yes, we’re always in communication with the universe, at all times. I genuinely believe that if we’re in a low vibration with negative thoughts, negative actions, and poor eating behaviors and addictive patterns, then we’re just having the low-level conversation with the universe, and we’re attracted towards us what’s funky out there. Whereas, it’s quite the same the opposite [way]: when we’re in a higher-level state,

Today my guest is Kris Carr, the New York Times and #1 Amazon best-selling author, speaker and wellness activist. Kris Carr is the subject and director of the documentary Crazy Sexy Cancer which aired on TLC and The Oprah Winfrey Network. Kris is also the author of the award-winning Crazy Sexy book series. Her latest books, Crazy Sexy Diet and Crazy Sexy Kitchen, will change the way you live, love and eat! Kris was a Keynote Speaker at the 2014 Emerging Women Live Conference in New York City. In today’s episode, Kris and I spoke about: What exactly is well-being, and how this can be different for different people How the flow of grace and fire has affected her life and using happiness as her guide Her shift from Health Guru to Women’s Emergence and Empowerment The feminine component of resiliency Using sexy as a strength that women can draw from   Tune in and listen to “Crazy, Sexy Woman” with the Crazy Sexy: Kris Carr. Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes. Transcript: Hello, and welcome, Kris Carr! Kris Carr: Thanks for having me! Hi! CP: Hi! And I’m reaching you here now in Woodstock, right? KC: That’s right. I’m at home in Woodstock, New York. CP: Gosh. That sounds so amazing to live in. I mean, I live in Boulder, I think it might be a little similar, but I think it’s more rural out there, correct? KC: Yes. We’re very similar. We just have much smaller mountains. When I came out to visit Boulder, I was like, “This has the same Woodstock vibe. It really does.” CP: Yes. Except isn’t Woodstock really small? KC: It’s very tiny, yes. Very tiny. CP: Yes, I just picture you—on your website you have an image of yourself in an old, old truck holding a green drink. KC: [Laughs] CP: I’m just like, that’s the life! You know? KC: That’s what we try to do out here in the woods. CP: Right? So your first book—I remember when it came out several years ago—is called Crazy Sexy Cancer. And I know what’s crazy about cancer, and I’m hoping that you can tell us all what’s sexy about cancer. KC: [Laughs] We’ll get to the short answer first. There’s nothing sexy about cancer. For me, Crazy Sexy Cancer came from two things: 1) there were mass emails that I would send friends and family, they were “Crazy Sexy Cancer” updates. And this [was] my way of showing my very frightened crew—because I was diagnosed with an incurable stage 4 cancer that had started in my liver and had spread to both my lungs. This was my way to update them and let them know that I still had my sense of humor, I still was the same irreverent girl, and that I wasn’t going to let cancer define me. It was an important step for me to kind of poke fun at cancer, not take it all so seriously. It was also really helpful for the people going through the experience with me. Not everybody has that same experience, but that was my lifeline. And then later, as my journey continued to unfold and the years continued to go by with cancer, and certainly when I kind of came on the scene in a much bigger way, I used “Crazy Sexy Cancer” almost like as a definition. And it’s a bit insane, so here we go: “crazy,” for me, that’s out of the box, forward thinking. It’s that kind of speak when somebody says, “Oh, that will never happen, that’s crazy,” and then you and I and everybody listening says, “Really? Watch us.” “Sexy” is empowering, and “cancer” is “teacher.” For me, cancer is my teacher. And so that really has been my way of going through this process, but also teaching others that are interested in my philosophy how to create a map for themselves. CP: Now, there’s a lot of people,

Today's podcast features Tami Simon's interview with Alanis Morissette, recorded live at the 2013 Emerging Women Live conference in Boulder, Colorado.  Alanis Morissette is a Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer and actress who has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide. Alanis was honored with the EMA Missions in Music Award for her efforts in speaking out against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Alanis Morissette has been acting on her strong beliefs for years—and encourages her fans and listeners to do the same. Tami Simon is the founder of Sounds True, a multimedia publishing company dedicated to disseminating spiritual wisdom. Based in Boulder, Colorado, Sounds True has published more than 800 audio, video, music, and book titles along with online courses and events. A two-time winner of the Inc 500 award as one of the fastest growing privately held companies in America, Sounds True is widely recognized as a pioneer in providing life-changing, practical tools that accelerate spiritual awakening and personal transformation. In today’s episode Tami spoke with Alanis about: The balance between Yin and Yang and how this shows up in relationship What that would look like to put the Sacred Feminine in the center of the music industry Listening as an art, and not letting fear stop us from doing what we want to do How Alanis uses the ‘nuggets of terror’ in her journal as seeds for her creative process Alanis's work with Relationship First and her love of talking with people who are ceiling-less And finally, how she sees the Feminine Movement moving towards Sacred Union   Tune in and listen to "The Rock and Roll of Feminine Power” with the Radical Women: Alanis Morisette and Tami Simon. Subscribe to Grace & Fire on iTunes. Transcript: Alanis Morissette: Hi! I want to thank Tami for being up here with me and having a conversation with me. It’s my favorite thing to do, as my friends can attest to, is dialogue and go and back and forth and see what’s actually happening in real time with you, with us. Tami Simon: We want to make our love public. AM: Exactly! [Laughs] There’s nothing better than that. TS: Exactly. Making our love public. OK, the primacy of connection. I want to start right there. AM: Let’s go for the jugular. TS: Well, the jugular’s going to come later. AM: There are so many jugulars and so little time. TS: That’s right, exactly.  AM: That’s part of why I’m happier here. TS: Your journey to connection, being, at least in my understanding, the most important thing for you in your life. How did you get there? AM: I didn’t get there; I think I started there. I’m a highly sensitive temperament. I’ve become more and more obsessed with self-knowledge because I’ve seen how empowering it and how it enables me to actually have functional intimacy with people. So I’m the girl that uses every tool of divination and wants to know what number I am on the Enneagram and wants to know—I throw my I Ching coins. I basically have wanted to connect with God, intrapersonally with my own self and with people my whole life.  [It’s] to the point where, because of my hypersensitivity, when it doesn’t happen, in glimpses at grocery stores or wherever I am, it’s actually quite devastating for me. And I take responsibility for it and I don’t get upset at the woman who looks away when she’s trying to buy her watermelons.  [Audience laughs] AM: But I hurt. So I don’t know if that answers your question. TS: Are there things that you do to invite or to magnetize to you the kind of connection that, as a sensitive person, really nourishes you? Is there stuff that you do, and what is it? AM: I think it happens by default.

Today my guests are Christine Arylo and Kris Carlson.  Christine Arylo is a transformational teacher, internationally recognized speaker and best-selling author of the official self-love guidebook, Madly in Love with ME: the Daring Adventure to Becoming Your Own Best Friend. After earning her MBA from Kellogg and climbing the corporate ladder for fifteen years, she chose to devote her life to creating a new reality for women and girls, one based on self-love, freedom and feminine power instead of the relentless pursuit of having to do, be and have it all. Kris Carlson is an international bestselling author and a leading expert on love, success, grief, happiness, and parenting. She’s the NY Times bestselling author and co-author of Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff, Heartbroken Open and An Hour to Live, An Hour to Love. Kris has sold over 25 million copies of her books, and has been featured on national radio and television broadcasts, including The Today Show, Empowered Living Radio, The View, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. In today’s episode, Christine, Kris and I spoke about: Cultivating the feminine superpower of receiving How to come from a place of openness, rather than a place of knowing and drive Flexing your trust muscles and how to build trust over time The importance of strengthening the nervous system and finally, both Christine and Kris offer key practices for becoming more embodied   Tune in and listen to “The Power of Receiving” with the Superwomen of Receiving: Christine Arylo and Kris Carlson. Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes.   Transcript: Hello, welcome Kris and Christine! Christine Arylo: Hello! Kris Carlson: How’s it going? CP: It’s going well! I want to clarify to the audience here, because we do technically have two Christines, so we’re talking here with Kris Carlson and Christine Arylo. So welcome, ladies! KC: Well, thanks, Chantal! CA: Yes, glad to be here. CP: So we are talking today—we’ll probably hit a couple of different subjects here, but primarily, [we’re] talking about what, Christine, you call the “feminine superpower of receiving.” So maybe we could start with you and you could give us a little background on that terminology and why you think it’s actually a superpower. CA: Yes, indeed. Well, I am imaging that many of [the people] out there listening, like me—and Chantal, I know like you, and also like Kris—we’ve been taught over the last several centuries to really value our ability to do over our capacity for being, to do more, to make stuff happen, really just a kind of like [growls], a kind of power. When we think about power, we think about things that are very forceful or you have to make it happen. It’s this very, “Go out and kill the meat” kind of mentality. “Go out there and get what you want!” And that is one kind of power. But there’s this other kind of power, which I never really knew about until right about when I met with Kris Carlson, after I finished MBA school, after I finished that whole superpowered woman, Wonder Woman kind of thing. Because Kris, as it turns out, had been living from the feminine superpowers her whole entire life. She literally is the embodiment of feminine superpower. And I remember when I met Kris, we had gone to this event together that she had invited me to. And we were in a big tent with all these people, and these people would come up to her and make invitations to her, and she was just very open and not having to make anything happen or figure out who she would have to go speak to or looking at the agenda. She was just very present and things would just come to here. And I’d be like, “How do you do that, Kris?

Today my guest is Meggan Watterson. Meggan Watterson is a spiritual mentor, speaker, and scholar of the Divine Feminine who inspires women to live from the audacity and authenticity of the voice of their soul. She is the author of REVEAL: A Sacred Manual For Getting Spiritually Naked. She facilitates the REDLADIES, a spiritual community that encourages women to reclaim their bodies as sacred and to be led by the soul-voice inside them. Meggan was a featured presenter at the May 22, 2014 Power Party in New York City. In today’s episode, Meggan and I spoke about: What she means by getting “Spiritually Naked” Acknowledging the shadow-side of our truth just as much as the light Connecting with the Soul Voice and how to make this a regular part of our lives The current Feminine Spiritual Revolution we are in and acknowledging the feminine   Tune in and listen to “Getting Spiritually Naked” with the fiery and authentic: Meggan Watterson. Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes.   Transcript: OK, welcome Meggan! Meggan Watterson: Thank you. I’m so happy to be talking with you. CP: Yes. I’ve been looking forward to this. MW: I have to warn you, I’ve had an excess amount of dark chocolate, and I’m also wearing my sort-of truth necklace. So it’s going to be fiery. [Laughs] CP: All right! Throwing it down at the get-go! I love it. OK. That’s my favorite. Well, I would love to just dig right in on REVEAL, which is not only the title of your latest book—which I believe came out last year, in 2013, correct? MW: Yes. CP: And the subtitle, A Sacred Manual for Getting Spiritually Naked, very intriguing. I was wondering if you could start there and tell us what you mean by “spiritually naked.” MW: Yes, yes. Absolutely. Well, very simply, it refers to our capacity to just strip down to the truth of who we are. That sounds very simple, but sometimes it can take quite a process, quite a wearing away of the things that are no longer serving us, for us to then get to that place where we can just express an immediate truth in the moment, whatever it is that we really need to simply reveal the truth of who we are. So it’s letting go of those ideas that are [usually] external ideas of who we are and who we need to be and what we need to think and say and do, which also extends into the spiritual practice of spiritual life. What I found in my immersing and emergence in the spiritual world was that there was a lot of pretense and expectation—that same cultural norm and ideal of being somehow perfect exist in the spiritual realm, too. For me, what I really longed for was a capacity to just be fully human and also fully divine. I wanted to be able to be both. And that’s what was truth for me. Not one or the other. I wanted to find that juicy cosmic mix of being able to be guided every day, every breath, by the voice of my soul, by connection to the part of me that is more than me. And I wanted to be fed by a source of love that was inside of me and not dependent on anything outside of me. The love that is love that is love that is love—that love that renders us all equal. I wanted my life to be led my that. And at the same time, I wanted to be OK with the unique paths and processes that I had to go through in order to get there and in order to remain there. So incredible heaped buckets and mountains worth of forgiveness and patience and levity. So often when we get into this idea of what it means to be spiritual, we take ourselves so seriously. And I think that can really be an obstacle and a hindrance to us really moving forward with being everything that we are. Because it’s important to really acknowledge that our voice...

This episode's guest is Nancy Levin. For over a decade, Nancy has served as the Event Director at Hay House, producing and hosting conferences focusing on personal growth, health, and spirituality. She is also a certified Integrative Coach through The Ford Institute For Transformational Training, and the author of a new book called: Jump… and Your Life Will Appear. In Jump Nancy gives a step-by-step guide to clearing the path ahead so you can let go and make the change you need the most. Through a series of effective exercises, Nancy walks the reader through their fear, ushers them up to the moment of jumping, and helps navigate what awaits on the other side. In today’s episode, Nancy and I speak about: The concept of Jump, and how this came to being in her own life Her shift from projecting perfectionism to becoming more vulnerable How to know when we are not aligned in our life Getting to the root, uncovering Shadow Beliefs and transforming them into Empowering Beliefs The idea of the ‘Graceful Exit’ and the additional work that needs to be done after we jump Tune in and listen to “Jump…and Your Life Will Appear” with the empowering and courageous: Nancy Levin. Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes. Transcript: Welcome, Nancy! Nancy Levin: Hi Chantal! CP: Hi! It’s so exciting to be talking to you today about your new book. For those of you out there who don’t know this, Nancy and I are actually quite good friends. Nancy lives in Boulder, so this is quite exciting for us to be talk and to be supporting her book launch at this point. It’s just so fun. NL: Thank you! CP: Yay! So I’m thinking that we should start with the title, and then maybe that will reveal more about your personal story and why you came to this. Jump … and Your Life Will Appear. When I first felt into that, first of all, I got scared, because I’m definitely one that feels like I need to feel safe before I do anything risky. And then the other piece was it was exciting, and [I] felt that it was perhaps the better way to go because no matter what, your life is coming anyway, so might as well jump in with two feet. So tell me a little bit about what you mean by the title, and how you came to this book. NL: Well, the title really came from the concept that—you mentioned feeling safe, and most of us feel safe in certainty, in what we know, and then what already is. And what I’m asking the readers to do is take a bit of a reframe and realize that there’s actually much more possibility and opportunity available when you actually jump out into uncertainty. Because that’s when your life has the power to change and you can live into a new way of being in the world. Our present is really a culmination of all of our past choices and decisions, and so in the present, we have the power to change our future by making different choices and different decisions. So in my own personal story, my Jump that weaves throughout the book is leaving an 18-year marriage. And for me, it was devastating. It was terrifying. It was unfathomable for a really long time, until I actually took the steps that are in this book. It wasn’t until after I was on the other side of it that I was able to look back and see, “Oh, here are the things I actually did that got me through this,” and then realize that they were actually applicable to other people in any other major change that they were making, whether it was changing a job or whether it was moving to a new city. And so it was important to me to document my own journey that way. So my story really began in that I was—even though in the outside world, I was projecting this image of perfection, and my motto had been, “Never let them see you sweat,” and I had been managing the perceptions of othe...

This episode's guest is Danielle LaPorte. Danielle LaPorte is the outspoken author of The Desire Map, The Fire Starter Sessions, and co-creator of Your Big Beautiful Book Plan. An inspirational speaker, former think tank executive and business strategist, she writes weekly at DanielleLaPorte.com, where over a million visitors have gone for her straight-up advice — a site that’s been deemed “the best place on-line for kick-ass spirituality,” and was named one of the “Top 100 Websites for Women” by Forbes. Danielle is a featured presenter at the 2014 Emerging Women Live Conference in New York City. "You have to want what you want with all your heart... but don't be attached to how it shows up." In today’s episode of Grace & Fire, Danielle and I speak about: Desire: how she defines it and the difference between desire and passion Practices for identifying and cultivating “Soul Desires” How to handle expectations when cultivating your desires Having the courage not to compromise and the two qualities she identifies as most important for developing this courage The power of feelings versus emotions and their connection to desire Her deepest desire for emerging women everywhere Tune in and listen to Living from Desire with the truly amazing and inspiring: Danielle LaPorte. Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes.   Transcript Chantal Pierrat: Welcome, Danielle LaPorte! Danielle LaPorte: Thank you, Chantal. We’re finally here. CP: I know. Finally here. God, I’m so excited. I can barely contain myself. I don’t know if you know this, but before I started Emerging Women, I read The Fire Starter Sessions, and they had a huge impact on me, and boy, did that light a fire under my “boo-tay.” It was fantastic. I’m even more excited to talk to you now, because here’s my first question: Who are you? And where did you come from? I mean, that’s what I kept asking! I kept asking that as I was reading the book. I was like, “Who is this person?!” Can you give us a little bit of your background before we jump into all the other things we need to talk about? DL: Yes, OK. I’m not from Earth, so let’s start there. CP: [Laughs] I didn’t think so! DL: But I’ve shown up. [Laughs] An important nugget in my bio is that my mom and dad were really young when they had me. My mom got knocked up in high school. And having really young parents was just what I needed and an influence on me. So they were taking me to hippie parties and hockey games. They were growing up while I was growing up, and that made a difference, I think. I got toilet trained in the ladies room of my mother’s community college. Jump cut to [me] in my 20s, and I haven’t graduated from high school, but I talked my way into every job and I’m running a think tank in Washington, D.C. That was weird. Jump cut to more companies. I can’t believe I’m old enough to say this now, but then the Internet came. [Laughs] The World Wide Web happened and I was playing online and finding my voice and [had] a big failed business and a lot of anguish around that. Then [I] rose from the flames [with] The Fire Starter Sessions. CP: So not only did you not graduate from college—I didn’t realize this—but you didn’t graduate from high school? DL: No. My mother got pregnant in high school. But I did finish high school, yes. CP: Ultimately you did finish high school. OK. Give me something to hold on here, because I’m like, “How amazing are you to have accomplished so much and to be consulting executives and running a think tank without that educational background?” It’s quite remarkable. DL: Thanks. And I use that to my advantage. When you’re in Washington D.C.,

This episode's guest is Eliza Reynolds. Eliza is a senior at Brown University where she is studying developmental and social psychology & Gender Studies. Eliza was a peer-counselor throughout high school and an S.O.S. trained educator for Planned Parenthood. She continued to use these skills working in Providence city schools as a sexual health educator. Eliza has recently co-authored a book titled: Mothering and Daughtering: How to Create a Deep and Enduring Relationship Through the Teen Years with her mother Sil Reynolds. Eliza was a featured presenter at the 2013 Emerging Women Live Conference in Boulder, CO. In this episode of Grace & Fire, Eliza and I speak about: Perfectionism and her battle with her inner critic How perfectionism isolates us as women and how she recommends to break these walls Advice for Moms to help their daughters cultivate self-acceptance of their bodies A final piece of wisdom for girls who are facing their inner critics Tune in and listen to Freeing Girls from a Culture of Perfectionism with the young and insightful: Eliza Reynolds. Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes. Transcript: Chantal Pierrat: Welcome, Eliza! Eliza Reynolds: Well, thank you, Chantal! CP: Now, tell us where you are right now. ER: I am in Providence, Rhode Island. It is drizzling outside [and] that typical New England fog that’s settling in. I’m at school at Brown University, finishing up my senior year, and I’m curled up on my couch with my candle and my mug of tea. I’m so excited to be here talking to you. CP: Nice! Now, you’re in your senior year, and you also just published a book that you co-wrote with your mother. ER: Yes, ma’am, I did. CP: And you also are launching, I believe, a website. ER: Yes, I am. TheWholeGirl.com is the new beginning that I’m really excited about. I come from a background of teaching—actually, we’re in our eighth year of teaching together, my mother and I, and I’m 22, so that’s pretty exciting to have had this legacy of teaching behind us and really be heading into innovating material together as a mother-daughter team. But as a senior [who’s] graduating, I’m launching my own work, The Whole Girl, which is looking at wholeness versus perfectionism, specifically in teenage girls today. But, gosh, our inner teenage girls never truly leave us. Even though I may be 22, I still feel pretty tied in, and I know, for example, women like my mother do as well. So it’s for the whole girl in all of us, really. And [it’s about] looking at wholeness as an alternative model to perfectionism and to a pretty rapid and dangerous culture of perfectionism that often gets masked behind other standards or other goals that can be very dangerous. And [it’s about] looking at ways that we can see ourselves live as whole entities, whether it’s not just as a value of our bodies as the center of our identities—where we ourselves look at ourselves in wholeness and work to live for and towards wholeness as an experience. CP: And do you have personal experience with perfectionism? Do you feel like you’ve been a perfectionist? ER: Oh, yes ma’am! [Laughs] Oh gosh, yes. I can definitely say perfectionism has been one of my inner demons, among other things. Different traditions call it different things, whether it’s the super ego, to be Freudian, or the inner critic is definitely one, a phrase that speaks very powerfully to me, or if you look at it in Jungian psychology, often we hear the voice of the inner negative mother or the inner negative father. And for me, it’s been a pretty consistent cohabitant of my brain. And I would say that my inner critic, in many ways, has served me [by] kicking my own ass into gear in one of the mos...

This episode's guest is Christine Kane. Christine is known as the Mentor to People Who are Changing the World. She is the president and founder of Uplevel You™, a million-dollar company committed to the growth and empowerment of entrepreneurs and creatives around the globe through teaching not only high-level cutting-edge authentic marketing and business strategies, but also transformational techniques to shift mindsets and wealth. After 15 years in a successful career as a popular songwriter and performer, Christine shifted her focus so that she could provide a deeper level of service to other creative entrepreneurs. Christine was a featured presenter at the 2013 Emerging Women Live Conference in Boulder, CO. In this episode of Grace & Fire, Christine and I speak about: Her transition from music to being a mentor/business coach Treating Business like Art The Power of Communicating “Your Story” and how to avoid traps when sharing it Clean Selling and aligning with true intention while not letting assumptions rule Imperfect action and the benefit of taking small steps Tune in and listen to Marketing with Intention and Integrity with the Rock Star Business Woman: Christine Kane. Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes. Transcript Chantal Pierrat: Hello, Christine! Christine Kane: Hey, how are you? CP: Welcome! CK: Well thanks for having me. [I’m] really excited. CP: Yes, I can’t believe it’s been over a month since the event. It was so great to get to know you and to see the other side of Christine Kane, behind the curtain, which is actually the same as what I always imagined you to be. CK: [Laughs] Well, thank you. It was just such a great event, and I’ve just been talking about it to everybody. It’s going to be huger next year than it was this year! CP: Yes! I’m totally pumped for it. You know, what’s interesting is that when I first discovered you—and the reason I’m saying [this is to] see the truth of who you are—I discovered you through your music. And I was thinking, “Oh, she would be a great singer for Emerging Women.” And it took me a little while to realize, “No, this woman’s also a business mentor.” So I would love to hear a little bit more about how that was a transition for you, because as far as I can see in your business, you’re very much like who I saw and got to know through the internet on your music. It’s not like you have two different personas, it’s the same. And those two categories—mentoring and business coaching and being basically, can we call you a rock ‘n’ roll star? Because I actually feel like you can fit into that category. The two seem to be mutually exclusive, so maybe you could start there and tell us about your background and how you came to where you are now. CK: It’s funny you say that. For a while I said that, “Oh my God, it’s very different, I should hide the fact that I played music because that will make people question my ability as a business owner.” But any artist knows that in order to do what you want to do, especially now, you have to know that you have a business and you have to treat your art like a business. I actually believe that business is an art. And when you look at some of what I learned in the world of songwriting, if I was to sit you down and really talk about it, it’s amazing how much it links in with a lot of the lessons I’ve had to learn with business. Now, with that said, it’s very different now that I’m running a company and we have a team, and I am stretching muscles that I never thought I would have to stretch. But I really do with that I had done more of this and really stretched this out a little bit more because I think I would have been able to do even more with my music a...

This episode’s guest is Jennifer Lee. Jennifer is the founder of Artizen Coaching and the award-winning author of The Right-Brain Business Plan. Her bestselling book has helped thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide grow their businesses authentically and creatively. She has more than 50 licensed facilitators who lead Right-Brain Business Plan® workshops nationally and internationally. She received her coaching certification and leadership training through the prestigious Coaches Training Institute and holds an M.A. in Communication Management from USC. Jennifer was a featured presenter at the 2013 Emerging Women Live Conference in Boulder, CO. In this episode, Jennifer and I speak about: The Right-Brain Business Plan: What it is and how it can help entrepreneurs create and realize their goals The power of thinking creatively in the planning stages The importance of community for the entrepreneur Limiting Beliefs and how to work around them The importance of self-compassion when going after big dreams Tune in and listen to Right-Brain Business Planning with the Creative Business Leader: Jennifer Lee. Subscribe to the Emerging Women on iTunes. Transcript Chantal Pierrat: Welcome, Jennifer. It’s great to have you today. Jennifer Lee: Oh, I’m so excited to be here with you, Chantal. Thank you! CP: Let’s dig in to the Right-Brain Business Plan. I’m actually feeling a little selfish having you all to myself since I’ve read your book and done the practices. So I’m just eager to jump into it. So why don’t you just start by telling us a little bit of the background of the concept of the Right-Brain Business Plan and then just let us know what you mean by that, too. How did you come to this? And what is the actual idea behind it? JL: Sure. Well, the idea came to me very organically, given that it’s right-brained. [Laughs] So I was participating, back in November 2007, in this annual challenge called Art Everyday Month. It happens every November [and] it was my first time participating. And every day I would try some new art medium, like painting or drawing or collage. And toward the end of the month, we’re coming toward the end of the year and I thought, “Well, I probably should be thinking about my goals for the coming year. I need to do art anyway, so I why don’t I do a vision board, because I love doing that.” So I love book arts and I have this blank accordion book that kind of folds out like this accordion. And I did a vision board of where I wanted my business to go in terms of products and services, marketing, stuff like that. And I posted it as part of a challenge and people were like, “That’s really cool!” And I just ended up calling it a Right-Brain Business Plan. I didn’t know what else to call it. It was my business plan but in a right-brained way. It became this touchstone for me for my business. The following day I actually did a little bit more detail on the back of the Right-Brain Business Plan where I wrote out my specific financial goals. I wrote out descriptions of my products and services, marketing goals. I had a little calendar where I put some milestones, things that I wanted to reach throughout the next year. And that was really my roadmap for 2008 and part of 2009, and within a couple of years I had actually met all those goals that were on that plan. I had no idea. I was just at my kitchen table, playing with my favorite art supplies. [Laughs] I had no idea it would turn into this thing. I feel like it’s something that lives outside of me. It’s kind of its own entity now, and it really is this visual, creative way to approach planning your business and crafting your goals for your business. CP: What was your business? You said you were thinking about your business plan.

This episode's guest is Sera Beak. Sera is a Harvard-trained scholar of comparative world religions who has spent years traveling the world studying spirituality. From ‘whirling’ with Sufi dervishes to meeting the Dalai Lama on her 21st birthday; from taking the host from a Croatian Catholic mystic who had the stigmata to having life-altering visions with shamans (and everything in between). The New York Times called Sera one of the new “role models” for her generation. Sera is the author of Red Hot and Holy: A Heretic’s Love Story and The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark. Sera was a featured presenter at the 2013 and 2014 Emerging Women Live Conferences. In this episode, Sera and I speak about: The Color Red How she connects Sexuality and Sensuality with Spirituality Holding the Divine Feminine as ‘Sacred’ The “False Feminine” and the misuse of Feminine Power And finally, the Female Archetypes that have served her the most   Tune in to listen to my conversation “Red Hot & Holy” with the ‘Red’volutionary: Sera Beak. Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes. Transcript: Chantal Pierrat: Hello, Sera, welcome! Sera Beak: Thank you for having me! It’s great to be here with you. CP: It’s so good to hear your voice again. The last time we were together was Emerging Women Live 2013, so I feel like we haven’t really caught up. Your talk was so powerful, I’m still thinking about it. So it’s great to connect with you again and dig in a little deeper. SB: Definitely. I loved what you created there. I still feel honored to be a part of it and to be with all those incredible women, both the presenters and the people who were participating in the crowd. It was so right on, so thank you for creating it. CP: Awesome. It was great. It felt magical. Well, one of the things I wanted to dig into was you have two books out: The Red Book and Red Hot and Holy. And my first question for you is to tell us about Red. Is it the color red? The energy of red? What are you talking about when you are referring to Red? SB: [Laughs] That’s the big question. Well, red, I think, is universal. I know that that color and that energy of red tends to resonate with many, many women, even if they have certain ideas around it or even baggage around the color red. Red tends to be associated, usually, with the lower chakra or primal consciousness or promiscuity or a race car or anger or rage. So there are a ton of different qualities on top of Red. But for me, and this is true, I feel like, for many women, we’ve also discovered that red is a real powerhouse of our own divine feminine nature and holiness and intention and sensuality and life force and creativity and passion. So for me, red began to show up in my life in these ways that I call divine winks or synchronicities, and it reflected all those qualities. It felt like it was a color that was trying to get my attention and remind me of my own soul blood and life force and my own distinct assets. So it became a real diving force in my life and something I kind of followed. And I also felt like I was being followed by red. Over the years, it really transformed less into something that I was trying to show other women and make other women jump on board to my Red bandwagon, and it became more of a personal reflection of my own distinct soul. It went through its own metamorphosis with me, but I still really know and find that it’s an incredibly powerful color and energy for many women to come back into contact with. Especially because it’s been shoved to the corners of most spiritualities. So that when we come back to it and we start questioning, “What is Red for me?” a lot of ripe,

This episode’s guest is Kathrin O’Sullivan. Kathrin is the Head of Cross-Functional Leadership Development at Google.  She leads a team of people who help Googlers exercise leadership to transform themselves, Google, and the world. In her career, she has enjoyed working in different leadership positions across HR, Sales, Operations, and Business Development. She strives to facilitate an environment to help people become more self aware and clear about their values and goals, and to design strategies and practices that lead to self-excellence. Kathrin was a featured presenter at the 2013 Emerging Women Live Conference in Boulder, CO. In this episode, Kathrin and I speak about: How she is able to help “Googlers” transform themselves into leaders. What kind of practices they use at Google to foster development. The vulnerability present in sharing your true self. How Google is helping the advancement of current employees especially women in a male dominated field. The definition of Unconscious Bias and how it plays a role in keeping women from rising in business The potential reach of Google and social media, and the role they could play in changing the world.   Tune in to listen to my conversation “The Power of Transformational Learning and Development” with Kathrin O’Sullivan. Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes.   Transcript: Chantal Pierrat Hi, Kathrin! Welcome! Kathrin O’Sullivan: Hi, Chantal! CP: Thanks for setting the time aside. I know you’re a busy woman over there at Google. KO: It’s a real pleasure to talk to you. I’m excited about this. CP: Yay! So for those of you who are listening and were not at the event, Kathrin was part of our panel at the Emerging Women Live 2013 event in Boulder this past October. She was on a panel that was called “Game Changers” with other women in learning and organizational development at companies like Facebook and LinkedIn and Google and Twitter. So I wanted to highlight some of the things that came out in that conversation and explore some of those topics a little bit deeper. So maybe we could just launch in with a little short description of exactly what you do at Google. KO: Well, I’m responsible for leadership development at Google. So I am helping Googlers exercise leadership to transform themselves, Google, and the world. That’s kind of our grand mission. And what that means is helping Googlers really own their leadership journey as they develop in their career and take bigger and bigger assignments and are more responsible for bigger scopes of business. CP: So here’s my question with that. You know, Emerging Women, our tagline is “live the truth of who you are,” and it’s kind of a tall order, in general, just as a human being. I’m curious to see how much, when you say that you are responsible for developing programs that will encourage Googlers to transform themselves and their work, how deep does that go, when you say “transform themselves”? KO: If we talk about real transformation, it goes pretty deep. We give people the choice. Some people might not want to choose to go any deeper than some transaction they’re learning. Other people are really open to going really deep and really looking hard at who they are as people and how they influence the world around them. CP: Have you been doing a lot of these programs, and if you have, what kind of results have you noticed over time when you bring on programs that actually allow people to deep-dive inward and to self-reflect? KO: We’ve really seen amazing results. I design and develop some of these programs and I also deliver some of them, so I’m actually in the classroom and I see it happen.

This episode’s guest is Kristen Wheeler. Kristen is a business consultant and executive coach who believes that workplaces should be arenas where people thrive while creating amazing results. For more than twenty years, she has offered expert guidance on matters of IT, strategy, and leadership for clients like Arthur Andersen, comScore, WhiteWave Foods, and eBay. She has synthesized her unique blend of experience into strategies she calls Native Genius™. Native Genius Strategies help people and their companies understand, identify and apply an innate über-intelligence to solve tough issues and get bottom-line results, while also cultivating meaning and verve. In this episode, Kristen and I spoke about: Native Genius and how to cultivate this intelligence in your business life How Native Genius gives ‘rise’ to our strengths How to gain feedback from community and relationships to aid in your Native Genius intelligence Embracing uncertainty and going where you feel loved The difference between what you are passionate about and your Native Genius   Tune in to listen to my conversation "Native Genius" with the insightful: Kristen Wheeler. Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes. Transcript: Chantal Pierrat: Welcome, Kristen. Kristen Wheeler: Thank you! I’m excited to be here. CP: Yay! It’s great to have you. For those of you who don’t know, Kristen is also one of my really, really good friends, on top of being a strategic advisor for Emerging Women. I’ve been incorporating her work, Native Genius, into my process with Emerging Women and it’s been fantastic and I’m noticing so much. I just so appreciate it. What I was thinking was that before we start throwing Native Genius around—because once you hear the term and you get it, you actually do start throwing it around. So why don’t you just tell us what you mean by Native Genius. Give us a nice, full context and then we can go from there. KW: Great. So Native Genius is a unique natural intelligence that is so innate that you might not notice it. And it sometimes is a little bit like a fish being in water—it comes so naturally that the fish would be like, “OK, yes, what else do you want me to do? This is not a big deal, this thing that I’m doing.” It feels easy, and it’s also super valuable to the people around us. I want people to know that, just like their teeth—this is a silly example—they use them to chew, Native Genius you use in your work and you contribute in your world. Everybody has it, and once you tune into it—sometimes it takes a while to get. Everybody is on a different journey with understanding their unique intelligence. But once you get it, it clicks in and people are like, “Oh!” Sometimes I’ll be working with a group or an individual for a month or so, and then it starts to click in and they say, “Wow. I’m really starting to get the power of this.” Some examples would be [like this]: I was working with somebody the other day [who] works [for] a corporation, and it was that “getting it” kind of thing. He said, “I’m realizing this is so personal.” And it really is. It’s very personal and intimate. And Native Genius are things that you do that you can’t not do. For example, we could put you anywhere and you’d be doing them. Like for you, Chantal, I notice that no matter where we are, you are reflecting back to people, in a way, like what your tagline says, the truth of who they are. When people start saying what they’re up to in the world with their work, you are so excited about it, especially when it comes from a place of authenticity. And we can put you anywhere. I mean, I’ve seen you in so many different situations, and you’re doing that. That’s one of many things that you would do.