Heroine

For the next four episodes on Heroine, we’re exploring the female archetypes (and stereotypes!) in old fairy and folk tales. The first archetype we’re going to explore is one of my favorites – the Queen.Obviously the “evil” Queen is a common storytelling trope. But like all tropes, they’re simultaneously false and real. They’re real in that by learning and growing up around these characters, we internalize some of them. They’re false in that they’re still tropes, which means nobody is all Queen, or all Princess, all of the time – that’s a sweet oversimplification. We’re going to first explore how there’s some reality in this Queen archetype. If we think of these characters as part of our own psyche, who is the reckless Queen out to control and maintain power? Is this a part of you that’s loud in your life, or quiet? I was curious about the Queen archetype in the women in my life – so I thought I’d interview a mutual friend.Meet Dionna.Dionna: My name is Dionna McPhatter. I'm the co-founder of Nacci (naccidigital.com). We do data driven storytelling that harnesses the power of data, data science, narrative and storytelling and design thinking to bring solutions to businesses.Majo: Do you feel like others perceive you to be like queenly or have this energy?Dionna: Yeah, I think so. I think there's plenty more to me, but yeah, I think that this wouldn't be hard for them to ... I mean, I have people that call me Queen D. So I think that has come out early and I never asked for that as a title.Majo: Do you have example from your own life where you were like, oh dang, maybe I was too much, maybe I was too powerful in this situation or too assertive or too queenly and I should've peeled back or that got me in trouble.Dionna: Trouble, no. I see it all as learning. I haven't felt in trouble in a long time, but I think the ... I've had times where I'm leading a team or I'm just on the team. So it was all of my peers and so, I didn't see myself as higher than them. But I just have a certain way that I communicate. And I got feedback that because I communicate with such clarity, that made people feel like I wasn't open to their ideas, right? There's plenty of times when I choose not to speak, so you know I don't really care that much or I'm in listening mode or whatever. But when I choose to speak about something, I am passionate, so that can deter other people sometimes. And then, when they're speaking, they can think that I'm not listening.I can really relate to Dionna, because I have a lot of the Queen archetype within me. And it manifests in a variety of ways – I want things done, when I want them, efficiently, and on my own time. I like to delegate, I actually have no problem with it at all. And being a Queen feels great most of the time, but I did notice that there’s a downside to it – people often don’t feel my warmth, or feel cared for, when I’m acting like a Queen. One time I was queening out, and dissatisfied by someone I hired to help handle my social media. I found myself getting irritated, and angry, and snappy at her. You know since my Queen is a total perfectionist, one who wants it perfect or not at all. And then she quit! I felt relieved, but also kind of embarrassed. I realized when I’m being a Queen, people obviously don’t want to collaborate. The impact of that of course, is that Queens end up lonely and isolated in their glass or ice palaces. They shut themselves off from the world. It’s hard for me to admit tell you about the times I Queen because she’s not a part of myself I’m proud of. Even now, I can feel how uncomfortable it is to share with you, because it’s an ugly dark part of myself (the shadow!) I sometimes wish would go away, especially when she’s acting out. So how about you? What is your relationship to this trait? Does it help you get things done? Do you...

One of the reasons I started this podcast was to share women’s stories – showing us as complex, nuanced, and still very much in progress. But as we know, stories like this have only become available to us recently. I remember as a little girl, being bombarded by Disney Princesses, witches, and evil step mothers who were one dimensional and pretty flat. But a lot of these characters were based on older stories which were far darker, even more multi-layered and satisfying. Old folk tales that show us the full dimensionality of who we are as women. That’s why this season, we’re going to explore these older tales and uncover more about ourselves in the process. Have you ever felt like a major Queen, stirring up drama for yourself and those around you? Or have you ever felt like a waif, a kind of frail woman, who is too breakable to take on a challenge? For the first half of this new season, we’ll explore how there are more to these female archetypes (and stereotypes!) than what we see on the surface. We’ll talk about how by embodying and rejecting them, they play out in our personal and professional lives. Ok, so that will be the first part of the season. For the second part, my editor Anne Hoffman and I have curated and freshened up four interviews from the archive that relate to the theme of archetypes. You’re going to hear from record-breaking rower Roz Savage (she was my first interview ever), Justine Musk, a writer and the ex-wife of Elon Musk, design icon Eileen Fisher, and from New York Times Award-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario. Even if you’ve listened to these episodes, I guarantee you will hear something new in them the second or third time.Also, I invite you to connect with me on my website that has a ton of free resources for you such as a Rituals e-Guide, Creative Confidence Playbook, articles, and also a free guided meditation. Check it out on majo.co (MAJO.CO). An episode will be released every Thursday as usual – and the season will run for eight weeks starting on April 11th. Onward!

One of the reasons I started this podcast was to share women’s stories – showing us as complex, nuanced, and still very much in progress. But as we know, stories like this have only become available to us recently. I remember as a little girl, being bombarded by Disney Princesses, witches, and evil step mothers who were one dimensional and pretty flat. But a lot of these characters were based on older stories which were far darker, even more multi-layered and satisfying. Old folk tales that show us the full dimensionality of who we are as women. That’s why this season, we’re going to explore these older tales and uncover more about ourselves in the process. Have you ever felt like a major Queen, stirring up drama for yourself and those around you? Or have you ever felt like a waif, a kind of frail woman, who is too breakable to take on a challenge? For the first half of this new season, we’ll explore how there are more to these female archetypes (and stereotypes!) than what we see on the surface. We’ll talk about how by embodying and rejecting them, they play out in our personal and professional lives. Ok, so that will be the first part of the season. For the second part, my editor Anne Hoffman and I have curated and freshened up four interviews from the archive that relate to the theme of archetypes. You’re going to hear from record-breaking rower Roz Savage (she was my first interview ever), Justine Musk, a writer and the ex-wife of Elon Musk, design icon Eileen Fisher, and from New York Times Award-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario. Even if you’ve listened to these episodes, I guarantee you will hear something new in them the second or third time.Also, I invite you to connect with me on my website that has a ton of free resources for you such as a Rituals e-Guide, Creative Confidence Playbook, articles, and also a free guided meditation. Check it out on majo.co (MAJO.CO). An episode will be released every Thursday as usual – and the season will run for eight weeks starting on April 11th. Onward!

For more tips and inspiration, go to my website majo.co and follow me on Instagram @majo.heroineYou made it this is the last and final minisode in a four part series on boundaries. If you haven’t already done so, make sure to listen to the entire series from top to bottom, because it will give you a full picture on how you can maintain healthy, strong, boundaries to be more badass in a world that is clawing at your time and attention.In this episode, I want to introduce you to a four-step communication tool for speaking up when something is bothering you, when you feel someone has overstepped one of your boundaries, and you want to let them know that’s not cool with you. Because in working with and talking to hundreds of women, I noticed a pattern – after years of growing up in the patriarchy, when something bothers us, we don’t speak up. You know, It starts in our teens. Harvard researchers found that during adolescence, girls stop speaking from their experience, and expressing their true feelings and thoughts, even though they were outspoken as children. They literally lose their voices, become more quiet, and say “I don’t know” a million times, really as a way to hide. The researchers conclude “to say what they are feeling and thinking often means to risk losing their relationships...”Sound familiar? It starts in our teens but carries on into our 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond. The tool I want to introduce to you is called nonviolent communication – NVC for short. Started by a psychologist in the 60s, Marshall Rosenberg, this process will help to communicate to others about you need with less judgment.You might want to pause the audio and grab a paper if it’s helpful to take notes.Surely, you’ve been in a scenario, where you’ve felt triggered and want to respond, so what can you do? NVC consists of four simple steps:Step 1: State the facts – What events did you observe? Step 2. State your feelings – How did you feel?Step 3. State your needs – What is your unmet need? (Note: I like to give the option of stating your values here, if that works better in a professional context than your needs)Step 4. State your requests – What is your request? What do you want moving forward?I’m going to break it down and run through examples and tips.Step 1. What events did you observe?__________________________________________________________________________________________________Example: “Last month, you authored the article about our project.”Notice here, that I’m sticking to the facts. It’s something that a third party objective observer would agree , and couldn’t be argued. Tips:So, you want to stick to the facts. “You seldom do what I want,” is an evaluation, versus “You did not attend the last three meetings,” which is more factual.You want to be specific. “She frequently attends,” is too vague, versus “She attended at least three times a week,” which is precise.You want to focus on observable behaviors. Memories about words people said can be subjective and distorted, so report on actions. Step 2. How did you feel? “I felt …__________________________________________________________________________________________________Example: “I felt frustrated.”Tips:Focus on emotions and sensations. Most derive from these five: sadness, disgust, fear, joy, and anger. Avoid thoughts (e.g., "I feel like I didn't get a fair deal"), stories about yourself (e.g., "insecure"), how you think others are evaluating you (e.g., "unimportant"), or what we think others are doing to us (e.g., "misunderstood," "ignored").Be vulnerable. It takes courage to state something plainly, but it’s powerful!Step 3. What is your unmet need or value? “Because I need/value ….

For more tips and inspiration, go to my website majo.co and follow me on Instagram @majo.heroineYou made it this is the last and final minisode in a four part series on boundaries. If you haven’t already done so, make sure to listen to the entire series from top to bottom, because it will give you a full picture on how you can maintain healthy, strong, boundaries to be more badass in a world that is clawing at your time and attention.In this episode, I want to introduce you to a four-step communication tool for speaking up when something is bothering you, when you feel someone has overstepped one of your boundaries, and you want to let them know that’s not cool with you. Because in working with and talking to hundreds of women, I noticed a pattern – after years of growing up in the patriarchy, when something bothers us, we don’t speak up. You know, It starts in our teens. Harvard researchers found that during adolescence, girls stop speaking from their experience, and expressing their true feelings and thoughts, even though they were outspoken as children. They literally lose their voices, become more quiet, and say “I don’t know” a million times, really as a way to hide. The researchers conclude “to say what they are feeling and thinking often means to risk losing their relationships...”Sound familiar? It starts in our teens but carries on into our 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond. The tool I want to introduce to you is called nonviolent communication – NVC for short. Started by a psychologist in the 60s, Marshall Rosenberg, this process will help to communicate to others about you need with less judgment.You might want to pause the audio and grab a paper if it’s helpful to take notes.Surely, you’ve been in a scenario, where you’ve felt triggered and want to respond, so what can you do? NVC consists of four simple steps:Step 1: State the facts – What events did you observe? Step 2. State your feelings – How did you feel?Step 3. State your needs – What is your unmet need? (Note: I like to give the option of stating your values here, if that works better in a professional context than your needs)Step 4. State your requests – What is your request? What do you want moving forward?I’m going to break it down and run through examples and tips.Step 1. What events did you observe?__________________________________________________________________________________________________Example: “Last month, you authored the article about our project.”Notice here, that I’m sticking to the facts. It’s something that a third party objective observer would agree , and couldn’t be argued. Tips:So, you want to stick to the facts. “You seldom do what I want,” is an evaluation, versus “You did not attend the last three meetings,” which is more factual.You want to be specific. “She frequently attends,” is too vague, versus “She attended at least three times a week,” which is precise.You want to focus on observable behaviors. Memories about words people said can be subjective and distorted, so report on actions. Step 2. How did you feel? “I felt …__________________________________________________________________________________________________Example: “I felt frustrated.”Tips:Focus on emotions and sensations. Most derive from these five: sadness, disgust, fear, joy, and anger. Avoid thoughts (e.g., "I feel like I didn't get a fair deal"), stories about yourself (e.g., "insecure"), how you think others are evaluating you (e.g., "unimportant"), or what we think others are doing to us (e.g., "misunderstood," "ignored").Be vulnerable. It takes courage to state something plainly, but it’s powerful!Step 3. What is your unmet need or value? “Because I need/value ….

I’m thrilled about today’s interview. Shiza Shahid co-founded The Malala Fund along with the youngest Nobel-Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. I’m sure you already know this, but just in case, Malala was the young girl in Pakistan who was shot in the head on her school bus by the Taliban for going to school, but she survived and became internationally recognized. So Shiza, who I speak to in this interview, was one of Malala’s early mentors. While in college, Shiza started a secret summer camp for girls in Pakistan, which is also her home country. Today, Shiza is a venture capital investor and many other things. Named one of Time's "30 Under 30 People Changing the World" and Forbes "30 Under 30 - Social Entrepreneurs," she’s also host of the USA Today news show "ASPIREist," which activates millennials to have a positive impact.http://majomolfino.com/blog/2018/11/1/shiza-shahidIn this episode, we talk about why empowering women around the world is so important and what Shiza sees as global trends as she travels to different continents. As a fellow immigrant, she shares how culture helped her shift perspectives, and what it means to reclaim your identity when you grow up cross-culturally. Highlighted Excerpt: Majo: You do so much. How do you stay grounded? How do you avoid overwhelm or do you just feel overwhelmed?Shiza: How do I avoid overwhelm? I think perhaps by  not comparing myself. I think a lot of the overwhelm comes from comparison. Now when we do good things we have to put it on Instagram and count how many likes it got, and I think a lot of that comparison causes dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Because if you go and truly help someone, the way that will make you feel will give you so much satisfaction, it will calm the fatigue and help with the overwhelm, so as long as you don’t go to that place of you know, “Is this good enough?Am I good enough?” and allow the satisfaction of doing your work become overshadowed by the comparison, which I think we’re constantly in the middle of particularly here in the West. I was in Pakistan for a while, and I realized that I didn’t buy anything for weeks, and I was barely on social media, and I came back to the U.S. and started getting hit by all these ads and all these things I felt I needed to buy, and information about other people doing other things.Majo: When you came back you started noticing that you were comparing? Shiza: Absolutely. I think that over here, there’s a lot of that comparison, even when you’re doing so called social impact work, you’re still comparing –Majo: Right. Like, who’s doing more social impact work.Shiza: Right. I think avoiding that. Getting outside this place which can really do that to you, and focusing on direct impact. Show Notes:Shiza’s parents and upbringing in Pakistan [3:20]On volunteering as a teenager in women’s prisons and her passionate activism as a young woman [5:36]Applying to college in the U.S. on a whim and her decision to go to Stanford where she was first exposed to technology and entrepreneurship, but still feeling connected to help women and girls back in Pakistan [6:58]The online diary of Malala Yousafzai (at the time, 11 years old), inspiring Shiza’s creation of a secret summer camp amongst dangerous circumstances [11:30]Joining McKinsey and receiving the news of Malala being shot [14:00]On co-founding and building The Malala Fund at age 22 and leaving the safe, predictable path [21:00]Witnessing Malala become the first child to win The Nobel Peace Prize and how it shifted stereotypes about what courage looks like [26:00]On the polarization of technology, tech utopianism, and how social media creates a divide and leads to a rise in...

I’m thrilled about today’s interview. Shiza Shahid co-founded The Malala Fund along with the youngest Nobel-Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. I’m sure you already know this, but just in case, Malala was the young girl in Pakistan who was shot in the head on her school bus by the Taliban for going to school, but she survived and became internationally recognized. So Shiza, who I speak to in this interview, was one of Malala’s early mentors. While in college, Shiza started a secret summer camp for girls in Pakistan, which is also her home country. Today, Shiza is a venture capital investor and many other things. Named one of Time's "30 Under 30 People Changing the World" and Forbes "30 Under 30 - Social Entrepreneurs," she’s also host of the USA Today news show "ASPIREist," which activates millennials to have a positive impact.http://majomolfino.com/blog/2018/11/1/shiza-shahidIn this episode, we talk about why empowering women around the world is so important and what Shiza sees as global trends as she travels to different continents. As a fellow immigrant, she shares how culture helped her shift perspectives, and what it means to reclaim your identity when you grow up cross-culturally. Highlighted Excerpt: Majo: You do so much. How do you stay grounded? How do you avoid overwhelm or do you just feel overwhelmed?Shiza: How do I avoid overwhelm? I think perhaps by  not comparing myself. I think a lot of the overwhelm comes from comparison. Now when we do good things we have to put it on Instagram and count how many likes it got, and I think a lot of that comparison causes dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Because if you go and truly help someone, the way that will make you feel will give you so much satisfaction, it will calm the fatigue and help with the overwhelm, so as long as you don’t go to that place of you know, “Is this good enough?Am I good enough?” and allow the satisfaction of doing your work become overshadowed by the comparison, which I think we’re constantly in the middle of particularly here in the West. I was in Pakistan for a while, and I realized that I didn’t buy anything for weeks, and I was barely on social media, and I came back to the U.S. and started getting hit by all these ads and all these things I felt I needed to buy, and information about other people doing other things.Majo: When you came back you started noticing that you were comparing? Shiza: Absolutely. I think that over here, there’s a lot of that comparison, even when you’re doing so called social impact work, you’re still comparing –Majo: Right. Like, who’s doing more social impact work.Shiza: Right. I think avoiding that. Getting outside this place which can really do that to you, and focusing on direct impact. Show Notes:Shiza’s parents and upbringing in Pakistan [3:20]On volunteering as a teenager in women’s prisons and her passionate activism as a young woman [5:36]Applying to college in the U.S. on a whim and her decision to go to Stanford where she was first exposed to technology and entrepreneurship, but still feeling connected to help women and girls back in Pakistan [6:58]The online diary of Malala Yousafzai (at the time, 11 years old), inspiring Shiza’s creation of a secret summer camp amongst dangerous circumstances [11:30]Joining McKinsey and receiving the news of Malala being shot [14:00]On co-founding and building The Malala Fund at age 22 and leaving the safe, predictable path [21:00]Witnessing Malala become the first child to win The Nobel Peace Prize and how it shifted stereotypes about what courage looks like [26:00]On the polarization of technology, tech utopianism, and how social media creates a divide and leads to a rise in...

For more tips and inspiration, go to my website majo.co and follow me on Instagram @majo.heroineThis is the third minisode in a four part series on boundaries. Make sure to listen to the entire series, so that you can have those healthy boundaries that allow you to thrive as a modern woman, when there are so many demands on your time and energy. In this episode, I’m going to give you a process for clearing crap off your plate. We all have very full plates, don’t we? We pile it on there, because we’re ambitious, smart, modern women. In hundreds of women, I’ve seen us dry ourselves up and burn ourselves out and feel so overwhelmed and anxious because our plates are simply too full. It’s an epidemic that needs to stop. Here’s what you can do. Write a list of your commitments or things you said “yes” to but that you aren’t excited about or really meant to say no to. These also might be thought of the logistics and operations of life, that take away and claw at your energy from doing deeper, more meaningful work. These are things that may feel more like “shoulds” or obligations. Go ahead and pause this minisode if you need to, and grab a piece of paper, and then come back.Here’s an example list you might write:Host dinner for the family next SaturdayGo to Cape Cod in JulyWrite out the brief for JacksonGrocery shoppingCreate four columns, and write the following empowering VERBS at the top: ELIMINATE, DELEGATE, AUTOMATE, ASK FOR HELP. Your next step is to slot your different tasks into each column. The idea is to get all those annoying “should” activities of your plate and into one of these buckets. It’s amazing what eliminating can do – oftentimes, we think we have to do something, but do we really have to? Time and time again, I’ve seen that the real issue is that we’re afraid to say no and back out...make sure to circle back to the first minisode about how to no. Let’s define these for a second. Eliminate is obvious – take it off your list, and it ceases to exist. Delegate is when you request that somebody else do the task, instead of you. That’s pretty clear. Asking for help is different from delegating in that you’re still doing the task, but you’re doing it with someone, or having someone take a part of it off your plate. But what about automate? Automate is when you build a system that makes the behavior easier to do on a repeating basis. So, let’s take grocery shopping, a way to automate that, and cut down on your time doing it, is to use a tool like Instacart, in which you have a set repertoire of groceries that you get weekly, or signing up for one of those farm-fresh CSAs that deliver to your door. The point is, you’re not spending loads of time thinking about and doing it every week. Capeeshela? That’s it, if you care about living an empowered life as a woman on this planet, follow me on Instagram @majo.heroine more juiciness – and go to my website majo.co and get on my email list for more updates about my work and this podcast. You got options. Make sure to be in touch. Lots of love, onward!

For more tips and inspiration, go to my website majo.co and follow me on Instagram @majo.heroineThis is the third minisode in a four part series on boundaries. Make sure to listen to the entire series, so that you can have those healthy boundaries that allow you to thrive as a modern woman, when there are so many demands on your time and energy. In this episode, I’m going to give you a process for clearing crap off your plate. We all have very full plates, don’t we? We pile it on there, because we’re ambitious, smart, modern women. In hundreds of women, I’ve seen us dry ourselves up and burn ourselves out and feel so overwhelmed and anxious because our plates are simply too full. It’s an epidemic that needs to stop. Here’s what you can do. Write a list of your commitments or things you said “yes” to but that you aren’t excited about or really meant to say no to. These also might be thought of the logistics and operations of life, that take away and claw at your energy from doing deeper, more meaningful work. These are things that may feel more like “shoulds” or obligations. Go ahead and pause this minisode if you need to, and grab a piece of paper, and then come back.Here’s an example list you might write:Host dinner for the family next SaturdayGo to Cape Cod in JulyWrite out the brief for JacksonGrocery shoppingCreate four columns, and write the following empowering VERBS at the top: ELIMINATE, DELEGATE, AUTOMATE, ASK FOR HELP. Your next step is to slot your different tasks into each column. The idea is to get all those annoying “should” activities of your plate and into one of these buckets. It’s amazing what eliminating can do – oftentimes, we think we have to do something, but do we really have to? Time and time again, I’ve seen that the real issue is that we’re afraid to say no and back out...make sure to circle back to the first minisode about how to no. Let’s define these for a second. Eliminate is obvious – take it off your list, and it ceases to exist. Delegate is when you request that somebody else do the task, instead of you. That’s pretty clear. Asking for help is different from delegating in that you’re still doing the task, but you’re doing it with someone, or having someone take a part of it off your plate. But what about automate? Automate is when you build a system that makes the behavior easier to do on a repeating basis. So, let’s take grocery shopping, a way to automate that, and cut down on your time doing it, is to use a tool like Instacart, in which you have a set repertoire of groceries that you get weekly, or signing up for one of those farm-fresh CSAs that deliver to your door. The point is, you’re not spending loads of time thinking about and doing it every week. Capeeshela? That’s it, if you care about living an empowered life as a woman on this planet, follow me on Instagram @majo.heroine more juiciness – and go to my website majo.co and get on my email list for more updates about my work and this podcast. You got options. Make sure to be in touch. Lots of love, onward!

Today, I speak with Dr. Robin Berzin. She’s the doctor, founder, and CEO of a wellness and medical practic, Parsley Health, that takes a whole mind-body approach to your health. Robin is on a mission to heal and reinvent American healthcare when less than 4% of CEOs in the healthcare space are female. She’s a real badass with a medical degree from Columbia University who has raised millions of dollars in venture capital. In this episode, we talk about how she dealt with being lost and confused after college, having a baby while fundraising for her startup, and how to build your creative confidence as a woman. http://majomolfino.com/blog/2018/10/18/robin-berzinHighlighted Excerpt:Majo: How did your yoga practice help you align into your purpose?Robin: It taught me to listen. It taught me to listen to myself. I think I was someone who was a little bit trapped in her head and I think a lot of us live with a bit of a concrete wall between our bodies and our heads and we don’t really pay attention to what’s happening in our bodies, and we live in our minds and we live in the past; we live in the future and we’re never present. And if you’re somebody who is like a grades getter, go-getter, and an overachiever in any way, whether that’s in sports or academics, you’re rewarded constantly for that, right?It’s reinforced in our educational system and it’s certainly been in mine growing up in Baltimore and going into this all-girls school that was very academically oriented and also athletically oriented. I wasn’t good at the athletics part but I was pretty good at the academics part.For me, yoga was this moment of literally just waking up to right now and I realized I had this huge concrete wall between my head and my body. And then in many ways, there’s kind of low-grade abusing myself living on really crappy food, not really exercising, partying at night, hating my job, being in a crappy relationship with a crappy boyfriend at the time, and I think yoga was just this kind of stillness. And then I started listening; and then I started looking back to undergrad and back in my life and starting asking the questions, “What do I want to do? What do I care about? What is interesting to me and how do I want to spend my time?”Show Notes:- On childhood, her early days as a “neat freak” and “good girl.” [01:55]- Working as a paralegal and stumbling on a yoga studio that would change her life. [04:42]- Losing her grandmother to colon cancer and her growing interest in medicine; winning the award for a paper in complimentary medicine. [09:17]- Her amazing experience working with Dr. Oz and Oprah’s team. [20:20]- Reaching out to Dr. Oz to get the job. [23:09]- How she learned to fundraise and how she managed after giving birth to her son. [26:04]- Her thoughts on starting a company – don’t overthink it, just do it. [32:02]- What she reclaimed during her heroine’s journey. [33:42]References:Majo's website – majomolfino.comRobin's website – ParsleyHealth.comMusic by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.comWant to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.

Today, I speak with Dr. Robin Berzin. She’s the doctor, founder, and CEO of a wellness and medical practic, Parsley Health, that takes a whole mind-body approach to your health. Robin is on a mission to heal and reinvent American healthcare when less than 4% of CEOs in the healthcare space are female. She’s a real badass with a medical degree from Columbia University who has raised millions of dollars in venture capital. In this episode, we talk about how she dealt with being lost and confused after college, having a baby while fundraising for her startup, and how to build your creative confidence as a woman. http://majomolfino.com/blog/2018/10/18/robin-berzinHighlighted Excerpt:Majo: How did your yoga practice help you align into your purpose?Robin: It taught me to listen. It taught me to listen to myself. I think I was someone who was a little bit trapped in her head and I think a lot of us live with a bit of a concrete wall between our bodies and our heads and we don’t really pay attention to what’s happening in our bodies, and we live in our minds and we live in the past; we live in the future and we’re never present. And if you’re somebody who is like a grades getter, go-getter, and an overachiever in any way, whether that’s in sports or academics, you’re rewarded constantly for that, right?It’s reinforced in our educational system and it’s certainly been in mine growing up in Baltimore and going into this all-girls school that was very academically oriented and also athletically oriented. I wasn’t good at the athletics part but I was pretty good at the academics part.For me, yoga was this moment of literally just waking up to right now and I realized I had this huge concrete wall between my head and my body. And then in many ways, there’s kind of low-grade abusing myself living on really crappy food, not really exercising, partying at night, hating my job, being in a crappy relationship with a crappy boyfriend at the time, and I think yoga was just this kind of stillness. And then I started listening; and then I started looking back to undergrad and back in my life and starting asking the questions, “What do I want to do? What do I care about? What is interesting to me and how do I want to spend my time?”Show Notes:- On childhood, her early days as a “neat freak” and “good girl.” [01:55]- Working as a paralegal and stumbling on a yoga studio that would change her life. [04:42]- Losing her grandmother to colon cancer and her growing interest in medicine; winning the award for a paper in complimentary medicine. [09:17]- Her amazing experience working with Dr. Oz and Oprah’s team. [20:20]- Reaching out to Dr. Oz to get the job. [23:09]- How she learned to fundraise and how she managed after giving birth to her son. [26:04]- Her thoughts on starting a company – don’t overthink it, just do it. [32:02]- What she reclaimed during her heroine’s journey. [33:42]References:Majo's website – majomolfino.comRobin's website – ParsleyHealth.comMusic by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.comWant to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.

For more tips and inspiration, go to my website majo.co and instagram @majo.heroineThis is the second minisode in a four part series on boundaries. Make sure to listen to the entire series, so that you can have those healthy boundaries that allow you to thrive as a modern woman, when there are so many demands on your time and energy. Have you ever been talking to someone and then you felt completely drained? Maybe that person was in a terrible mood, or complaining, or qualifies for a personality disorder. Whatever, the case, you feel fried. In this minisode on boundaries, I’m going to give you a simple technique for staying grounded when you’re face-to-face with someone who feels like they might be sucking the energy off of you. Obviously, the most ideal scenario is for you to steer clear from energy vampires, or to cut the conversation short, and leave. But let’s say you’re locked in, and you’re like fuck, what do I do?The technique is this: drop your attention down to your feet, specifically the soles of your feet. Feel them make contact with the ground. Go ahead and do that now as you listen to this, bring your attention to your feet. And then take deep lower belly breaths. So, attention on the feet, and deep breaths while the person is speaking.The benefits of this simple move are amazing. You will walk away feeling less floored, and swayed by the other person’s emotions. If you’re an empath like me, you’ll feel less emotional contagion between you and the person. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself. That’s it, if you care about living an empowered life as a woman on this planet, go follow me on Instagram @majo.heroine more juiciness – and go to my website majo.co and get on my email list for more updates about my work and this podcast. You got options. Make sure to be in touch.

For more tips and inspiration, go to my website majo.co and instagram @majo.heroineThis is the second minisode in a four part series on boundaries. Make sure to listen to the entire series, so that you can have those healthy boundaries that allow you to thrive as a modern woman, when there are so many demands on your time and energy. Have you ever been talking to someone and then you felt completely drained? Maybe that person was in a terrible mood, or complaining, or qualifies for a personality disorder. Whatever, the case, you feel fried. In this minisode on boundaries, I’m going to give you a simple technique for staying grounded when you’re face-to-face with someone who feels like they might be sucking the energy off of you. Obviously, the most ideal scenario is for you to steer clear from energy vampires, or to cut the conversation short, and leave. But let’s say you’re locked in, and you’re like fuck, what do I do?The technique is this: drop your attention down to your feet, specifically the soles of your feet. Feel them make contact with the ground. Go ahead and do that now as you listen to this, bring your attention to your feet. And then take deep lower belly breaths. So, attention on the feet, and deep breaths while the person is speaking.The benefits of this simple move are amazing. You will walk away feeling less floored, and swayed by the other person’s emotions. If you’re an empath like me, you’ll feel less emotional contagion between you and the person. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself. That’s it, if you care about living an empowered life as a woman on this planet, go follow me on Instagram @majo.heroine more juiciness – and go to my website majo.co and get on my email list for more updates about my work and this podcast. You got options. Make sure to be in touch.

I am so honored to bring to you this conversation with a personal heroine of mine: Esther Perel. Esther is truly a thought leader in the space, with a perspective on modern relationships that is refreshingly original, insightful, and pretty un-American. Recently, she’s been stretching the bounds of her work beyond the bedroom, which is the focus of this episode. More about this episode: majomolfino.com/blog/2018/10/4/esther-perel Can we apply something like couple's therapy to co-workers and how easily does it translate? In this episode, Esther shares how to bring the relational intelligence from our romantic lives (things like trust, empathy, vulnerability, etc) into our most difficult, stressful work relationships and creative collaborations, especially in the context of patriarchy and the #MeToo movement.Esther’s work practically saved my relationship with my husband before we got married– and her work really helped us see what sustains desire between two people over the long-term. Her celebrated TED talks have garnered more than 20 million views and her international bestselling book Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence became a global phenomenon translated into 25 languages. Her newest book is the New York Times bestseller The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity. Esther is also an executive producer and host of the popular podcast called Where Should We Begin?I know you will find this conversation fascinating and applicable to your life. Show NotesEsther shares about her childhood as a bold and extroverted girl, her experience as an immigrant and the daughter of Holocaust survivors, and getting by on the goodwill of people willing to help her. [2:48]Esther turns the table on Majo and asks why she felt pressured to focus on her career over relationships for so long. Plus, how Esther became a “disciple of people” and learned to navigate uncertainty while writing her first book. [7:43]Why Esther enjoys taking on difficult and taboo subjects, and her non-prescriptive approach to finding solutions. [11:35]The major problem with our current culture of experts. [15:43]Bringing her expertise to the context of work: Esther shares her insights as a cross-cultural therapist, and the big shift she’s seeing toward reliance on relational intelligence as the core of company success. [19:59]Why do 65% of startups fail? Co-founder breakups. Esther discusses the deep, intimate, and often turbulent relationship between company founders. [26:10]Majo shares two true scenarios with Esther for advice on how to navigate relationships. Scenario 1: A woman being constantly triggered by her male manager who refuses to listen to her advice. [30:51]Scenario 2: A woman feeling disempowered by a male CEO who favors his own ideas over hers. [38:24]On difficult conversations, what’s missing from the #MeToo movement, and how we reshape and redefine relational thinking through communication (not policies or rules). [43:23]“Patriarchy doesn’t just hurt women.” On polarized systems, masculine vs feminine, and the honesty required on both sides. [46:30]From the bedroom to the boardroom – more resources on translating the personal to the professional. [49:39]Resources: Majo’s website – majo.coEsther’s website – estherperel.comEsther’s event – “The Masculinity Paradox” on November 10 in NYC – estherperel.com/therapists-and-coaches Music by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.comWant to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.

I am so honored to bring to you this conversation with a personal heroine of mine: Esther Perel. Esther is truly a thought leader in the space, with a perspective on modern relationships that is refreshingly original, insightful, and pretty un-American. Recently, she’s been stretching the bounds of her work beyond the bedroom, which is the focus of this episode. More about this episode: majomolfino.com/blog/2018/10/4/esther-perel Can we apply something like couple's therapy to co-workers and how easily does it translate? In this episode, Esther shares how to bring the relational intelligence from our romantic lives (things like trust, empathy, vulnerability, etc) into our most difficult, stressful work relationships and creative collaborations, especially in the context of patriarchy and the #MeToo movement.Esther’s work practically saved my relationship with my husband before we got married– and her work really helped us see what sustains desire between two people over the long-term. Her celebrated TED talks have garnered more than 20 million views and her international bestselling book Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence became a global phenomenon translated into 25 languages. Her newest book is the New York Times bestseller The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity. Esther is also an executive producer and host of the popular podcast called Where Should We Begin?I know you will find this conversation fascinating and applicable to your life. Show NotesEsther shares about her childhood as a bold and extroverted girl, her experience as an immigrant and the daughter of Holocaust survivors, and getting by on the goodwill of people willing to help her. [2:48]Esther turns the table on Majo and asks why she felt pressured to focus on her career over relationships for so long. Plus, how Esther became a “disciple of people” and learned to navigate uncertainty while writing her first book. [7:43]Why Esther enjoys taking on difficult and taboo subjects, and her non-prescriptive approach to finding solutions. [11:35]The major problem with our current culture of experts. [15:43]Bringing her expertise to the context of work: Esther shares her insights as a cross-cultural therapist, and the big shift she’s seeing toward reliance on relational intelligence as the core of company success. [19:59]Why do 65% of startups fail? Co-founder breakups. Esther discusses the deep, intimate, and often turbulent relationship between company founders. [26:10]Majo shares two true scenarios with Esther for advice on how to navigate relationships. Scenario 1: A woman being constantly triggered by her male manager who refuses to listen to her advice. [30:51]Scenario 2: A woman feeling disempowered by a male CEO who favors his own ideas over hers. [38:24]On difficult conversations, what’s missing from the #MeToo movement, and how we reshape and redefine relational thinking through communication (not policies or rules). [43:23]“Patriarchy doesn’t just hurt women.” On polarized systems, masculine vs feminine, and the honesty required on both sides. [46:30]From the bedroom to the boardroom – more resources on translating the personal to the professional. [49:39]Resources: Majo’s website – majo.coEsther’s website – estherperel.comEsther’s event – “The Masculinity Paradox” on November 10 in NYC – estherperel.com/therapists-and-coaches Music by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.comWant to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.