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Woman Wednesday: Louise T.

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Q and A with Louise Tyrrell, Dublin, Ireland

“Life is like an ice-cream…enjoy it before it melts…”


Q: What are you passionate about? 

A: As I contemplate this question, my eyes glance over the photo above. It was a cold day in Dublin when the women arrived for their Winter Wellness Retreat.  Some arrived with the worries of the world on their shoulders, and you could see signs on a few faces that they really needed this well-deserved time out to let go of stress and strain so that they could relax and feel on top of the world again!

Following this fabulous day filled with gentle yoga, mindful meditations, soothing aromatherapy, and inspirational messages, everyone went home feeling refreshed, lighter, and peaceful. Even though I hosted the event, I felt totally energized and thrilled to see their transformations. That’s my passion!  Empowering women to recharge and rise and shine for midlife success by sharing what I have experienced on my personal and professional journey. 

While recovering from a car accident in the 1990’s, I discovered yoga, and it’s amazing healing powers that took me from waiting on a hospital list for spinal surgery to making a full recovery and training as a yoga teacher.  Leaving my business analyst career in corporate Dublin to set up one of the first holistic health and well-being centers in Ireland was a great decision and sparked an interest for further training in stress management, psychotherapy, meditation, mindfulness, aromatherapy, and dietetics.

I absolutely adore working, and when the coronavirus pandemic caused the cancellation of all our wellness classes and events, it was time to pivot and go online.  As anxiety levels escalated, I started sharing on social media; stress relief strategies to sprinkle through the day so that we survive and thrive through challenging times. Invitations to appear as a guest speaker on virtual events flood in and we continue to offer a Free 7 Day Beginners Yoga challenge from the comfort of home.   Having spent time training on hosting virtual events, our yoga classes and Women’s Wellness Retreats are now available online so that you can continue to stay well. I never thought I’d say it, but another passion these days is access to the internet and being able to inspire women worldwide.

Despite many set-backs, at 53, I’m delighted to have the energy for life’s ups and downs and grateful for all the life-skills I learned from my mentors, most of who I trained with in person, including Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dr Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, Tony Robbins, Robert Holden, John Assaraf, Bob Proctor, T Harv Eker, and Susan Jeffers. 

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: Growing up in Dublin during the 60’s, 70’s, and beyond was wonderful.  While we didn’t have a lot of the luxuries we have today, we had a great sense of family, friendship, and community.  I’m the eldest of 5, and my sisters and brother sometimes remind me that I was very serious growing up.  Thankfully, I lost that seriousness somewhere along the way, and nowadays, my focus is on fun and laughter.  Looking back, I recall the excitement we felt when we got our first television with 6 channels! Apart from a few years being bullied at school, my childhood was happy. I loved singing, dancing, and acting, and one of my highlights was playing the part of the wicked step-mother in Cinderella in a big theater in Dublin. 

Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?

A: After my dad passed away, I struggled with stress, sleepless nights, and time off work as my health started to slide down a slippery slope.  Like a lot of women in midlife, I was also going through the menopause.  My weight increased and my body ached a lot.  One night, I lay awake tossing and turning, thinking about the possibility of a miracle to turn it all around.  While I do believe in miracles, I also believe that the power to change how we feel is in our own hands, and it was time for me to take control and change the course of my health.  So, I set about practicing what I teach, and in time, turned it around. Health is your greatest asset, a wonderful gift to be treasured!

Q: What does feminism mean to you? 

A: During my lifetime and without going too deep into the matter, I observed that in the 60’s and 70’s when a woman got married, she was expected to stop working so that she could stay at home to look after the children, clean the house, and cook her husband’s dinner. When I was working in the 1980’s, most managers in the company were men.  Thankfully today, things are continuing to change and it is more widely acknowledged that women and men should have equal rights and equal opportunities, but we still have a long way to go.

Thank you for reading!

To conclude, I would like to thank you.  I hope you found value in this feature, and I look forward to keeping in contact with you.  You will find lots of fabulous free resources and my social media links when you VISIT: https://louisetyrrell.com.

I’d love to connect with you!


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Woman Wednesday: Katia

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*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.              

Q and A with Katia, Montreal, Quebec

“The good part is the more energy and excitement you have about your business, the more people gravitate towards you and the more opportunities come your way.”


Q: What are you passionate about? 

A: I have been a photographer for a long time. I wasn’t always a food photographer, but right out of college, I knew I wanted to do photography. It is however a tough, tough industry and decided to work in marketing instead since there was a lot more employment opportunities. Having gone through an extremely negative work culture and some really nasty colleagues, I decided that I was done with working for someone else. In this destructive process I had also gone through some pretty severe health problems and needed to rebuild myself. I decided to focus on my health and well-being rather than focusing my energies on someone else’s business. Through my lens, I was able find a lot of self healing potential by creating delicious wholesome recipes and beautiful pieces of artwork with them. Since 2017, my plates have been my canvases.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: Growing up, we would always eat healthy. My mother instilled in me respect for the food that we ate by growing our own vegetables and taking care in creating wholesome meals made from scratch. We would never eat prepared, microwaveable meals nor take out, it was always made from scratch. As I grew up, I continued that tradition and I think it is why I love to cook so much. In a lot of my blog postings, I reminisce about mom’s cooking. I often put in my own little touch, but it is usually something that is dear to me.

Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?

A: Starting a business is not as glamorous as or as easy you might think. Unless you find that miraculous product that has no competition and everyone has just always knowingly needed it, it’s a struggle to the top and to get known. Yes, there are a lot of advantages for being your own boss, but there are a lot of disadvantages. One of my biggest personal downfalls is my discipline. If I don’t see an immediate benefit, I tend to get lazy and put it off, especially with a blog. You just gotta work and work and work….and when you think you have done enough and can’t do any more, well, double the amount of work that you have just done, then you’re good and you can sleep at night saying, “I did everything that I could do.” Then do that every single day of the week. You have to find that fire in you, the one that wants to prove to everyone that you can do it cause if you don’t, you will fail. The good part is the more energy and excitement you have about your business, the more people gravitate towards you and the more opportunities come your way.

Q: What does feminism mean to you? 

A: Feminism is about believing that women are just as good as men and should be treated as such. I feel there is some kind of an amazonian stigma attached to naming yourself as a feminist; therefore, a lot of women are afraid to be associated with that stereotype in fears of being perceived as a man hater. It’s a positive movement, not a negative one. Everyone should be a feminist. Whether or not you choose to actively fight for women’s rights, you are still a feminist. It’s not about being extremist and protesting shocking ways or hating men…not at all. They are people (men too) who believe that women are equal to men in all the important aspects.    

Thank you for reading!

I’d love to connect with you!

Website

Photography


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Woman Wednesday: Ramona

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*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.              

Q and A with Ramona, Bucharest, Romania

“Art can give us strength to carry on, courage to push through.”


Q: What are you passionate about? 

A: I am passionate about empowering, uplifting, and bringing joy into people’s lives through art. During the lockdown, I started a series of paintings called Urban Queen. Initially, I gave up my studio and planned to relax at home for a month or so. I was planning to do all the things I never have time to do like reorganize my wardrobe, read, and drink cocktails on my terrace. It didn’t last long. One day I read an article in Forbes magazine about the 7 women head of states and how they dealt with the pandemic. I started thinking about all the women in lockdown, all the unsung heroes, and the women who are leaders in their own way, whether it’s in their home or in their community. I had an urge to paint these women, so I set up a home studio and ended up working 12-hour days for 2 months straight. I took over the living room, and my family got used to fending for themselves.

Through my paintings, I want to bring every woman into the spotlight who runs her household, raises her children, puts up with her boss, looks after her health, and shows the strength and courage in her everyday life. I started sharing my art online and the response I had from women all over the world was incredible. Art has the power to move people at a very deep level and women connected with the paintings in a way I didn’t expect. I had hundreds of messages from women telling me what these paintings mean to them and how they make them feel. Stronger, powerful, self-confident.

A deeply moving experience was talking with Kristen, a nurse on the front lines in San Francisco. She was working crazy hours, doing loads of overtime when the hospital needed her, only taking breaks and resting in her car when she was on call. We messaged each other and spoke a lot. She told me, “I’m scared, inspired, and empowered raising girls during this time! These paintings spoke to me on such a deep level as a nurse on the front lines and mother of two daughters. Seriously, these paintings blew my mind on so many levels.” This expresses what I paint for: the power of art to lift our souls. It reminds us that we are magnificent beings capable of doing so much good in the world. Art can give us strength to carry on, courage to push through.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: I grew up in a totalitarian communist regime where ‘freedom’ was nonexistent and food shortages, fear, and persecution was part of the daily life. I hated the system that imprisoned my grandfather, I hated the fact that everything was grey. When I was about 12, I saw a book on Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel. I was so moved by the art, the colors, the beauty that I decided there and then that if I can get out of the country, I would leave and never come back. That chance came when I was 18 years old, so armed with big dreams and a bag full of clothes, I made it to London, UK, all by myself.


I wanted to finish my education, so I was going to college during the day and working evenings and weekends. It was then when I discovered painting. I thought it was the most amazing thing in the world. I would stay up really late at night to finish my paintings assignments. However, the mentality I grew up with was that of the ‘starving artist,’ so instead I pursued a career in fashion where I thought, worst case scenario, I can get a job as a seamstress. Instead, at the age of 25, I opened my business, a fashion label that expanded rapidly selling in 300 boutiques all over the UK.
Time passed, I fell in love, got married, and had our daughter. In 2009, my family and I moved back to my native Romania. This was now a totally different country I didn’t recognize.


Liberated from communist regime, the country was flourishing and exciting. I started an interior design business that made six figures in the first year. Still, painting was something I was called to do all my life, so I started painting again, at night time and during the weekends. In 2013, I was invited to exhibit in Miami, during the famous Art Basel. That was all I needed to get me to pursue my long life dream. Shortly after I walked into my office and told all my staff that I would be closing the business in order to pursue a career as an artist. I was 40 years old! It was a bold, crazy move and what followed was a few years of really hard work. As a self-taught artist, I made a point on working extra hard on my technique as well as finding my artistic voice. And still, I didn’t feel “worthy” unless my art was validated by the “art establishment.” When my family and I moved back to the UK in 2018, I got the validation I thought I needed by working with some well established art galleries, exhibiting in central London, selling my art to important collectors.

Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?

A: Life is about constantly learning, growing, and evolving. Painting the Urban Queen series has taught me my latest lesson: I don’t need the art establishment to validate me or my art. I am a queen and I wear my crown with pride. At the same time, my biggest lesson that I’ve learned is that “I am on Purpose.” I have been searching for purpose, for the best part of my life, and asked myself many times, “How can I live on purpose?” I think Urban Queen has provided me with the answer. When you are passionate about what you do AND you serve others, you are living with purpose.

Q: What does feminism mean to you? 

A: Feminism is reestablishing the balance between feminine and masculine. It’s recognizing and honoring our differences. It’s understanding that vulnerability, sensitivity, intuition, creativity, and nurturing are very important qualities the world needs. They are not weakness as we were raised to believe. We don’t need to be like men. We need to connect to our own inner feminine qualities and lead from there.

Q: Would you like readers to know anything else?

A: I would say honor yourself. Women are used to doing everything for everyone else first, and we leave ourselves last. I am also guilty of that sometimes, and it’s something I’m still working on. To me, honoring yourself means working on your mindset, learning to appreciate what’s important in life, being grateful, being inspired, treating yourself, and most importantly, loving yourself. Find the Queen within!

Thank you for reading!

I’d love to connect with you!

Website: https://ramonapintea.com/

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Woman Wednesday: Nicole

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*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.              

Q and A with Nicole, Perth, Western Australia

“Always listen to your gut intuition as it’s always right.”


Q: What are you passionate about? 

A: I’m an online entrepreneur who is passionate about travel, energy wellness, and personal growth. I love helping women of all ages to open their eyes to other alternative experiences, treatments, and destinations in the wellness space.

I left Australia at 18 to traveled and explore the world. During the 20+ years I was away, I worked on super yachts, private jets, and estates in all corners of the globe. During this time abroad, I’ve been so blessed to have met many like-minded people and experience different cultures.
I’m a trained energy healer, aromatherapist, and reflexologist. I have come to learn that those that have less are a lot happier than those with more. Whilst I’ve been blessed in many ways, including the birth of my son, I’ve also experienced a lot of hardships and traumatic events—from the loss of my mother and brother at an early age to failed marriages and miscarriages.

Throughout my journey in life, I’ve chosen to make personal development one of my top priorities from studying all kinds of alternative wellness therapies, and in recent years, I had a long stay in India learning all about pranic healing.

My reasons for starting Enerjee Wellness is I feel compelled to share my experiences with other women who may be lost in life, need support after a traumatic loss, or looking for a different path to follow in life.

I’m passionate to share ways to increase your energy, both physically and emotionally, and to promote overall wellness in all ages of women. My latest venture is trying to combine all the things that I’m passionate about into a blog to share with women around the world. About experiences, products, and destinations.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: I was born in Perth, Western Australia, and grew up in a country town in the North West of Australia. I have many fond memories as a child, always having my brother by my side, camping out at the breathtaking islands in the north west and swimming competitively. During my early teens, I became a vegetarian and have remained since I have a love for all creatures big and small.

My parents separated in my late teens and my father moved away internationally. I had a very strong bond with my mother. She was a determined business woman with an entrepreneurial mindset. She was always savvy and successful with money. Unfortunately, she lost her battle with breast cancer at a very young age. This impacted me deeply and continues to do so today.

Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?

A: Always listen to your gut intuition as it’s always right. So many times in my life, something or someone just doesn’t feel quite right and I can’t put my finger on it and I don’t listen. Eventually it comes back and bites me hard.

Q: What does feminism mean to you? 

A: Feminism means that we as women should be heard and seen for what we bring to this world. Women always come from a space of love, and if the governments throughout the world were predominantly run by women, how peaceful our world would be.

Thank you for reading!

I’d love to connect with you!

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Woman Wednesday: Elizabeth

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*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.              

Q and A with Elizabeth, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

“Your passion isn’t always obvious.”


Q: What are you passionate about? 

A: I’m passionate about so many things, but my main one these days is writing. When I was a young girl around 10 years old, I remember using a child-size blue typewriter and writing a short story. I found it a few years ago, and it wasn’t half bad! I’d like to pick it up and finish it one of these days. While I raised my children, writing fell off to the side as there was no time or energy to do it, but now that they are 12 and 14 years old, I have the time to dedicate myself to it again. As a result, I’ve started three businesses that revolve around writing—a mom lifestyle blog, a handmade business, where I knit and crochet character hats and write children’s books to tell each character’s story, as well as a marketing business, where I specialize in content writing for other businesses, specifically newsletters, blog posts, social media, and WordPress website content writing and SEO.

 

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Q: What were your younger years like?

A: My paternal grandmother was an avid reader and life-long-learner and she shared that with me. She also encouraged me to pursue an English degree in university, and I’m so glad that I did because I feel it has helped me be a better communicator. This skill has been used in all my endeavors.
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Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?

A: Something valuable I’ve learned is that your passion isn’t always obvious. It took me quite a while working on my business before I woke up one morning with a lightbulb moment that I love writing.

 

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Q: What does feminism mean to you? 

A: To me, feminism means equal opportunity, respect, compensation for work, and [treatment] as a person in general regardless of gender. 

 

Thank you for reading!

I’d love to connect with you!

Elizabeth Ruth Marketing, Facebook 

Mom Lifestyle Blog

Ruthless Crafter


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