Tag: emotional blog

Q and A with Katie from Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

“You don’t need to talk to be heard.”

Q: Tell us about yourself.

A: Hi, I’m Katie and I’m a certified hypnotherapist and single parent to two boys. I live in Oxfordshire in the UK, but I’m a Manchester girl born and bred. I used to be a Samaritans Listener, which I loved doing. It always feels wrong to say I loved it because it involves answering the phone to people on the verge of suicide or at a crisis point in their life, but I really did enjoy it. It taught me that there’s great power in silence and a lot of the time that’s all people need–for you to be quiet and to really listen to them, to really hear them. Unfortunately, when I got divorced, I just didn’t have the time to commit to it anymore, but I do hope to pick it up again when my children are older. Having had that experience, I discovered a love for listening to people and their problems and that set me on the path towards searching for other ways I could help people.

I’m fascinated with how the mind works and, having experienced anxiety and depression in my life, I’m interested in learning about alternative ways to deal with mental illness and traumatic events. That led me to hypnotherapy. I specialize in enabling high-achieving professional women to overcome emotional trauma to they can reignite their confidence, but I do also practice in other areas too. The reason I chose to niche in this area is because I’ve experienced quite a lot of emotional trauma and, having done a lot of work to heal myself, I want to help others who have experienced similar events in their lives. I also love books and have quite a large collection…of ones I’ll probably never find the time to read, but I live in hope. I particularly love to escape into a world of spies and espionage, which is as far removed from my life as you can get. My favorite author is David Baldacci and I have most of his books. I’m not sure why I love the world of espionage so much, but I do wonder whether I have an untapped yearning to work for MI6. Too many Bond films as a child, I guess.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: I always say I had a very normal and boring family, but as you get older, you realize that it was never as boring as you think. That said, there’s nothing negative that stands out from it which, having worked for the Samaritans, I’ve discovered is rarer than you’d think. I was a child of the 80s and I’m really grateful for that as I feel we had the best of times then. Being able to stay out all day on your bike with your friends, and no phones for your parents to check up on you. You just had to be home for tea. We had such freedom, but I can’t imagine letting my eldest son go out without his phone and not being able to track him. As a child, I always wanted to be a lawyer and was preparing to apply to study law at university, BUT I got a part-time job when I was at college, working in a restaurant, which I absolutely loved, so in the end, I applied to study hotel management instead. In my final year at Uni, I lived with a law student, and seeing how stressful revising for exams was, I have never been more thankful that I didn’t choose a degree in law in the end! Funny how life turns out.

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

A: The power of silence. Seriously. I learned this as a tool with the Samaritans and cannot underestimate how powerful it can be. I was taught to never be scared of it and it’s a tool I use now within hypnotherapy. When I was volunteering with the Samaritans, I once took a call from a very angry teenage girl who, eventually, just stopped talking but didn’t hang up. I could tell she still needed to be on the phone so we sat there, in complete silence, for 10 minutes, at which point, she told me she felt a lot better and she rang off. It makes me laugh now to think that was all she needed, but just shows how you don’t need to talk to be heard.

Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Equality, pure and simple; women being treated equally and respected as such. That said, I’m not averse to a man holding the door open for me….but I reserve the right to hold it open for him too.

Thank you for taking the time to read about me. Please feel free to connect with me:

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Q and A with Aja from St. Louis, Missouri, living in Lake Mary, Florida

“We get to choose who we want to be, but that doesn’t happen without first taking some responsibility for our thoughts, feelings, actions, and results.”

Q: Tell us about yourself.

A: I’m passionate about teaching women the tools and practices for navigating any challenge they come up against while on their journey to curating any outcome they want. In the Dream Catchers Lab, my monthly life coaching membership community, my students learn how to identify the current self-concept they are using to make decisions and take action, so they can shift that identity into one that gets them results. I absolutely love this work and believe self-concept work is the most important tool for any woman to become masterful at using because they can truly create anything they want when they do.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: Growing up, I was the weirdo. Now, it’s a badge I wear proudly, but when you’re at an age where you’re learning who you are and want to be, not being like “the other kids” isn’t so great. The problem was that I actually really liked myself. [She laughs.] So, I kept on being weird. I never vibed with the ways I was told to live and be in the world. You see, I love change. I used to change everything: my hair, my style, my room, my interests, and my food. And, as an adult, I changed husbands, and my favorite change of all besides my self-concept is changing homes. Change is my superpower, and when I learned about Human Design and being a Manifesting Generator, my love for change made complete sense. One of my focuses has been on MIM’s Multi-Passionate, Introverted, and/or Manifesting Generator women because our place in the world is singed with what normalcy is supposed to look like for us in life and business! We’ve been taught that change isn’t okay and if you want to get ahead (especially in business) your business has to look a certain way. I’m here to show MIMs there’s a different way. Our way! Our rules! There’s nothing wrong with us. I’m here to let them know that their perceived flaws are their formula for freedom and fulfillment for going from dream chaser to dream catcher.

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

A: My number one mantra that I come back to, day in and day out, is “It’s not who you believe you are that holds you back; It’s who you believe you’re not!” This is a truth that I’ve had to lean into and confront myself with radical honesty, seeing who I was choosing to be in the moments of decision and creating my results. The most valuable thing I’ve learned is that we get to choose who we want to be, but that doesn’t happen without first taking some responsibility for our thoughts, feelings, actions, and results. We are who we say we are, but there is work to be done to get to that level of awareness, self-trust, and the embodiment of who you truly are at your core, being able to shine out loud as that which is innately in you. When we are taking action and making decisions, it’s vital that we pay attention to who we’re being; the belief of who we are is what dictates our outcomes.

Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: For me, feminism is a “coming home.” It is a releasing of all that I’ve pushed down, accepted as truth around who I’m supposed to be and show up as in the world, and instead be home in my own core values, fully expressed in how I live and how I will be. It’s welcoming and it’s a soft landing that nurtures my growth.

MORE FROM AJA: Reinventing yourself, or as I like to call it, Self Concept And Identity Work, is vital for all women to accomplish that next goal and then the next. As long as we are human, we will desire, and that brings challenges that require us to uplevel and become a match for those new desires. This is the work we do in the Dream Catchers Lab.
Learn more or join us at https://dreamcatcherslab.com

Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, I spent most of my adult life in Atlanta, Georgia, and now, I call Lake Mary, Florida, my home (for now!)

Thank you for reading!

Q and A with Sue from Derbyshire, United Kingdom

“Yes, you need to pay the bills, but what if you discover a job you love? That is priceless.”

Q: Tell us about yourself.

A: I am a working mother with two boys named Liam and Declan. Liam is a manager for Warhammer, and Declan is a mental health specialist; both of whom I am very proud of. My work ethic has always been strong thanks to my parents pushing me and my siblings to make a difference in people’s lives. I have traveled the world with my parents being in the RAF, with a father flying Lancasters in the war whom I am very proud of. My parents were a great team with great minds and very proactive with us four kids all successful in our fields.

I studied fashion and textiles and spent years in advertising sales and publicity in lifestyle magazines. As the decades went by (and as a single parent), I needed to find a career that was flexible around my boys. I literally stumbled across the events industry by accident through wedding fairs. On my website, it tells you how I became the largest wedding show provider in my region with my own wedding magazines, etc. I adored those years and torpedoed to six figures in two years as my region was screaming out for good event organizers that could advertise the shows well. In the end, we were doing 18 shows a year, three issues of White Weddings magazine, as well as historic house wedding brochures. So, as the years moved on, I was contacted most months by wedding venues and wedding planners to help them organize wedding fairs and market their shows forward. I mentored so many, which led me to want to develop a book and a course to help literally anyone get a business in a box for £47. My company is called Wedding Show Pro, which you can find on Facebook.

My ambition is to assist and mentor individuals on their path toward the events industry. Mine happened to be Wedding Shows. I also launched a book on Amazon at the end of last year titled Wedding Show Pro. In the book, I take you through my life as a top wedding show organizer, illustrating fast-track tactics, insider knowledge, and what can go wrong if you do not have all the tools to do the job. My FREE digital book comes with an in-depth course that I know people are enjoying as we speak. So, if women are looking for a career in this field, you will find help with our Wedding Show Pro course. Like myself, you will get calls from venue wedding coordinators asking you to present their venue to hundreds of brides, which in turn, gets them wedding reception bookings.

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

A: One thing I have learned over the decades in my working life is that, yes, you need to pay the bills, but what if you discover a job you love? That is priceless. Now that I am coming up for semi-retirement in my mid 60’s, I want to empower more women to achieve this. It’s possible with focus, diligence, and know-how.

Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism to me is getting out from under. Be true to yourself. Give yourself self-love and compassion. Where there is a will, there is a way! Be creative, bold, and assertive. Understand your worth in whatever field you choose. I had £500 to last me for six weeks when I started, I sent out a message to the universe asking for help and guidance. They didn’t fail me; my journey has been colorful and joyous along the way.

Thank you for reading!

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Q and A with Ale from Mexico City, Mexico

“Life is tough, yes, but if there weren’t challenges, life would be so boring.”

Q: Tell us about yourself.

A: I always was very passionate about dancing, and when I finished college, I decided to open a dance studio. A lot of students struggled with their weight, had a very negative mindset about their bodies, struggled a lot with stress, and sometimes their moms didn’t cooperate with all that.

Thanks to my dance studio, which I closed during the pandemic, I decided to study for a master’s in nutrition and got certified as a health coach, studied mindfulness, and was certified again as a mind-body functional health coach. Since the dance studio, my mission was always to help others be much more confident and make their health and wellness a priority. My new passion as a coach has been amazing and so transformative for me and others. My passion for dancing has been transformed into neuro dance (neuroscience + dancing) and I include in my practice breathing techniques and most important, hemp CBD because of how wonderfully it impacts our overall health.

Neurodance is basically the connection between neuroscience and dancing. It’s a deeper connection between your mind, body, and spirit; it’s a symbolic way of expressing emotions and reliving trauma. It’s super interesting how movement can be so therapeutic. In Mexico, THC is illegal, so any tincture, gummy, or capsule we have is free of THC. This is a project I am super passionate about, and the people that are part of it are so great. CBD has benefits overall health because of how it works in the body.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: It’s curious. Since I was 3 years old, I used to play I was a teacher. As a coach, you educate a lot, and since I was little, I’ve always been open to transformation and always aligned with something transcendence. Make a difference in my community and globally.

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

A: Life is not static, and we come to enjoy life. Allow yourself to transform, be authentic, and always do what you love, what is aligned with your core values, and what you feel and what your intuition tells you is your mission in this life. Life is tough, yes, but if there weren’t challenges, life would be so boring. What has brought so much joy in my life is learning to neutralize what has happened to me. See life as a sum of experiences that build you up, and maybe this can be of help to you.

Becoming a mom was the best thing that has happened to me, and at the same time, the most challenging one. I was super independent before, and in a certain way, that independence is restricted. Thanks to mindfulness, I learned to be much more flexible and compassionate. And both of my kids have been my greatest teachers.

Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism, for me, means freedom. Freedom to be a woman, a mom, an entrepreneur, a sister, a wife, and much more. To express myself and to follow my dreams. It means building tribes with other women and empowering ourselves, instead of gossiping and screwing others. And it means showing my son that there’s a perfect balance between men and women, and we should all respect each other and be fair and just.

Fun fact: I studied physics engineering, and what I’ve told you is to show you that, YES! You can follow your dreams and transform in time.

Q: What is it like in Mexico City?

A: Mexico City has tons of things to do and is comfortable, but to be honest, I never wanted to live here. I wanted to live in a place where I can travel easily and learn a lot from other cultures. What I do love is the weather; it’s never extremely hot or cold.

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Q and A with Michelle from Akron Ohio, living in South Florida, USA

“Finding your niche client and product is the best way to start and grow a fledgling business.”

Q: What are you passionate about?

A: My true passion is color! I love vibrant, saturated colors. Luckily for me, color was important in my career, which ended up being in fashion. I have done literally everything in the fashion industry: in-store sales, MIS(data entry…computers were only just becoming relevant) advertising, photo shoots, styling, buying, selling, import, export, runway shows, showroom sales, design, manufacturing, fabric pattern design, and anything else I forgot.

I have visited the silk dyers in South Korea and the silk weaves in Italy. Stood next to the pile of hides to be tanned into leather for jackets and stood in freezing studios filled with sand and fans to create a summer photo set. From mass merchant to high-end luxury, I have done fashion. So, it was an easy transition to branding.

I am now a brand director for anyone starting a new biz or doing a brand refresh. What does that mean? It means a brand is not a logo. Creating a brand for your business gives you a clear direction and outlines your services. Clarity is the most important part of a business. I am sure you have heard it before, but if you sell to everyone, you sell to no one. Finding your niche client and product is the best way to start and grow a fledgling business. I also really like tarot!

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: How I survived the 70s…I have no idea! No seatbelts, drunk driving, smoking, hitchhiking, not to mention the serial killers who were apparently lurking everywhere. I actually had a pretty great childhood, and I am still friends today with the kids were lived in my neighborhood because we all went to the same schools, although we now live all over. My family had a restaurant and catering business and everyone worked. Not all of my 26 cousins, but most. So, my entrepreneurial spirit came from that family work ethic, and it still is very implanted in me today. I followed the narrow path and ended up getting married very early (20) as it was the only way out of the house. As you can imagine, that did not end well. But it set me on a path that took me to Europe. I lived in Germany for 15 years, learned the language and the culture, and traveled extensively. I have reached five of the seven continents (Antarctica & South America, I’ve yet to see).

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

A: You are enough. The “rules” you were taught, are only your rules; no one else is going to follow them so you might as well throw them right out the window. When I look back, believe me, I have a lot to look back on…I see a young person who was afraid to not follow the rules, this limited me and kept me from exploring all the things I could have. But obviously, my personality and confidence led me to push forward and break the rules. There were a couple of quotes that always rang true, “leap and the net will appear, feel the fear and do it anyway.” At the time, I didn’t quite understand what that meant, but now I am much better at doing it and asking for forgiveness later. Whatever you think you want to do, do it.

Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: In my lifetime, let me repeat that, in MY lifetime, women were not allowed to have credit, could get fired for being pregnant, and had very limited job opportunities. We couldn’t even run in a marathon! I am fully invested in feminism and getting equal rights for everyone, all the time. It is pretty weird to have lived through this evolution of women gaining more rights, but absolutely baffling that we are still not 100% there, yet. Seriously?

MORE ABOUT MICHELLE: I felt inspired to create a limited series podcast, where I interview women (of a certain age) to hear their stories. Women of any age would enjoy it! I also have a monthly newsletter about branding that is pretty fun, you can sign up for it on my website.

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MORE Q&As WITH MICHELLE:

Q: What do you like to draw inspiration from for your fashion?

A: Fashion leads to everything—food styling, home decor, and trends of all kinds. I believe fashion is a form of art and creativity.

Q: Traveling quite a lot, did you notice any similarities in fashion for all the countries? Or fashions that are always in style?

A: One thing for certain: black is always in fashion. It is sleek, minimalistic, and super elegant. No matter what country you’re in.

Q: And do you have a favorite country you want to go back to or have visited the most?

A: Having lived in Germany for such a long time, I feel the most at home there in any city. However, I also spent a lot of time in Paris and London. So, both of those cities are my favs. Germany, what was that like? I would need to write an entire book about my experience in Germany. I will say I went with one sentence in German…“Der bleistift ist nicht rot”… The pencil is not red… so that was super helpful, right? Oh, and I could also order a beer!