Woman Wednesday: Helen

*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 Helen, Phoenix, Arizona

“Cherish every moment with loved ones as much as possible and also go for the dreams, feel through the fears, and make moves anyways.”

 

Q: What are you passionate about?

A: Great question! I am most passionate about the inspirations all around us and through us in this life experience. I’ve come to a point in my life that it doesn’t matter where I’m physically at, whether that be at home, at work, at a business event, in traffic, at a social event, etc; that I have the opportunity to inspire others through pure gratefulness of being alive in that moment. The thing that most ignites my passion is music. When I hear music, my heart gets excited and my body just wants to move. I often remind myself of pain and suffering around the world and of my own trials and tribulations to keep me humbled and grateful to keep moving forward. I’m consistently working on creative projects simultaneously that can inspire people from all walks of life to keep moving forward themselves.

 

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Click here to watch her awesome video!

 

The passion has always been in me since I was a kid. I foresaw myself as a teacher of some kind one day, I just didn’t know what kind. It’s been an amazing ride to see the visualizations from childhood come true throughout the last ten years. I have been public speaking since 2008 and in 2018, I became an international author of my book, Nothing Sexier Than Freedom. I have two businesses, Sexy Freedom LLC and The Wild Movement LLC, which I co-own with my business partner, Sara Brooke Wolf. I’m also the host of my podcast, Sexy Freedom Media Podcast which is on 8 platforms, including Spotify and iTunes and is on it’s second year.

 

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Click here for video.

It’s crazy to think all of these were ideas or suggestions I’d heard to “try out” and then I did and that’s how it all came into existence. Currently, Sara and I are only weeks away from leading our fourth retreat, Wild Woman Alaska and only months away from leading our first co-ed all inclusive Wild Movement Mexico Retreat.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: I think the best way to describe my younger years is to say that it was unpredictable. My mom was a free spirit, a gypsy woman, a dreamer, and a fighter. She raised five kids on her own when she fled my abusive dad. My dad was a drinker, party animal, very strict, but also a teacher in his own way. Although there was much suffering and pain in my childhood, both my mom and dad played a vital role in my belief system. I dropped out of high school, got married, and had a baby. I eventually realized how important school was and got my diploma. My education really came from my love for books. Self-learning and self-study have been my education for life. The first time I ever finished a program from beginning to end without dropping out was Yoga Teacher Training in 2015. Yoga definitely was the tipping point for me. I was already in the process of writing my book and even included a whole chapter of the challenges I faced while in the program. I have now combined my personal experiences, rituals, and yoga practices by leading retreats in tribal yoga, warrior awakening, and self-development.

 

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Click here for second video. 

 

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

A: I’ve learned that everyone has their shit. Everyone has an ego. Everyone has intentions, desires, and choices. It was a valuable lesson to suffer because it taught me how to be truly thankful for love around me and how easily it can be taken away. Therefore, cherish every moment with loved ones as much as possible and also go for the dreams, feel through the fears, and make moves anyways.

 

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My full story is written in my book, Nothing Sexier Than Freedom. I hope it continues to inspire as it has been, for people to live courageously sexy, wild, and free.

 

Q: What does feminism mean to you? 

A: I think the best way to explain what feminism means to me is more in visual action than in words and the best visual I can give is my mother. She was molested, she was beaten, she was a single mother of five kids, though she fell, she got back up and kept moving forward. Two years ago, my only brother took his life and I watched my mother take the biggest heartbreak of her life. Once again, though she fall, she got back up- this time on her Harley Davidson bike, at 60 years young, she rides long distance into the wind as the wild free gypsy spirit she has always been. She is courageously uplifted, self motivated, and determined to live her life the way she chooses no matter what anyone has to say about it. To me, my mother is and has always encompassed what feminism means—freedom.

 

 

For more information about me:
Helen Edwards, International Author & Entrepreneur
Book Available on Amazon & Barnes N Nobles

 

Connect with me! I’d love to chat with you! 

Comment below!

Woman Wednesday: Margarete

*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 Margarete, Ulster County, New York

“The most valuable thing I’ve learned in life is to never lose the lesson life teaches.”

 

Q: What are you passionate about?

A: I am passionate about living my best life, which includes helping others overcome life challenges, find hope and purpose, and doing all I can to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Whether I’m speaking to a specific group or at a national conference, my passion and determination is to inspire audiences to step beyond their limitations and guide them to discover the power within and redefine what personal success truly means in this adventure called: LIFE.

The harder question is how I got to this point.

Like most people, I have had some tragically sad challenges. The worst was in 2006, when my daughter Jena lost her battle with cystic fibrosis. It was then that my whole world changed. For a long time following that terrible day, it was hard to call up the strength to take action, to move forward, to take a chance at life. I had been taught to look for and find gratitude in each moment, but when my little girl “moved up” to heaven at the age of thirteen, there was nothing I could see or find other than my grief and pain. I felt I had no choice. But in time, I learned that every day, I get to choose how to live.

 

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I believe in hope, in embracing the beauty in the broken. Life always presents us gifts, yet sometimes those gifts are brutally disguised as pain and suffering. My daughter once told me that pain is not a valid reason for stopping, so I continued on. I’ve taken many steps to get to a place where I can take charge of my life to become an award-winning author of two books: Beyond Breathing and See You at Sunset, a professional speaker, and a national advocate for The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I’ve taken steps to stay happily married for twenty-eight years to my handsome husband Marc, and I’ve been blessed to watch my son marry the love of his life, which was the best day of mine.

Crisis, fear, and the anxiety of crumbling under life’s challenges have crossed my path so many times, I’ve learned that if I could change my attitude, my health, and my mental well-being, my life would ultimately change as well. Each challenge I faced in life taught me something more about myself and the world around me. Every decision I made, whether I was presented with a multitude of options, or no choices at all, changed who I am today.

 

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Here’s the thing, somewhere deep in my soul, every journey and every obstacle I faced helped bring me to a place where I can feel calm among the chaos. Every day, I give thanks for a grateful soul, a mind that’s confident, and an open heart that’s compassionate.

That’s what I’m passionate about and want to share that with as many people who want to hear it.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: My childhood was like most everyone else, complicated with drama, trauma, and not easily summed up as good or bad. I was a chubby middle child, diagnosed with dyslexia in 2nd grade, and my parents divorced while I was in the 8th grade. I lived in Germany with my great aunt when I was fourteen for a ‘cultural experience.’ I graduated from high school a year early and that same year, at age 16, I permanently moved out of my childhood house after an argument with my mother. I was pregnant before I got married and had two children before I was twenty-five. Both my children were born with a fatal genetic disease, cystic fibrosis, which currently has no cure. I’ve dealt with abandonment issues, weight issues, depression, and anxiety. All of which made me who I am today.

All our lives, all our stories, make us who we are, it’s up to us how we decide that value.

 

 

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Q: What would you like others to learn from your story? 

The most valuable thing I’ve learned in life is to never lose the lesson life teaches.

For all of my life, I’ve had a love of learning, and I’m pretty sure that’s why God, with his or her infinite wisdom and sense of humor, decided to fill the first half of my life with one crisis after another. Through all the trials and many errors, I’ve come to see that life’s challenges, including reaching midlife, doesn’t have to be a crisis.

 

 

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Wouldn’t you agree that sometimes life can come at you fast and a sucker punch can land without any warning? I’ve been there. I get it. In a split second, you’re in the middle of life-changing choices, insurmountable obstacles, and heartbreaking hardships. It’s what you do with the lesson just presented to you that can change the path you’re on. Chances are, someone has been down that path before and can help guide you out, if you let them.

If by me sharing my painful and crazy life journey can reach out and touch your heart in even the smallest way possible, and help you deal with and let go of the crises and pain in your life, then I’ll feel my words and stories have a purpose beyond what they already hold for me.

My advice to you is to share your story, it could make all the difference in someone else’s life.

 

 

Q: What does feminism mean to you? 

A: Feminism, to me, is an emotionally charged word, placing a person as ‘a feminist’ if they are for feminism or they are ‘a non-feminist’ against feminism. To me, this is divisive, and I’m not about labels, division, or exclusion as much as I am for united, equal, and collective for the common good of all civilization.

It’s was such a powerful and resurfaced word that Feminism was Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2017.

Feminism, by definition, is equality of both sexes, but its common understanding is the passionate responsibility of the equality of women in the workforce, home, and political front. Its wave of enthusiastic ideology and emotion can cause more opposition than necessary.

For me, I’d instead focus on the constructive influence of women helping women. The underlying power that comes from a place of growth, humanity, and the ability to rise together while helping one another achieve each individual’s best possible life. The alliance of women reaching back and helping those who are struggling is where the real strength lies. Women being brave in adversity, sharing their story to help others, and using their voice against injustice is what I support. We, as women, can do so much to change the landscape of our future when we rise up, lean in, and stand tall without having to put down, degrade, or alienate any opposition that confronts the process of growth.

 

 

Let’s connect! 🙂

Contact page: https://margaretecassalina.com/contact/

Books:
Third book to come this fall! 🙂

Margarete & My Lilianas would love to hear from you! Comment below!  

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