Q and A with Jean from Chicago, Illinois, living in Lancaster, South Carolina
“I found making jewelry helps me combine my knowledge of holistic healing, Reiki, and using the Chakras to help heal along with the ability to create beautiful pieces of jewelry.”
Q: Tell us about yourself. What are you passionate about?
A:My name is Jean Schlaiss and I am the creator of Intentions by JS. I make wire and crystal jewelry, and intention candles and wax melts. I have been working at my business for the past three years and plan on continuing to do so in order to keep growing. I am hoping to get my jewelry into brick and mortar and online stores.
I am passionate about alternative healing methods. I am an esthetician by trade and also a Reiki master. Reiki is a form of energy healing that helps people with relaxation and to destress. My jewelry reflects my passion as I use natural crystal beads and create healing combinations of crystals to put into my jewelry.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: My parents, my brother, and I lived in the suburbs of Chicago. We were a typical middle-class family. Later in life, I earned my bachelor’s degree in science with a focus in holistic wellness. I am currently a school director for a cosmetology school. Finding a hobby became important to me in order to help me relax. I found making jewelry helps me combine my knowledge of holistic healing, Reiki, and using the Chakras to help heal along with the ability to create beautiful pieces of jewelry. I turned my passion for making jewelry into a business. I currently sell at markets; a boutique in Monroe, North Carolina; and on my Etsy store.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: I have learned how to relax and find my inner peace. Making jewelry allows me to be creative as I continue to find new patterns and styles.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: I feel the word “feminism” has negative connotations. I just believe that women and men should be treated fairly and equally. I have seen the inequality at the workplace and it saddens me. Women always feel the need to be on the defense even if they have the same job, same education, or same ranking as their male counterpart. It is a fight that women will have to continue to have until everyone is on equal ground.
MORE ABOUT JEAN: My husband and I live on a farm in South Carolina. One of my two sons lives with us as well, as he has just completed his bachelor’s degree and is looking for a job. We would love to expand our farm, but that will be in the future. My parents live nearby, and my mother comes with me when I showcase my jewelry and candles at local markets. She also is very creative and offers wood burning art, also known as pyrography. It offers a fantastic way for us to spend time together.
Q and A with Dr. Naieema, Charlotte, North Carolina
“Homelessness was one of the most impactful experiences of my life.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A:I’m passionate about female empowerment, my family, and travel. My inspiration comes from seeing different parts of the world, my family, and wanting to teach my daughters that they can do anything that they put their minds to. My favorite trip was to Jamaica, right before the pandemic hit. I finished my PhD and am currently using research-based methods to improve The Determined FemPreneur™, my sales and business strategy program for service-based female entrepreneurs.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I was born and raised in New York City and grew up with three siblings. There was a period where my mother, my older sister, and I were homeless. We lived on the cold, dirty NYC subway; followed by a slew of homeless shelters. That was until we landed in Ravenswood Public Housing Development in Long Island City, Queens, NYC. Homelessness was one of the most impactful experiences of my life. I watched my mother work really hard, but she didn’t have much to show for it. I now use this fuel and those lessons to teach women how to earn more, work less, and make an even bigger impact.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: I want others to know that it’s okay to normalize rest and luxury. As women, we often start our businesses wanting to make an impact. All while sacrificing time with our families, our sleep, and our mental and physical health. It’s OK to build a business where you’re not overworking yourself and that equally serves you and your clients/customers.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism means equality, but it can’t exist if racism exists because there are women who are of marginalized communities.
Q and A with Topaz, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
“…push past the fear and do it anyway.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A:I’m passionate about serving others, specifically women entrepreneurs who are looking to have a more fulfilled life. I want to support others’ life purpose and create balance and ease.
I spent over 16 years as a coach in various ways. I started out as a personal fitness coach and moved into an education role with the University of California Irvine. I taught leadership development courses at the ropes course for UCI and later became a corporate team building coach.
I spend every morning exercising, meditating, and sitting with my feelings. I love anything with water, so I live 15 minutes from the ocean. I am an avid paddle-boarder, and I love to surf.
I am currently working on my new life coaching business. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life and I can’t wait to support as many women as possible.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I grew up in a mountain town, population of 100. My house that I lived in did not have running water or electricity!
I learned how to do whatever it took to make “it” happen, this carried on through my adult life and career.
I think one of the most valuable quotes a past mentor told me when I said I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t even cope was, “When your cup starts to overflow, get a bigger cup.” This was a whole new perspective I had never thought before, and allowed me to take a birdseye view of my life. I realize that everything I want is possible.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: I want everyone to know two things: First is that you need to put your oxygen mask on first! This is so important to know that you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others.
Second is that you will get triggered by fear, and it’s okay to feel those triggers and to push past the fear and do it anyway.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: Growing up, I was afraid of other women. I was afraid of rejection and not fitting in. It’s only recently that I discovered how incredible women are and embraced the power of the divine feminine.
So, to me, feminism is fully welcoming my fellow sisters with encouragement. I want us all to empower each other to grow and be stronger and love and support each other.
A: My name is Melanie Rutgers, and I am from Cape Town, South Africa. I love creating things as well as opportunities and experiences that influence and effect change for whomever that change is for at that moment hoping that it will have a lasting impact.
The current space I am in is women transitioning into menopause and midlife, creating platforms and events where they become empowered with information to go through the transition a lot easier and safer based on several factors.
I am very passionate about the work that I am currently busy with because I had a horrible experience during my transition and struggled to understand and manage it as I discovered that there was very little information about women going through this phase of their lives. Among other things, I am an educational and training development practitioner, which simply means that I am qualified to facilitate information for educational purposes.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I am college educated and have post-grad studies in business strategy and organizational development. I had a good middle-class upbringing and always got into trouble for asking way too many questions! I found that I had a passion to create from very early in my life and that I could use my voice to make a difference. I was always creating opportunities and experiences and events in our neighborhood and community and had a large variety of friends, much to my parent’s distress at times. [She laughs.]
The biggest lesson that I have learned about my story so far is that in one’s pursuit of finding more (whatever that more is), it is important not to always make impulsive decisions; some things need careful thought and planning because they can have severe consequences on those closest to you. Always be teachable.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: Let me just say that it costs you if you become anything close to what is now coined as a solopreneur. You have to believe that what you are doing is your life’s work! So, we are currently fundraising to televise an event where we can take information to women who don’t have access to quality health care in our country, on a much larger scale than we have been doing so they can also be well and a lot more informed but most importantly, to know that they are not alone.
Q: What does feminism mean to you? A: Let me start by saying kudos to every woman who has ever fought for women’s rights and even went as far as changing legislation so that our voices could be heard; however, as far as feminism goes, in my opinion, it does not always need to be a fight to prove that we are worthy and capable in any one particular way or another because there is nothing to compete against. Women possess uniqueness, power, class, and strength that is unprecedented. Firstly, it is divine and very well-thought-out because we can create, influence, and maintain excellent multitasking power that no other creature on this planet has been blessed with! And those who seem not to possess what I am talking about, know that it exists, it’s there beneath what appears as brokenness; given the time and the right circumstance, it will be uncovered.
PS. I forgot to mention that I am also a talk show host and producer. This is me in the center with my two guests and two of the crew.
Q and A with Maria T., Entrepreneur Coach, Philippines
“True abundance isn’t about what you have. It’s how comfortable you arebeing you, doing you, and staying you.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I love making the impossible possible—turning “crazy ideas” into reality.
Born into an entrepreneurial, immigrant Chinese family, I was wired into the “work hard, stay in your place, be practical” mentality.
Pictured: We had the “work hard” mentality, but humor was a big part of our lives! Here I am in my early twenties with my parents and siblings.
Anything outside the norm wasn’t accepted, and everything that had to do with dreaming differently wasn’t encouraged. Hobbies, passions, interests that didn’t result in direct payout/profit were kept as such. Little effort would be put into something “frivolous” like playing the piano or theater arts. As a result, I grew up with such a scarcity mindset and lots of self-limiting beliefs.
What’s curious though, I inherited my ancestors’ entrepreneurial skills and was making money from the age of 6 by buying and selling stationery and confectionary items, dried foods, and other things I could sell. Later, I was selling my services as a teacher and consultant. For someone so “young,” I had my choice of clients and was paid above the market rate.
Pictured: Me facilitating a communications workshop in Taipei, Taiwan.
But I felt something was missing. I needed to BE MORE and think beyond what to sell next and how to make more money. I talked to my mom about the meaning of life and she pretty much dismissed my question as something frivolous and overreaching. I can’t blame her though—she comes from a generation where having a white picket fence was the dream). After that talk, I went even deeper into depression. I was living my life void of any life. I would go from one task to the next and have no memory of doing so.
I was honestly contemplating to end my life, but something in me said: “I can’t give up on myself—life has got to be better than this.” I went full-on into exploring my spiritual gifts and somehow I embraced being an empath. When I talked to people, I just knew which buttons to push to help them talk about what really mattered to them. Today, I am able to combine that spiritual gift with my talent in teaching, consulting, and seeing the big picture.
I now coach “Misfits,” aka people who feel like they can’t conform to the norm and what’s expected of them, to turn their “deepest desires” and “crazy impossible dream” into reality. I help elevate their lives by guiding them in creating an eco-system around who they are and what they offer.
Q: What is something valuable you’ve learned that you’d like others to know?
A: True abundance isn’t about what you have. It’s how comfortable you are being you, doing you, and staying you.
I’ve made money from an extremely young age. In fact, making money comes easy to me because I’m good with people and I can sell lots of things. When I was selling my products and services to anyone who wanted to buy, I was working day and night. The money came in fast. But my scarcity mindset back then simply drove me to doing more and feeling disconnected with the part of me that knew I was meant for more.
I couldn’t enjoy the money I made and was so concerned about how other people saw me and my means. I made monetary decisions out of the fear that people would look down on me and think I couldn’t afford something. What should be a blessing became a burden. Only after I embraced my spiritual self and embodied a more abundant state of being did I fully appreciate life and find joy in my existence.
This may sound like a cliche, but the moment you embrace the totality of who you are, the money will come anyway. So be you, stay you, do you. There is no one like you and the moment you appreciate that about you, the rest of the world will!
Pictured: This was a big milestone in my life. Since 2013, I sat on different boards and committees of non-profit organizations (Rotary Club and the International Women’s Club). But nothing brought me more honor than being part of an education foundation in 2018. I was a recipient of scholarship since I was 11 until about my college years. To be part of this education foundation was me paying it forward.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: I was actually brought up in a matriarchal society. Even within my extended families, women are held in high regard. In fact, women can be so strong and as capable as the men in my family, but they wouldn’t be dressed down for “failure” as a male would.
When I left my home country (the Philippines) to pursue my tertiary education is when I saw the favorable treatment to men. I was harassed by a male professor and when I asked an administrator where I could file a complaint, I was strongly suggested not to. The reason was simply “You’re female and you’re from the Philippines. In this country, people listen to males, especially those that came from a developed country.”
I never felt more violated than the moment I heard that. And I vowed since then never to let my nationality or my gender get in the way of empowerment. Feminism, for me, isn’t about equal rights. It’s about mutual respect and compassion. That country had “equal rights” but the societal beliefs then were programmed against women.
The way I was brought up, women are heard. When a woman isn’t happy, the entire family walks on eggshells. Women are loved for being caring and nurturing, for thinking of everyone’s needs, and for being non-linear in their thinking. Women are respected because they make life easier.
That, for me, is feminism.
Connect with me! I’d love to chat with you!
Maria Tan is an Entrepreneur Coach for Misfits (people who don’t like to conform to the norm), Multipassionates (people who are extremely multifaceted and multitalented), and Millennials (people born between 1981-1996). She helps her clients create an eco-system around who they are and what they offer. She’s taught more than 1000 people from all over the world! Connect with her on her website (www.maria-tan.com).
The Woman Wednesday Blog 