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Mother's Quest Podcast

Are you a mom who is ready to live a truly E.P.I.C. life? A few months before a big milestone birthday, host Julie Neale, a life and leadership coach, community builder and mom to two high-energy boys, decided to stop sidelining her dreams and become the hero of her own journey. She created this show to help light her way by gathering words of wisdom and lessons learned from other mothers further ahead on their quest. Join in for intimate conversations with a diverse group of inspiring mothers as they share how they are living an E.P.I.C. life, engaging mindfully with their children (E), passionately and purposefully making a difference beyond their family (P), investing in themselves (I), and connecting to a strong support network (C). Come along with Julie and you are sure to find some treasures of your own.
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Now displaying: August, 2022
Aug 25, 2022

Today’s show with keynote speaker, business and leadership coach and Step into Your Moxie® facilitator Sara Dean, was five years in the making and worth the wait!

Sara is the creator and host of the Shameless Mom Academy Podcast, a top rated podcast with over 600 episodes and 5 million downloads.  As you’ll hear her share in this conversation, Sara’s biggest passion is helping women own their space.  After enduring her own identity crisis following the birth of her son, Sara took her background in psychology/health/wellness and rebuilt her identity, one step at a time.  

Today, Sara motivates and inspires women to stop shrinking and start shining and she’s been stretching herself to do the same, moving beyond her podcast microphone and onto new stages, including speaking for Amazon, the City of Seattle, Charles Schwab, Inspired Mama, WE Ignite, Alt Summit, and She Podcasts Live to name a few. 

Sara’s ability to show up,  with a  “sticktoitiveness” she says is in her DNA, enables her to achieve incredible things, like training for the triathlon she is in the midst of now. What I so appreciate about where Sara is on her journey, is her intention to move beyond the doing for doing sake to a thoughtfulness about what matters most and why, a shift she opens up about. 

I hope this conversation, and the challenge Sara offers us to cut the crap and calm the chaos, inspires us to show up as Sara does, with humility and bravery, honesty and humor, and as she says, shameless #everydamnday.

 

About Sara:

Sara Dean is a keynote speaker, a business and leadership coach, and a Step into Your Moxie® facilitator.  She is also the creator and host of the Shameless Mom Academy Podcast, a top rated podcast with 5 million downloads.  Sara’s biggest passion is helping women own their space.  After enduring her own identity crisis following the birth of her son, Sara took her background in psychology/health/ wellness and rebuilt her identity, one step at a time.  Sara motivates and inspires women to stop shrinking and start shining #everydamnday.  

Sara has spoken for Amazon, the City of Seattle, Charles Schwab, Inspired Mama, WE Ignite, Alt Summit, and She Podcasts Live.  She has been featured on the Dr Phil Show.  

When she’s not supporting Shameless Moms, you’ll find Sara with her husband and 10 year old son – trying to keep up on video game jargon and baseball stats.

 

Connect with Sara:

 

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

  • The social media post Sara shared five years ago that made me want to meet her at our first podcasting conference! 
  • The impact on Sara of being raised by her mother who was a nun for 16 years 
  • The power of routine and the need for flexibility
  • Why showing up is in Sara’s DNA  
  • How Sara is moving out of her comfort zone to have more impact 
  • Using rejection as fuel to keep going 
  • Sara’s simple self-care tip for investing in herself 
  • Going back to what makes us feel reconnected with ourselves 
  • The power of finding  your people in the same place and time as you 
  • What it means to Sara to be a “Shameless Mom”

 

Resources and Topics Mentioned

You Might Also Want To Listen to My Interview with Sara On Her Podcast: https://shamelessmom.com/episode/julie-neale-and-caren-lettiere-sisters-making-magic-in-e-p-i-c-ways/

 

This Episode’s Challenge:

Calm your chaos and let go of your crap. Sara wants you to think of what you really need right now, and how you can let go of extraneous junk in order to get what you want out of the season you’re in.

Join us at Sara’s free online workshop entitled, “How to Calm Your Chaos and Let Go of Your Crap”. You can register at shamelssmom.com/calm and let her know Mother’s Quest sent you. Happening on September 13, 4pm pacific time (7pm eastern time) and September 14, 10 am pacific time (1pm eastern time).

Sara invites you to reevaluate how you’re spending your time and energy, give yourself permission to create a schedule and systems you love, invest in relationships that give you life, stop over giving and stop overlooking your own needs. We hope to see you there!

 

This Episode is dedicated by Nikita Burks-Hale:

Nikita Burks-Hale (she/her) is the CEO and Chief Coloring Officer at Headphones and Crayons, a space for amplifying voice, sound, and color. As an Alignment Coach, she journeys and supports creatives, podcasters, and entrepreneurs as they create podcasts and launch new business initiatives that feel good without losing themselves in the process. As a Coloring Practitioner, Nikita integrates connection, community building, dialogue, and healing, all through the art of coloring.

Nikita is a journeyer in every sense of the word and truly believes that life is a journey and you must be open to its endless possibilities. Her coaching and personal beliefs are centered around living your imperfect journey to the FULLest by:

  • Showing Up
  • Being Vulnerable
  • Practicing Grace and Gratitude
  • Be A Bada**
  • And Enjoying the Ride

When she is not coaching, podcasting, aligning, or coloring, you can find her watching the latest Disney movies with her wife Jessica and her two young kids, Adonis and Remy.

Connect with Nikita:

 

Announcement:

Step into Your Moxie® Certification Training with Alexia (Lex) Vernon

Sara Dean and I are aligned in our commitment to using our voices and also to supporting fellow mothers to do the same. Another thing we share in common is mutual respect and appreciation for our speaker coach Lex Vernon.

A few years ago, I had the honor of interviewing Lex for the podcast and this fall, I’m excited to participate in a Step into Your Moxie® Certification Training  she is leading. I’m also a proud affiliate partner of Lex’s courses.

If you’re a coach, consultant or organizational leader looking for a proven system and training to help your clients find their voice and develop the confidence to use it, Lex and this training may be for you.

Follow the links below to learn more and to sign up for a free upcoming workshops Lex is leading and be sure to tell her Mother’s Quest sent you her way. If it ends up being the right fit, I look forward to learning alongside you at the Step Into Your Moxie training this fall. 


Step into Your Moxie® Certification Training
https://stepintoyourmoxie.com/certification/

Free Workshop: 4 Mistakes Coaches, Trainers, and Managers Make That Undermine People’s Speaking Success
https://stepintoyourmoxie.com/speaking-mistakes/

Hear my episode on the podcast with Lex here: http://mothersquest.com/tag/alexia-vernon/

**As an affiliate partner, Mother’s Quest will receive a commission if you participate in the training an list my name as a referral source on the Certification application. I only recommend people and programs that I believe wholeheartedly in, and Lex  tops that list.

Aug 18, 2022

As I record this opening today, I’m filled with emotion because I just dropped off my son Ryan at UCLA for his freshmen orientation. Check the show notes for more reflections about this epic snapshot moment.

Last night, Ryan and I stayed up late talking about what he wants to study in college and more importantly, how we hope his college and career journey will be one that lights him up. 

It had me thinking about this conversation with Good Life Project podcaster Jonathan Fields. Jonathan is the creator of SparkTypes and a new podcast Sparked, which helps you find work that makes you come alive.

Jonathan and I recorded this episode a few years ago, just before Jonathan was getting ready to take his daughter to her freshmen year in college. It’s filled with heart, insight and wisdom and a reminder that no matter what chapter we or our children are starting, it’s always the right time to ask ourselves the big questions about who we are and what we are here to do.

Epic Snapshot Moment Reflections with Ryan

He’s off to orientation and going to UCLA a month from now

I didn’t do the college reveal post in the spring, though I’ve told many of you personally, because I think so much emphasis during that time gets placed on what school kids do or don’t get into. I want to be part of the conversation that reminds us that college is not the only path our children can take after high school and that there are so many schools that are beautiful matches for students.

But today, with tears streaming down my face as I go on a walk post orientation drop-off, I really wanted to share this with you…

Ryan is going to UCLA! Omg Ryan is going to UCLA!!

I want to share it because:

- UCLA is where Chris and I met over 30 years ago and where I took my first independent moves to becoming the person I am today.

- From the time we started going to UCLA’s family camp Bruin Woods, Ryan has dreamed about attending, mastering the 8 clap at a young age, going to UCLA basketball sleepaway camp and putting UCLA on his 9th grade vision board.

- Ryan worked with my dear friend from UCLA @cindykmcc on his college search application and essays. With neurodivergent boys of her own, she was so patient with Ryan and adapted the process to meet him where he was.

- Ryan’s conversation last fall with Julie Lythcott-Haims on the podcast was part of Ryan’s journey to embracing and celebrating who he is, prompted him to do his college essays voice to text, and to be authentic about his life journey and identity in his essays.

- Finally…because my Dad, who died in December, would be so thrilled that he is here, with my mother down the street, and a family support system of aunts  uncles and cousins if Ryan needs them.

While there were challenging days on his journey where we could not imagine him ready to do this, Ryan has grown so much. He is as prepared as he could be for this next chapter. We are so proud of him and excited for him, but more than that he is so proud of himself and excited himself.

It seems Ryan was fated to go to UCLA. Dreams can come true. But they do when, as my Dad always said, you pursue your fate. And wow did Ryan do that!

 

To hear more about Ryan’s journey:

YOLO (You Only Live Once) and other Milestone Reflections with Ryan Neale

Embracing Neurodiversity and Being an Adult with Julie Lythcott-Haims and Ryan Neale

 

Full Episode Show Notes

Check out the full show notes from the original episode here: Ep 63: A Maker’s Journey to a Good Life with Jonathan Fields

 

Mother’s Quest is a podcast for moms who are ready to live a truly E.P.I.C. life.

Join in for intimate conversations with a diverse group of inspiring mothers as they share how they are living an E.P.I.C. life, Engaging mindfully with their children (E), Passionately and Purposefully making a difference beyond their family (P), Investing in themselves (I), and Connecting to a strong support network (C).

Join our community of mothers to light the way and sustain you on your quest at https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersquest/

Aug 11, 2022

I hope you’ve been listening over the past few months to our Throwback Thursday series…episodes I’m curating from the archives for you to listen to again, or for the first time, if they are new to you.

This Throwback Thursday, there were so many reasons I decided to select this episode titled “Weaving our Ancestral Threads with Genealogist Nicka Smith.”

First, Nicka has had some incredible recent accomplishments that I would love for you to explore. One in particular, is the debut of her first short film entitled “A Dream Delivered: The Lost Letters of Hawkins Wilson” about one family’s story that Nicka explains is an exceptional example of why it’s important to thread the past to the present.

The second reason I decided to share this episode was because of a call I received today. It was from a woman who was a former student of my grandmother Molla, who found and heard my episode with my father, David Lieberman. This woman was searching for years to learn about her mentor who she lost touch with and I’ve been searching for years to find students who benefited from my grandmother’s teaching. Now, because of the power of podcasting and a reverence for threading the past to the present, we’ve found one another.

All of this feels especially poignant because it’s still within the first year of my father’s death. As I welcome you to listen to this episode, I’m sending special love out to all of us missing our loved ones and wishes that the wisdom from Nicka in this conversation, inspires us anew to weave our own threads from past to the present, and to use our loved one’s legacies as inspiration for living our lives to the fullest.

Resources Mentioned in Opening

A Dream Delivered: The Lost Letters of Hawkins Wilson details the life of Hawkins Wilson, a formerly enslaved man who utilized the Freedmen’s Bureau to try to reconnect with his family. Hawkins’ letters have been seen everywhere from the National Archives website to text books and more. The letters so clearly describe the destructiveness of enslavement while also showing the hopes the formerly enslaved had in repairing the havoc the slavery system caused their families.

Hawkins’ May 11, 1867 letter drafted at the Freedmen’s Bureau in Galveston, Texas – the site of the first ever Juneteenth – includes a detailed account of which specific slaveholders enslaved his family members and important details such as the locations where they were enslaved.

Those of us who do genealogy research know how incredible Hawkins’ account is, yet we also know that there are a lot of factors out of our control that determine whether or not we can find out more about him and his family despite the large amount of information he gave.

Did Hawkins and his family ever reunite? Do records that document his enslavement still exist? All of these questions, and more, are answered in the short film.

You can view the film at www.ancestry.com/BlackHistory

Ep 43: Love of Family and Pursuing our Fate ~A Father’s Day Special~ with David Lieberman

 

Full Episode Show Notes

Check out the full show notes from the original episode here: Ep 50: Weaving our Ancestral Threads with Genealogist Nicka Smith

 

Mother’s Quest is a podcast for moms who are ready to live a truly E.P.I.C. life.

Join in for intimate conversations with a diverse group of inspiring mothers as they share how they are living an E.P.I.C. life, Engaging mindfully with their children (E), Passionately and Purposefully making a difference beyond their family (P), Investing in themselves (I), and Connecting to a strong support network (C).

Join our community of mothers to light the way and sustain you on your quest at https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersquest/

Aug 4, 2022

I’m excited to revisit this episode with Kalika Yap, a serial entrepreneur, inventor, intentional mother, and business leader.

Kalika is from more humble beginnings. She came from a big family born in the Philippines in the time of Martial Law that then moved to a low income community in Hawaii. Growing up, she had strong influences from her mother who is a teacher and her father who is an entrepreneur. Along with her husband, she now imparts these family influences or “Ohana” and a focus on “Core Values”  to her two daughters.

We covered a lot of ground in this interview and I felt like I filled my E.P.I.C. Life Toolkit with powerful strategies: to focus on values, develop keystone habits, and consciously choose a life of service. I left the conversation inspired by Kalika to pursue our entrepreneurial dreams and empower other women to do the same, all while being a present and intentional parent.

Full Episode Show Notes

Check out the full show notes from the original episode here: Ep 22: Core Values, Ohana and Keystone Habits With Kalika Yap

Mother’s Quest is a podcast for moms who are ready to live a truly E.P.I.C. life.

Join in for intimate conversations with a diverse group of inspiring mothers as they share how they are living an E.P.I.C. life, Engaging mindfully with their children (E), Passionately and Purposefully making a difference beyond their family (P), Investing in themselves (I), and Connecting to a strong support network (C).

Join our community of mothers to light the way and sustain you on your quest at https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersquest/

Episode #5: Live your E.P.I.C. Life to Help Your Children Thrive
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