Zoey Henley

Managing Director, Children’s Future International

Learn How to Help Build the Next Generation of Leaders in Cambodia

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Glimpse into challenges that face us globally.

Where was the spirit born within you?

Her and her husband are both social workers for 30 plus years.  The UK, New Zealand and the United States.  They have had a lot of travel and fascinating careers.  They wanted to do work in a developing country to give back.  Cambodia picked us.  She didn’t want to go to Asia.  Her husband got a job first in Battambang.  A one year contract.  It is the second largest city in Cambodia.  It isn’t full of tourists.  She feels like she is a student and receiving gifts.  She feels lucky to be there.  

How can someone in our audience go about finding employment in another country?  There are a lot of young people that volunteer.  People come for short periods of time and they build attachments and they do more harm than good because they have to leave.  They have been here for 4.5 years.  If people want to come and commit.  

What about your upbringing?  She was born in California.  They moved when she was 1 year old to New Zealand.  She is a kiwi kid.  They loved to travel.  An overseas experience was what she did after University.  She has always traveled.  This is the first place that hasn’t been an English speaking place.  She is learning a new language.  This is the norm in her life.  What language are you learning?  The Khmer language, the national language of Cambodia, is a member of the Mon-Khmer family of languages spoken over a vast area of mainland South-East Asia.  Khmer Rouge

In the four years that the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia, it was responsible for one of the worst mass killings of the 20th Century. The brutal regime, in power from 1975-1979, claimed the lives of up to two million people.  How has the genocide affected the people?  Cambodians did this to Cambodians.  It was born out of a communist regime.  They wanted a Utopian society.  Everyone would have the same status.  It spiraled out of control.  People got paranoid.  That is when millions of people were killed.  They were trying to neutralize society.  They lost institutional knowledge.  Anyone her age or older has lost mentors and guides and teachers.  They were all killed.  It is taking a lot of time to rebuild.  They are building through tourism.  It is cheap and safe!  A lot of people will speak English.  It is a great exporter of rice. They make clothes.  The Cambodians love singing and they want to rebuild.  Karaoke and dance and drama are big in the culture.  There is a lot of hope about the future of Cambodia.  

There is a huge gap between rich and poor. People live on less than a dollar a day.  They work with the poor.  Others are driving Hummers.   The middle class is growing but they come from the NGO sector.  Is it a good impact?  We grapple with the work that we do is the work the government should be doing.  They take away the need for them to provide it.  It is an interesting conundrum.  Are we solving the core of the problem?  The issue is poverty.  The impact of COVID is huge.  There is an economic fall out.  

Let’s talk about the children.  Orphans is a huge industry in Cambodia.  There were a lot after the genocide.  It became a money making industry.  They deliberately keep the kids in poor conditions so people would donate and the money would go straight into the directors pocket.  There are faith based organizations that run the orphanage.  UNICEF did an investigation.  80% of the kids in there had a family member alive.  Orphanages are the best for their children because they are so poor.  They were playing on the vulnerable families.  There was a boom in orphanages.  They are part of two big orphanage networks.  They started out as an orphanage.  Backpackers wanted to help.  There is a much better way to help.  If there is another way, they will keep the kids.  They work with families.  What do you need to keep your child?  They put that support in.  It may be fixing a house up.   They give food supplies for three months so they can work on becoming independent.  This is a reunification process.  How do you help them for the long term?  The next stage is to be a community based organization.  The Buddhist culture there is about giving.  They work on 3 month plans and then move them on.  Sometimes it is longer.  What do we need to do to make this family safe and independent?  Safety is #1.  Supplementary education and training so the next generation will be independent.  They grow gardens, raise chickens and have shops in their homes.  They are in a rural area.  It doesn’t mean they have to stay there.  They think about the future.

How do they respond to the framework?  Is it challenging to buy into this framework?  They changed the story.  It isn’t about taking away, they are giving resilience.  It is strength based.  They celebrate the uplifting and powerful.  They are proud and feel successful.  The door is always open.  A flood or drought can change in an instant for a family.  They can come back.  

What ages are the children?  There is a public education system that is free.  The family needs to provide a uniform and a bike.  The priority is far down the list.  It is hard if you are poor.  The child is more valuable to work in the fields.  They become dependent on the kids so it is hard to get back to school.

An uncle had abused two young girls.  He was arrested.  The family needed them to be safe.  This orphanage came from 8 hours away.  The Mother had signed the release forms for this orphanage.  She didn’t do what they wanted.  They had to put the girls and Mom in a safe house.  They were being pressured.  They carry trauma.  The next step they had to go away.  The Mother wouldn’t be able to see them.  They would have lost contact completely.  They worked with the Mom and found her employment.  They gave her skills to empower her and they re engaged the girls in education.  The teachers keep an eye on the kids.  Everyone is doing great.  The family unit is strong.  Three or four generations live together.  Grandparents look after children.

Poverty sends people to the Thai border seeking illegal employment.  Thai promises a lot and they get there and none of the promises come true.  It is modern day slavery in terrible conditions.  This splits up families.  They give us their passports.  The work that they do is to promote safe migration.  It can be a good opportunity and they help them migrate.  

How many people do this work?  They have two foreigners and they have a team of 43 people and they are all Cambodian,  They want Cambodian leadership.  Capability is there.  The Khmer team helps her navigate.  They will lift the country out of poverty.  They support children from the age of 5 all the way through the university.  They can apply for scholarships.  They believe that vocational training is important too.  They create employable people.  

How can the audience support you?

They are keen to support partnerships.  

Your money goes a long way in Cambodia!  $10 a month can feed a child for a month!

Don’t stop coming but think differently.  The monks teach in the community.  There is a way to upscale in the community.  They want skill development for the staff.  Offering their knowledge would be great.  Be conscious of the impact you have.  

Parting words?  There are so many good ways to help.  Do research and reach out before you come and find the great ways to help in the right way.  We know there are consequences of well intention and let’s just be mindful.  

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Gary Buckmann

Speaker, Executive Coach and Author

Broken to Brilliant: Overcome Obstacles to Create Opportunities & Achieve the Impossible

Gary Buckmann | Speaker, Author, Consultant

Share your story!  It was his sophomore year in college and he was a gymnast.  He just turned 20 years old.  He was on the vault and took off on the wrong foot.  He landed on his head.  It knocked him out and when he woke up his neck was broken and he couldn’t feel anything from his neck down.  The pain was so intense.  It was a compression fracture.  He had no use of his arms.  HIs trainer came and asked him if he could get up.  Gary got up and he cried and it hurt.  He walked out of the gym and went to the doctors.  He took x rays.  He went to move his left leg and he couldn’t feel it.  He can’t feel his leg?  They did tests and called an ambulance he was worried that he would never recover just like his grandma that had a stroke.  

He was rushed in, they cut his clothes off.  They put him in traction.  They gave him pain medication.  It was nighttime and he was on his own.  It was a weird pain.  His nervous system short circuited.  He slept and woke up in the night because the pain woke him up.  He was alone.  The inner chatter in his mind went crazy.  He had no family around due to being in college in Chico.  His teammates were there for him.  It made all the difference in the world.  

How did the next steps unfold.  What did the doctors say?  

His roommate next door named Early.  He was an Angel Earl.  He began talking to him.  He is a God send!  He was the grandfather he never had.  In his upbringing his mother was a tough Iowa farm girl that instilled in him that dynamite comes in small packages.  Four weeks into his stay, nothing changed.  He was being fed and cannot move.  His doctor painted a bad picture and told him he was going to be paralyzed.  Gary said, that is not my plan doc.  He couldn’t hear anything else.  He wanted to be alone.  Being an athlete and his upbringing he never gives up.  He had a 24 hour pity party to process it all.  Something inside said, You can heal yourself.  You can do this.  He decided he was going to heal himself.  He had no idea how.  Once you make a decision it is POWER.  The universe starts lining things up for you.  Incredible at age 20 to have that mindset.  He got it from his Mom!  She didn’t take nonsense but in a nice way!  When Gary was a kid, he had a nice house but had to work for it.  He wanted a Unicycle when he was a kid. He got a lot of no’s.  He figured out ways to get what he wants.  He couldn’t afford one so he made one!  Then he taught himself how to ride it. He learned how to overcome things.  He declared it to himself, not to the doctor’s face.

He used visualization.  Just like he used to do with his routines.  He visualized being in the gym, going back to school, going to games.  He saw the nerve impulses going from his brain back to his nerves.  Two weeks after he got the news.  He could move his toes.  His teammate came in and he showed him!  He was up walking in a week!  Earl was in there for a hip replacement and he couldn’t walk either.  One day, he said I am going to walk with you.  The doctor let him go home.  He lived in a team house and he went home and they were his nurse maids.

How do you get the visions?  Do you create it in your mind?  How often did you do this?   He was doing it all day long.  He would close his eyes and envision all the things that he used to do and had pictures of what he did before.  So he had pictures.    Close your eyes.  Can you see an apple?  What color is it?  What does it take like?  Everyone has the capacity to do this!  Details are important when you do this.

This is a skill.

________________________

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Why does this work?  Thoughts and beliefs become truths.  He remembered emotionally what it felt like. Put the emotions along with the visions.  It will become a reality.

Were you ever 100% again?  His teammates had a 20 something mentality which was the best medicine. They made him laugh and at the same time, they gave him tough love.  We are here together.  Get back on the path!  Without that support, he would have never made it back.  They are still friends today.    If it wasn’t inside of you, it wouldn’t have happened anyways.  His roommate responded to this as Gary gave his power away.    We all have a choice whether to be positive or negative.    We have a 50/50 choice.  Everyone can develop it.  The mind is a great equalizer.  We all have one.  We need to use it in the right way!  The way that it best serves you!  Awareness is the key ingredient that can change an outcome.  How do we take off on the wrong foot and don’t know it?  It is about our daily programming and our past.  

His mother didn’t like the education system and he believed that he was not a good writer.  He grew up with that thinking and now he is the author of a book!  We are paralyzed from old programming.  

How long did this take?  Feb was the injury.  For 7 months his arms were paralyzed.  He was in pain.  His back muscles wouldn’t relax.  He woke up in no pain one day! He didn’t want to get hooked on the pain pills.  He had stopped going to the doctor because he was so negative.  He stopped for 3 months.  He was furious.  He wanted to take x-rays.  He comes back in and says he needs an operation immediately.  His vertebrae had slipped back and he had a bone spur and he says that your vertebra is hanging onto 1 mm.  Someone could slap him and he could become a paraplegic.  They did an operation and did an operation on the 6th and 7th vertebrae.  His arms were still not working.  He started walking for his recovery.  He had another pain to get rid of.  He was in the hospital for a week.  He has a neck brace on, it is hot, he is atrophied and he is limping and he looked like an escapee from a camp.  Cars stopped to help him and he said no thank you.  Two months later, he could feel his arms.  He was back!  For the next 18 months he got back into gymnastics.  His motivation was his independence.  He came back stronger.  In 1975 he had his best year EVER in gymnastics.

Let’s talk about fear.  You are faced with an environment which got you here.  Did you feel fear?  No, he was driven.  He wanted to finish his career.  He wanted to get to Nationals.    One day in practice, his coach was challenging him and he told one of his teammates that he was going to throw the vault.  He did it practice and the coach threw him out.  He did it for himself.  Ego got the best of him.  After that day, he was fine.

Let’s ask you about Awareness.  Did you have heightened awareness?  He had to get his airspace awareness so he could make good adjustments midair. And good ones that will help us.

Get back to basics if you are achieving anything in your life.  It is repetition.  Basics are boring, a pain and they allow you to take it to the next level.  If you want to get to a skill, relive the basics.  What does it do for our brain?  How does that work?  It allows you to be able to connect all of the dots to lead you to your goal.  It allows you to be repeatable.  The awareness allows you to be able to compensate, move to the next level to accomplish whatever it is you want in your life.  

What happens in our minds?  It develops an eye for detail.  It starts connecting.  Elite people take it to the next level.  We can make the connection of things and repetition enables us to see what connects us to this or that!  You can apply this to a business plan.  

It is a daily practice.  Your story is amazing!

Gary authored a book.  He is speaking and inspiring people.  He wants to help women get into their worth with his wife.

He is turning 70 and he wants to coach people his age to create a world with highly evolved beings!  Let’s influence the grandchildren or our friends we grew up with.

Anything is possible when you have the right mindset! Trust it and go with it!!

Brokentobrilliant.com

• Ashlee Heiligman – Keep Our Eyes Open for People in Need and Do Something About it! Global Director of Global Child Advocates and Sojourn Studio
  https://globalchildadvocates.org/
  https://www.sojournstudio.org/
  https://www.noondaycollection.com/shop/?sort=product&sortDir=&country=Thailand
  When did your passion bloom?
  She had an incredible family.  Her Dad was a professional golfer, her Mom a powerhouse.  They never shielded her.  She believed she could solve the problems of the world.  
  At 9 years old, she saw a expose on orphanages and she wanted to change the world.
  Her ability to speak up began after college.  She worked as a volunteer in Thailand.  She was exposed to all horrible things but her heart came alive.  She found where she was supposed to work.  It was her life’s purpose.  
  Myanmar and the refugee and squatter communities.  She was running a center for helping kids.  She was 25 at the time and she had judgment for her parents.  
  One day a boy’s Mom wanted to thank us.  They went to his house.  It was made of scrap metal and a complete shanty. They were so welcoming and gracious.  They were so humbled.  They had nothing but everything had a place.   The love between the Mom and the kids was so impactful.  She cried.  She was ashamed of her judgment. 
  It is not that they don’t love their children, it is because they are trying to survive.  She shifted to help families to help them stay together.  To avoid trafficking.  This is how she got to where she got.  Help me with my kids so I can keep them.  
  What programs were developed to lift these families up?  She started the drop in center.  Thai people were going into the field.  These families could care for their kids.  There was a need for reunification.  And preventing kids for entering care. It can adapt and shift.  As they knew better, they could do better.  Recruit, train and equip!  They help families that are near breakdown.  Early childhood education, nutrition support. It changes the trajectory for the kids.  
  2009 they are doing social enterprise, it connects them to a job and get through the hardest part of their life.  And they can own their own story!
  They have an apprentice program and the girls come to them and need a life skills program.  They develop their own ability to thrive.  They make ornaments.  They sell their products but they need to get up to the skill.  They make ceramic jewelry.  For example, painting gold  is a high skill level.
  What does it take monetarily to run a household?  It is $40 per family per month.  
  She lived in a boarding school and she speaks Burmese or Thia.  They like to hire local people.  There are 30 people on the border and 5 people in the states.
  Where are the roots for the social enterprise?  The factory jobs are hard to find good paying jobs that help them support and care for their children.  
  Quinn Smith helped them help fight human trafficking.  She is the inspiration for the design.  She gives her money away.  Then Noonday helped them get to a place where they were operating as a business.
  Their whole purpose was to help Moms thrive in the developing world.  Noonday was pivotal.  Their first order was $30,000!  It was a great partnership!
  Trafficking….tell us more about that?They have no news about what is happening.  They tell the parents one thing….meals, warm bed… they may relinquish kids for a better life.  And it doesn’t happen.
  Lines are blurred between what is real and what is a farce.
  Parents are trained that they are the best route for their child.  Whether they have no money or not.
  They teach the kids to learn about trafficking.  
  How do you find the remote areas are they open to having you there?  Trusted relationships are important.  Oppressive military is an issue.  Thai child protection policy is a big deal.  They don’t feel safe going to the police.  They are trying to get refugee status.  They have become the middleman.  She plays games and is building trusted relationships.  
  How did you build the trust?  Her first Burmese team was trained to NOT pull out a clipboard. They don’t want to be seen as money.  It is sitting with people and eating with people and hanging out at the local dump and building empathy.  
  Ashlee came to the states and she started working as the director and let the locals do the work locally.  She is helping other organizations adapt to a new model.  
  She got her masters in social work to understand the process.  She is better utilized here in the states.  
  Policy.  How much does her company take on the policy?The world doesn’t need to understand what is happening in Myanmar.  The advocacy is helping more than policy.  They don’t know what is happening on the ground.  They are pro working for the government.  Child welfare has more money than the government.
  Have the traffickers been threatening? Not as a westerner.   It is more about the communities and you just don’t know.
  Is the social enterprise tap into the male?Their focus is on women.  There are furniture makers and they collaborate with NGOS.  There is a need for men and their partners.
  Is part of the money they make go back to the family?  They have a savings and education fund.  The money that is earned pays dignified wages and pays for scholarship and savings programs.  Because they are a community culture, if someone brings money home, they share their money.  They give fare wages, and profit sharing.  They try not to over give in their community.
  The biggest challenge is they cannot undo the injustice.  There are issues of marginalization. We cannot fix all the kids and it is rewarding to help the people they are helping and it is transforming their lives.
  What are your favorite stories? There were two sisters that had been trafficked.  Their Mom died.  Their Dad abused them.  They were passed on and abused again.  Ages 4-9 years old.  They ended up with Ashlee’s team.  Their story unraveled.  They began to heal.  They came to work in Sojourn studios and then they progressed from broken to thriving!  She got to meet them and they are so full of life!  They have been placed in a family!  The full progression is amazing to see.  The program is working!
  It is a blessing to be here!  
  “Instead of closing our eyes and bowing our heads, sometimes God wants us to keep our eyes open for people in need, do something about it, and bow our whole lives to Him instead.”– Bob Goff 
  Struggling in comparing myself to others.  My purpose helps my heart come alive. And there is no comparison.  It keeps people from living the life that there are here to do.  

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Lauren Gregory

Founder of Her Poppy, Day Job Market Researcher, Adventure Seeker and Visionary

Learn to break the cycle of discomfort with essential oils

https://herpoppy.com/

Where did it begin?  Is it one moment in time or a sequence of events?

Her Poppy was birthed from pain and created to provide relief.  It started after losing her father from pancreatic cancer.  He was super healthy.  It never crossed her mind that he would die.  He was always on her to be healthy.  And watching her step Mom go through breast cancer at the same time.  It started her on a path to be more healthy.

She was introduced to the healing powers of essential oils.  She is in remission now!  She adopted an exercise routine, she went plant based and then it moved to what she put on her body.  Her background is market research.  She started to pay attention to the ingredients.  She knew they were bad.  She started paying attention to vaginal health and period health.  It is a great indicator of what is going on in your body.  If you have painful periods, it is an indicator that something is going on.  She didn’t want to have to take medication every month.  She started looking at how essential oils can help with menstrual cycles.  She did research.  She started testing out formulas.  It had to smell good!  She tested it for two months and she didn’t have to use Ibuprofen anymore.  It was shocking!No more debilitating cramps!  

She put together a focus group and survey of doctors and peers.  She got great feedback.  And she knew she had to share this with the world.

Dena is talking about the book Unite.  Out of pain, comes gifts.  An awakening.  We don’t choose that for ourselves when things are good.

Lauren’s pain transformed her into her gifts.  She likes to share and it is a way to honor her father.

What is the progression of finding the formula? 

It was trial and error.  She wanted it to be effective at relieving pain, reducing bloating, shifting our moods and smell good.  Clean ingredients are the benchmark for everything.  From the medicinal side she knew what needed to go in it.  It was hard to get it to smell good.  Ginger oil doesn’t smell good.  It isn’t sexy.  Geranium is in there too.  Guidance from God and science made it work!

Do you put it on a certain part of your body?  It is topical and should not be ingested.  You apply it to your tummy and lower back.  Your chest and the back of your ears and the bottoms of your feet are great places.  

Does this work for perimenopausal women as well?  Yes!  It helps with moods!

Do you use it daily?  Is it preventative?  It is safe to use everyday.  She uses it 3 days a week.  It helps to balance.  

What about Menopausal women?  It is great for the calming effects and bloating.  

How were you trained?  There are white papers on this that you can look up.  There is a 9 hour documentary.  The truth about cancer.  Dr. Axe is a medical doctor that is very into using essential oils for cancer.  He was a resource for her.  

Do you have a philanthropic leg in the future for those who can’t afford your product.  For sure!  It is a goal of hers! She is aware of the period equity space.  It is a dream of hers!

For people that are going to launch a product, how do they go about doing that?  Necessity is the mother of invention.  

Pitfalls and things that are working well?

Decide to be fearless and just do it!  You will figure it out.  Use the network around you!  It was a friend that made her great connections.  Be smart and use the resources around you.  When you are on the right path, the doors will open exactly when they are supposed to.  It is divine timing!

If the doors are glued shut that means that is not the door for you!  It is possible that the timing isn’t right.  You have to trust.  You need to take a step back and reassess.  It can be easy to get lost.  Never lose sight of your initial intention.  The lessons will come as you need them.  If you align yourself, all the business stuff will come.

Do you delegate work to others?  It is about balancing!  You have to ask for help.  Early on she was doing everything herself.  And then she could afford resources.  You need to use them properly.  You have to drink my Kool Aid if you come on board!  Delegating is hard.  She has had to learn to let go of knowing everything.  Take suggestions!

What about your supply chain and testing with purification and safety?

There are different grades and a requirement to use therapeutic and organic oils.  She sources oils globally and they have rigorous standards that ensure that they are the purest quality.  

Dena thinks of Shark Tank.  She knows about how much goes into a business.  Production and cash flow are essential for growth.  How have you managed this?  She hasn’t hit this point yet where the supply can’t keep up with the demand.  Balancing cost with quality is her biggest challenge.  Her Poppy is boot strapped.  Every sale goes right back into the business.  She is exploring ways to grow the business.  

Parting words?  For women who are thinking about starting a business, go back inside and your business is an extension of you.  It is a branch.  Be in a constant state of alignment to get into the flow.  

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Oluna

Social Impact Fashion Start up

Emmy Hancock and Ali Aston

https://oluna.co/

Where did it all begin?

She was a model in high school.  She was behind the scenes of the fashion world.  She wanted to pursue modeling.  She got into the University of Pennsylvania and studied criminology.  She graduated in 2018.

But then 2015 was the year of the period.  And this is where she learned of  “period poverty”.  It launched to the national stage.  It was a public health issue.  She realized one person could make a difference.  She began to reach out to non-profits.  She wanted to create impact if she could have a brand that could fund  it.  

She moved to NYC and took a job and then she had to move back with her parents because of the pandemic.  She then launched the brand herself.  She did it all herself.  She launched in October during the pandemic.  She reached out and needed a co-founder on Instagram.  A friend from high school reached out.  They have been building the company ever since.  We think of Shark Tank!

It is difficult to do it all yourself.  

What is Oluna?

There are 3 parts.  

For every pair of pants sold they are donating a year of period products to one woman in need.

Shining a light on Period poverty is an issue that is happening here domestically.  Right here in our backyard.

They partner with Days for Girls globaly.  They purchase and distribute and educate.  They buy their product and distribute.

The Days for Girls (DfG) Pad is a washable, reusable, beautiful menstrual health product that’s built to last. Our patented design, which includes a protective shield and absorbent liner, is backed by the latest menstrual health research and a decade of feedback from women around the world. It is a truly sustainable solution that menstruators can count on month after month, for up to three years.

https://www.daysforgirls.org/

Oluna donates 1% to educate menstrual research and partners with  https://period.org/

Oluna s empowers women by establishing an all female owned supply chain. 

Period poverty effects the homeless and they don’t have dignity.  You never see period drives!

It effects prison inmates.

It effects the poor.  They are not covered by food stamps.

Toxic shock research asked for some changes and changes were struck down.  Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, has been trying to find that out for almost 20 years. In April, she reintroduced legislation — for the ninth time since 1997 — that would require manufacturers to label the fabrics, colorants, dyes and preservatives used in pads and tampons. Some women have expressed concern that trace amounts of the toxic chemical dioxin could be in tampons as a byproduct of rayon processing.

There is also a luxury tax on tampons.  Obama said the laws were made by men.  Back in the 20’s tampons were classified as cosmetics.  30 states have appealed but leaves 20 states left to the tax.  Here is a link to join the fight in your state:

https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a29490059/tampon-tax-state-guide/#:~:text=Effective%20January%202020%2C%20California%20residents,no%20permanent%20law%20in%20effect.

What triggered this in 2015?  One big moment came in April, when Kiran Gandhi, a Los Angeles-based musician and feminist, ran the London Marathon while on her period, without using any hygiene products. She wanted to let her blood flow freely to encourage women not to feel embarrassed about their periods. It was the first time that people started talking about it.  It is taboo.  

“In America we have a new iPhone every year, but in the past two centuries there have only been three innovations in menstrual care. It’s baffling,” says Gandhi.

You have clothes!  The pants are not related to periods.  They are a lifestyle brand.  They are elevating the lounge category.  Wearing sweatpants was getting depressing.  They are so cute they can be seen in public.  They have slits along the legs so they are sexy.  They are launching three new colors and are working on a dress.  Comfort with style!  The true day to night clothing!

How did this happen?

While in Cambodia she had to buy pants to go into a temple.  She loved them.  Her Aunt is a seamstress and made her a few pairs.  After a couple iterations they came up with a new pant and Oluna was born!

Her Aunt kept at the project and found a pattern maker.  Then they called manufacturers around the world and they found a female one right in Dallas!  A lot of luck and a lot of hustle!  She is learning as she goes!  She loves to learn.  She learns a new skill each month.

When you dream, what do you dream?  She wants to pull in a community to help impact this problem.  She wants her brand  to help.  She wants to employ homeless women to help pack and ship the brand.  She wants a comfortable space.

Her challenge is brand awareness.  COVID times are hard because people are not going to stores.  She cannot speak to the people that they are helping as well.

There are so many opportunities for partnerships!

Parting words?

Everyone can make an impact.  Reach out to her through her website and she has so many ideas on how you can help!  You just need to believe.

How were you educated on period poverty?  This Book:  Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand For Menstrual Equity by   Jennifer Weiss-Wolf.  https://www.periodequity.org/book-1

Nadya Okamoto is a another great resource for information.

https://www.nadyaokamoto.com/

Her main source of influence on discovering period poverty was through watching a film at the Cannes Film Festival.  The film, I, Daniel Blake was about poverty and there was a scene in the movie that changed the way she though about menstrual products.  It struck a nerve.  

Read about the movie here:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5168192/

This is fascinating how we find our passions and purpose!  All the grains of sand make up a beautiful beach.  

Laura Grier

Adventure Photographer, Photo Anthropologist, Travel Writer , and Global Artisan Entrepreneur

Learn How Important it is to Share Your Gifts and Knowledge to Impact Lives.

Wanderlust Travel, Andeana Hats

https://www.lauragrier.com

https://andeanahats.com

Where was this passion inside you was born?

Can you take us back?

She attributes it to her parents.  They were both CIA and stationed overseas.  Indonesia was one of the cultures she was exposed to.  She has a wanderlust because of it.  

It started with a conversation with her Mom when she was 13.  She wanted to be a Zoologist.  She was never paying attention in school.  She wrote reasons why she wanted to be a Zoologist and then her Mom deduced that she should do photography and not be in a lab and studying science!  She wanted adventure.  It was a tool for adventure!

She went to Syracuse for photo journalism.  She had a dream for shooting for National Geographic.  You take on what you photograph.  She was drawn to weddings due to it being happy.   That led her back to travel.  This was destination wedding photography.  It led her on a path.

What sets Laura apart from the other photographers out there?  Visually she loves punchy color and a style that is adventurous.  She does whatever she has to do to get a shot. She is the Indiana Jones of wedding photography.  She brings fun and adventure.  And having a consistent style is important.  She never deviated from that.  They knew what they were going to get.  You mirror energy!  She learned skill sets from weddings.   It helped her with her travel photography.  The camera is a passport so she can be there.  

She drew up in Virginia.  She lived near Langley because they had to be close to the CIA headquarters.

What were some of her favorite stories and destinations?  She was shooting for the Silver Sea Cruises to Antarctica and it was the most remote place she has ever been.  They traveled through Drakes passage with 20 feet swells and it made her feel like an explorer and it was a highlight.

The Republic of Georgia was so amazing.  While traveling to a shoot, an Avalanche took the road out, and they had to climb back up and they went to a monastery where no women were not allowed.  Laura was NOT having it.  She disquised in a  Black monks cloak and she snuck pictures of the bride and groom and got amazing pictures and this is really rare.

Shooting in the Amazon River while being in a tree house hotel with crazy spiders brought out the Indiana Jones in her and she was fascinated. 

She had to do a shoot on a floating grass island at Lake Titicaca while photographing the Chinkana Indians.  A really amazing experience.

What was the hairiest moment?

She was shooting a Holi festival in Vrindavan India where women don’t partake in public but in the privacy of their homes.  Laura showed up shooting the festival with her female assistant. They were white women in the middle of a male dominated festival and men began grabbing at them and they were getting crushed and it was getting physical and they had to evacuate down on the ground and go up high where no one could see them to photograph the festival.  She can see how people get crushed!  It was scary!

She teaches photography in an adventure workshop with a philanthropic edge.  

Her new entrepreneurial edge came to fruition while she was shooting for the Artisan catalog for National Geographic.  Peru is a region and she was seeing incredible hats.  Her hat says a lot about a person. Every village has a different hat and tells a different story.  Why not sell the hats in the magazine?  Too many obstacles?  Her and her girlfriend started the business.  

The concept for “Andeana Hats” was born because of the shared affinity for the Sacred Valley, Peru, its culture, energy and people by Laura and her partner, Pats Krysiak. While trekking together on the infamous Ausangate trek across the Rainbow Mountains, Pats and Laura came across many amazing Andean women and were captivated with their unique hats and weavings. Determined to share the energy of the Sacred Valley with the world and to help bring awareness to these female artisans and their cultural practices, Laura and Pats came up with the concept of a hat company that combines their traditional hat styles and weavings.

Every Andeana Hat and Intention Band is hand shaped or woven out of alpaca wool by Quechua artisans living in the Andes Mountains of Peru. The Quechua language is an oral or woven language; not written, so by keeping these weaving designs alive we are essentially keeping their language and history alive. These descendants of the Inca people are practicing what National Geographic refers to a “vanishing art”; an ancient weaving or embroidering tradition that has been passed down through the centuries by the women in their culture. Without a global marketplace to share and sell these goods, these traditions will die out.

It was a logistical nightmare.  When it rains, it effects the hats.  Their business had to be built around the weather and the harvest.  

Andeana Hats has partnered with Awamaki, a non-profit organization based in Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley, who work closely together with multiple indigenous communities in the remote mountains of Peru to empower women and connect them to global market places like Novica in Association with National Geographic. Awamaki invests in women’s skills, connects them to market access and supports their leadership so they can increase their income and transform their communities. Novica’s mantra is to empower artisans, connect and mentor, and preserve endangered traditions. Additionally, Andeana recently partnered with Artesanías Aylluyki, a multi-generational family run embroidery artisan group based in Ayacucho, Peru. These are all powerful, fundamentally important mantras that drive us all to work together in this shared goal of spreading global happiness through traditional crafts.

Awamaki does all the ordering and hikes to the villages, they ship the product and do translation.  

Her business partner is the behind the scenes and person and she is the in front person and is really exciting.  It is a for profit business that gives back.

What does the money go to in the end game?  The women get paid first, then the hats get shipped.  160 women and in 15 communities.  Men do knitting and embroidery.  Women are the main bread winners.  

The mission behind the creation of Andeana Hats is to empower women, help support global artisans to continue their vanishing crafts, and enable them to support themselves and lead their communities out of poverty.

Purchase a hat through Online or a pop-up show.   They can do hat parties!  

She has an impact collection while partnering with a sustainable brand and help other artisans.  Bathing suits, knitted gloves, coconut shell bowls etc.  They want to help artisans. 

How does it change the dynamics in the family if the women are becoming the bread winners?  The men have been excited.  They quit their jobs and they can be at home more!    This alleviates them having to hike 8 hours to go and sell their goods.  Educating women only helps every problem that is happening on the planet is so crucial!  It is important to give girls hope and make them less able to get involved in horrible things.  It is confidence building.  You can help a whole community rising out of poverty.

Laura has always mentored young girls and it was her way of giving back and helping women.  It all came together.  

Laura is changing lives!  It starts with a ripple!  She is one of four girls and does not have kids.  She used to feel like she was going to miss out.  But she now knows she was supposed to help these women and children.  If you love one child, you love all children.

We all have skill sets and can teach something and it is important to share your gifts and knowledge.  You get more when you give more.  It takes time!  Giving feels good!

Any parting words?  Any advice?

Don’t wait until you have more time or money, have fun and give back and find a way to do more with what you are already doing.  There is always a way to do more!  You can incorporate it and have fun!  Find a way to level it up!  Now is the time!  Don’t wait for permission!  Laura is fearless!  Get over the “I am not good enough” mentality.

Since the inception of Andeana Hats, Laura and Pats have been honored by the Embassy of Peru in Washington D.C. for their dedication to helping the Quechua people in Peru and Laura’s photography work is on permanent display there. Andeana Hats has also participated in numerous pop-ups and storytelling events including Billy Reid Georgetown, ROWDTLA in Los Angeles, and La Cosecha Market in Washington D.C. celebrating Latin American Culture. As members of the Female Founder Collective, National Geographic’s Women of Impact, and the Good Market, Laura and Pats continue to find innovative ways to create sustainable income opportunities for the artisans by launching “Andeana Travel” philanthropic trips to Peru. Their first trip launched in 2020 and was featured by Forbes as an origin trip lead by successful Women Founders and also by Matador Network as a company that actually gives back.

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Keira Coates

Reparenting Coach

Learn Tips to Reparent in Order to Go After Your Dreams

https://wearesoulsimple.com

We want to hear from you at isoulify.com

Where did your passion start?  It started in 2003 when she learned about a non-profit that was teaching social and emotional learning in the inner city of NYC.  She cried and couldn’t stop.  She had 6 traumas happen to her by the time she was 9 years old.  Wow.  My life would have been different if she had had this program.  She started teaching in a gang neighborhood.  Her energy was the most important thing that made the most impact.  She is not going anywhere and she made it a point.  She changed peoples lives.  She grew apart because she had different values.  She studied resiliency and got her masters degree.  Children are rarely the problem.  Parents do the best that they can but they are missing skills.  They are missing being seen and heard.  She felt like in order to help children, she needed to work with the parents.  They are limiting their ability to connect because of their own shame and pain.  It opens up doors in their lives.  They can show up and be more visible.  

Parents find a sense of relief.  She wants to debunk that things are carried on from generation to generation.  She was scared she had a monster inside of her.  We have a fear of not creating the same mistakes.  She works on specific areas.  It is a relief.  “I am my father’s daughter”.  Dena has a friend who says that.  I am who I am because of my genes.  Is this your coat?  

If you grow up in an environment where you have to take care of others, a lot of your energy is about protecting yourself.  Most of the women want to shift energy from protection to moving outwards.  You need to understand your responses and change them.  This is about the nervous system.  Regulate your hormones first.  Get sleep, eat right and then you can have reactions but you will feel a sense of balance.  You don’t feel constant chaos.  You will feel stability in your body.  You make choices from being more grounded.  The more safe you feel, the more willing you will be to have a conversation.  The more grounded the more the other person will respond to you in a good way.  

Learning to regulate your emotions is a long term game.  Get someone to come down to you instead of escalate.  She works on people with relationships with themselves.  Where do you have a desire that you are not bringing to light?  How do you hold ourselves back?  There is a story behind that.  

Dena shares a story.  If that person can do it, I can do it.  This is a powerful tool.  Why is this holding you back?  This is self discovery.

Is this a systematic approach?  Each person has their own process and outcomes.  It is a different path. 

There are 8 pillars of re-parenting.  It will show up if you are lacking.  One of them is being celebrated.  If you don’t have that, you become a drama queen or you don’t share anything.  

What about if you have one parent that celebrates?

Laura Grace Grier Travel Podcast is up next!

___________________________________________

How comfortable are you with praise?  This is what it comes down to.  It would affect what you saw as the gender roles. 

There is nothing wrong with getting attention.  The point is whether you can give and receive attention.  

Is part of this visualization where you imagine your perfect parents?  That is who Keira wants to be.  That is her goal.  She recommends that.  

It is good if you are working on something and sit down and write down what your ideal mother and father would do to support you.  She finds that people are showing up.  The victim stories disappear.  She finds things that she can do for herself.

Will the victim go away?  It always comes up.  The point is not to fix yourself but it is about support for you to step into your limitations so you can achieve the things that are important to you.  This is the first time in history where people have tools to look at their emotions in different ways.  This is a huge opportunity to change generational stories.  Or to become women that this world has never seen before.  

When you get the things you want and people trickle off.  What happens there?  Our relationships offer us opportunities to expand where we are.  Everything is just feedback.  If you don’t get attention from someone, meet them at their level.  

She doesn’t like cancel culture.  Friends get jealous. Give them space.  She won’t go to them for support but she still cares for them.  You can get your needs met in other places.  

Invest time and energy where people meet you.  Keira doesn’t want relationships that are based on lack.  

Keira lived in Argentina.  Have more relationships in your life!  In America we move around a lot and we leave families.  Our circle gets larger but smaller.  You need to learn different things from different people.  The advice is to have lots of relationships.  Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  Invest in relationships.  

Keira experienced a recent tragedy and it was a friend from elementary school that gave her advice.  It was someone that knew her for a long time.  All relationships have different roles in our lives.  

How can someone work with you?  

Wearesoulsimple

3 month program

Intensive on visibility

She shares on Instagram

She does training on relationship skills

She can work you, one on one

Relationships are wealth.  Invest in them!  You will receive dividends!

Parting words?  She wants to encourage women to honor their dreams and the best way is to shine your light and put yourself out there.  You give permission to everyone around you to shine their light brighter!  Say yes to yourself and enjoy yourself!

__________________________________________

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Tired of feeling overwhelmed, stagnant or undervalued in your career?  We worked with Janice Dru-Bennett and her Career Shift Lift System and we were blown away.  We knew we were worth more.  We wanted to break through to the next level.  Like you, we have gone through change. This program helps you respond to unexpected changes especially in a pandemic.

All you need is commitment and desire to grow.  

Do you want to take on a different function, enter a new industry, or expand what you do?

Are you tired of doing what you’re doing now and are looking for energy through change that can propel you forward to achieve the dreams that you’ve always imagined?

YOU know that you can turn your vision into a reality!

This girl, Janice, has figured it out, so you don’t have to. And you don’t have to do it alone!

Step-by-step in 6 weeks time you will create a roadmap, expand your network, get results and have an endless lift upwards. You will gain direct access to resources, tools and networks to help with your career shift. Let your value shine! ~Colleen & Dena, iSoulify

SIGN UP HERE!!!!!!!

https://janicedrubennett.podia.com/career-shift-lift-system/1psix

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Tina Mundelsee

Yoga Therapist, Life & Relationship Coach, Author

Learn the key to your mind and create the emotions you want

https://tinastools.com/

Dream Big, work hard, smile always and good things will happen.

We want to hear from you at isoulify.com

Tina lives in Sicily, Italy!

Where was your passion born?

She grew up in Germany in a small village. She explored nature and played outside all the time. Her grandparents encouraged her with their attitude. She looked at all the details in nature. Intuition is natural and comes to you. She started exploring the world and lived in different countries. Everywhere she went, she questioned why people did what they did. It was hard to understand people. She was curious about life. It doesn’t matter where you come from. We all have the same problem. The problem is our mind. Every problem starts with our mind. She got deeper into yoga philosophy. She realized if she approached people with a coaching point of view would not scare people with the spirituality jargon.

Dena talks about giant oak trees. This is how she wants to live her life.

How do you help somebody learn how to connect with nature? Change the perception of life. We believe to be our mind. We are all energy. We are souls and divine beings. We are all gifted the gift of life. We have a body and a mind. We are not the mind. Humans identify with their mind. They feel they are separate from everything that exists. The imprint of nature comes into play. We are not different from nature. We are part of it. Everything in nature works harmoniously. We are more than our physical body. We have to balance our bodies. We have water and fire and the elements. We need to be aware.

She explains to her customers about their instruments. If you don’t like your colleague it is because they have different beliefs. You have a certain idea of how you want life to be. What about expectations? There is a partnership that we have to find.

The solution to everything is to remember who you are. You are not your mind. The resistance comes from your mind. Your mind is your instrument. You are a soul making a human experience. Your mind has a belief that certain rules have to be followed. You have a choice of how to react. You are not a victim. You cannot control and change other people. Be aware of your thoughts. Be the observer of your mind. You can change your thoughts. You can respond with indifference or calmness.

Once you connect with your thoughts you become indifferent. You let them pass through your being. Where do I want to go with my thoughts? Do you want to be harmonious?

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ADVERTISEMENT for Janice Dru-Bennett’s Exceptional Program

Tired of feeling overwhelmed, stagnant or undervalued in your career? We worked with Janice Dru-Bennett and her Career Shift Lift System and we were blown away. We knew we were worth more. We wanted to break through to the next level. Like you, we have gone through change. This program helps you respond to unexpected changes especially in a pandemic.

All you need is commitment and desire to grow.

Do you want to take on a different function, enter a new industry, or expand what you do?

Are you tired of doing what you’re doing now and are looking for energy through change that can propel you forward to achieve the dreams that you’ve always imagined?

YOU know that you can turn your vision into a reality!

This girl, Janice, has figured it out, so you don’t have to. And you don’t have to do it alone!

Step-by-step in 6 weeks time you will create a roadmap, expand your network, get results and have an endless lift upwards. You will gain direct access to resources, tools and networks to help with your career shift. Let your value shine! ~Colleen & Dena, iSoulify

SIGN UP HERE!!!!!!!

https://janicedrubennett.podia.com/career-shift-lift-system/1psix

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You need an objective in life. The underlying common desire is freedom and peace in all people. Everything we do should be around our goal. Then you know what to do. See your mind as a computer. No one explains to you how to operate your mind. We are the most evolved being.

Your mind has four parts. The lowest part is your senses. These senses bring back impressions. They go to the external world. You see a chocolate cake. A desire is created. Then your mind has storage. I remember the cake. The ego. The beliefs and your values and good and bad. Ego says I love chocolate cake. It makes me happy. That is where the story ends. Your mind has an intellect. Your ability to decide and discriminate. The cake is great but you are on a diet and you should not get it. You respond responsibly. How do you train? Change your language. My mind is this. My body is this. You create a distance. Take the I out of it. You ask yourself, who Am I? Then you meditate. Just sit and observe your thoughts and how your body is feeling. Doing nothing. Slowly you will realize that you are not your mind. Then you will know that you can take responsibility for what is happening in your mind. This content in your mind is how you experience life. We learned about the power of the mind and healing. You can use visualization.

How can we create a new reality?

We believe we only have a physical body. We have an energetic body. Energy vibrates. Energy attracts similar energy. You can’t touch it. What you create in your mind is a vibration. There is a law of attraction. If you vibrate anger you attract anger. You have to let go of the idea that we cannot control life.

The oak tree weathers the storm and digs deep into the earth and has roots. Humans can get stuck on how things are supposed to be and life doesn’t unfold the way we want it to.

How does our own spirituality play out when we have no control?

Everything you want is a desire. It comes from your mind. You are not your mind. Let it talk. Let it be upset. When you grow up your mind is formed. Every ego makes the experience that it can’t control everything. You are a soul. That is the foundation for life. You will not find lasting peace, the suffering will come back if you let your mind run your life. Who am I? This will bring your answers. It could take five years. You have innate intelligence. If you learn how to use your mind to function, then you just accept life joyfully as it is. Don’t identify as a belief anymore. You will know your true self. You are yoga. You have to remember.

Tina has a book and her projects. Yoga coaching is the name of her book. She wants to share yoga as a way to care for your mind. Tap through into the memory of your body. Movement connects you with your mind and resolves emotional baggage. You don’t even have to step onto a mat! She is preparing an Online course on how to operate your mind. Her course will be done towards the end of the year. Her Facebook group is awakening joy. We all struggle with the same stuff!

Parting words? Don’t take yourself and life too seriously. Try to accept whatever comes joyfully. Be grateful for everything. Aspirational words!

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https://amandapearl.com

Who is a woman owned NYC based accessory company known for its sustainability and ethically made jewelry and clutches that are designed to empower.

We want to hear from you at Facebook or isoulify.com

•.   Where did your passion start?  

There was never an aha moment.  She had an appreciation for aesthetics.  She loved creating something out of nothing.  She had an entrepreneurial spirit.  She did this from a young age.  

• How did you manifest these gifts?  She would collect tiny things and she would create things out of nothing and then sell them door to door.

• Creativity is born when you are free to play outside.  What kind of family did you come from.  She had a lot of freedom.  Her parents left them to her own devices.  It made her creative.

• Was there a time that you were ever not creative?  She brought that into whatever form she had.  She made jewelry and danced.  She painted in college.  In her professional life she started her handbags.  This is how Amanda Pearl was born.

• She also dabbles in music and has a passion for it.  She is learning guitar.  

• What stops you?  Do you have an inner critic.  She is headstrong.  She has a drive and focus to keep going. She keeps trying.

• The message here is to keep going!  She bypassed the critic.  She never gave it the power or voice.  There is a consistency with greatness.  There is a characteristic that you don’t give the negative stuff power.  It allows you to live your passion.

• Do you have advice for our audience?  What is the secret sauce? Do your thing.  Attempt things.  Have fun learning.  Who cares if you are bad?  There is no wrong in art or bad.  It is all an exploration.  That is what life should be.  You are not living if you aren’t exploring.

• How did your process start?  She worked with wire and beads.  She wasn’t trained with metal.  She would sketch and work with jewelers to create her ideas.  She uses artisans to create the jewelry.  You can ask for help.  You don’t have to go it alone.  

• Tell us about the clutches.  She started sewing them herself.  She found a factory in Italy.  She was able to achieve her wildest dreams.  Don’t let your weaknesses hold you back.  They are gorgeous!  

• Tell us about your business.  You have a lot of celebrities that wear your jewelry.  It is just her and one colleague, Kelly Kratus Nelson who is Director of Operations.

They are a good pair.  It has been a long road.

• She worked for others and learned how things work.  She is doing it all herself. She paired down her collections.  Her products are collectible.  She streamlined.  She launched in February of 2008 when retail slipped because of the market crash.  Retail was always on sale.  The customer got trained to wait.  Stores took advantage of designers.  She had too much self worth and value in her product.  She pulled her product out of retail.  She can build it to be exactly how she wanted it to be.  She wanted everything to be eco and green.  She started using recycled metals and unmined gems.  She cut out the middleman.  Her customer would never have to wait.  It is the best price every day of the year.  She wants to highlight causes and organizations.  You can move the needle a little bit.  10% of sales goes to a cause.  She was proud.  This is meaningful.  

•

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ARE YOU LOOKING TO MAKE A CAREER CHANGE?  You can work with Janice Dru-Bennett who has a step by step career shift program.  Check out this link for more information:  https://janicedrubennett.podia.com/career-shift-lift-system/1psix

• Advice is that it has to be sustainable for you.  Make it make sense.  

• How do you balance production to marketing and in between.  She hired a digital marketing person.  The silver linings of COVID forced her to create her own content.  It is a lot of DIY.  

• She puts pieces of the puzzle together and makes it work.

• She grew up in Seattle.  Her style evolved over time.  She looked at her influences and it comes down to the image of the sea urchin from playing in tide pools when she was young.  She wanted femininity and grace but she loved the armor element.  She wanted you to put something on and feel strong.  The talisman.  The fine jewelry she looked at the physics of waves and the ocean as a feminine power and the ripples from the ocean.  It is about empowering natural elements.  Three is a story for the creative process.

• She has spiritual boxes on her website.  How were those born?  She had a showroom with a shop in the front.  One morning her father didn’t wake up. He was a bright sparkling person and was healthy.  It was a freak thing that he passed in his sleep.  The world stopped spinning and was inside out.  It changed a lot of things.  She discovered a lot through the trauma.  She started doing things to make herself feel better.  She brought them into the shop.  It resonated with people!  The birth of these other categories came out of the loss.  These are gift boxes and they can send it and write a sweet note.  

• She loves the Rumi quote:  The Wound is the Place Where the Light Enters You. 

• How do you get celebrities to wear your things?  You used to work with a PR agency.  We need to capture the hearts of people.  They use social media to have customers respond.  Customers are smart.  They connect with the real person and the story.  How does this align with their own values.  Her work has benefited the bottom line.  Using recycled metals speaks to the customer.  They are on Tik Tok now.  She does Instagram live.  They are real people who wear this stuff.  They are transparent.  It creates a faithful audience.  It creates authenticity.  

• Was it hard to break through the noise of the internet?  It is hard in the digital landscape.  It is crowded.  It is tricky.  It is always changing.  You can never have gone to school for this!  

• When you look to the future, what do you hope and dream.  Her outlook for doing business is all about a sincere straight forward way.  She hopes more brands get on board.  She wants the business to take off more so she can have it be about the causes that are meaningful.  

• Parting words?  It is never too late to shift to try something different.  We are grown ups.  These are our lives.  Make it more enjoyable.  Why not?

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• Carey Kirkella, Photographer
• Learn how to use photography as a storytelling tool to improve self-worth and create mindfulness. 
• https://www.careykirkella.com/ 
• https://www.instagram.com/careykirkella/
• https://www.careykirkella.com/sisters-survivors
• Carey creates custom image libraries for purpose driven missions and entrepreneurs. 
• She is passionate about portraits of breast cancer survivors and their sisters. It is a tribute to her sister, who lost her life to breast cancer. It is also a way to raise awareness about stage IV metastatic breast cancer.
• She is also passionate about mental health
• Dena asks when her passion started. 
• Carey says that photography has been her passion since she was 12 years old. She always used it as a way to help her own mental and emotional health. 
• She got a full scholarship to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY to study photography when she was 18 years old. 
• Dena asks if this fueled her passion even more, or if she became uncertain about her path.
• Carey says that soon after she graduated she was working as an assistant photo editor for the Wall Street Journal. She says it was not a good fit because it was too corporate. She quit after two years. 
• Carey discusses how she worked right across the street from the Twin Towers. Before 9/11, she had an intuitive feeling about something bad happening to the Twin Towers. 
• Dena asks Carey to discuss her intuition.
• Carey says that it comes out of empathy because she is a very empathetic person. She believes empathy goes hand in hand with intuition. 
• At the time, she thought the catastrophe would be a tidal wave or something. She did not know it would be a man-made disaster. This intuitive experience really scared her, and it was a hard time in her life. She had PTSD afterwards. 
• Dena says that empathy can be a gift, but it can also be a challenge. 
• Dena asks Carey to talk about how her photography career advanced after that.
• Carey began with weddings. In 2005, she was working on building her commercial portfolio. She ended up going to a Christian music festival to photograph it. At the time, she was closed minded about a religious music festival, but it ended up being a mind blowing experience in a good and bad way.
• She says that she was in a fragile state, and she wasn’t sleeping much. These two together caused her to have a manic episode and she had to be hospitalized. She was then diagnosed with bipolar disorder. 
• She then started photographing nature as a mindfulness practice to get centered within herself. 
• Dena asks if these skills are essential to be able to cope with mental health problems?
• Carey says that yes, it is essential to have things in one’s toolkit that can help us get through hard times. Being able to fall back on these (music, photography, art, being in nature, etc.) is vital to keep one on track. These are centering activities. 
• Carey says that it is important to do these activities regularly on a daily basis in order to fill up one’s tank and build emotional resilience. These activities are not just a fallback in an emergency, rather they are common practices intertwined into our days and weeks. It is a good foundation to have.  
• Dena then asks Carey to go into discussing her next chapter. 
• Carey says that she did not think about doing anything with the mindfulness photography until recently. 8 years ago her sister passed away from breast cancer and had only been diagnosed 4 months prior. She also had her wedding 1 month after her sister passed away. Carey was hospitalized due to her bipolar disorder following this stressful time in her life.
• A couple years later, she began photographing breast cancer survivors and their sisters. The project is called Sisters and Survivors. It is a tribute to her sister as well as raising awareness for stage IV breast cancer needs more research funding. It only gets 7% of the breast cancer funding research. People do not pass away from breast cancer, they pass away when it spreads to other parts of the body. 
• One of her clients was a woman named Dana Donofree who has a fashion line she created called AnaOno intimates which is lingerie and sleepwear for people who have gone through breast cancer reconstruction surgery.
• Carye began photographing behind the scenes fashion shows as a part of NY fashion week to raise money for organizations that help those with stage IV breast cancer.
• This helped Carey to process her grief around her sister. It also helped her realize how powerful photography is and how empowering it is.
• She then wanted to use photography as a storytelling tool to improve self-worth and create mindfulness. 
• Carey is beginning workshops that teach this practice. She is also talking to the Girl Scouts because she wants to help incorporate it in teens’ lives. She also is talking to an organization that helps those who are 65 and older.
• Dena asks about the logistics of the workshop.
• Carey says that the workshops are about using photography story prompts that are inspired by self awareness, mindfulness, self care, positive relationships, and purpose. Each week, they have a photo story prompt. For example, if it is self care that week, they could do a photo story about the food they are eating and share that within a small group. 
• Carey says that this can just simply be done with their phones. Carey also teaches people how to take better pictures with their phones in addition to the photo prompts. 
• Healing is done by going through the pain, and these exercises can help with that. 
• Dena asks how people can contact and reach out to Carey.
• Carey says that people can contact her through her website, and on her Instagram.  She also has a separate website for sisters and survivors.
• Carey discusses pain, and she shares “alchemizing the pain” which hopefully gets transmuted into more of a positive impact. It is taking pain and optimizing it into purpose. 
• Dena asks if the bipolar disorder diagnosis was freeing, or causing her pain.
• Carey discusses how she saw a maternal psychiatrist, and how the woman recommended that Carey does not have kids. Carey decided to try to have kids. She ended up having a couple of miscarriages, but she kept trying to have a child. 
• Carey discusses her third hospitalization, which was after the birth of her son. She suffered from postpartum psychosis.
• After this, she knew she needed to do something to help others avoid this experience. 
• She became incredibly strong. She dug deep, and found this strength. 
• When you assume your worth, you also see value in other people. You reinforce the idea that there is strength and worth in every single person. This is what Carey learned throughout her Bipolar disorder. 
• Carey says that the stigma surrounding Bipolar disorder is huge and hinders her life. She let her bipolar disorder impact her self esteem for a while. Now she is in a place where she realizes who she is.
• Dena asks what her voice inside her head sounded like during this time.
• Carey said that her inner critic’s voice was very loud. Carey has also always been a perfectionist, which has also made it difficult for her. 
• Dena acknowledges the beauty Carey is doing in giving many people a platform to share their stories.
• Dena asks Carey to share with the audience a photography exercise. 
• Carey chooses the topic of gratitude. With photography, a lot of it is about looking at light. Look around you and be aware of your surroundings. Notice where the lights fall. Appreciate and feel gratitude for the light and the beings around you. Sit with that, and think about affirmations before taking the images. Then taking an image can help summon and capture those positive feelings. 
• Carey says when she photographs nature, she uses this affirmation: “I am rooted, but I flow.” Having this affirmation in mind allows one to get their creative juices flowing and using photography as a playful, fun game to help one’s state of mind. 

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