Category: podcast

“I wanted to be creative, independent, and make stuff.” My Interview with Christine Koh

Christine Koh took a risk that so many people dream of. She left a successful career in order to create and make stuff. Today she takes you behind the scenes of that process, “the good, the bad, and the ugly” as she says! Christine Koh is a music and brain scientist turned multimedia creative. Since leaving academia in 2006, Christine has launched a successful parenting blog, design company, podcast, book, and so much more!

You can listen to the podcast by clicking ‘play’ below, or in the following places:

You can find Christine at:
https://www.christinekoh.com
https://www.instagram.com/hellochristinekoh/
https://twitter.com/bostonmamas
https://www.facebook.com/bostonmamas

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Behind the Book Launch of a Novel, My Interview with Leigh Stein

Today I take you inside the book launch plans of author Leigh Stein. She and I worked together last year in preparation for the launch of her new book, Self Care: A Novel. We take you step-by-step into the process she went through to identify her ideal readers and develop her marketing plan. We also talk about the need to plan way ahead. We worked together nearly a full year ahead of launch. 

You can listen to the podcast by clicking ‘play’ below, or in the following places:

You can find Leigh in the following places:
leighstein.com
Her book: Self Care: A Novel
Instagram: @leighstein
Twitter: @rhymeswithbee

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“I Silenced a Part of Myself for a Long Time.” My Interview with Illustrator Anna Raff

Anna RaffHow do you make a major creative shift in order to do the work you love? Today, award-winning children’s book illustrator Anna Raff shares how she did exactly that. This is how she described what she learned when, mid-career, she began taking classes again: “I realized I was missing out and silenced a part of myself for a long time.” I also love her advice on how what you create and share needs to be focused on who you are: “If you are sharing work that is an extension of you, it will be your best work.”

You can listen to the podcast by clicking ‘play’ below, or in the following places:

You can find Anna in the following places:
annaraff.com
Her books
Twitter: @annaraffNYC
Instagram: @annaraff

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The Reality Behind a Book Launch, My Interview with Author Teru Clavel

Teru ClavelLast summer, Teru Clavel released her first book: World Class: One Mother’s Journey Halfway Around the Globe in Search of the Best Education for Her Children. It was published by a major publisher (the Atria Books imprint of Simon & Schuster), was well reviewed in major media (Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus, etc), she appeared on the TODAY Show plus other TV and radio, and was interviewed on dozens of podcasts. She’s got a blog on Psychology Today, plus shares on social media and so much else. In today’s episode she gets radically honest about the book launch process – what worked and what she learned along the way. Including this: “This is not easy. There are so many rejections. For one success, there were hundreds of pitches where I got rejected.”

You can listen to the podcast by clicking ‘play’ below, or in the following places:

You can find Teru in the following places:

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Filling Your Life with Creativity After the Bottom Drops Out. My Interview with Shannon Connery.

Shannon ConneryHow does one find the time and energy to embrace creativity after the bottom has dropped out of their life? Today I am excited to share a powerful interview with Shannon Connery,PhD who gets radically honest about what it means to build a life filled with intention, creativity, and happiness.

She shares a story of the moment that the bottom dropped out of her life. Years ago she, her husband at the time, and their two kids were about to go to Disneyland for the day. Then he turned to her and said: “I can’t go today. I’ve lost my medical license, I’ve lost every dime we have, I’m being sued.”

Shannon described it as: “Every fear you could have [was realized] in one second. Then he left, and I had two kids to take to Disneyland. All of the sudden, my income was gone. My marriage was over. I walked around that day in Disneyland with a pretend smile. I thought that day was the bottom. But every day [after that], there was a new struggle. It was one thing after another. I spent years rebuilding after that.”

Her story of what came next is so inspiring.

“In a bizarre way, the process [of dealing with the fallout] was so empowering. If every single thing that you relied on was stripped away from you, and you had to find a new resource. I used to fear having nothing. Now I legitimately have nothing. What am I going to do? It was a stripping away of everything I thought was real into actually what was real. ”

Brick by brick, she rebuilt her life. Not just her family, but her incredible career, her habits and health, her personal mission, and she has filled it with creativity.

Shannon is psychologist with a private practice based in Denver, Colorado, where she treat adults suffering from issues that range from PTSD and depression to anxiety, obesity, and marital problems. In the past couple of years, she has been working on writing her first book, she launched a podcast with more than 50 episodes, and has been focused on how to help others via her blog, newsletter, and social media.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking ‘play’ below, or in the following places:

Shannon shared how the bad things in life help lead to good things: “I wouldn’t be doing the things I’m doing now, if the bottom hadn’t dropped out. After I’d rebuilt everything and found emotional peace with everything that had happened, I had this new calm in my life. I began thinking, ‘what can I do that I haven’t done before?’ So I trained for a marathon. As I would run and train, I … started fantasizing about writing book to give basic tools to everybody.”

This was a big shift for her: “I really did divide the world into creative people and not creative people. I feel like there is this moment when kids are in 1st or 2nd kid, and the teacher assigns something like a diorama, and if you are the kid like me, your diorama did not look good. So you show up to school and you see who is artistic. You say “You are artistic, I am not.” It has taken me a really long time to wrap my head around trying to do something creative.”

“Now I find creativity really energizing and engaging. I feel inspired by the process. I wouldn’t have done any of this in my old life. Before I was stripped of everything, I cared what people thought, I cared about fitting in. I would never have just started a podcast and put it out there. But because I went through all of that, and now have an authentic life with friends, and people who are 100% supportive if I want to write a book.”

Some of what else we cover in the interview:

  • What she learned (and experienced) in working with first responders (firefighters, police, ex-military, and more.)/li>
  • What training for a marathon taught her that helped her embrace creativity: “When I trained for a marathon, I came to learn that every day, all I had to do was plan to run a certain amount, and then my body would do it. If I planned to run 11 miles, that is exactly how much I could do. Then 2 weeks later, I could run 14 miles, even though I had never done it before. Through running I realized the power of believing you can do something.”
  • She made a profound point that caring about the wrong things in life — such as what others think of our creative ideas — can completely stop us from creating what matters most to us. She said “Care is often another word for fear.”
  • How she started on a 100-day Gratitude Project and what she learned from it.
  • She takes us through an incredible tool she has created called PACE. It stands for: Pleasure, Accomplishment, Connection, and Exercise. I have to say, it’s a powerful way to assess what is missing in your life, how to find balance, and to give yourself a strong foundation to pursue your creative goals.

You can find Shannon in the following places:

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