Embark

While you're rushing to get the turkey in the oven, or face crowded highways and airports  to enjoy someone else's cooking, we welcome Thanksgiving with an episode about gratitude. Emily Otterman has artfully captured not just the images, but the lineage of gratitude in her photo series aptly titled The Gratitude Collection. Emily speaks with Rebecca Moore about her journey into artistry...

If there's a university for overcoming obstacles, Maria Leonard Olsen has earned her PhD.  Maria has numerous hyphenates attached to name, in both her struggles and accomplishments. In today's episode, we talk about endurance, the impact of growing up in an interracial family, the power of owning your happiness and how DNA testing has become a genetic Pandora's Box. Thanks for joini...

Paul Pedulla is a Boston-based artist who busts the myth of the 'starving artist.'  His passion to create -- and about six month's of art lessons -- has propelled him to national recognition, critical acclaim, and financial success. We talk about being in flow and allowing a painting to happen, his advice to creatives who feel discouraged, and if he's ever experienced 'art...

Talkers talk, so no news there. But effective communicators listen . That's the genius of Mary Jane Copps, AKA The Phone Lady . Author, speaker and facilitator,  Mary Jane  is passionate about creating excellent communication . She relies on effective conversations to make things happen.   Mary Jane, or MJ,  has been writing her own pay cheque since 1985, first as a freelance real estate jour...

When conversations get heated, or we feel unheard, ignored or ridiculed, we often opt for one of these three strategies: Speak up, Shut up or Walk Away.  Knowing when to take these actions, or if any of these strategies are helpful at all is often not obvious to us. We are creatures of habit, and go with the familiar, often to the detriment of ourselves, and our relationships. Don't wait for...

Did you know most startups in the U.S. are launched by people 45 and older? This week's guest, Rick Terrien,  has started and run multiple businesses across diverse industries, with most of the fireworks coming after he turned 45. You might say he wrote the book on starting a business in mid-life. Check out Ageless Start-up: Start a Business at Any Age . He's  passionate about empowering...

The fear of public speaking is the most common phobia:  ahead of death, spiders, or heights. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that public speaking anxiety, or glossophobia , affects about 73% of the population. Megan Hamilton of UBU Skills wants to help you eradicate that fear, self-doubt and emotional blocks that keep you from being, well, you. We talk about the best ways to speak...

Burnout, feeling stuck, languishing. We all experience it, and lately, it seems ubiquitous in our experience. How about a literal 'breath of fresh air'? Julia Schneider from Alive with Possibilities encourages us to 'take a hike' or a walk through the woods to refresh, re-center and re-power our minds, bodies and souls. It's amazing what a little time away from our caves,...

 Last week The Wall Street Journal    reported last week,  Facebook ’s own internal research found its Instagram app is harmful to a number of teenagers, particularly teenage girls.  These are studies conducted over the last three years. “Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,” the researchers reportedly wrote. Facebook als...

Michelle Fishburne’s Third - Fourth - Act is a little head-spinning.  She went from being an international corporate attorney to a homeschooling mom to a public relations maven. Her most recent iteration is as a rootless, nomadic author who motorhomed 12,000 miles all over America interviewing hundreds of ordinary people about their lives during the pandemic. This mosaic of the American experience...

Your brand is greater than a good-looking logo. The success of your business is dependent on knowing who you are. Be clear about who you are and why we should care, and you have a good chance of finding your ideal client. T hat takes the time, objectivity and self-awareness to That's the magic of working with Orly Zeewy. She is a brand architect, who can help you put your business on track fr...

Many women in particular aspire to a certain size.  Size Zero or Two is an ideal among movie stars and models, yet the average American woman stands at 5 feet, 4 inches, and wears a size 14 to 16.  We have a love/hate relationship with food, and categorize what we eat as 'good' or 'bad'.  Fitness programs abound, yet we have an assortment of maladies -- high blood pressure, hig...

 Arts and culture value far exceeds the price of admission to theatre, concert, or museum exhibit. From the Uber ride to the venue, to dinner before, or cocktails after an event, that ticket you buy to an event stimulates the economy in myriad ways.  An active arts scene transforms a city or town into cultural and economic hubs where we can together for a shared human experience, through  a wide r...

Are you embarking on a new adventure and bumping into Naysayers?   Our guest,  Liz O'Neil shows how to manage well-meaning critics. She talks to Rebecca Moore about her journey from married pre-school administrator, to single working law student to Estate Attorney. All while raising four children. Her one-step-at-a-time approach brought her clarity, a modicum of sanity, and a career that sati...

Do you suffer from 'Compare and Despair Syndrome'?  Well, give up that nasty habit. Confidence coach Pauline Cheung is back to talk about five common comparison traps, and how you can work to free yourself from them.  We also talk about how different people perceive courage, and courageous public acts and the subsequent consequences, as we saw played out during the  Olympics, when gymnas...

Confidence. It can be an elusive quality. Especially when we feel like an outsider, or 'other'.  Pauline Cheung knows what it feels like to not fit in, and not feel good enough.  Raised in a white working class town in England, Pauline felt the barbs hurled at her for her Asian heritage. Bullied by peers, she wanted to please her teachers by excelling in academics, and please her parents...

Hi and welcome to Embark. Today Elizabeth 'Beth' Splaine is in studio to talk about her latest novel  The Devil's Grace.   Aside from her excellent writing, we talk about healthcare, ghosts and the grace that comes with true forgiveness. A woman of remarkable and varied achievements, you can read more about Elizabeth on her website. A few details about her book in these liner notes:...

We like to mix it up a little on Embark, so every third Thursday of the month, we'll Embark on Your Third Act. InANutshell Consulting's Rebecca More and Third Act Quest's Diana Place join me to ponder what's on our minds as we enter that phase of life where we hopefully have a little more wisdom, while we hold onto that joie de vivre to follow our hearts. After a short conversa...

One of Bobbie Carlton's missions is to transform the 'manel,' what she calls the 'all-male, all pale and all stale conference panels. In a quest for more diversity, and promote women as thought leaders, she has established Innovation Women. We talk about the job market, VC funding,  how to get those sought-after speaking gigs, and when to trade your value as an expert for long-...

You’re a creative. Talent just flows through you, and you love what you do. One hitch: You don’t know a thing about business, or how to make what you do profitable.   No worries.  Ean Price Murphy has your back.  Born into a family of creatives, Ean founded Moxie Bookkeeping and Coaching to show small businesses – especially creative ones – how to manage their finances and become profitable withou...

So, what does a creative do when a pandemic cancels their gigs? If you’re Lyralen Kaye, you stay home, devise a web series, then collect accolades, including an award from the the Los Angeles Internation Film Festival’s Indie Short Fest. Kaye brought 23 actors from around the world together through Zoom to create Assigned Female at Birth : A Web Series about Some Bodies . A hybrid narrative/docume...

Let's give some credit to the boomers. And GenXer's. They do things on their own terms. Rather than embrace their parents’ model of seniority  which was defined by retirement and a move to Florida, If you're 50-plus, you may go back to school, start a new relationship, explore your creativity, 'embark' on a new career -- or spiritual path -- or take up a cause.  You might...

Change is not easy, nor does it happen quickly.  One  need only look at our continuing conversations and conflict over race to understand that truth. Embark revisits a conversation with E. Dolores Johnson, who explores her own racial identity in her debut memoir. I n 1946, E. Dolores Johnson's black father and white mother fled  Indiana's harsh laws against interracial marriage. The subj...

We collectively send and receive over 300 million emails a day. How many of those do you automatically delete? How can you make sure people are opening and responding to yours? Email strategist Susan Finn believes marketing is an act of service to those who are currently looking for what you have to offer. That's where thoughtful, effective email practices come in. She created the Rise Above...

Social Geek Radio's Jack Monson and his guests discuss social media and digital marketing trends for brands, small businesses, and franchises.  Social Geek Radio was listed as one of 20 Best Business Podcasts according to Emerge and was named to the Best Small Business Podcasts by FitSmallBusiness.com. Recently we finally made the Top 25 podcasts in the Marketing category of Apple Podcasts /...