Can I Laugh On Your Shoulder?

Some of you may or may not know this, but I am a former comedian! I performed improvisational and sketch comedy for almost 15 years and I loved it. While I'm no longer on stage a couple nights a week, I still love the art of improv comedy and used so many of the skills I gained doing improv in my everyday life: in my work, all the things. Yup, despite what you may realize, the foundational princip...

With today's news cycles, it's easy to feel overwhelmed with the troubles going on in our world. Where do we even start? How do we even scratch the surface of helping? What do we do? What can one person do to make a difference in some of the world's biggest problems? It does not have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be hard. You can make a difference! You can make a change! This isn't just so...

The entertainment industry is a tough industry. We hear all the time about entertainment industry professionals, actors, directors, musicians, producers, et cetera, who get burned out. They suffer from depression, struggle with hurting relationships, and so much more. But sometimes the entertainment industry can also connect people to doing good in a way they wouldn't be able to do otherwise. So m...

With today's social media world and our abundance of information that's thrown our way, we can very easily get discouraged about the world around us. Sometimes we feel like there's so much hurt and sadness in the world, and we get overwhelmed, we feel like the apocalypse is nigh. But the truth is, it's just not true. Yes, there are bad things in the world, but there's also so much good, and there'...

I'm always amazed when I meet someone who has taken a trial, struggle, hardship, or some adversity in their life and used it to change and impact their community or the world. So often, when tough stuff happens to us or when life hands us a really huge, massive lemon, we use that to sit and throw ourselves a pity party. But when we flip that on its head and instead use that hardship for good, it's...

Today's episode is a little different than usual, and I loved it. I know that I have a lot of listeners who are not entrepreneurs. You're in the corporate world, or you're a student, or you're an employee, or you're in a job that you just cannot stand and you're looking to change jobs or find a job where you can serve on a team that utilizes your gifts. You're looking for a job with purpose and me...

One of the things I love most about ethical and fair trade fashion is telling the stories behind the companies that make these beautiful things. That's basically why I started this podcast, so you could hear the stories behind the brands doing these amazing things! But what I love even more is when I'm out somewhere and someone says "Oh I love that gorgeous necklace" or "That shirt is incredible,...

Figuring out what to make for dinner each week can be so stressful, especially with work, and kids, and life. That time of day can be MISERABLE, and takes everything out of you just to get food on the table. A few years ago, my friends and I actually started a monthly Freezer Meal Party, where we gather and we cook freezer meals, and then we swap them. So, we have easy meals ready to go throughout...

Have you ever spent time cleaning out your closet, and you take all of your valuable clothes that you spent good money on, and you haul that stuff to your local consignment store or like Plato's Closet or Clothes Mentor and you are excited for how much money they're going to give you… and then suddenly the wind has been taken out of your sails when they want to offer you like $3 for your $180 J.Cr...

Have you ever thought that you're at a place in your life where it's too late to start over? Sometimes I feel like we get to a certain age (an age that doesn't actually really exist) and we think that we are stuck doing what we are doing forever. We think that if we aren't successful doing something by age…. let's day 28! Then we are STUCK. It's never too late. I mean, Morgan Freeman was 52 when h...

  There are a lot of misconceptions around the topic of human trafficking. So many people think it happens in other countries or it happens only to people living in poor conditions or that it looks like a guy in a big white van zooming in and snatching people off the streets. While that may be a tiny, tiny bit true… and I mean, a VERY TINY BIT true… human trafficking in reality looks very differen...

Whether you want to admit it or not, you have fears. We all do. Maybe its a fear of bees or being chased in an alley by a masked man (okay, so those are my fears), or maybe it's a fear of failure… or maybe it's a fear or public speaking or getting rejected. Or maybe it's a larger fear like being in fire or a plane crash… The thing is, we can't let those fears take hold of our lives. We can't let t...

I remember when John and I were planning our wedding... it literally feels like yesterday. We were on a pretty tight budget, and we were doing almost everything ourselves… And while the details of the wedding day, the florals, the pictures, the dress, the music… It was all important... But the thing I really looked forward to the most was the marriage. Preparing for our marriage was the most impor...

Did you know that nearly  703 million people around the world are blind… simply due to lack of access to glasses. That's 703 million people who are blind but that blindness could have been easily prevented if one person, or a group of people stepped in and helped. Well…my guest today is doing just that.. My guest this week is Dr. Travis Zigler, the founder of  Eye Love, an eye wellness company wit...

There are SO many people (me included), that love to travel. I know I have a list of about 100 places I'd love to see in my lifetime… but there are so many factors that can hold us back from actually getting on a plane and going somewhere. You know, things like time, money, and JOBS. Those pesky jobs keeping us from being a jetsetter… it's as though we have to pick one or the other. A job or trave...

At some point in our lives, we all experience a feeling of loneliness. It's a natural human experience and for some, the struggle is worse than others… but it can be a struggle nonetheless. And loneliness doesn't discriminate based upon age… but I'd venture to say that for kids and teens today, the feeling of loneliness can be crippling. I know for me, I struggled with feeling lonely a lot growing...

Each one of us has a gift. Whether you know it or not, and whether you want to believe it or not, I believe deep down that every single person on this earth was given a gift by our Creator… and how we use those gifts to serve others can really impact not only, well, other people, but also ourselves. As adults, I believe the way we use our gifts can also impact the next generation - we can show the...

In today's world, it can be really overwhelming when we see so much hurt and pain around the world. There are humanitarian crises all over the world that are horrific… whether it's the Syrian crisis, the Rohingya refugee Crisis in Myanmar, or the Central African Republic crisis… we get to the point where we feel bombarded by these stories of pain and suffering around the world and we just want to...

What if you had the next, world-changing, business idea? Your business could change the trajectory of someone's life or impact the way people interact or have an impact on the environment or give people access to clean drinking water or create urban farming and give people more access to affordable, real food? But, the reality for you is, you don't have the resources to implement the idea. Maybe i...

For years, there's been this strange distaste for business. People kept thinking business was bad and business owners were greedy and money grubbers. But the truth is, business is and can be a HUGE force for good. Business can change lives, communities, and countries. Business isn't the enemy… business can change the world.  My guests this week are Nick Barigye and Greg Urquhart of Karisimbi Busin...

Giving. What does that word mean to you when you hear it? Does it mean someone who is giving with their time, giving with their talents, giving with their money, a giver of gifts... what does it mean? For years, I was the most reluctant to give with my money. It wasn't until I was at my absolute brokest, if that's even a way to describe it… that I realized that giving of my money, in addition to g...

There's a really difficult conversation that happens often in the ethical and fair trade space… and it's a conversation around respect and getting rid of that savior complex when it comes to sharing the stories of artisans and men and women in vulnerable situations. It's a fine line to walk. The stories of these beautiful people are important and they should be heard… but they should never be expl...

I remember the first time I consciously wanted to quit. I was 7 and I had a big school science fair project I was working on. I was so excited about my project idea (I was talking about different kinds of rocks because, you know, that's what 7 year olds do, or something). And really, I just wanted to talk about the pretty rocks that I had gotten on a recent trip to the gift shop at Luray Caverns i...

It is estimated that there are nearly 150 million orphans worldwide. There's a worldwide orphan crisis… maybe you've heard or maybe you haven't. But it's a crisis and it's not getting better. one of the harsh realities of the orphan crisis is that many children, are not actually orphans… but their parents have had to surrender them or give them up because they simply cannot afford to care for them...

Have you ever had a dream as a child, or heck, even as an adult, and you had your mind set on that dream? How you thought life was going to certainly take you in one direction, and then an event, or a trip, or an experience completely shifts everything for you and you realize that the thing you thought you were supposed to do is now no longer the thing you thought you were supposed to do? I mean,...