The Sow to Speak Podcast with Kristy Mandour

Whenever I'm triggered, and my emotions are about to do anything from getting the best of me to derailing me completely, I remember (most of the time) 😮‍💨 this practice gets me back on track. Learning how to regulate your emotional system is one of the healthiest practices you can learn. Since everything is connected, our emotions are often the king or queen of our physical health. If we can...

Your biggest test for growth in one word: Family. It’s true for everybody. No matter your relationship, family knows our buttons very well. Whether for Easter, Passover, or any family gathering, really... Keep this episode saved and top of mind. And see how it chills your inner teen and shifts how you show up as the adult you are. 👏🏽 Like what you heard?   ⁠Learn more about Sow to Speak here⁠  a...

"Guys are notorious for, myself included, for... you don't want to be the one - ' I don't want to call this guy 'cause if he doesn't pick up, what am I going to say? Do I leave a message? Do I leave a text message?' But you got to get over it. You got to take the step and say I'm gonna be the one." We're diving straight into the power and necessity of male friendships. This goes so under the radar...

The next time the tidal wave of COMPARE & DESPAIR begins to take you down... You know how it goes: Mindless scrolling quickly morphs into doom scrolling, and the green-eyed monster rears its head, telling you that you haven't done enough, earned enough, produced enough, vacationed enough, and then your jealousy flies to guilt because you should feel SO grateful for all you do have and round an...

"At the end of the day, my philosophy on leadership is that we don't have to change who we are." Sarah Young is the Founder and CEO of Zing Collaborative and the author of Expansive Impact: An Invitation to Lead in Everyday Moments.   Before starting Zing Collaborative in 2013, Sarah spent eight years leading people, projects, and teams in the corporate world.  Since then, she's par...

Hey, you high-achieving overthinker. I see you because I am you. Camping out in your head suuuuucks. Big time. Today's solo episode is all about how to stop knocking on inspiration's door and patiently waiting for an answer. This is the episode to move out of your head and into your life. I cover a simple five-word go-to for shifting perspective and energy flow. Stuckness, begone! And, a special s...

"I've been doing this work for thirty years, and every person I've worked with, if you ask them what the thoughts that go through their heads, it's all about the same and boils down to some form of 'I suck.'" Josh Pais is a film and television actor who has starred in shows such as Ray Donovan, Younger, Maniac, and the feature films Joker, Motherless Brooklyn, The Station Agent, and Spoiler Alert....

This is the first episode of a new mini-series within The Closet Series that focuses on all things emotions. We've got A LOT of emotions, and sometimes knowing what to do with them or even knowing when they're happening can be tricky. This mini-series is here to offer strategies and exercises to support you in understanding yourself better so you can feel more often the way you want to feel. ...

“That’s why we need to bring EQ to our writing: We’re not just filtering our writing through clarity and information but to what would this be like to read on the other side.” Erin Lebacqz (leBAX) is an international educator, author (High-Value Writing), and speaker.  Erin says, "Most people I work with are nervous about their writing—though thankfully pretty open about that. Folks also now...

Many times throughout the day, you may feel like you're moving through mental molasses or maybe even mental quicksand. There is hope! This short and sweet episode offers a strategy that will boost your spirit, shift your perspective and relieve your mind no matter what's next on your list.  This is the beginning of many solo episodes with me, your host Kristy Mandour, to offer strategies and...

Happy New Year! January 1st. This sweet little date has a lot riding on its shoulders. There's A LOT of pressure for one day to carry and for you too. And if you're honest, the weight carried with this date oftentimes comes from outside yourself. So, whether you are in love with the idea of resolutions, highly intimidated by them, or in total repulsion of them, one way to keep yourself in check is...

Meet Bernie.  Bernie Freytag is a bona fide creative. He is a writer, an illustrator, a wanderer, and a ponderer. Lucky us, Bernie is on the show to discuss his latest book, The Curious Reality in Imagination . This is Bernie's second book, following his debut Find Wonder in the Ordinary. In our conversation, Bernie shares his love of creativity while inviting us all to find ways to be open t...

Meet Jakki. Jakki Smith-Leondarini is an energy medicine practitioner and wellness educator, the My Soul Vibe app creator, and one of the shining lights behind the WellSoul workshops.    "Amusement over abusement." Amen to that.  This is just one of the many fantastic nuggets Jakki offers in this heartfelt and soul-stirring conversation.  EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS   • The beauty...

Meet Gary. Gary Bagley was one of my first bosses out of college and set the bar very high for others to follow his leadership grace, care, and passion. Currently, Gary is an executive coach, educator, strategist, and keynote speaker. At the time of our conversation, Gary was the executive director of New York Cares, the largest volunteer non-profit organization serving the five boroughs of New Yo...

Meet Jackie.  Jackie Michel is the author of "Hooray for Parenting" and the owner and director of J. Michel Associates, a company that offers coaching, counseling, and consulting.  Sow to Speak asked Jackie to hop back in the closet to dive deeper into the topic of parenting. So much of what Jackie shares comes back to cultivating a strong relationship and connection with ourselves first...

Meet Coonoor.    Coonoor Behal is the author of the book "I Quit, The Life-Affirming Joy of Giving Up" and Founder and CEO of Mindhatch, a company geared at enhancing design thinking, innovation, operations, morale, engagement, and productivity by using improvisational theatre methodologies. Mindhatch believes that all work is human-centered and that people are your business, which is wh...

Meet Rachel. Rachel Daughtry is the Director of Agency Relations at The Compassion Coalition, based in Central NY. She is the third guest in our Heart-Centered Leadership series.    EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Rachel discusses how The Compassion Coalition came to be (yes, it's scalable!) How they're creating major contributions and change in our community and beyond The necessity to be a heart-ce...

Meet Shelly. Shelly Callahan is the Executive Director of The Center. Formerly, The Refugee Center of Utica, The Center's main mission is to welcome newcomers to The Mohawk Valley by lending assistance throughout the integration process by offering products and services that enable everybody to build a community with many cultures together.   Shelly was asked to be a part of the three-part he...

Meet Peter.  Peter kicks off our three-part mini-series on heart-centered leadership.  At the time of our conversation in October 2020, Peter was the President and COO of Chobani. Peter is now the CEO of Impossible Foods.  EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Peter shares how Chobani was born from a heart-centered place and how they've sustained and strengthened that foundational core value for over...

Meet Cherella.    Cherella Forester is an intuitive and has been reading tarot cards for over twenty-two years. She is not blind to, nor swayed by, the stigma that often comes along with her profession. For years her dread of being stereotyped as "the cat woman" had her keeping her natural abilities and gifts "in the closet." Fortunately for us, she changed her tune and fully embraced wh...

Meet Cindy.  Cindy Chan Phillips is the nutrition coach at her nutrition coaching service Cindy Chan Phillips Nutrition.  Cindy kicks off our conversation by letting us in on her own story, and how that led to the work she does today. She shares tips and doable practices that we can implement to help us take back control over "eating our feelings" and find a newfound perspective on how w...

Meet Angela.  Sow to Speak asked Anglea Lussier to share her insight and four-step process to uncover your authentic voice. We talk about honing your intuition, trusting yourself, and the decisive act of slowing down before doing or saying anything. Most of all, Angela reminds us once again that it's always an inside job. Angela Lussier is an award-winning professional speaker, six-time autho...

“People, especially parents, need to think through what it is that’s driving them, and when they understand that, they also understand more about their children.” - Jackie Michel Jackie Michel is a parenting coach and the author of Hooray for Parenting. Jackie is exactly the type of human you'd want to be giving our parenting advice: wise, humble, thoughtful, and kind. I've read (and re-read) Hoor...

"Great people do things before they're ready."  One of my all-time favorite quotes by Amy Poehler is the perfect way to introduce musician and artist, Keren Vita as the next guest in Sow to Speak's closet series.    How often do we say no out of fear? When's the last time you shifted your focus to the process of whatever you were working on instead of being overwhelmed by the finish...

Meet Pete.  Pete Blanchfield is the CEO of StoneRidge Hydro, a company that invests in run-of-river hydroelectric dams to restore, rebuild and return a reliable, long-term renewable power resource to local communities. Pete is very knowledgeable about finance and business and shares the lessons he's learned along the way to help you in your own career.  Long before the Great Resignation,...