Unleashing Sister Saints

Weekly I have someone ask me about the Church and why I believe. I’ve thought about this a lot through the years, and I wanted to share some of my answers in this episode called “Why I Believe.” Last fall, I spoke to a large audience at the Washington, DC Temple Visitor’s Center and called my fireside speech, “Why I believe as a women, mother, scholar, teacher, author, and daughter of God.” Join m...

I recorded this episode a few days after General Conference in April 2023, and I share some of my learnings and insights. It is always amazing to me that each of us has different ahahs depending on here are heads, hearts, and hands are as we are listening—and I should say as we listen and read to talks after conference as well. Join me as I share a few insights I gained from 6 different talks.

Join me as talk about some insights about peace from the first session of General Conference, particularly with President Henry B. Eyring’s talk about finding peace. We can have faith and peace amidst the uncertainty, the storms, the challenges, the violence, the meanness around us, the fear of what is happening in this world, the impact of media and social media on our children and youth, and so...

General Conference is around the corner, and I want to get a lot out of it. In this episode of the “Unleashing Sister Saints” podcast, I discuss two things. The first is to highlight some findings from a scholarly article I read a few weeks ago titled “Quoted at the Pulpit: Male Rhetoric and Female Authority in Fifty Years of General Conference” by Eliza Wells. Second, I share some of my feelings...

Join me in Episode 32 as I continue my discussion of social media. In the last episode I talked about some of the negative impacts of social media, and in this episode, I want to finish that discussion with a little more data and some of my thoughts. My thoughts are more around girls and young women, but I do think the impacts of social media on the way we look at ourselves—externally and internal...

In the last episode I spoke a little about the recent CDC data and the state of young women right now in the United States (and most likely many countries in the world). I’ve been thinking a lot about the challenges that girls and women face that are leading to high levels of the feelings of sadness, discouragement, and depression. Of course, we all know that one of the causes of these high levels...

This past month I’ve been thinking a lot about what is happening in this world today with girls, young women, and women. With the release of a new CDC report that came out this past month on the state of young women in the US, I feel a heavier weight on my shoulders in different ways to do more. God expects up to do things differently as sisters in His Church moving forward. In this episode I disc...

A few weeks ago, I read a book/workbook titled “In the Image of Our Heavenly Parents; A Couples Guide to Creating a More Divine Marriage” that was compiled by  McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding. Although I’m not an expert in creating better marriages, I wanted to share some quotes from the book and then insights I had as I read it. There were some quotes about our Heavenly Parents t...

In this episode, I finish the discussion I started last week on gifts, talents, and strengths. There are many things that distract us from understanding, embracing, and utilizing our gifts, talents, and strengths in the Church and in the world. I briefly talk about three, and then I mention five approaches that I recommend that can help women discover their unique distinctness. This is so importan...

Join me for Episode 27, titled “Understanding Our Gifts, Talents, and Strengths.” Something that continues to surprise me are the thousands of amazing and gifted women I’ve personally met through the years who have no clue how remarkable they are. Yet, we know that every individual born on this earth is unlike anyone else. Each is a unique, gifted, extraordinary human being who is distinct from ev...

Join me in Episode 26 as I share my thoughts about a recent editorial I wrote for the Salt Lake Tribune. It was titled “Helping those at a disadvantage doesn’t cost anything”, with the subtitled of “One group making progress does not hold other groups back.” I use the term “Hogwash” in it a few times. I challenge the “scarcity” or “zero-sum” mentality.

Join me in Episode 25 as I share my thoughts on forgiveness. Our attitudes, tendencies, and habits toward becoming a generous and relentless forgiver can impact our life journeys and specifically our leadership development journey. Learning to better forgive ourselves and others is a powerful practice that can change lives, particularly our own.

Join me in Episode 24 as I share some information that helps us as women learn more about ourselves by thinking more deeply about our mindsets, and I’ll provide some details about both the fixed and growth mindsets. Norman Vincent Peale once said, “One of the greatest moments in anybody’s developing experience is when he no longer tries to hide from himself but determines to get acquainted with hi...

In Episode 23, I continue my conversation from the last episode on higher education. In this one I share Church teachings on the topic of attending and completing colleges and university, and I also share some background about my own educational journey. Education is critical important in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

Join me in Episode 22 as I discuss my insights about higher education and why it is so important for women to attend and complete college. I love this quote by President Russell M. Nelson: “[P]repare to do work of real worth for your fellowmen… The critical difference between your just hoping for good things for mankind and your being able to do good things for mankind is education.”

Join me in Episode 21 as I wrestle with this question: Are Latter-day Saints more passive-aggressive than other people? I’ve been thinking about this recently as I’ve been in many conversations where this has come up—particularly how Utah has such a passive-aggressive culture. Some research even says that women could use slightly more passive-aggression than men. I wanted to explore this in more d...

Join me in episode 20 as I share the contents of one email (I asked for permission) I received from a sister wrestling with issues around “women’s equality” in the Church (I’ve received many like this). I’ll read and discuss how I responded to her as well. I’m using the term “women’s equality”, but it could be women’s representation in the Church or other things. Frankly, I have more questions tha...

A team of researchers at BYU—Amber Majeske, Sarah Coyne, Chelom Leavitt, and Alice Long— just published an article titled “Your Mother and Mine: Perceptions of Heavenly Mother Among Latter-day Saints” in the online journal, SquareTwo. You can find the article at squaretwo.org. In this episode, I wanted to share some of their findings and a few of my own insights. It is interesting research.

Join me in this episode as I share some of my learnings and thoughts from reading a book from a Christian writer, Alice Fryling, titled “Aging Faithfully.” This author said, “Now, in our senior years, we have the responsibility (or opportunity) to practice all that we have learned”, and she cited a Rabbi that wrote that “if we viewed elderhood as the crowning achievement of our lives, we would ope...

Join me in Episode 17 as I share some thoughts about calling and purpose for sisters in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sometimes it feels like we as women are constantly looking for and hopefully discovering new calling and purpose as we navigate so many transitions in our lives. So many sisters I’ve talked to feel lost during these transitions and need support in navigating them...

Join me in Episode 16 as I go out on a limb a little and tell you about my struggles with a few words we use in the Church: “preside” and “patriarchy.” Although I don’t struggle with my testimony that Jesus is the Christ and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God’s church on earth, I do cringle a little when we continue to use words from past decades and centuries that mean ot...

Join me in Episode 15 as I finish my discussion of women and confidence, which I started in episode 14. I meet so many women who are not confident, even though there is no reason in the world they should be! They are wonderful, smart, and competent, yet this lack of confidence is so common. In this episode, I talk specifically about limiting behaviors and strategies we can use to strengthen our co...

Join me in Episode 14 as I discuss women and confidence and how it relates to sisters in the Church. Particularly related to my last episode on God needing us to influence differently moving forward, I think understanding confidence is more important than ever before. In fact, I believe that our Heavenly Parents needs sisters to be covenant-keeping, committed, and confident ! In this episode I’ll...

Join me in Episode 13 as I share more of my thoughts around why I believe that God needs us as sisters to influence and lead. I know I’ve talked about this before, but I want to focus more on a few specific elements today. I will share 3 of my favorite Church leader quotes related to women being needed differently moving forward. Being on a purposeful path of preparation is so critical for women i...

Join me in Episode 12 as I share some of my thoughts around choosing to stand with the Lord and fold in a little about raising girls and young women to be strong. I share some research, along with drawing from some of the words of Sister Michelle D. Craig (First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency) who gave a recent talk in General Conference titled “Wholehearted.”