The Perfectly Imperfect Journey

Journey of Self-Awareness with Vanessa Loder

Vanessa Loder has been on a journey of self awareness, from playing on the soccer field as a teen and college student, to graduating at the top of her class at an Ivy League, to finding herself, in full business attire, sneaking out of her downtown San Francisco office to attend a hypnosis and past life seminar.  Along the way, she fine-tuned her ability to pay attention to what she calls the “energetic breadcrumbs,” giving her insight into her true heart’s desire.  Please listen in as Vanessa shares her perfectly imperfect journey, and gives some great advice for all of us to tune into our own inner wisdom.

 

“Women are so happy for a seat at the table, we haven’t really questioned how the table is set”  Vanessa Loder

 

To order Vanessa’s book and get some of her supplementary materials:  https://vanessaloder.com/soul-solution/

 

Some of the books Vanessa mentions:

Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss

The Instruction by Ainslie MacLeod

Soulcraft by Bill Plotkin

 

Bio

Vanessa Loder is an acclaimed keynote speaker and sought-after expert on women’s leadership, mindfulness, stress management, rewiring your brain for happiness, owning your inner game, and sustainable success. Vanessa’s work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, the Huffington Post and Glamour magazine. Her guided meditations have been streamed over 1 million times globally. Vanessa’s Tedx talk “How To Lean In Without Burning Out” has over 155,000 views. Loder is the author of the forthcoming book, The Soul Solution: A Guide for Brilliant, Overwhelmed Women to Quiet the Noise, Find Their Superpower and (Finally) Feel Satisfied, released by SoundsTrue in October 2022. 

 

In her previous life, Loder was a successful private equity investor who advised fast growing companies. She is a self-described over-achiever whose unfulfilling experience left her burned out, exhausted, and eager to find another way. 

 

After spending close to a decade working in finance on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, Vanessa felt that she had climbed to the top of the wrong ladder! Her personal transformation, subsequent research and work have led to thousands of women finding their way back to soul. 

 

Vanessa has worked with high performing teams and leaders at AirBnb, Bain & Co, Cambridge Associates, Castlight Health, Charles Schwab, Cisco, Dreamforce, Flextronics, Goldman Sachs, Google, LinkedIn, Mattel, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, PA Conference for Women, PG&E, PwC, Sheppard Mullin, Salesforce, StubHub!, Tedx, The Dailey Method, The Hamlin School, The North Face, The Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford MSx Women, ThoughtSpot, Uber, Upwork, Watermark, Women in Private Equity and many other organizations.

 

Vanessa received her MBA from Stanford University and her BA in Economics from Columbia University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude. Loder is certified as an Executive Coach by the Hendricks Institute and trained in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) by Carl Buchheit at NLP Marin. Vanessa currently lives in Lafayette, CA with her husband and two children, who remind her to take “mommy time-outs” when she’s about to lose her marbles.

Change The World By Changing Ourselves with Oneika Mays

Oneika Mays has always been a seeker, even as a young child. She grew up in a stable family structure, went to good schools, and even landed in a fulfilling career she loved. But there was always something nagging at her, just below the surface: she wanted to trust herself, but couldn’t quite get there. Then, one day in yoga class, her instructor said “You can change or be comfortable, but not both.” As tears streamed down her face she realized she needed a change, and was ready to embrace the discomfort.  Fast forward to today and Oneika is still a seeker, learning and transforming as she teaches yoga and meditation to individuals and groups both inside prison and on the outside. She has an amazing story - please join us to hear Oneika’s perfectly imperfect journey. 

 

About Oneika Mays:

Oneika Mays (LMT, E-RYT) transitioned to yoga and meditation from a 20 year career in

corporate retail leadership over 10 years ago. Oneika used that experience to support social

justice non-profits and teach meditation/yoga inside jails. Today, she is the first Mindfulness

Coach at Rikers Island Correctional Facility. At Rikers she works one-on-one with community

members in a therapeutic setting. Sessions are a combination of modalities and are infused with

compassion. These sessions help people foster resilience and agency. She believes that our

justice system needs to focus on transformation and restoration rather than punishment. This

idea of liberation and compassion is woven into her work whether it’s in a jail, speaking to

audiences or teaching meditation. In addition to teaching meditation and yoga Oneika facilitates

workshops and trainings centered around resilience, liberation and compassion. She believes

that meditation, movement and mindfulness practices can forge a path to freedom.

 

Currently Oneika is working on a scripted project she created, Blur, a story about two atypical

teenagers navigating their identity in the 1980s. Her co-writer is Steven Mclaine. Oneika is

bringing meditation and yoga to Arizona as a featured presenter at the Sedona Yoga Festival.

She is also the co-host of the soon to be released podcast, But You Don’t Sound Black with

Rasheed J. Daniel. She can currently be seen on TBS’ Lost Resort.

Instagram: https://Instagram.com/oneikamays
Website: www.oneikamays.com 

Featured presenter at Embodied Philosophy’s conference, “Radical Teaching.” Oneika’s talk is “Disrupting with Love.”
https://www.embodiedphilosophy.com/event/radical-teaching-roundup/

Board Member: One Love Prison Meditation Project: https://onelovepmp.org/

Projects in development:

Creator/Writer - BLUR

Production Company - TeamSheed

Producer- Rasheed J. Daniel

 

Consultant/Co-host - FREE SPIRIT

Producer- Ben Dwork

Creator- Becca Elrich

 

Contributor

Co-host Spiritual Citizenship Conference 2021- In Conversation with Cornel West

Faculty- Interdependence Project - Meditation Teacher Training

 

Featured

NY1

Yoga Journal

CNBC

Aligned Magazine

Tarka Journal

Taking Up Space

What does it mean to “take up space”? Why is it important?  We have been so inspired and impressed by the way so many of our guests have chosen to let their voices be heard, their opinions known, and their stories told. Join us this week as Anne and Sherry discuss the big and small ways to “take up space” and the reasons we think it’s important. We also offer up a few practices you can use to become more skillful and confident with inhabiting spaces in ways that are meaningful to you.   

 

Amy Cuddy Ted Talk:  https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_may_shape_who_you_are?language=en

Rosa Parks:  https://www.ledablack.com/take-up-space/

Having Way Too Much Fun with Rachel Bitecofer

Please note that there’s some pretty salty language in this episode.

This is a milestone episode for us. Sherry has admired Rachel Bitecofer’s work from behind her Twitter screen for years.  When she used that same screen to ask Rachel to join us on the podcast, we were both thrilled she said yes.  

We are even more thrilled with the conversation we got to have with Rachel. Like most of us, she’s had a bumpy road to get to where she is today: a well respected political scientist, polling expert, and commentator who has appeared in the NY Times Opinion pages, on The Daily Show, and in many other publications. But it took her a while to figure it out. After following the Grateful Dead around for a while, she did find out what her “thing” was, and enrolled in a junior college, and ultimately got her Ph.D. And how did she figure it out?  She paid attention to what was fun. Lucky for us, politics was fun for her, and the rest of us are better because of it. Please listen in to Rachel’s perfectly imperfect journey, not to mention her uproariously funny sense of humor.  

 

As long as I get to experience life, I’m pretty happy.  ~ Rachel Bitecofer

Bio

Rachel Bitecofer. Ph.D. is a political scientist and election forecaster turned political strategist. Her interviews and analysis have been featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Salon, Politico, The New Republic, Real Time with Bill Maher, CNN, MSNBC and many other prominent news sources.

Rachel was recognized for her novel theory that predicted the size of the “Blue Wave” in the 2018 midterm elections much earlier than other forecasters. She then used her methodology to anticipate that Democrats would recapture the presidency in 2020, more than a year out from the election.

Known as The Election Whisperer, Rachel “The Doc” Bitecofer offers hold-no-punches political commentary and has become a sought-after political strategist. She earned a Ph.D. in political science and international affairs from the University of Georgia.

Rachel hosts the political podcast The Cycle, on Substack and works directly with Democratic candidates and organizations, including Matters of State Strategies, as a political strategist. Rachel’s book, “Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game," co-authored with Aaron Murphy, was recently acquired by Crown Publishing and will drop in 2023.

Previously, she served as a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center, a centrist think-tank in Washington, D.C., a senior advisor to The Lincoln Project, and a Lecturer in Political Science at Christopher Newport University, where she conducted and analyzed polling for the Wason Center of Public Policy.

Rachel lives in Oregon and tweets prolifically to more than 140,000 followers from @rachelbitecofer.

Website: https://thecycle.substack.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RachelBitecofer

Epic Performances with Bryan Gillette

“Sometimes we work to our perceived limit when we could probably work a little past that.” Bryan Gillette is not a guy who thinks small as it comes to athletics or adventure. He has run multiple ulta-races, including eight back-to-back marathons. However, he still believes he could have swung a little higher. This is a great metaphor for all of us - in what ways are we letting our mindset hold us back, whether from an athletic endeavor, getting our next job, or becoming 

more involved in the community? Join us to hear about Bryan’s perfectly imperfect journey, and his newly-released book, EPIC Performance: Lessons from 100 Executives and Endurance Athletes on Reaching Your Peak.  

 

Bio:

BRYAN GILLETTE knows what it is like to reach the peak as he has stood on the summits of many mountains and successfully completed many physically and mentally challenging ultra-distance endurance events. He’s reached several ‘summits’ in his career as well.

Bryan has over 25 years’ experience in Leadership and Organizational Development with executive and senior-level responsibilities in small and large companies. Before starting his consulting practice, he was on the Executive Committee as the Vice President of Human Resources for a mid-size, global-technology company. In addition to running Human Resources and Payroll, he has extensive experience in Leadership Development, Organizational Design, Communications, and Mergers & Acquisitions.

His experience also includes coaching at all levels on a variety of issues such as change management, performance improvement, and communications. He takes a pragmatic approach and brings firsthand experience having managed teams of 2 to 270 people and multi-million-dollar projects. Although he is a former company executive, Bryan is known to roll up his sleeves and do whatever it takes to get the job done.

In these 25 years, he has taught leadership courses in many countries, consulted with executives, conducted needs analysis, and developed programs that drive the desired performance for the company to meet its objectives. With the consolidation of companies over the years, he has integrated over 40 acquisitions ranging from 8-person to 1,000+ person companies.

He holds an MBA from California State University and two Bachelors’ degrees from the University of California, Davis in Organizational Behavior and Communications.

To give back to the community, Bryan started up and ran the Bridge of Opportunity, a 501(c)3 foundation, to provide foster kids scholarships to attend college. He was the Co-Chair and founding Board Member for iGATE, a non-profit incubator to assist small green-related companies. And, he was the Co-Race Director for the Pleasanton Run for Education, a 3,000-person running race, which raised $250,000 for the local schools during his 4 years.

For recreation, he is a dedicated endurance athlete completing many long-distance cycling or running events including cycling across the United States, cycling 300 miles in 24 hours, and running 200 miles around Lake Tahoe in 76 hours. As an avid traveler, he recently spent one year with his wife and two boys traveling through South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

His book, EPIC Performance: Lessons from 100 Executives and Endurance Athletes on Reaching Your Peak based on his experiences reaching lofty goals as well as the experience of 100+ CEOs, CxOs, founders, and endurance athletes who have also reached amazing goals will be published Summer 2022.

Links:
Website: https://summitinggroup.com/
Book: https://www.amazon.com/EPIC-Performance-Executives-Endurance-Athletes/dp/1637552173/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/epic-performance-bryan-gillette/1141372406
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryangillette/

Saying Yes to Yes

In the 2008 movie, Yes Man, Jim Carey plays a guy just sort of bumping along in his normal, everyday existence. He says “no” regularly, and prefers the comfort of his couch to exploring anything new. 

On any given day, this might describe a lot of us. How often are we unconscious to the ways we show up (or not!) in the world? Inspired by this movie and Shonda Rhimes’ great book, Year of Yes, Sherry and Anne discuss “saying yes,” even when that “yes” is to a “no.”  We suggest that we all have the opportunity to bring more consciousness to the way we live, work and play.  Join us to hear about some of our own experiences of saying yes, and how to cultivate a practice that could become your regular way of operating. 

On Noticing with Jeff Slater

Jeff Slater has always been a “noticer”. When he was a kid and first learned photography, he would notice a small moment, and it would forever be captured on film.  As a young adult, he paid attention to all the ways people would show up and meet their passion.  As a marketing professional, Jeff would notice the things that would inspire people and alchemize that for the benefit of the companies he worked for.  But most importantly, as a son, husband, father, colleague and friend, Jeff pays attention to how he shows up - always asking himself how he can be more loving, more kind, and more empathetic. Jeff notices all of it - the large and small things -  and he actively chooses to be present in the moment.  Please listen to Jeff’s perfectly imperfect journey - we think you’ll be inspired to do a little less doing and a little more being.  

 

Bio:

If there is one guiding principle I experienced throughout my life, it is the importance of living in the moment. 

 

I grew up in a loving family with parents, siblings, and highly supportive friends and relatives. Foundational blessings like these were gifts that helped keep me grounded and grateful. My 95-year-old mom Bea remains my most ardent life-long cheerleader. 

 

There were two catalyzing events from childhood setting me on my journey. 

 

As a young teenager, I worked with my maternal grandfather George. He was an orphan and an immigrant from Russia and came here at age ten. Poppa George became a professional photographer who learned his trade from his Uncle Henry in Newark, N.J. When I started working with him, he was my current age, sixty-eight. 

 

With my grandfather as my teacher, I witnessed the magic of photography where you can capture a moment with a camera that took less than 1/1000 of a second but could last a lifetime. From ages fourteen to twenty-four, I worked as a commercial photographer throughout high school, college, and graduate school. Photography was the creative spark that ignited my curiosity then and now. 

 

I assumed my path would lead me on my perfectly creative journey to becoming a photographer. I had no other professional life plans or goals. 

 

Around that same time in my childhood, I took my first TM or transcendental meditation class and became a lifelong meditator. I have continued this practice for more than fifty years. My balance and calm can, in part, be linked to this practice. Mindfulness and living in the moment are part of the narrative of my life's journey.

 

But the universe had other plans; to my surprise, they involved the business world, specifically marketing. 

 

When I met my future wife, she graduated from Cornell with a degree in political science and French literature. But she had a small business selling extraordinary brownies from a home kitchen in Philadelphia. (Rated by Philadelphia Magazine as the best in Philly in 1975) 

 

Together, over more than a decade, we built a multi-million-dollar business selling Rachel's Brownies nationally. We had wild moments that included lunch with President Reagan, partnering directly with Ben & Jerry to make a Rachel's Brownies Ice Cream, and TV appearances on Phil Donahue's nationally syndicated tv show. 

 

We used to kid that all our friends were doctors, architects, and lawyers – professionals. And we were college-educated brownie makers spending our day knee-deep in chocolate. We were entrepreneurs without any business experience – yet we stumbled upon success. My wife Ra El (formerly Rachel) is the most courageous, extraordinary, and inspiring human I know. We have been married for almost 45 years.

 

During the 1980s, our two magnificent daughters, Sarah and Fanny, were born. Each provided countless exquisite daily moments filled with joy, gratitude, and exhaustion. Both are remarkable women. 

 

During our daughter's early years, I realized that the more present I could be with them, the more joy was available to me in these small moments. Living in the moments, I could manage the stress and crazy entrepreneurial journey that required an astonishing amount of calm, persistence, and flexibility to handle life's daily challenges and perpetual chaos. 

 

We eventually sold our business in 1989 and moved from Philadelphia to Raleigh. During the next decade, I became the EVP of Marketing for a $400M snack food company called GoodMark Foods, which eventually was sold to ConAgra Foods, a $30B company. I worked in various senior marketing leadership positions, including a stint in a global marketing role at Nomacorc, now Vinventions, in the wine packaging industry. 

 

Today I manage a marketing consultancy called The Marketing Sage as Chief Listening Officer, providing fractional CMO services and brand strategy. My clients are startups, mid-sized private and public companies, and several billion-dollar brands. I work on strategic brand and marketing projects. I spend my days wondering how the day will bring me opportunities to be creative and helpful and to get empathy for my work. 

 

If you have a thousand hours, I will tell you about our three-and-a-half-year-old grandson Bodhi Kai. 

 

Website: https://www.themarketingsage.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreylslater/

Finding Her Mode with Kat Williford

From an early age, Kat Williford loved to create through sewing. She followed that passion into college and found herself a comfortable job with a big name fashion brand.  But something didn’t feel quite right and Kat heeded a small whisper inside herself, traveling to Hungary, in part for the adventure and in hopes of finding a more fulfilling path. She got both. And from there a new way to think about fashion was born. Kat designs for everyone, all sizes and abilities.  She keeps the planet in mind by being as sustainable as possible and her longer term strategy is to keep things small so she can continue to employ high quality people and provide customization to her customers. Join us this week to hear about Kat’s perfectly imperfect journey to find her mode. 

 

Bio:

Kat Williford is the owner and designer of Pamut Apparel. Kat took a big step out of her comfort zone when she moved to Budapest, Hungary in 2014. After falling out of love with the fashion industry during her stint as a designer at a mall brand, she was feeling directionless and unsure of her place in the fashion industry. She ended up finding fulfillment by returning to the roots of making clothing: dyeing, printing, and sewing in her little Budapest flat. Kat moved back to her hometown of Raleigh, NC in 2017, and she soon came to realize that there was a huge gap in the market for inclusively sized and customized clothing. Over the next few years, Kat worked to evolve Pamut into the brand that it is today. Kat spends most of her days in the Pamut studio with her sheltie puppy, but enjoys plenty of free time away from work thanks to her talented and dedicated team.

Website: https://www.pamutapparel.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pamutapparel/

Mid-Year Reset

Remember January? 

 

Did you set some intentions for the year? 

What did you want to bring into your life? 

How’s it going?

 

Whether you’ve been diligently focused on your themes for the year or forgotten all about them, now is a great time to take another look at what you want to bring into your life.  The act of thinking about what you want, and what you’re willing to do to get there, will help you get closer to achieving your goals.  Listen in this week as we explore a mid-year reset and Sherry does some spontaneous coaching with Anne to help with her mid-year reset. 

The Scaffolding with Kat Gordon

Whether reflecting on her first mentors, encouraging her children to create strong friendship groups or starting an entire movement to support women in Creative Leadership roles, Kat Gordon lives her belief that we all need to surround ourselves with people who will help us celebrate when things are going well and be there for us when life inevitably gets tough. She calls this group her scaffolding. Kat is herself a tremendous role model for others. She started the 3% Movement, which led to an increase in female Creative Directors from 3% to almost 30%. And she’s now “walking her talk” by shifting her focus with the support of the amazing team she has assembled. Kat told us “when something gets heavy, you put it down,” Her mission remains the same, but she is streamlining the focus of her organization and is putting down the pieces that got heavy due to the pandemic.  Please listen in to hear Kat’s perfectly imperfect journey.  

 

Bio

Kat Gordon

Founder/CEO

The 3% Movement

 

Kat Gordon has been called the “triple threat” of an entrepreneur, ad woman + marketing to women expert and was named one of "30 Most Creative Women in Advertising" by BusinessInsider in 2016, "Visionary of the Year" from Advertising Age in 2018, and one of “Forty Over 40” women disrupting the world in 2014. She is the visionary behind The 3% Movement. Started as a passion project to spotlight a huge business opportunity in advertising -- the lack of female creative leadership and its impact on connecting with an overwhelmingly female marketplace -- the 3% Movement has grown exponentially since its 2012 launch: hosting events in 17 cities globally, and offering consulting and certification programs that amplify creative cultures. Today, female creative directors have gone from 3% to 29%.

 

Kat serves on the Board of The Representation Project and as an advisor to 600 & Rising, WPP and Empower Work. She is passionate about elevating the contributions of women and people of color, especially as they relate to innovation. She currently serves as "Creative Entrepreneur in Residence" at Eleven, working to rethink the creative process, workflow and client engagement to build internal cultures and external messaging that embrace everyone.