Passion Stories with Free To Flourish

I talked with Nevan who runs her pottery business, @printempspottery in Annapolis, Maryland.Nevan and her husband make beautiful and functional pieces of pottery. Nevan said her hope is that people get joy out of using a handmade piece of art in their everyday lives. She said she never tires of hearing her customers say they used her mug that morning sipping on their coffee.One of the biggest takeaways I had with talking to Nevan was how important believing in yourself is with pursuing your p...

Some of you might know that I worked at a school in The Bahamas for a few years. Most of my family and friends thought I was just teaching SCUBA diving to kids. When in reality, teaching diving was about 10% of my job, the other 90% was teaching human ecology, designing curriculum, coaching, advising, and generally keeping students alive on a remote island.In all seriousness though this unique experience had a profound effect on the trajectory of my career. I was working in a place surrounded...

Yewande is a professional football player where she started her career playing at the University of Maryland as a goalkeeper. Yewande came on the podcast last November to talk about her journey with pursuing football professionally. She left the sport after finishing in college and went on to pursue other career endeavors. Yewande talks about what made her decide to go back and play professionally even though she had doubts that it was 'too late'. She shared that her dream was to be called up...

Thinking of making a big career move into more meaningful work, but aren't sure where to start, or if it even might be possible? Tune into this episode to hear how a former military employee left her military career and became a life coach.Shikina Tellis is a Life Coach and founder of TWS Coaching and Consulting Group LLC. She helps professional women over 35 who are frustrated and attempting to do it all, find harmony in their personal and professional lives.In this episode, Shikina talks ab...

If we stop and think about where the gender gap and gender inequity starts, it really starts with how we are treating young girls in our society. Do we give them the same opportunities as men? Do they have the same support? In the U.S., since the 1970's, we have had Title IX in place to ensure that girls are given the same opportunities as boys at the youth level. However, not all countries have these same laws in place, and Girl Up is looking to address gender inequity across the world. In m...

Feini Yin talks about their work with Fishadelphia, a community based program in Philadelphia that brings high quality local seafood to the city. Feini also works with the North American Marine Alliance as a media coordinator.Feini talks about their Chinese roots and how eating seafood was a big part of their childhood and their feeling of 'home'. Feini also talks about how they have navigated their career in the seafood industry and how community led advocacy work has been succes...

Mo Payette, Founder of Momo's CBD company, came on the podcast and talked about her long career in the natural products industry and how she transitioned into having her own chocolate cbd company. She talks about the benefits of her ethically sourced cacao and combining it with cbd and what continues to motivate her to do this work. You can check out MOMOs CBD range of products including, cbd chocolate, gummies, dog treats, and more! Consider checking out the Passion and Purpose program if yo...

Adrian is a Film Editor based in Mexico City, Mexico who has worked on various documentaries and worked on films for networks like Netflix and Amazon Studios.In this episode he talks about how and what helped him make a career pivot early on to shift into the film industry. He touches on what helped him believe he could pursue this path, what obstacles he had to overcome, and offers advice for those who are looking to break into a new career path around one of your deeper passions. Consider c...

Terria is a Trauma Informed Care Hair Mentor where she teaches and helps transracial adoptive and foster parents how to take care of their black child's hair. In this episode Terria talks about how she left her corporate job when she knew she wanted to pivot into something she was passionate about: working with hair. And then how she took it one step further and brought purpose and meaning into the business she has now, transforming lives with parents who would otherwise be disconnected from ...

Nonny is an Attorney and Social Justice Strategist in New York, NY.She currently works as the Director of Criminal Justice at The National Urban League and is and developing their public safety and police reform plan, 21 Pillars for Redefining Public Safety and Restoring Community Trust, throughout the nation by conducting comprehensive review evidence-based police reforms.But Nonny wasn't always doing the civil rights work she is passionate about.She talks about her transition from a big fir...

The first episode of Season 2 of the Passion Stories Podcast!In this episode I talk with Writer and Brand Coach, Gabrielle Gweneth about the importance of stories. Gabrielle is originally from The Bahamas and currently lives in Scotland. For her business, @gabriellegweneth helps business owners uncover and share their core stories in their content to attract their ideal clients. I wanted to start off the first podcast episode of the New Year talking about stories and how they can help u...

Street Mural Artists, Julia Gibb and Jeff Huntington came on to talk about their journey as artists and the non profit that they founded, Future History Now, where they paint murals with youth in underserved communities around the world.Jeff and Julia talk about their struggles in the traditional school system and how they both came to find meaning and purpose once they started studying and working in the art industry. They talked about how meaningful their nonprofit work is and that they are...

I chatted with Peter Zdrojewski today about his journey merging his passion for the marine and sustainability field with education young adults.Pete and I worked together teaching at a semester school centered around sustainability on the island of Eleuthera. We both started our careers as scuba instructors.Pete now works at The Branson School outside of San Francisco where he teaches Marine Science and is the Class Dean.Pete offers a lot of nuggets of wisdom to those who are wanting to carve...

Passion Stories featuring Aquaculturalist, Michael BowlegI talked with @bowlegjr242 about his journey pursuing marine science and aquaculture as a career path. Michael is originally from The Bahamas and is currently working on Eleuthera to fulfill his PhD research on aquaculture solutions for the Caribbean spiny lobster.He talks about how he transitioned from mainly studying and focusing on marine science to using that skill set to address a pressing issue in many island communities: food sec...

In this episode I talk with Liam McNamara, a Plant Design Specialist who worked with me last year when he left his job as a social media manager for a local cafe. At that time Liam knew he wanted to be doing work that he was more interested in and has some ideas of what he might want to do, but wasn't quite sure what to do next. Fast forward to now and Liam is running his own plant design business! Plants evolved as a passion of Liam’s when he moved down to Florida in 2018 and was expos...

Kiara has worked in mental health and counseling for over 10 years and now runs her own therapeutic practice. She specializes in working with millennial women entrepreneurs, professionals and has a coaching program to help newly licensed therapists who want to start their own practice.@kjhartwell talks about how she was initially discouraged by some therapists in her field in starting her own practice, but sought out more information and talked to others to really determine if doing her own p...

Megan O'Leary is a first time author and long-time professional writer. She has over 15 years of experience writing for magazine articles, flyers, posters, newsletters, marketing emails- anything with words on it- for clients of all sizes. She recently published her first novel, Into The Blue, which combines her passions for island life and mystery novels.Megan talks about her strengths of persistence and discipline helped her stay focused and enthused on writing her book and pushed her...

I chatted with Maja Re, a Spiritual Designer, who shared her story of leaving her corporate interior design job to pursue work as a yoga teacher. Maja has found her purpose in work where she is helping others heal.Her work has also evolved into more than teaching yoga where she has been able to merge her skill sets and experiences. She is now designing retreat center spaces and also teaching yoga for corporate companies.She talks about how you can get creative in supporting yourself and makin...

I talked with Shane Gross in this episode about his career path as a marine conservation photojournalist and how he has been able to turn his passion for the ocean into his own business. Shane and I knew each other from both living on Eleuthera for years and being in the diving and ocean conservation field. Shane's love for the ocean started as a child, watching documentaries and seeing images that his parent's took on their dive trips around the world. As an adult Shane started taking photos...

In this episode, I talked today with Rick Smolan about his journey as a photojournalist and storyteller over the years and how he has navigated creating his own creative work and companies.Rick has so many interesting stories and talks about how saying 'yes' to opportunities as a young adult opened a lot of doors for him in the photography industry. He also talks about how he remained optimistic and hopeful and loved to let experiences unfold in front of him. The uncertainty and the surprises...

Octavia talked with us today about the importance of parents with children with disabilities to continue to prioritize going after their own dreams. Octavia helps parents who have kids with disabilities create an action plan so they can start working on their own personal goals.Octavia mentions how parents often feel overwhelmed with all of the information and resources out there and experience things like decision fatigue. She talks about how parents need to break things down into smaller mo...

In this episode I talk with Renee Kremm who has devoted a lot of her work to educating women on their financial plans. She has been in the industry for over 20 years and started her own financial planning business, Windward Financial.Renee talks about how important it is for women to start taking control over their finances. She believes education is power and a lot of her focus is on teaching her clients about their long term goals. Renee talks about the unique challenges women face and why it’s that much more important for them to become financially educated.Renee is also hosting an education series open to women in the DMV area who want to learn more about financial planning. I personally have learned so much about my own financial goals over the years from Renee and know how passionate she is about educating women across different ages. You can find out more details about the series by emailing Renee.Kremm@prudential.com to reserve your spot. They are being held in Severna Park, MD. The topics include: Getting Ahead Financially and Women and Money- Taking Control Of Your Financial Future.Consider checking out the Passion and Purpose program if you are looking to make a career transition into more purposeful work or have been sitting on a business idea that you want to launch: https://www.free-to-flourish.com/passionandpurposeTo book a call to learn more about the program:https://calendly.com/rachel-freetoflourish/q-a?month=2022-08Stay in the loop and receive tips, tools, and stories around positive psychology! Sign up for the: Free To Flourish E-Letter

Stephen Conti is a massage therapist and has worked for many of the sports teams at University of Maryland. He also runs his own massage therapy business Tocar Spa. Stephen shares what initially sparked his interest in pursuing work in this industry and what originally made him want to start his own business. He also shares how his focus on learning and improving keeps him enjoying the growth process with his business.If you have a work idea or a business goal you want to get started on Steph...

Alex is an Opera Singer in the Washington D.C. area. He is a freelance artist and splits his time as a performing artist and teacher. Alex talks about his journey of when he first discovered his passion for music and singing and when he realized he wanted to make this his life long career. As an artist, Alex shares how his strengths of being positive and patient have served him in staying confident in this industry, especially with the obstacles presented by the pandemic this past year. ...

Carolynn is an Ocean Conservation Consultant, Mentor, and Business Owner. Much of her work has been focused on ocean plastic pollution and activism. She spent years working for 5 Gyres where she led Ocean Expeditions and raised awareness for policy campaigns. She also co-runs Goods Holding Company, that uses new plastic free tools for grocery shopping to help limit the dependence on plastic. Now Carolynn is a consultant in the San Francisco Bay area where she develops workshops to address pla...

My long time friend Chef David Thomas, and winner of the Food Network’s TV series, Chopped, shares his journey as a chef and entrepreneur and how he has found success and overcome obstacles with pursuing his passions. His work is centered on celebrating and reclaiming African American food culture.I originally chatted with David in this conversation over on his Modern Conversations where he talks to different black folks who are paving the way in the food industry. I love the work he do...

Tarena is a Management Consultant, Strategic Adviser, and Certified Online Business Coach. Tarena shares about her journey as an Air Force veteran and transitioning to being an entrepreneur. She talks about the skills and resiliency she learned being in the military and how that translates to her work as a business owner. She also talks about how she utilizes her strengths in her business and how that’s been an important shift for her in knowing what she naturally does well. Taren...

Gianna, a personal stylist who runs her business, Gianna Nucci Style, chats with us about her journey with creating her personal styling business and how it has evolved from when she started it four years ago.Gianna talks about being fearless and open to try different things when you are first starting out. And not worrying too much about what others think! Because people are thinking a lot less about your product and service than you probably thing. She also talks about figuring out what you...

I talked with @laurasfocusphotography about her journey building a photography business and what has helped with her successes over the last 16 years.Laura is a wedding and portrait photographer based in St. Michaels, MD. She also shoots internationally when she sails to The Bahamas in the winters with her family.Laura talks about how putting a lot of time into learning her craft and being in a community and network of other photographers has helped her grow her business. Laura has been a gre...

Frida Ayala is a hormone health coach and shares her story on building a business that helps women’s health from a holistic approach.bFrida shares some of the risks she took with first starting her business, what’s helped her stay confident on her journey, and ultimately how she has been able to pursue work that she is passionate about.Consider checking out the Passion and Purpose program if you are looking to make a career transition into more purposeful work or have been sitting on a busine...

Gillian Hipp, Somatic Coach and Dance Movement Therapist, shares her journey with pursuing her PhD and creating a business with her passion of movement therapy. Gillian helps creative women quiet their busy and grating minds and tackle overwhelm and procrastination. Through movement meditations she helps them connect with their bodies and enables them to find lasting strategies to be joyfully creative and productive.Consider checking out the Passion and Purpose program if you are looking to m...