Episode 3 - Empowering Women Through Financial Confidence with Maria Mai
By Jessica Garrison
We are so lucky to have Maria Mai join us on The F.E.E.L Podcast this week. She describes herself as genuine, caring, ambitious, and loving. Maria is changing lives with the work that she does, and she is bringing us into a new world where women can feel more powerful and confident in their decisions.
Maria’s career is in the male dominated field of finance, so she has had to come a long way in both her personal and professional journey. However, Maria is able to look at the positives of being a minority in her field because not only is she very skilled at her work, but she is able to help women in a way that men can’t. It’s a passion of hers to help women become more confident in their financial decisions and she loves supporting them through that journey. Women like to go to another woman for advice, particularly in an area that is written off as a “man’s job” because they can relate on a different level. This way, Maria continuously supports women in living unapologetically, empowering them to feel comfortable in any decision they make.
Maria also encourages women to become financially literate because even if you have a partner who handles the finances, that doesn’t mean they’ll always be around to help. It is especially popular for older women to seek out a financial advisor because their husbands who always took care of the finances aren’t around anymore. Women couldn’t even get a credit card in their own name until 1974, so there is a whole generation of women who Maria can share her knowledge with. She loves to help people become financially independent or gain more confidence when it comes to money, and her why is to positively impact people financially.
During this talking point of supporting women in living unapologetically, Maria mentions the wage gap, as well as the wealth gap and the financial literacy gap. She says that women make 20% less than men in a professional setting, but this doesn’t even begin to cover the gaps among different races and ethnicities when it comes to wages and wealth. People don’t think the wage gap exists, or at least it doesn’t anymore, but that is far from the truth. There is a huge power imbalance between men and women in the world, but Maria is giving women the opportunity to grow in their own right, and I think that holds a lot of power itself.
It takes a lot of courage, compassion, and intelligence to do what Maria does, and I love that she uses her powers for good. Listening to her episode and her positive outlook on life that didn’t always come so easily to her makes this an episode to remember. With Maria’s honesty and vulnerability in this episode, there is so much to learn and celebrate.
Ways to Engage: Practice self-forgiveness. If something doesn’t go right or you make a mistake, don’t beat yourself up. Talk kindly to yourself, forgive yourself, and use this as an opportunity to change the narrative in your mind.
Episode 2 - Living Beyond Expectations & Embracing Your Layers with Kelly Anne Carter
By Jessica Garrison
To bookend the beginning of season 9, we are joined by Kelly Anne Carter who is chronically curious, and she is not afraid of liminal spaces. She is also interested in people’s stories rather than their filters, a trait that connects her even further with our podcast and network.
When discussing living out of her own expectations versus others’, Kelly recalls the deconstruction phase and its brutal awakening. After living out of someone else’s expectations for so long, you forget who you truly are inside, so you have to deconstruct the belief system of others to rebuild your own in their place. She didn’t know herself at all, and I’ve experienced moments like that where I realized I was doing something to make another person happy rather than making myself happy. I think everyone can admit they’ve said yes to something they didn’t want to do or gave an expected answer rather than what they were really thinking.
Kelly says it’s important to be okay with the discovery of yourself and be okay with trying new things. See what feels right or what doesn’t, and make your way to your own decisions and opinions. It’s okay to change your mind, like maybe deciding something feels right for one season and not the other. Growing up in a strict, religious space, Kelly wasn’t allowed to be curious or ask questions, so now she’s making up for that in her adult life.
It can seem daunting to have to go through the self-discovery phase, but let me tell you it is so much fun. You get to do all kinds of different things to find out what you like or what you want to do. I love rediscovering things that I enjoyed as a child that I would’ve been bullied for liking past a certain age or something I hadn’t thought of in a long time. Just because you’re 30 doesn’t mean you can’t watch movies made for little kids or you can’t go to your favorite ice cream shop and have a sundae. Take yourself on dates, ask yourself questions, and find out who you are.
This step in your journey bleeds into accepting your layers, and Kelly says she is also accepting her humanity. She reminds us that it’s okay to make mistakes and it’s okay to slow down. Sometimes we need to address a layer and take a step back to fully appreciate, understand, and know it. It isn’t a race to see who can discover and accept their layers first—everyone needs to go at their own pace and go in their own order. Kelly has really connected with her layers on a physical level, but she is now working on accepting them on a nervous system level. No matter how you decide to go about your embracing layers journey, the most important step is beginning.
I know that finding empowerment and embracing layers is an exhilarating journey, but Kelly is such a great reminder of this. Her attitude and resilience will get you motivated to live out of your own expectations and accept the layered aspects of yourself, and then the rest will fall into place.
Ways to Engage: Notice what feels good to you. It doesn’t necessarily have to be sexual—it could be the way the ground feels under your feet or the way the wind feels on your skin. Pleasure is an important, yet often forgotten layer that we can focus more of our attention on.
Episode 1 - The Power of Boundaries, Hope, and Healing with Gretchen Schoser
By Jessica Garrison
Trigger warning: suicide
Welcome back to season 9 of The F.E.E.L Podcast! We are so excited to kick off our season with Gretchen Schoser. She is authentic, fun, vulnerable, loves to laugh, operates in her integrity, and she is a giver of hope.
Boundaries have been an important aspect for Gretchen to learn to be able to feel like herself again. She says that she used to let people drain her, always taking from her but never giving anything back. As an extrovert and an empath, it was difficult for Gretchen to say no, but she realized she couldn’t possibly take it all on—no one can. If it smells like drama, she says, then it cannot come into her life. You wouldn’t think that cutting the drama out of your life would be so transformative, but it really is. Growing up, the friends I had were not always supportive or encouraging, and that affected my mental health for a long time. If your friends are not going to lift you up or participate in the friendship, then it’s probably best to end that relationship. Gretchen says, “there is a reason and a season for some friends,” and I couldn’t agree more.
I also want to touch on Gretchen’s “why” because it is not only life changing, but it is life saving. Gretchen was in a dark place, ready to end her life, but she had a glimmer of hope that changed everything. She called 988, a suicide and crisis line, and the woman on the other end held such compassion that it changed the trajectory of Gretchen’s life. She doesn’t want people to feel as alone and scared as she was in the depths of her depression, and that’s why she shares her story. You don’t have to be at the end of your rope to call 988—you can call whenever you need someone to listen or you can call on behalf of someone else. Compassion goes a long way, and Gretchen spreads that message everywhere she goes.
These events eventually birthed Gretchen’s podcast, “Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads,” that she cohosts with her best friend. We don’t always have the right words to explain the shit that goes on in our heads, but the more we share our feelings and what we’re thinking, the closer we will get to putting into words.
We are so proud to present Gretchen as our first guest this season, sharing all of the good she does in the world and the journey it took to get there. We do not want anyone to reach a breaking point before they ask for help, and with Gretchen’s work, we can continue to move away from that tipping point. Even if it may feel that way, you are not alone in your struggles and there are people to reach out to for help. Don’t give up—you can be the change you want to see in the world, just as Gretchen has been.
Ways to Engage: Find something that brings you joy, even if it’s small. Maybe it’s your favorite book, the smell of a certain flower, a person, etc. Describe it, appreciate it, and continue to find something new each day that brings you happiness.
Resources:
Suicide & Crisis Line: 988 (call or text - available 24 hours)
Trevor Project’s Suicide Hotline for LGBTQ+ Youth: 1-866-488-7386 (or text ‘START’ to 678-678 - both available 24 hours)